On 11 April 1944 the USAAF conducted attacks on several targets in Central Germany. One of the aircraft participating from the 506th squadron, 44th Bomb Group is piloted by Lt. John D. Money.

This is the story of their crew and what happened to them on that day.

The crew had flown already between 24 and 27 missions. It was made up of the following air men:

506th Bomb Squadron

44th Bomb Group

1Lt John D. Money, Pilot from St. Louis, Missouri
1Lt Robert G. Stamos, Co-pilot from Danville, Illinois
1Lt Harold J. Wheatly, Navigator from Jefferson City, Missouri
S/Sgt Foster A. Blake, Nose Turret from Bradford, Vermont
T/Sgt Andrew C. Graff, Engineer from Geneva, Iowa
T/Sgt Edward A. Wernicki, Radio Operator from Jersey City, New Jersey
S/Sgt Herbert S. Hill Jr., Ball Turret from Revere, Massachusetts
S/Sgt Donald L. Young, Right Waist Gunner from Topeka, Kansas
S/Sgt Wallace W. Kirschner, Left Waist Gunner from the Bronx, New York
S/Sgt Eugene W. Roop, Tail Turret gunner from Knoxville, Tennessee

T/Sgt Edward A. Wernicki was born on 8 January 1924, son of Polish immigrants, Wladyslaw and Lottie Wernicki. They lived it Jersey City, New Jersey. Edward joined the Army on 19 February 1943. After training he joined the 44th Bomb Group as a replacement and flew his first three missions on 21, 24 and 25 February 1944 with Lt. Grow's crew. On 8 April he flew his first mission with Lt. Money's crew to Langenhagen.

S/Sgt Foster Arnold Blake joined the US Army Air Force in Rutland, Vermont on 20 February 1942. After months of training on several air fields, he is attached to the squadron 506th Bomb Squadron, 44th BG as an air gunner and, together with his unit shipped to England. Late February 1943 they leave the United States aboard the TSS Chantilly. They arrive on Shipham air field (Station 115) on 9 April 1943. This is to be their home for the rest of the campaign and a period of intense training begins for the Bomb Group. Sgt Foster Blake flies his first operational mission on 13 November 1943 to Bremen. He flies missions on 18 (Kjeller, Norway), 26 (Bremen) and 30 November (Solingen), 1 (Solingen), 5 (Cognac/Chateau Bernard, France), 13 (Kiel) and 16 December (Bremen), 5 (Kiel), 21 (Ecalles Sur Buchy, France), 29 (Frankfurt), 30 January (Braunschweig). On 20 January Sgt Blake is promoted to Staff Sergeant. In February, the mission continue: on the 5th to Tours in France, 6 (Siracourt, France), 8 (Watten, France), 20 (Helmstadt/Oschersleben), 21 (Handorf), 25 (Furth). On 6 March the 44th participates in the first ever daylight raid on the German Capital, Berlin. The German capital is again visited on 8 March. Siracourt in France is the target on 12 March. Missions on the 15th (Braunschweig), 16th (Friedrichshafen)and 23 (Achmer) conclude his missions for March. This was his 24th mission. One more mission would bring him to 25, the required amount for an operational tour, which entitles him to go back to the States. On 1 April however, the required number of missions is raised from 25 to 30. So, S/Sgt Blake has to fly 6 more missions instead of just the one.

S/Sgt Foster Blake and a local kid. Probably in a park in Sioux City, South Dakota
before his crew is shipped out to England. (picture courtesy of Mr. Byron Blake)

S/Sgt Foster Blake receives an Oak Leaf to his Air Medal from Lt. Col. Frederick H. Dent at Shipdham Field (Station 115), Norfolk, England, UK probably in December of 1943.
(picture courtesy of Mr. Byron Blake)

On 1 April he participates in a mission to Ludwigshafen. On the 8th it is again to Langenhagen, the target of his very first mission.

On 11 April 1944 the USAAF conducted attacks on several targets in Central Germany. Primary targets for the 2nd Air Division were aircraft manufacturing facilities in Oschersleben and Bernburg, Germany. The specific target for the 44th Bomb Group was the Junkers Aircraft Assembly Plant, which was bombed with good results.

1Lt Money receiving a medal from Lt. Col. Frederick H. Dent (picture courtesy of mr. WIll Lundy via Byron Blake).

1Lt Money and his crew participate in the mission and fly B24 #42-7522 Bar-S, SOUTHERN COMFORT II.

Fierce enemy opposition both from enemy aircraft as well as from flak units was experienced by the Group. The aircraft, piloted by Lt. John D. Money, did not return. It was the only loss of the 44th BG this day.

The Missing Air Crew Report (#3848) states that this aircraft went down at 1123 hours. The right bomb bay doors failed to open, so when the bombs were dropped, the right side fragmentation bombs hit the closed doors, immediately setting that area on fire. The ship flew on for awhile, then winged over, breaking in two at the waist section. It went down and exploded. Four bodies came clear of the falling wreckage, but only two chutes were seen to open.

