Flight Officer Milton Levine, Army serial number T-123014, was born at Revere (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts on February 18, 1917. He was one of five children of Harry Levine (abt 1889 – 1956) and Mae Levine (30 Mar 1893 – Apr 1981) (called Mamie). His father was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States about 1904. His mother was the daughter of Russian immigrants and was born in Massachusetts. His parents married about 1914. His father was a painter.
His siblings were Sidney Levine (abt Jul 1915 – 1963), Natalie Levine (abt 1921 – 2015), Daniel Levine (12 Feb 1924 – 21 Jan 1995), and Phyllis Levine (abt 1928 – 2016). By 1937 the family lived at 9 Landor Road, Mattapan (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
He completed four years of high school and worked as a printer. He registered for the draft at Boston, Massachusetts on October 16, 1940. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 143 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents at 9 Landor Road in Mattapan and was unemployed. He was single and worked as a skilled compositor and typesetter when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 24, 1942.
He completed Army Air Forces bombardier training in Class 43-14 at Big Spring, Texas, and received his wings and appointment as a Flight Officer on October 7, 1943. He was assigned as bombardier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. F/O Levine and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
Remains of Flight Officer Levine were found in the English Channel on July 3, 1944 by the crew of British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192), and were buried at sea in the English Channel that same day. The British did not give any details about the recovery or the condition of the remains, but the burial at sea was reported by a Staff Officer, Intelligence, C-in-C's Office, Portsmouth, England. A statement typed on the Report of Burial shows that the remains were identified by a photograph (an "escape photo") recovered with the remains, which was positively identified as being that of F/O Levine by friends and members of his unit. The identity was also confirmed by the laundry mark "3014" (last four digits of his Army serial number) found on a piece of clothing. An Army Air Forces insignia shoulder patch was also recovered.
None of the other crew members was ever found.
Flight Officer Levine and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Mattapan Precinct 2. Levine, Nathan. Jan 1920 (his father's father)
3. 1930 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 14. Levine, Harry. Apr 1930 (his father)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. Army Air Forces Collection of Mike Voisin. GYRO: Class Book for Army Air Forces Bombardier Class 43-14. Big Spring, Texas: Big Spring Flying School, 1943
6. Boston, Massachusetts City Directories, 1937 and 1939 (ancestry.com)
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. Enlistment Record of Milton Levine
9. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 March 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
10. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 January 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
11. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992; contains a map of the route of the three Bomb Divisions of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force on the morning of June 6, 1944)
12. Levine, Arthur. Personal Communication. Mar 2013 – Oct 2018 (his nephew)
13. Social Security Death Index
14. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
15. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka 293 File; obtained on 30 May 2013)
16. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
17. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
18. U.S. World War II Jewish Servicemen Cards, 1942–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
His siblings were Sidney Levine (abt Jul 1915 – 1963), Natalie Levine (abt 1921 – 2015), Daniel Levine (12 Feb 1924 – 21 Jan 1995), and Phyllis Levine (abt 1928 – 2016). By 1937 the family lived at 9 Landor Road, Mattapan (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
He completed four years of high school and worked as a printer. He registered for the draft at Boston, Massachusetts on October 16, 1940. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 143 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents at 9 Landor Road in Mattapan and was unemployed. He was single and worked as a skilled compositor and typesetter when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 24, 1942.
He completed Army Air Forces bombardier training in Class 43-14 at Big Spring, Texas, and received his wings and appointment as a Flight Officer on October 7, 1943. He was assigned as bombardier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. F/O Levine and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
Remains of Flight Officer Levine were found in the English Channel on July 3, 1944 by the crew of British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192), and were buried at sea in the English Channel that same day. The British did not give any details about the recovery or the condition of the remains, but the burial at sea was reported by a Staff Officer, Intelligence, C-in-C's Office, Portsmouth, England. A statement typed on the Report of Burial shows that the remains were identified by a photograph (an "escape photo") recovered with the remains, which was positively identified as being that of F/O Levine by friends and members of his unit. The identity was also confirmed by the laundry mark "3014" (last four digits of his Army serial number) found on a piece of clothing. An Army Air Forces insignia shoulder patch was also recovered.
None of the other crew members was ever found.
