Here Gene is pictured with his crew of the B-17 bomber Miss Chievious when assigned to the 15th Air Force, the 483rd Bombardment Group, (Heavy), the 816th Bomb Squadron operating out of Sterparone, Italy. His aircraft and his crew were shot down on 18 July 1944 over Buchenberg while on a bombing mission to Memminger, Germany. Crew member Charles Erickson was the soul survivor of the 10 man crew.

Below appear two documents written one day after the ill-fated raid, they speak for themselves:

Special Narrative Report,
Mission: 18 July 1944, Memminger A/D, Germany

I. Enemy Resistance.
a. Air. Our Group was alone when it arrived at the I.P. (initial point where bombing run begins) at 1045 hours and was immediately attacked by approximately 100 FW_190s, a few of which may have been Me-110s and Me-109s. They made their first pass from out of the sun at three o'clock and peeled off at 150yards. They immediately reformed and came in en masse from six o'clock, attacking our rear box. They flew in a stepped up javelin formation making it very difficult for anyone other than our tail gunners to fire at them. Their plan of attack fitted perfectly for our box in trail formation and they concentrated on one box at a time working from rear to front.

As they came in at close range, they seemed to throttle down and poured continuous rocket and 20mm fire into our formation. One rocket projector was observed under each wing and it was stated that when directly hit by a rocket a bomber would burst into flames immediately. A multitude of small white bursts were observed.

The attack lasted 20 minutes. The (our) fighter escort arrived about 8 minutes after the initial attack, and was very effective from then on, despite the fact that we were heavily outnumbered.

From the above encounters, our Group lost fifteen (15) aircraft, and claims the following victories: 54 destroyed, 8 possibles, and 5 damaged.
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and finally this communique from Col. Paul L Barton, Air Corps, Commanding:

19 July 1944
Memorandum: To All Personnel, 483rd Bombardment Group (H)

Yesterday this Group became engaged in an air battle with the German Air Force and suffered very heavy casualties. Normally in battles of this kind we are supported by several other bombardment and fighter groups. This time we stood alone! By ourselves, we shot down at a conservative estimate, many times our own number of German Fighters and still went in and destroyed our assigned target. We took our losses, severe as the were, but we fought and decisively defeated a large portion, possibly a third, of the cream of German Fighter Forces in Europe.

Gene awoke to the darkness of the early morning of 18 July, 1944. It was a Tuesday, the temperatures were to reach into the mid eighties, good flying weather. He dressed in his flight gear, ate breakfast, then attended the pilot briefing where he learned today’s effort was to be extensive. Twenty-eight B-17 bombers from five bomber groups were assigned the Memminger Airdrome. His group, the 483rd Bomber Group and the 301st Bomber Group were to join together over Severo some 10 miles northeast of their base at 0741 hours at 7000 feet. Gene’s group was based at Sterparone, Italy a newly established makeshift airfield in what then was used to grow olives.

Their target, Memminger Airdrome was used for major repair and assembly of Axis fighter planes. Our intelligemce reported perhaps 75 fighter planes were there being repaired. The possibility existed that they could put up as many as 240 fighters in their defense since there were numerous bases within the area capable of reaching Memminger quickly, Munich being 60 miles and Augsburg 40 miles. There also was the possibility that our bombers would draw another 40 fighters as they passed over Italy and the Austrian Alps in route to the target.

Seven escort groups were to shield our bombers providing top cover over the target area and were to secure their safe return to base.

A day earlier Gene’s squadron flew the lead position in a raid. As was customary they were positioned last in today’s raid. At about 10:30 am, exactly as planned our first raiding bombers and their fighter escorts arrived over the target area. At about 10:45 am Gene’s group arrived over Kempten, the gathering point about 19 miles from the target zone. They had somehow lagged behind the other raiding bombers, confusing our fighter escort who had moved on with the leading raiders. Part of the confusion might very well have been a radio message that “recalled" the 483rd, or aborted their mission. It is written by Gene’s squadron commander, Major Fred Ascani, that the deputy group commander ignored the recall order and pressed on to the target without fighter escort protection. Ascani was told this by radiomen taking part in the raid.

Axis fighters noted the lagging group was without protection and gathered 100 fighters, who began to attack our bombers from the rear. The attack lasted 20 minutes, during which time 38 of our fighters returned to the ill-fated group of bombers, however they were terribly outnumbered. German reports listed 150 Axis fighters or 4 times our number of escorting fighters. The plane that Gene piloted was brought down, all but one of his 10 member crew died that day. A total of 15 bombers were lost. One hundred and seventy of our boys were killed or injured and taken prisoner.

Gene along with 28 of his fellow airmen were given a proper burial in the Bavarian town of Buchenberg, Germany. Shortly after the war, on 17 May 1946 our fallen airmen were exhumed and brought home to American soil. A monument has been erected in Buchenberg honoring all who fell that day.

In my search for Gene’s story I came in contact with several gentlemen who are now part of a history club there in Buchenberg and were witness to the Battle over Buchenberg. Much to my astonishment I was told by one of the men that the lone survivor of “Miss Chievious”, Charles Erickson was still alive and here in America. Since then I’ve had several discussions with Charles Erickson regarding that day. He shared things about Gene that I was not aware of and presented me with a beautiful photograph of Miss Chievious and her crew. A family treasure.

War is hell......

Gene is resting with his mother and father here in Spring Grove Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut.