Harold E Kious

Military

On 4-Mar-43 in B-17F 41-24512 'Rose O' Day', 91BD/322BS while serving as Co-Pilot the aircraft sustained damage from repeated attacks by fighters on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany. The aircraft crashed into North Sea just west of the tip of Texel Isalnd, Holland. The crew baled out but most landed in the water and were lost in the sea. The ferry boat 'Dr Wagemaker' rescued him from the North Sea and he became a Prisoner of War (POW). According to NARA, he was in Stalag Luft 3 and then moved to Nuremberg 49-11



Harold E. Kious, age 91, passed away peacefully at home on March 6, 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was born in Kingsburg, California, but his family moved to Fresno following the death of his father and the near-death of his mother from the Spanish flu in 1919.

Following the war, Harold used the G.I. Bill to attend Fresno State College where he majored in accounting. He ran his own accounting business in Fresno until told of a job opportunity in Albuquerque by a good friend, Lin Price, whom he had met while both were prisoners of war in Germany. He was hired and became the city of Albuquerque’s first finance director. He formed his own investment banking firm, Kious and Co., in 1971.

His death came just two days past the 65th anniversary of the Hamm mission of March 4, 1943, when the B-17 he was co-piloting, the Rose O’day, was shot down and crashed into the Waddenzee near the island of Texel, Holland. In 1987 he was reunited with three of the men who pulled him unconscious from the icy waters of the Waddenzee that day. The people of Texel have never forgotten the sacrifices of the American airmen who eventually liberated them. Harold visited Texel every summer from 1987 until just 3 years ago; they grew very fond of him and were thrilled to learn that some of Harold’s ashes will find a resting place on their island. (Folded Wings, The Ragged Irregular Newsletter, April 2008)

Connections

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Units served with

Unofficial emblem of the 91st Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Rose ODay
  • Unit: 91st Bomb Group 322nd Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Zagan, Poland 4 March 1943 - 12 June 1945 Held at Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia (now Poland) moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser. Oifficially Returned to Military Control (RMC) 12-Jun-45.

Died

6 March 2008

Born

Fresno, California

Revisions

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 23-Jun-2015. Added decorations, made connections to Place, Aircraft and Mission within existing website data; Added POW event per National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database; Added A/C model letter, Unit associations, crew position and loss details to Summary biography based on "Losses of the 8th & 8th Air Forces", Stan Bishop & John A. Hey MBE also MACR 3721.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th and 9th AFs Vol. I by Bishop and Hey, pp. 87-88, MACR 3721, NARA POW records