Gunner S/Sgt. John W. West KIA
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Squadron: 66th Bomb Sq 44th Bomb Gp
Service# 35917694
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Pilot 1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil KIA
MACR #13574
Target: Neuberg, Germany
Mission Date: 19-Mar-44
Serial Number: #42-51907
Aircraft Model B-24
Aircraft Letter: B+
Aircraft Name:
Location: 10 miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany
Cause:Enemy aircraft
Crew of 11 7KIA 1WIA/DOW 3POW
A Jet Plane Assembly Factory was bombed this date by thirty-three of the 44th Bomb Group’s planes, with excellent results. Enemy opposition was nil, while our fighters furnished very good support. However, one of the 66th Squadron’s aircraft did not return.
Very little was learned at Headquarters as to exactly what happened to this crew. At 1503 hours, this crew was heard from at a point approximately ten miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany, and 55 miles east of the bombline. At this time, the pilot thought he would be able to make it back to friendly territory. He was observed to have two feathered engines. No further word was heard over VHF, and no additional information had been received at headquarters.
Lt. Bernard Bail, radar navigator and survivor of another bail out in June 1944, stated, “On this, my 25th mission, our plane was jumped by a couple of Me 109s. The entire crew, with the exception of four of us, was killed over Germany, near Stuttgart. The tail gunner, S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz, sustained a leg injury that necessitated amputation, which I witnessed. This young tail gunner later died of gangrene. I was present at his burial in the little town of Goppingen. The following day, Easter, services were held by the Germans and the three of us were permitted to attend.
“As for myself, I was wounded in my head and neck. I spent some time as a POW; later freed. Max Veitch and Walter Mosevich were freed separately, but all three of us by the 10th Armored Division.”
Max Veitch added: “We became a lead crew and were on our 18th mission when we were shot down over Germany. We were flying B+ a PFF ship (#42-51907). We had an 11-man crew on board. We were on the bomb run when we lost our #3 engine. After dropping our bombs on the target, we lost our #1 engine and had to leave the formation as we were losing altitude rapidly. “We called for fighter support, but none came. Our pilot ordered us to get rid of all the excess weight that we could. We headed back towards our lines. I was in the bomb bay throwing out all the excess stuff that I could, when I felt a large explosion and heat coming toward me from the rear of the ship. I grabbed my chest chute to dive out as the ship started down. I was able to get only one side hooked, but it carried me down okay.
“As I was floating down, I saw three German Me 109s following the ship down. I did not see it crash. I also saw only three other chutes going down on the other side of a river. I did not know who got out until that night when the German civilians got us together and took us to a town and put us in a small jail cell. “Our tail gunner’s leg [Schmitz] was shot up from his foot to his knee. Mosevich, our waist gunner, was shot in the arm and I was hit below the eye and in the hand. The ‘G’ Navigator, Lt. Bail, had minor injuries. “After about a week in that jail cell with only a loaf of bread and some water, two German soldiers came and escorted us to the railroad station in Stuggart. We got on a train and were taken to the town of Goppengen where there were four German hospitals. Sgt. Schmitz was operated on April 1, 1945 and died shortly afterwards. He was buried in a cemetery near the hospital. “We were liberated on 21 April 1945 by the 44th infantry. Sgt. Mosevich died a few years ago. As a side note, our navigator, Lt. James Haney, was in the 44th base hospital at that time and did not fly with us on this mission. Lt. Dudley Chase was his replacement. It was the first time for Lt. Bail to fly with our crew also.”
The following statement was made on 2 October 1947 by Willi Wagner, a lumberjack from Neubaerenthal: “On 19 March 1945 while working in the Hagenschiess forest, I observed an American bomber pursued and fired on by three German fighter planes. Thereupon the planes disappeared. Several minutes later, however, the bomber returned flying upside down at an altitude of approximately 40 meters only. As far as I could see a piece of the right wing with one motor had broken off. When the plane was just over the road leading from Wurmberg to Pforzheim-east I saw one crewmember falling out of the plane. On visiting the place where he crashed I discovered one deceased American whose parachute had failed to open. The plane itself continued its flight for approximately 2,000 meters and then crashed into the so-called ‘Hartheimer Rain.’ I heard a strong detonation and saw a dark smoke cloud at the place concerned.
