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Contact Info
Home Town New England, North Dakota; Oskaloosa, Iowa
Last Address Lynn/Essex, Massachusetts
Date of Passing Jul 28, 2010
Location of Interment East Parish Burying Ground - Newton, Massachusetts
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
He was Group Navigator for the 100th Bomb Group, "The Bloody Hundredth", of the 8th AF in WWII and flew 32 combat missions over Europe.
He was cremated and buried beside his first wife in the East Parish Burying Ground, the Old Newton Cemetery.
"Masters of the Air", Donald Miller, Simon & Schuster, 2006. "The Alabama Bomber Boys", Donald E. Wilson, Heritage Books, 2008.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Central Europe Campaign (1945)
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Description On March 22, 1945, the U.S. Third Army established a second salient, in addition to the one at Remagen, across the Rhine River at Oppenheim, 288 miles southwest of Berlin. The next day its troops also crossed the river at Boppard, 40 miles northwest of Oppenheim. Farther north, British and Canadian forces went across near Wesel, 65 miles northwest of Bonn. Ninth Air Force and Royal Air Force troop carriers and gliders dropped an American and a British airborne division north of Wesel on March 24, while the U.S. Ninth Army crossed the river 10 miles southeast of Wesel. The next day the U.S. First Army began an advance into Germany from Remagen, just south of Bonn, and on March 26 the Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River north of Mannheim, about 25 miles south of Oppenheim. Five days later, on March 31, French troops crossed the Rhine 10 miles south of Mannheim.
Before the Allied armies began crossing the Rhine in force, Allied air forces bombed and strafed German positions in the contested areas along the river. Heavy bombers also flew battlefield interdiction missions between March 21 and 24, before returning to strategic bombardment missions against targets in Germany. Although little of strategic value remained because of the destruction wrought by the
combined bomber offensive, oil refineries and fuel depots remained primary targets.
The Luftwaffe could no longer effectively oppose the heavy bombers nor could it provide close air support for retreating German troops.
When fuel was available, the enemy continued to intercept Allied bomber formations with a few fighter aircraft. On the battle front, AAF fighter-bombers flew close air support and tactical reconnaissance missions for Allied forces, while medium bombers attacked bridges, trucks, troop concentrations, railroads, and airfields. Troop carrier and transport aircraft flew critically needed supplies to forward airfields that had been rebuilt by aviation engineers behind the advancing Allied armies. After delivering supplies, the pilots loaded wounded soldiers and liberated prisoners of war and returned them to the rear areas. The last mission of the AAF's heavy bombers in Europe involved flying supplies to the starving population in The Netherlands.
