First Lieutenant, O-731101

429th BS, 2nd BG, Heavy

Entered the Service from: Ohio
Died: March 23, 1945
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy

Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

Dave Carlock, former pilot 2nd BG^:

From what I can determine John Pierik did graduate from the class but went back to pilot school.  I don't know if he served a tour as a bombardier and then returned as a pilot or went straight to become a pilot.  I am speculating that he did the former.  This is based on the the timeframes.  He became a bombardier in Sept. of 1942 and then was a pilot in 1945.  There would be enough time for that to happen.  The only information that I have currently is in relation to his time as a pilot.

Chuck Richards:

Our book “Defenders of Liberty” states that 1^st Lt. John W. Pierik was the pilot of airplane 44-6697, MACR #13245.  Mission #383, March 22, 1945 to Ruhland, Germany oil refineries.  Ruhland was always a tough target with lots of Fighters and Flak.  I was on a mission there but not on this day.  I was on the mission to Daimler Benz Tank works in Berlin, Germany  on March 24, 1945. We flew over Ruhland on the way to Berlin about 70 miles beyond Ruhland and caught some fighters and flak on that mission.

The missing crew reports  states that the plane of Lt. Pierik took a hit in the cockpit area and none of the 4 officers survived but all of the other crew member bailed out and were POW. No other information was available on them.

Complete story is in “Defenders of Liberty” and “The Second was First” by Chuck Richards.

Charlotte Levesque: In an email dated 13 Sept 2008, Charlotte received confirmation that the plane was shot down by Soviet P-39 fighters in the area of Waldenburg, GER.  Waldenburg is now known as Walbrzych, POL.

Mission Report: #383 - Ruhland,Germany/Klagenfurt/Zeltweg/Austria

Thirty aircraft took off to bomb the oil refineries at Ruhland.  Fourteen aircraft dropped 148, 500-lb. RDX bombs.  Hits were reported in the target area.  Flak was heavy, intense and accurate severely damaging 12a/c and minor damage to 10.  Lightly wounded were Captain Ralph E. Chambers, P, 20^th BS.  From the 49^th BS were F/O P. E. Jones, B, and 1LT F. Saence, B.  From the 429^th BS, 1LT F. M. Fouts, B; F/O E. S. Fox, B, Cpl. E. A. Morrow, RO and seriously wounded was T/S T. I. Shivak, RWG.

Eight ME262's attacked the formation with a/c #44-6440 lost to this action.  One ME262 was destroyed in a joint claim by S/S Fred L. Downs, Warren T. McKane and George D. Glass, Jr.  Credit for probable destruction of an ME262 went to S/S Darrell W. Jensen.  Also missing are #44-6697, 44-8181, 44-6738 & 44-6682.

Six a/c dropped 60, 500-lb. RDX bombs on marshalling yards at Kalgenfurt with hits reported. Six a/c dropped 60, 500-lb. RDX bombs on marshalling yards at Zeltweg, Austria with bombs reported missing the target.  There was one aborted a/c. 

Missing Air Crew Report: A/C #44-6697 - 429^th Squadron

Message from Intelligence Officer:

Three crews reported having heard the following message over VHF. "Able 2-1, Starfish".  Able 2-1 was a/c #697 and Starfish was a code word for "Heading for Russian lines".  This was heard while still in the target area.

 After mission interview:

1LT Robert L. Freysinger, pilot on #667 which was flying in the 1^st Wave, 1^st Squadron, 2^nd Element, 2^nd plane.  "I saw B-17 #697 at 106 hours.  We were in the midst of the flak and I saw a large hole appear in the right wing of the plane about 4 to 5 feet from the wind tip.  Protruding from the hole were two pieces of the wing spar.  In trying to avoid hitting the damage a/c, I peeled off to the right and upon recovering straight and level flight once more, my efforts to locate #697 again were fruitless."

1LT William J. McCormick, pilot of B-17 #455.  "B-17 #697 was flying # 4 position and he pulled down and to the left.  I started follow but he waved me on.  As far as I know all of his engines were running.  I lost sight of him after he pulled under me.  I did not have time to ascertain any flak holes and the plane appeared under control.  This was right after we came off the target."
 

Post war statements:

T/S Richard Benjamin, T/T on Pierik's plane.  "On March 22, 1945 our B-17 encountered flak over the target which disabled our a/c.  We headed toward the Russian lines and were eventually escorted by three Russian a/c (P9's).  Our bomb bay doors were open and we used our red flares.  The Russian fighters were positioned, one on each wingtip and one on our tail.  They next peeled off into the sun and attacked us, utilizing the 7 mm cannons and machine guns.  Our gunners returned fire, the upper turret was hit, in which I was in and our bomb bay was filled with smoke.  The cockpit was strafed and my feeling is that the four officers were killed at this time.  An attempt was made to return to the cockpit area, however, it was impossible with the flames and smoke."

"The plane descended as if on automatic pilot.  We, the six enlisted men, bailed out, were strafed in chutes.  Some holes punctured our chutes but none of us were hit.  To the best of my knowledge this was near Salzbrun, GER.  We watched our plane descend.  It went over a hill and that was the last view of it."

"All the enlisted men were POW's and eventually returned to the USA.  I never heard any information regarding the officers again."

1LT Samuel H. Martin, the original co-pilot of the crew.  Statement taken July 11, 1995:

My activities on March 22, 1945 were actually dictated by an event occurring the day before on March 21, although I did not realize the consequence at that time.  During the day I was notified that I had to have a typhoid booster shot so I went to the infirmary to receive it and went about my business for the balance of the day.  Our crew was put on alert for a mission the next day so I turned in early.  When we were awakened early for breakfast and briefing I did not feel too well and could tell I had a fever, but felt that it would pass so I proceeded to briefing and the flight line.  Several members of the crew stated that I looked real flushed.  John Pierik, our pilot, felt my forehead and said I felt like I was burning up with fever and that he felt I would jeopardize the other members of the crew if I proceeded in my condition.  He then called for a replacement from the spare ship, a pilot named Robert Steele and called for transportation to take me to the infirmary where I checked in with a 104 plus degree temperature.

That evening, after a reasonable time allowed for debriefing, I suspected something had happened to our crew when they failed to come to the infirmary to see me.  Shortly thereafter, the CO, Doc and Operations Officer came into the room where I had a bed and told me about my crew being missing.

I had flown 11 sorties up to this time.  After my crew went down, I flew 8 more sorties for a total of 19 at the end of the war in Europe.  This included the last mission of the European War on May 1, 1945, the target being Salzburg, Austria.

I had a feeling that had I been able to go on this mission instead of my replacement, Robert Steele, things may have been different, but who knows.  Fate is fate.  Although the 2^nd was being held over for occupation, I had enough points to get out and was on my way back to the States (in the middle of the Atlantic) when V-J Day came.

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