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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by CMSgt Don Skinner - Deceased
Casualty Info
Home Town Seneca
Last Address Knettishall, England
Casualty Date Sep 06, 1943
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Land
Location France
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Saint Peter and Paul Cemetery - Seneca, Kansas
Bernard Aloysius Becker was born in Seneca, Kansas on November 15, 1917. He was the son of Edward J. and Katherine Scholastic Ronnebaum Becker.
He enlisted on August 29, 1941 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in the Army Air Corps and was trained as an aerial gunner and assigned to a combat crew on a B-17. He was part of a replacement crew that arrived in June 1943 at Knettishall, England. This crew was assigned to the 560th Bomb Squadron of the 388th Bomb Group.
They flew 13 missions between July and September, but had three aborts. On 6 September 1943, they were scheduled to participate in a raid on Stuttgart, Germany. When the formation arrived at the target, it was found to be obscured with clouds and smoke. The lead aircraft then led the way to a target of opportunity.
The formation found Strausberg, an industrial complex, free from clouds so this target was bombed. Flak was both intense and accurate. On the turn off target, enemy aircraft attacked. Becker's B-17 was hit in #2 engine, causing it to catch fire and windmill. There was a huge hole in the right wing. The flailing prop blew off and struck the stabilizer, damaging it. Unable to keep up with the others, the B-17 fell out of formation.
It was immediately attacked by a number of German aircraft. It was shot down and crashed near Coudray, France. Some crew members evidently made it out as the report states four were killed and six were captured.
The 560th Bomb Squadron put up 24 aircraft for the mission. One aborted, and eleven were shot down. The number of crashes in the same area prevented positive retrieval and identification, so the 4 from this crew were declared Missing in Action, and were later declared Killed in Action. This was done on August 10, 1945.
SSgt Becker was recovered and returned to the U.S. and is buried in Saint Peter and Paul Cemetery in Seneca, Kansas.
The 560th Bomb Squadron aircraft in this event was B-17F # 42-30203, nicknamed "Shack Up."
Missing Air Crew Report 3126 identifies the crew as:
1 Lt Roy H. Mohr p
2 Lt Elmer F. Schulz c-p
1 Lt James G. Shilliday nav
1 Lt Ronald A. Marean bomb
TSgt Hartzell H. Jones eng/tt gun
TSgt Halleck H. Hasson r/o
SSgt Bernard A. Becker btg
SSgt Robert W. Wallin rwg
SSgt Rodric G. Beckham lwg
SSgt Robert R. Ammarell tail gun
In the crew photo, SSgt Becker is in front row, right.
Lts Mohr and Schulz as well as Sgts Jones and Becker were the crew members killed.
