| |
Entered
the Service from: Illinois
Died: May 17, 1943
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery
Cambridge, England
Awards:
Air Medal, Purple Heart
|
|
| |
17th May 1943 Mission
Target Ijmuiden
Forced south of intended point of entry after being fired on by flak from German
coastal convoy and flew over heavily defended Rozenburg island. Continued to
target and subsequent fate. As the first flight flew over the sand dunes a hail
of 20mm flak hit the lead B26 piloted by Lt. Col. Robert W Stillman, killing Lt.
Resweber, the copilot. The plane snap rolled and crashed. Three severely injured
crewmen were dragged from the wreckage by the Germans.
A mile or two to the south the
following flight also encountered heavy flak on landfall in. Lt. Garrambone,
leading the second element, could not maintain control after being hit and
crashed into the Maas river, he and three of his crew survived. The surviving
B26’s headed between Delft and Rotterdam with Capt. Converse leading the first
flight. Near Bdegraven, while carrying out violent evasive action, Converse
collided with Lt. Wolfe who was leading the second element. Both B26’s crashed
in flames with only two survivors. Lt. Wurst’s aircraft, severely damaged by
debris from the two colliding aircraft, bellylanded his unmanageable B26 into
a field at Meije. All escaped although Sgt. Heski lost a foot.
Now only the third element of the
leading flight remained. Lt. F.H.Matthew, leading Lt. E.R.Norton and apparently
lost, turned to join Lt. Col. Purinton’s flight, but Purinton too had no idea
where he was. Forty five miles into Holland he decided to turn for home and his
navigator, Lt. Jefferis, gave him a course of 2700. Almost simultaneously
Jefferis reported that he had sighted the target. Bombs were dropped on what
they thought the the Haarlem works, but it was in fact a gas holder in the
suburbs of Amsterdam.
Having climbed to bombing altitude
several Marauders failed to reduce height as they headed for the coast. Unknown
to the crews they were heading directly towards Ijmuiden and its murderous flak
barrage. Purinton’s bomber was hit, but he managed to ditch offshore near a
fishing boat,manned by Germans. Jefferis was killed in the crash,but the rest of
the crew were rescued to become prisoners of war. The Ijmuiden flak also claimed
the bombers of Lt. Jones and Lt. Norton. One,with an engine on fire, turned back
and crashed into the sea near Castricum, the other went into the sea a few miles
west of Ijmuiden. Tail gunner Longworth was the only survivor from Norton’s B26
and Lt. Alaimo from Jones.
Lt. Matthews and Capt.
Crane had survived the Ijmuiden flak, and several miles apart headed for
England. At 12.18hrs Capt. Crane was shot down into the sea by Feldwebel
Niederreichholz of II/JG1 and at 12.30hrs Lt. Matthews was shot down into
the sea by Ober-Feldwebel Winkler of 4/JG1. The only survivors of these two
actions were S/Sgt. George W Williams and S/Sgt. Jesse H Lewis from Capt.
Crane’s B26. They were picked up from their rubber dinghy on 22 May 1943 by a
Royal Navy vessel.
|
|
