Harvey Jenning Purkey Jr
Military ROLL OF HONOUR
USAAF Photo
Object Number - UPL 45488 - T/Sgt Harvey J Purkey, 368BS, 308BG.
Assigned to 368BS, 308BG, 8AF USAAF. Flew on Dean C. Allen crew. Reported to group on 7 Jun 1944. He completed approx. 28 missions.
Purkey crashed at Budberg, Germany on 26 August 1944 after his aircraft B-17 (serial number 42-97946) nicknamed "Hard To Get" was hit by flak while over the target at Gelsenkirchen.
Purkey was captured, but managed to escape after two days on the night of 28 August with Charles Evans, the Navigator from his crew. Evans and Purkey jumped off a train from Budberg-Krefeld-Cologne to the Interrogation Center Oberursel. They were caught by German civilians near Trebur where they were trying to cross the Rhine on the morning of 29 August.
Evans and Purkey were taken from Trebur to Groß-Gerau where they were attacked and beaten by a large crowd of people. The local security police arrived shortly after and dragged away the two airmen, only to then proceed to beat them to death with iron bars.
Awards: AM (3OLC), PH.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 13087300 / O-716290
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Hard T' Get
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 26 August 1944
Places
- Site type: Cemetery
![A bomber crew of the 306th Bomb Group wave to Picture Post Girls in front of a B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 41-24471) nicknamed "Four of a Kind" at Thurleigh in December 1942. Image stamped on reverse: '"Picture Post" [stamp], 'Passed for Publication 11 Dec 1942.' [stamp], '238038.' [Censor no.] Handwritten in censor's blue pencil on reverse: 'American Flying Fortress crew are introduced to the girls they will meet at Picture Post Xmas Party.'](https://assets.americanairmuseum.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_thumb_x2/public/freeman/media-379028.jpg.webp?itok=6Gc6iR0j)
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Bedford
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Kalamazoo, MI | 5 September 1922 | Son of Harvey Jenning Sr and Sybyl Marie [Ely] Purkey. |
|
Enlisted |
Detroit, MI | 30 September 1942 | Detroit, Michigan |
|
Based |
Thurleigh | 7 June 1944 - 26 August 1944 | Assigned to 368BS, 308BG, 8AF USAAF. |
|
Other Baled out KIA |
Gelsenkirchen, Germany | 26 August 1944 | Failed to Return (FTR) Gelsenkirchen in B-17 42-97946 'Hard To Get'; captured, escaped, beaten to death by captors. KIA MACR 8464 |
|
Died |
Groß-Gerau, Germany | 29 August 1944 | |
|
Buried |
Re-Interred Arlington National Cemetery Virginia Section: 34, Site: 2984 |
Revisions
Information provided by Dr Susanne Meinl, German Historian
Records from the US Military Tribunal at Dachau, US POW cases, January- December 1947, at the Jewish Virtual Library, Case No. 12-793 (US vs. Nikolaus Fachinger and Heinrich Flauaus) Tried 3 Aug. 45
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 8464, First Over Germany pg. 269 http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/wardept/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=11470… / http://www.306bg.org/crewphotos/Crew%20Pictures%20Adam-Rector/Crew%20Pi…
