From Florida, Ben was
transferred to Shepperd Field, Wichita Falls,
Texas to study "flying mechanics", then to
Boeing Aircraft in Seattle Washington to
graduate in "expert mechanics on assembly." Next
came Las Vegas Nevada where he earned his
Sergeant stripes after completing aerial gunnery
school in December 1942. From Las Vegas, he
went to Salt Lake City, Utah in January 1943 and
then to Ephrata Washington in February. He
arrived at Geiger Field, Spokane, Washington
where the 385th Bomb Group had recently been
activated and was assigned to crew # 5 of the
548th Bomb Squadron as 1st engineer on the
original crew of Lt. Paul Somers. In March, the
548th went to Lewiston, Montana for in-flight
training. Planes then flew to Kearny, Nebraska
to begin flying to arrive to Great Ashfield,
Suffolk England in mid-June.
The 385th Bomb
Group was transferred from the United States to
England in June, 1943. It began its operations
the next month, July, with missions to
Amsterdam, Bergen and Wernemunde, which all were
flown without loss.
On July 26, 1943,
the fourth mission of the group, Ben was loaned
to F/O Glenn Duncan for a mission to the
Continental Tire Factory in Hanover, Germany. The rest of the
crew consisted of:
CP-2nd Lt.
William L. Lehr
N-2nd Lt.
Wiliam H. Henderson
B-2nd Lt. Roy
J. Martines
TTG-T/Sgt.
Benjamin M. Purdy
RO-T/Sgt.
James E. Soward
TG- S/Sgt.
James E. Brophy
LWG-S/Sgt.
Charles E. Propst
RWG-S/Sgt.Frank
R. Ramsey
On mission
number 4, the Bomb Group was sent to Wesermunde,
for which the BG provided 21 planes, among which
the Duncan crew, flying in B-17 42-30281. On
this mission the BG encountered its first
fighter opposition by the German Luftwaffe and
three of its planes were lost. The crew of F/O
Duncan was one of them. They had to ditch their
plane into the North Sea but all ten crew were
lost.
It is not
exactly known what the circumstances were under
which the Duncan crew was lost.
The war dept
telegram stated T/Sgt Purdy was MIA over
Bremerhaven, Germany. A letter from the group
chaplain dated August 23, 1943, states "under
control flying low over water shooting flares."
A report from the Graves Registration in 1948
states "last seen over the North Sea about 40
miles North of East Frisian Islands". A letter
from Washington, dated February 24, 1949 says
"exploded and crashed in the North Sea". A
picture smuggled out through Spain appeared in a
Texas paper sometime between September 1943 and
August 1944. Some men are identified by their
families as Duncan's crew. This picture was
given to T/Sgt Purdy's family in 1949 by the
bombardier's wife who said the niece of the
co-pilot Lt. William Lehr, who worked for the
New York Times and got the original picture from
Spain and had it enlarged.
The family of
T/Sgt Purdy received this picture of a crew
taken PoW, which had apparently appeared in a
newspaper in the days following the loss of the
Duncan crew. It is thought that members of the
Duncan crew are identified on this picture,
although it cannot be said with any certainty.
Anyone who recognizes any person in this picture,
or who can answer the following questions: Who
took this picture? When was it taken? Where was
it taken? and what happened next?
is asked to
contact the webmaster.
As of yet
unidentified crew. The names on the picture are,
from left to right: T/Sgt. James E. Soward,
S/Sgt. Charles E. Propst, F/O Glenn F. Duncan,
S/Sgt. James E. Brophy, 2nd Lt. William L. Lehr,
unknown, T/Sgt Benjamin Purdy, Roy Martinez. Anyone who
recognizes anyone on this picture is asked to
contact the webmaster. A larger picture is available (Picture courtesy of Mrs. Lori Tardif)
T/Sgt Purdy
is mentioned on the Wall of the Missing at Margraten American Military
Cemetery.
His family
dedicated a stone in his memory at the
Massachusetts Veterans memorial Cemetery in
April 2005.