“On the next day I found the charred remains of five or six bodies of the place of crash. The crewmember who had fallen out of the bomber was buried at the spot where he had crashed by Rudolf Sigricht, former postman and two other men from Neubaerenthal three or four days later as I have learned.
“Nothing is known to me with regard to the burial of the five or six bodies found among the plane wreckage.
“In June 1945 the deceased American who fell out of the plane was disinterred, examined and evacuated on a truck most probably to Pforzheim by a French team. I believe no identification was possible.”
Note: This statement’s identification number is AGRC case #4785, Evacuation #1F-1750.
Rob Fisk, a navigator who flew thirty missions with Howard Hinshaw’s crew, believes that Dudley Chase was killed by German civilians. Fisk’s son, Bradley Fisk, wrote: “Dudley Chase and my father were good friends at Shipdham. They had adjacent bunks in the same Quonset hut. Mrs. Chase would occasionally send cookies. To keep her son honest she would frost them with a D for Dudley or an R for Robert. Around the time my father rotated home, he received word that Dudley Chase had been shot down. Parachutes were seen, and my father held out hope for his friend. However, after Dad came home, he heard that when that section of Germany was
occupied by the Allies, the locals pointed out the location of the graves of several Allied airmen. One of these turned out to be Dudley Chase...Dad had heard that Chase had landed safely near another crewmember but that they had separated for safety. My Mom and Dad were told at Cambridge cemetery [during a 1983 visit] that Chase was captured and killed by civilians. His body was exhumed after the war and Dad was told that he bore the marks of multiple pitchfork wounds.”
Podojil Crew
1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Frederick M. Ritter Jr. Co Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Dudley S. Chase Navigator KIA
1st/Lt. Walter W. Crane Bombardier KIA
1st/Lt. Bernard W. Bail Radar-Nav POW, wounded
T/Sgt. Theodore H. Reichenbach
Engineer KIA
T/Sgt. Max Veitch Radio Op. POW
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. John W. West Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. Walter F. Mosevich Gunner POW
S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz Gunner Wounded, POW/DOW
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Squadron: 66th Bomb Sq 44th Bomb Gp
Service# 35917694
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Pilot 1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil KIA
MACR #13574
Target: Neuberg, Germany
Mission Date: 19-Mar-44
Serial Number: #42-51907
Aircraft Model B-24
Aircraft Letter: B+
Aircraft Name:
Location: 10 miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany
Cause:Enemy aircraft
Crew of 11 7KIA 1WIA/DOW 3POW
A Jet Plane Assembly Factory was bombed this date by thirty-three of the 44th Bomb Group’s planes, with excellent results. Enemy opposition was nil, while our fighters furnished very good support. However, one of the 66th Squadron’s aircraft did not return.
Very little was learned at Headquarters as to exactly what happened to this crew. At 1503 hours, this crew was heard from at a point approximately ten miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany, and 55 miles east of the bombline. At this time, the pilot thought he would be able to make it back to friendly territory. He was observed to have two feathered engines. No further word was heard over VHF, and no additional information had been received at headquarters.
Lt. Bernard Bail, radar navigator and survivor of another bail out in June 1944, stated, “On this, my 25th mission, our plane was jumped by a couple of Me 109s. The entire crew, with the exception of four of us, was killed over Germany, near Stuttgart. The tail gunner, S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz, sustained a leg injury that necessitated amputation, which I witnessed. This young tail gunner later died of gangrene. I was present at his burial in the little town of Goppingen. The following day, Easter, services were held by the Germans and the three of us were permitted to attend.
“As for myself, I was wounded in my head and neck. I spent some time as a POW; later freed. Max Veitch and Walter Mosevich were freed separately, but all three of us by the 10th Armored Division.”
Max Veitch added: “We became a lead crew and were on our 18th mission when we were shot down over Germany. We were flying B+ a PFF ship (#42-51907). We had an 11-man crew on board. We were on the bomb run when we lost our #3 engine. After dropping our bombs on the target, we lost our #1 engine and had to leave the formation as we were losing altitude rapidly. “We called for fighter support, but none came. Our pilot ordered us to get rid of all the excess weight that we could. We headed back towards our lines. I was in the bomb bay throwing out all the excess stuff that I could, when I felt a large explosion and heat coming toward me from the rear of the ship. I grabbed my chest chute to dive out as the ship started down. I was able to get only one side hooked, but it carried me down okay.
