Casualty of WWII, Jack Raper and
Ralph W Wright are buried together. They are memorialized at St. Mary Ashby Church near Somerleyton.
Ralph Wright and Jack Raper were the pilots of the B-17 which crashed on May 7, 1944 over Somerleyton in Suffolk near the East Anglian coastline. They were on a mission to Berlin along with 900 over bombers. One of the signal flares in the plane exploded and started fires that could not be contained. Wright rang the bail-out alarm. Jack Raper stayed, helping fight for control as the crew bailed out. Both Wright and Raper died, along with three other crew members who were trapped in the plane.
One surviving crew member stated in a letter he wrote shortly after the crash that he believed Wright and Raper would not abandon the three trapped crew members so they attempted to crash land. They could not drop the bombs they carried because they were over the town of Somerleyton. Two of the eight bombs went off in the crash which was the chance they took.
Lord and Lady Somerleyton unveiled a stone plaque to honor the crew on November 18, 1945. The stone is near the gate of the 13th century church Ashby St. Mary.
A memorial to the airmen killed when their aeroplane crashed during the Second World War (1939–1945) can be seen on Waddling Way, an un-metalled road to the East of the village which runs to Flixton, near Blundeston.On behalf of Jack Raper's family,the grave and the church have been visited by Ian and Pat Mills.
Jack entered the service from Alabama; his service no. was
O-815966.Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
349th Bomber Squadron, 100th Bomber Group, Heavy
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Ralph W Wright are buried together. They are memorialized at St. Mary Ashby Church near Somerleyton.
Ralph Wright and Jack Raper were the pilots of the B-17 which crashed on May 7, 1944 over Somerleyton in Suffolk near the East Anglian coastline. They were on a mission to Berlin along with 900 over bombers. One of the signal flares in the plane exploded and started fires that could not be contained. Wright rang the bail-out alarm. Jack Raper stayed, helping fight for control as the crew bailed out. Both Wright and Raper died, along with three other crew members who were trapped in the plane.
One surviving crew member stated in a letter he wrote shortly after the crash that he believed Wright and Raper would not abandon the three trapped crew members so they attempted to crash land. They could not drop the bombs they carried because they were over the town of Somerleyton. Two of the eight bombs went off in the crash which was the chance they took.
Lord and Lady Somerleyton unveiled a stone plaque to honor the crew on November 18, 1945. The stone is near the gate of the 13th century church Ashby St. Mary.
A memorial to the airmen killed when their aeroplane crashed during the Second World War (1939–1945) can be seen on Waddling Way, an un-metalled road to the East of the village which runs to Flixton, near Blundeston.On behalf of Jack Raper's family,the grave and the church have been visited by Ian and Pat Mills.
Jack entered the service from Alabama; his service no. was
O-815966.Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
349th Bomber Squadron, 100th Bomber Group, Heavy
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Casualty of WWII, Jack Raper and
Ralph W Wright are buried together. They are memorialized at St. Mary Ashby Church near Somerleyton.
Ralph Wright and Jack Raper were the pilots of the B-17 which crashed on May 7, 1944 over Somerleyton in Suffolk near the East Anglian coastline. They were on a mission to Berlin along with 900 over bombers. One of the signal flares in the plane exploded and started fires that could not be contained. Wright rang the bail-out alarm. Jack Raper stayed, helping fight for control as the crew bailed out. Both Wright and Raper died, along with three other crew members who were trapped in the plane.
One surviving crew member stated in a letter he wrote shortly after the crash that he believed Wright and Raper would not abandon the three trapped crew members so they attempted to crash land. They could not drop the bombs they carried because they were over the town of Somerleyton. Two of the eight bombs went off in the crash which was the chance they took.
Lord and Lady Somerleyton unveiled a stone plaque to honor the crew on November 18, 1945. The stone is near the gate of the 13th century church Ashby St. Mary.
A memorial to the airmen killed when their aeroplane crashed during the Second World War (1939–1945) can be seen on Waddling Way, an un-metalled road to the East of the village which runs to Flixton, near Blundeston.On behalf of Jack Raper's family,the grave and the church have been visited by Ian and Pat Mills.
Jack entered the service from Alabama; his service no. was
O-815966.Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
349th Bomber Squadron, 100th Bomber Group, Heavy
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Ralph W Wright are buried together. They are memorialized at St. Mary Ashby Church near Somerleyton.
Ralph Wright and Jack Raper were the pilots of the B-17 which crashed on May 7, 1944 over Somerleyton in Suffolk near the East Anglian coastline. They were on a mission to Berlin along with 900 over bombers. One of the signal flares in the plane exploded and started fires that could not be contained. Wright rang the bail-out alarm. Jack Raper stayed, helping fight for control as the crew bailed out. Both Wright and Raper died, along with three other crew members who were trapped in the plane.
One surviving crew member stated in a letter he wrote shortly after the crash that he believed Wright and Raper would not abandon the three trapped crew members so they attempted to crash land. They could not drop the bombs they carried because they were over the town of Somerleyton. Two of the eight bombs went off in the crash which was the chance they took.
Lord and Lady Somerleyton unveiled a stone plaque to honor the crew on November 18, 1945. The stone is near the gate of the 13th century church Ashby St. Mary.
A memorial to the airmen killed when their aeroplane crashed during the Second World War (1939–1945) can be seen on Waddling Way, an un-metalled road to the East of the village which runs to Flixton, near Blundeston.On behalf of Jack Raper's family,the grave and the church have been visited by Ian and Pat Mills.
Jack entered the service from Alabama; his service no. was
O-815966.Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
349th Bomber Squadron, 100th Bomber Group, Heavy
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Inscription
2 Lt 349 Bomb Sq 100 Bomb Gp (H)
Gravesite Details
This is one of two plots where the names are known but the bodies could not be separately identified; they are buried together and a bronze tablet records their details
Family Members
Other Records
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