Sgt. Wallace Kirschner, left waist gunner, remembers: "According to my diary, we had flown nine missions prior to this one on 11 April. We were carrying incendiary bombs. Near the target, we were under a barrage of flak, getting set for our bomb run. The bomb bay doors would not open as the tracks were frozen tight. Upon informing Lt. Money, our pilot, that I could not break the ice, we received a direct hit in the bomb bay. The rest is history.

Sgt. Roop, tail gunner, saw that Sgt. Young’s hands were badly burned, took his own parachute and placed it on Sgt. Young and helped him get through the rear camera hatch door. This resulted in Sgt. Roop being without a parachute of his own. I followed Young out the rear hatch, after removing my oxygen mask

because I couldn’t get the hose to release from the regulator. With the mask removed, I got 3rd degree burns on my face and right hand due to the fire all around me.

I was picked up by German soldiers upon landing and was taken to an aid station in Frankfurt.

They had converted an Agricultural School into a hospital. The doctors and aids were all part of the Dunkirk Evacuation Force captured – who were a wonderful group of men. Then I was sent to Bad Soden for work on my eyes. Even the doctors there were also from Dunkirk. I was later repatriated and returned to the States on 21 February, 1945. I saw Sgt. Young once after the war.

Lt. Money told me that, "When the fire erupted in the bomb bay it quickly spread forward, filling the cabin with fire and smoke. I gave the bail out signal as my co-pilot, Robert Stamos, was already dead from flak wounds. I then contemplated my own escape from that inferno. There was absolutely no way I could get back to the bomb bay, and the top hatch itself was burning. So it would have to be out one of the windows, but they were still intact. While still trying to maintain some control of the craft, I got my feet up, braced my back, and succeeded in kicking out the copilot’s side window.

Then I managed to get over Stamos, got hold of his wheel, and continued to hold the plane under control as I worked myself out that window. Soon I was entirely outside the ship, but still holding onto the wheel as I needed to tilt the plane right-wing high, as that #3 prop was still churning the air a very short distance behind me.

Then I let go – and immediately got clipped on my head by a tip of one of the propeller blades that knocked me out, but the cold air brought me to my senses before I hit the ground and I got my chute open in time. On the ground I found I was not seriously injured, and soon was taken prisoner.”

All members of the crew who were killed were initially buried at Roschwitz-Bernburg, Germany cemetery on 14 April 1944.

Later, in the spring of 1945, the US Military located and transported the remains to Margraten. On 20 May 1945 Foster was buried an an Unknown (X-730) in isolated grave Coordinates D-775640 at Margraten. His body was recovered from Roschwitz-Bernburg by United States Army's 603rd Quartermaster Group (Reg Co). However, between the recovery and re-burial Foster's identification was temporary lost.  The Quartermaster Corps had buried Foster (in his "unknown" condition) with another deceased but identified member of the crew, 1Lt Harold J. Wheatly. S/Sgt Blake was removed from this grave, identified by dental records and reburied at Margraten, at Plot R, Row 3, Grave 70 on 14 October 1946.

S/Sgt Foster Blake's grave at Margraten in the late 1940's.
(Picture courtesy of Mr. Byron Blake)
 

Still later (1947-1948) Foster's parents (Ernest and Julia H. Blake of Bradford, Vermont, USA) requested that Foster's body be shipped back to the United States for burial. Foster was disinterred from Margraten on 12 July 1948 and shipped home and to be reburied in Upper Plain Cemetery, Bradford, Vermont, USA on 24 October 1948.

1Lt Robert Stamos, 1Lt Harold Wheatly, S/Sgt Herbert Hill and S/Sgt Eugene Roop were similarly brought back to the United States. 1Lt Stamos is buried at Brigham City Cemetery, Brigham, Utah, S/Sgt Eugene Roop is buried in Tennessee.

T/Sgt Edward A. Wernicki is buried in Margraten. T/Sgt Andrew C. Graff lies in Ardennes American Cemetery.

S/Sgt Foster Blake's obituary in the local newspaper and his Purple Heart. (Picture by Mr. Byron Blake)

The survivors, 1Lt John D. Money, S/Sgt Wallace E. Kirschner, and S/Sgt Donald L. Young, are all now deceased. Lt. Money died around 1994, S/Sgt Young died in 1974 (he is buried in Denver, Colorado, USA) and S/Sgt Kirschner died in March of 2003.

Grave of T/Sgt  Andrew Graff at Ardennes American Cemetery. (Picture by Mr. Byron Blake)

 

Sources and Acknowledgements:
Mr. Byron Blake
Mr. Will Lundy, Historian 44th Bomb Group
44th Bomb Group Roll of Honor, Will Lundy, 2004
MACR #3848
The Mighty Eight War Diary, Roger A. Freeman, Arms and Armour, London, 1990

If you have any suggestions, comments or additional information, please contact me.

This website is dedicated to the men and women who died and/or are buried in The Netherlands during World War II.

 

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