“As I was floating down, I saw three German Me 109s following the ship down. I did not see it crash. I also saw only three other chutes going down on the other side of a river. I did not know who got out until that night when the German civilians got us together and took us to a town and put us in a small jail cell. “Our tail gunner’s leg [Schmitz] was shot up from his foot to his knee. Mosevich, our waist gunner, was shot in the arm and I was hit below the eye and in the hand. The ‘G’ Navigator, Lt. Bail, had minor injuries. “After about a week in that jail cell with only a loaf of bread and some water, two German soldiers came and escorted us to the railroad station in Stuggart. We got on a train and were taken to the town of Goppengen where there were four German hospitals. Sgt. Schmitz was operated on April 1, 1945 and died shortly afterwards. He was buried in a cemetery near the hospital. “We were liberated on 21 April 1945 by the 44th infantry. Sgt. Mosevich died a few years ago. As a side note, our navigator, Lt. James Haney, was in the 44th base hospital at that time and did not fly with us on this mission. Lt. Dudley Chase was his replacement. It was the first time for Lt. Bail to fly with our crew also.”
The following statement was made on 2 October 1947 by Willi Wagner, a lumberjack from Neubaerenthal: “On 19 March 1945 while working in the Hagenschiess forest, I observed an American bomber pursued and fired on by three German fighter planes. Thereupon the planes disappeared. Several minutes later, however, the bomber returned flying upside down at an altitude of approximately 40 meters only. As far as I could see a piece of the right wing with one motor had broken off. When the plane was just over the road leading from Wurmberg to Pforzheim-east I saw one crewmember falling out of the plane. On visiting the place where he crashed I discovered one deceased American whose parachute had failed to open. The plane itself continued its flight for approximately 2,000 meters and then crashed into the so-called ‘Hartheimer Rain.’ I heard a strong detonation and saw a dark smoke cloud at the place concerned.
“On the next day I found the charred remains of five or six bodies of the place of crash. The crewmember who had fallen out of the bomber was buried at the spot where he had crashed by Rudolf Sigricht, former postman and two other men from Neubaerenthal three or four days later as I have learned.
“Nothing is known to me with regard to the burial of the five or six bodies found among the plane wreckage.
“In June 1945 the deceased American who fell out of the plane was disinterred, examined and evacuated on a truck most probably to Pforzheim by a French team. I believe no identification was possible.”
Note: This statement’s identification number is AGRC case #4785, Evacuation #1F-1750.
Rob Fisk, a navigator who flew thirty missions with Howard Hinshaw’s crew, believes that Dudley Chase was killed by German civilians. Fisk’s son, Bradley Fisk, wrote: “Dudley Chase and my father were good friends at Shipdham. They had adjacent bunks in the same Quonset hut. Mrs. Chase would occasionally send cookies. To keep her son honest she would frost them with a D for Dudley or an R for Robert. Around the time my father rotated home, he received word that Dudley Chase had been shot down. Parachutes were seen, and my father held out hope for his friend. However, after Dad came home, he heard that when that section of Germany was
occupied by the Allies, the locals pointed out the location of the graves of several Allied airmen. One of these turned out to be Dudley Chase...Dad had heard that Chase had landed safely near another crewmember but that they had separated for safety. My Mom and Dad were told at Cambridge cemetery [during a 1983 visit] that Chase was captured and killed by civilians. His body was exhumed after the war and Dad was told that he bore the marks of multiple pitchfork wounds.”
