397th Bomb Group
Group
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Moses J Gatewood
Military
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397th Bombardment Group mural, Rivenhall Airfield, Essex. Photos taken April 2017. The site is now the location of a road sweeping company. I discovered these in one of their storage buildings.
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397th Bombardment Group mural,, Rivenhall Airfield, Essex. Photos taken April 2017.
Gatewood was a US military academy graduate, class of January 1943. Assigned to 9th air force, 397th bomb group, 597th squadron as aircraft commander of a b-26 martin marauder medium bomber named 'Holy Moses'. While flying another aircraft, the 'Mama Liz', he was shot down on 24 June 1944 over the west suburbs of Paris supporting Operation Overlord. Escaped to Spain via French underground and returned to base in England with a new code system forwarded by French operatives for communicating with the French resistance. Later recommended for a silver star for this 2 month extended mission. Remainder of crew were captured and remained POWs till end of war.
Service
Units served with
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597th Bomb Squadron
Squadron
Aircraft
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42-96124 'Holy Moses'
B-26 Marauder
Assigned to 597BS, 397BG, 9AF USAAF. Departed base Perrone (A-72) on mission to Germany, climbing through 10/10 cloud layer departed formation. Crashed 3 km SW Wassigny, partial bomb load detonation destroyed A/C and crew. 6 x Killed in Action (KIA)....
Associated Place
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Rivenhall
Military site : airfield
Originally allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a heavy bomber base, Rivenhall was built during 1943-44 but transferred to the Ninth Air Force before construction was complete. It had three concrete runways, 51 loop hardstandings and two dispersed T2...
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
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| 05 November 2018 09:56:47 | Emily | Created entry with surname, middlename, firstname, nickname, nationality, highest rank, role, biography, unit associations, place associations, aircraft associations and media associations |
| Sources | ||
Biography at B-26.com AAM Website upload UPL 36305 where Gatewood has signed his name & aircraft on the wall at Rivenhall |
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