Charles E Mendel

Military
media-7365.octet-stream UPL 7365 Charles Mendel played basketball for Indiana University before the war.

Object Number - UPL 7365 - Charles Mendel played basketball for Indiana University before the war.

Charles Mendel grew up in Indiana and worked as a teacher before the war.



After basic training, he was assigned to 303rd Bomb Group/ 359th Bomb Squadron on 23 July 1942, but was reassigned to the 401st Bomb Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group prior to the deployment of the 303BG to the UK and never served with the 303BG in the UK.



Charles was shot down on his fourth mission on 20 December 1942 in B-17F 41-24452 while serving as Co-Pilot. The aircraft was attacked by FW190s over the French coast and the pilot was killed. Charles ordered the crew to bail out and managed to belly-land the plane, saving the lives of three crew members still on board. He himself had been severely wounded made sure his crew received medical attention before he was treated.



After spending some time in hospital, he was held as a Prisoner of War (POW) at Stalag 7A, Moosburg, Bavaria and was officially Returned to Military Control on 14 June 1945.

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

Official emblem of the 303rd Bomb Group approved 7 November 1942.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment
Unofficial emblem of the 91st Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 91st Bomb Group 401st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O438025
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 91st Bomb Group 401st Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Burket, IN, USA 19 June 1916
Seward, IN, USA 1 November 1941

Enlisted

Texas, USA 8 November 1941 Camp Wolters.

Based

Bassingbourn 14 October 1942 - 19 December 1942

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Moosburg, Germany 20 December 1942 - 14 June 1945 Held at Stalag 7A, Moosburg, Bavaria. Officially Returned to Military Control 14-Jun-45.

Died

Sarasota, FL, USA 11 July 2001 Aged 85.

Other

Attended Indiana University.

Indiana University, 107 South Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Sarasota, FL, USA 11 July 2001

Other

Retired from the Air Force

Retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Other

Worked for Zimmer Orthopedic Company.

Sarasota, FL, USA

Buried

Palms Memorial Park, Sarasota, FL 34237, USA

Revisions

Date
Contributoracbernstein1
Changes
Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Addeda connection to the A/C pilot, Lt Robert S. English.

Date
Changes
Sources

Combined two entries into a single entry. This record now includes information from the following source: MACR 16243/ Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database.
Correction of typographical errors.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 4-Dec-2014. Added crew position to biography. COMBINED 303BG/359BS data from a DUPLICATE entry based on original ingest of data from The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force and the 303BG roster from the 303BG website. Transfer from 303BG to 91BG confirmed by Gary Moncur, 303BG website historian, via e-mail between Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Moncur.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 4-Dec-2014. Added crew position to biography per MACR 16243.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 4-Dec-2014. Added POW event, service number per National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database and MACR 16243; Made Place and Mission connections within existing data.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 16243, Losses of the 8th and 9th AFs Vol. 1 by Hey and Bishop p.54

Charles E Mendel: Gallery (1 items)