Podojil Crew
1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Frederick M. Ritter Jr. Co Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Dudley S. Chase Navigator KIA
1st/Lt. Walter W. Crane Bombardier KIA
1st/Lt. Bernard W. Bail Radar-Nav POW, wounded
T/Sgt. Theodore H. Reichenbach
Engineer KIA
T/Sgt. Max Veitch Radio Op. POW
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. John W. West Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. Walter F. Mosevich Gunner POW
S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz Gunner Wounded, POW/DOW
Gunner S/Sgt. John W. West KIA
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Squadron: 66th Bomb Sq 44th Bomb Gp
Service# 35917694
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Pilot 1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil KIA
MACR #13574
Target: Neuberg, Germany
Mission Date: 19-Mar-44
Serial Number: #42-51907
Aircraft Model B-24
Aircraft Letter: B+
Aircraft Name:
Location: 10 miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany
Cause:Enemy aircraft
Crew of 11 7KIA 1WIA/DOW 3POW
A Jet Plane Assembly Factory was bombed this date by thirty-three of the 44th Bomb Group’s planes, with excellent results. Enemy opposition was nil, while our fighters furnished very good support. However, one of the 66th Squadron’s aircraft did not return.
Very little was learned at Headquarters as to exactly what happened to this crew. At 1503 hours, this crew was heard from at a point approximately ten miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany, and 55 miles east of the bombline. At this time, the pilot thought he would be able to make it back to friendly territory. He was observed to have two feathered engines. No further word was heard over VHF, and no additional information had been received at headquarters.
Lt. Bernard Bail, radar navigator and survivor of another bail out in June 1944, stated, “On this, my 25th mission, our plane was jumped by a couple of Me 109s. The entire crew, with the exception of four of us, was killed over Germany, near Stuttgart. The tail gunner, S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz, sustained a leg injury that necessitated amputation, which I witnessed. This young tail gunner later died of gangrene. I was present at his burial in the little town of Goppingen. The following day, Easter, services were held by the Germans and the three of us were permitted to attend.
“As for myself, I was wounded in my head and neck. I spent some time as a POW; later freed. Max Veitch and Walter Mosevich were freed separately, but all three of us by the 10th Armored Division.”
Max Veitch added: “We became a lead crew and were on our 18th mission when we were shot down over Germany. We were flying B+ a PFF ship (#42-51907). We had an 11-man crew on board. We were on the bomb run when we lost our #3 engine. After dropping our bombs on the target, we lost our #1 engine and had to leave the formation as we were losing altitude rapidly. “We called for fighter support, but none came. Our pilot ordered us to get rid of all the excess weight that we could. We headed back towards our lines. I was in the bomb bay throwing out all the excess stuff that I could, when I felt a large explosion and heat coming toward me from the rear of the ship. I grabbed my chest chute to dive out as the ship started down. I was able to get only one side hooked, but it carried me down okay.
“As I was floating down, I saw three German Me 109s following the ship down. I did not see it crash. I also saw only three other chutes going down on the other side of a river. I did not know who got out until that night when the German civilians got us together and took us to a town and put us in a small jail cell. “Our tail gunner’s leg [Schmitz] was shot up from his foot to his knee. Mosevich, our waist gunner, was shot in the arm and I was hit below the eye and in the hand. The ‘G’ Navigator, Lt. Bail, had minor injuries. “After about a week in that jail cell with only a loaf of bread and some water, two German soldiers came and escorted us to the railroad station in Stuggart. We got on a train and were taken to the town of Goppengen where there were four German hospitals. Sgt. Schmitz was operated on April 1, 1945 and died shortly afterwards. He was buried in a cemetery near the hospital. “We were liberated on 21 April 1945 by the 44th infantry. Sgt. Mosevich died a few years ago. As a side note, our navigator, Lt. James Haney, was in the 44th base hospital at that time and did not fly with us on this mission. Lt. Dudley Chase was his replacement. It was the first time for Lt. Bail to fly with our crew also.”
The following statement was made on 2 October 1947 by Willi Wagner, a lumberjack from Neubaerenthal: “On 19 March 1945 while working in the Hagenschiess forest, I observed an American bomber pursued and fired on by three German fighter planes. Thereupon the planes disappeared. Several minutes later, however, the bomber returned flying upside down at an altitude of approximately 40 meters only. As far as I could see a piece of the right wing with one motor had broken off. When the plane was just over the road leading from Wurmberg to Pforzheim-east I saw one crewmember falling out of the plane. On visiting the place where he crashed I discovered one deceased American whose parachute had failed to open. The plane itself continued its flight for approximately 2,000 meters and then crashed into the so-called ‘Hartheimer Rain.’ I heard a strong detonation and saw a dark smoke cloud at the place concerned.
“On the next day I found the charred remains of five or six bodies of the place of crash. The crewmember who had fallen out of the bomber was buried at the spot where he had crashed by Rudolf Sigricht, former postman and two other men from Neubaerenthal three or four days later as I have learned.
“Nothing is known to me with regard to the burial of the five or six bodies found among the plane wreckage.
“In June 1945 the deceased American who fell out of the plane was disinterred, examined and evacuated on a truck most probably to Pforzheim by a French team. I believe no identification was possible.”
Note: This statement’s identification number is AGRC case #4785, Evacuation #1F-1750.
Rob Fisk, a navigator who flew thirty missions with Howard Hinshaw’s crew, believes that Dudley Chase was killed by German civilians. Fisk’s son, Bradley Fisk, wrote: “Dudley Chase and my father were good friends at Shipdham. They had adjacent bunks in the same Quonset hut. Mrs. Chase would occasionally send cookies. To keep her son honest she would frost them with a D for Dudley or an R for Robert. Around the time my father rotated home, he received word that Dudley Chase had been shot down. Parachutes were seen, and my father held out hope for his friend. However, after Dad came home, he heard that when that section of Germany was
occupied by the Allies, the locals pointed out the location of the graves of several Allied airmen. One of these turned out to be Dudley Chase...Dad had heard that Chase had landed safely near another crewmember but that they had separated for safety. My Mom and Dad were told at Cambridge cemetery [during a 1983 visit] that Chase was captured and killed by civilians. His body was exhumed after the war and Dad was told that he bore the marks of multiple pitchfork wounds.”
Podojil Crew
1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Frederick M. Ritter Jr. Co Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Dudley S. Chase Navigator KIA
1st/Lt. Walter W. Crane Bombardier KIA
1st/Lt. Bernard W. Bail Radar-Nav POW, wounded
T/Sgt. Theodore H. Reichenbach
Engineer KIA
T/Sgt. Max Veitch Radio Op. POW
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. John W. West Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. Walter F. Mosevich Gunner POW
S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz Gunner Wounded, POW/DOW
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Squadron: 66th Bomb Sq 44th Bomb Gp
Service# 35917694
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Pilot 1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil KIA
MACR #13574
Target: Neuberg, Germany
Mission Date: 19-Mar-44
Serial Number: #42-51907
Aircraft Model B-24
Aircraft Letter: B+
Aircraft Name:
Location: 10 miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany
Cause:Enemy aircraft
Crew of 11 7KIA 1WIA/DOW 3POW
A Jet Plane Assembly Factory was bombed this date by thirty-three of the 44th Bomb Group’s planes, with excellent results. Enemy opposition was nil, while our fighters furnished very good support. However, one of the 66th Squadron’s aircraft did not return.
Very little was learned at Headquarters as to exactly what happened to this crew. At 1503 hours, this crew was heard from at a point approximately ten miles southwest of Stuttgart, Germany, and 55 miles east of the bombline. At this time, the pilot thought he would be able to make it back to friendly territory. He was observed to have two feathered engines. No further word was heard over VHF, and no additional information had been received at headquarters.
Lt. Bernard Bail, radar navigator and survivor of another bail out in June 1944, stated, “On this, my 25th mission, our plane was jumped by a couple of Me 109s. The entire crew, with the exception of four of us, was killed over Germany, near Stuttgart. The tail gunner, S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz, sustained a leg injury that necessitated amputation, which I witnessed. This young tail gunner later died of gangrene. I was present at his burial in the little town of Goppingen. The following day, Easter, services were held by the Germans and the three of us were permitted to attend.
“As for myself, I was wounded in my head and neck. I spent some time as a POW; later freed. Max Veitch and Walter Mosevich were freed separately, but all three of us by the 10th Armored Division.”
Max Veitch added: “We became a lead crew and were on our 18th mission when we were shot down over Germany. We were flying B+ a PFF ship (#42-51907). We had an 11-man crew on board. We were on the bomb run when we lost our #3 engine. After dropping our bombs on the target, we lost our #1 engine and had to leave the formation as we were losing altitude rapidly. “We called for fighter support, but none came. Our pilot ordered us to get rid of all the excess weight that we could. We headed back towards our lines. I was in the bomb bay throwing out all the excess stuff that I could, when I felt a large explosion and heat coming toward me from the rear of the ship. I grabbed my chest chute to dive out as the ship started down. I was able to get only one side hooked, but it carried me down okay.
“As I was floating down, I saw three German Me 109s following the ship down. I did not see it crash. I also saw only three other chutes going down on the other side of a river. I did not know who got out until that night when the German civilians got us together and took us to a town and put us in a small jail cell. “Our tail gunner’s leg [Schmitz] was shot up from his foot to his knee. Mosevich, our waist gunner, was shot in the arm and I was hit below the eye and in the hand. The ‘G’ Navigator, Lt. Bail, had minor injuries. “After about a week in that jail cell with only a loaf of bread and some water, two German soldiers came and escorted us to the railroad station in Stuggart. We got on a train and were taken to the town of Goppengen where there were four German hospitals. Sgt. Schmitz was operated on April 1, 1945 and died shortly afterwards. He was buried in a cemetery near the hospital. “We were liberated on 21 April 1945 by the 44th infantry. Sgt. Mosevich died a few years ago. As a side note, our navigator, Lt. James Haney, was in the 44th base hospital at that time and did not fly with us on this mission. Lt. Dudley Chase was his replacement. It was the first time for Lt. Bail to fly with our crew also.”
The following statement was made on 2 October 1947 by Willi Wagner, a lumberjack from Neubaerenthal: “On 19 March 1945 while working in the Hagenschiess forest, I observed an American bomber pursued and fired on by three German fighter planes. Thereupon the planes disappeared. Several minutes later, however, the bomber returned flying upside down at an altitude of approximately 40 meters only. As far as I could see a piece of the right wing with one motor had broken off. When the plane was just over the road leading from Wurmberg to Pforzheim-east I saw one crewmember falling out of the plane. On visiting the place where he crashed I discovered one deceased American whose parachute had failed to open. The plane itself continued its flight for approximately 2,000 meters and then crashed into the so-called ‘Hartheimer Rain.’ I heard a strong detonation and saw a dark smoke cloud at the place concerned.
“On the next day I found the charred remains of five or six bodies of the place of crash. The crewmember who had fallen out of the bomber was buried at the spot where he had crashed by Rudolf Sigricht, former postman and two other men from Neubaerenthal three or four days later as I have learned.
“Nothing is known to me with regard to the burial of the five or six bodies found among the plane wreckage.
“In June 1945 the deceased American who fell out of the plane was disinterred, examined and evacuated on a truck most probably to Pforzheim by a French team. I believe no identification was possible.”
Note: This statement’s identification number is AGRC case #4785, Evacuation #1F-1750.
Rob Fisk, a navigator who flew thirty missions with Howard Hinshaw’s crew, believes that Dudley Chase was killed by German civilians. Fisk’s son, Bradley Fisk, wrote: “Dudley Chase and my father were good friends at Shipdham. They had adjacent bunks in the same Quonset hut. Mrs. Chase would occasionally send cookies. To keep her son honest she would frost them with a D for Dudley or an R for Robert. Around the time my father rotated home, he received word that Dudley Chase had been shot down. Parachutes were seen, and my father held out hope for his friend. However, after Dad came home, he heard that when that section of Germany was
occupied by the Allies, the locals pointed out the location of the graves of several Allied airmen. One of these turned out to be Dudley Chase...Dad had heard that Chase had landed safely near another crewmember but that they had separated for safety. My Mom and Dad were told at Cambridge cemetery [during a 1983 visit] that Chase was captured and killed by civilians. His body was exhumed after the war and Dad was told that he bore the marks of multiple pitchfork wounds.”
Podojil Crew
1st/Lt. Robert J. Podojil Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Frederick M. Ritter Jr. Co Pilot KIA
1st/Lt. Dudley S. Chase Navigator KIA
1st/Lt. Walter W. Crane Bombardier KIA
1st/Lt. Bernard W. Bail Radar-Nav POW, wounded
T/Sgt. Theodore H. Reichenbach
Engineer KIA
T/Sgt. Max Veitch Radio Op. POW
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. William N. Clark Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. John W. West Gunner KIA
S/Sgt. Walter F. Mosevich Gunner POW
S/Sgt. Norbert J. Schmitz Gunner Wounded, POW/DOW
Inscription
SSGT, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