Flight Officer Levine and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Mattapan Precinct 2. Levine, Nathan. Jan 1920 (his father's father)
3. 1930 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 14. Levine, Harry. Apr 1930 (his father)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. Army Air Forces Collection of Mike Voisin. GYRO: Class Book for Army Air Forces Bombardier Class 43-14. Big Spring, Texas: Big Spring Flying School, 1943
6. Boston, Massachusetts City Directories, 1937 and 1939 (ancestry.com)
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. Enlistment Record of Milton Levine
9. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 March 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
10. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 January 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
11. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992; contains a map of the route of the three Bomb Divisions of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force on the morning of June 6, 1944)
12. Levine, Arthur. Personal Communication. Mar 2013 – Oct 2018 (his nephew)
13. Social Security Death Index
14. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
15. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka 293 File; obtained on 30 May 2013)
16. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
17. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
18. U.S. World War II Jewish Servicemen Cards, 1942–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Flight Officer Milton Levine, Army serial number T-123014, was born at Revere (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts on February 18, 1917. He was one of five children of Harry Levine (abt 1889 – 1956) and Mae Levine (30 Mar 1893 – Apr 1981) (called Mamie). His father was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States about 1904. His mother was the daughter of Russian immigrants and was born in Massachusetts. His parents married about 1914. His father was a painter.
His siblings were Sidney Levine (abt Jul 1915 – 1963), Natalie Levine (abt 1921 – 2015), Daniel Levine (12 Feb 1924 – 21 Jan 1995), and Phyllis Levine (abt 1928 – 2016). By 1937 the family lived at 9 Landor Road, Mattapan (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
He completed four years of high school and worked as a printer. He registered for the draft at Boston, Massachusetts on October 16, 1940. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 143 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents at 9 Landor Road in Mattapan and was unemployed. He was single and worked as a skilled compositor and typesetter when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 24, 1942.
He completed Army Air Forces bombardier training in Class 43-14 at Big Spring, Texas, and received his wings and appointment as a Flight Officer on October 7, 1943. He was assigned as bombardier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. F/O Levine and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
Remains of Flight Officer Levine were found in the English Channel on July 3, 1944 by the crew of British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192), and were buried at sea in the English Channel that same day. The British did not give any details about the recovery or the condition of the remains, but the burial at sea was reported by a Staff Officer, Intelligence, C-in-C's Office, Portsmouth, England. A statement typed on the Report of Burial shows that the remains were identified by a photograph (an "escape photo") recovered with the remains, which was positively identified as being that of F/O Levine by friends and members of his unit. The identity was also confirmed by the laundry mark "3014" (last four digits of his Army serial number) found on a piece of clothing. An Army Air Forces insignia shoulder patch was also recovered.
None of the other crew members was ever found.
Flight Officer Levine and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Mattapan Precinct 2. Levine, Nathan. Jan 1920 (his father's father)
3. 1930 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 14. Levine, Harry. Apr 1930 (his father)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. Army Air Forces Collection of Mike Voisin. GYRO: Class Book for Army Air Forces Bombardier Class 43-14. Big Spring, Texas: Big Spring Flying School, 1943
6. Boston, Massachusetts City Directories, 1937 and 1939 (ancestry.com)
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. Enlistment Record of Milton Levine
9. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 March 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
10. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 January 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
11. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992; contains a map of the route of the three Bomb Divisions of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force on the morning of June 6, 1944)
12. Levine, Arthur. Personal Communication. Mar 2013 – Oct 2018 (his nephew)
13. Social Security Death Index
14. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
15. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka 293 File; obtained on 30 May 2013)
16. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
17. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
18. U.S. World War II Jewish Servicemen Cards, 1942–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
His siblings were Sidney Levine (abt Jul 1915 – 1963), Natalie Levine (abt 1921 – 2015), Daniel Levine (12 Feb 1924 – 21 Jan 1995), and Phyllis Levine (abt 1928 – 2016). By 1937 the family lived at 9 Landor Road, Mattapan (Boston), Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
He completed four years of high school and worked as a printer. He registered for the draft at Boston, Massachusetts on October 16, 1940. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 143 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents at 9 Landor Road in Mattapan and was unemployed. He was single and worked as a skilled compositor and typesetter when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 24, 1942.
He completed Army Air Forces bombardier training in Class 43-14 at Big Spring, Texas, and received his wings and appointment as a Flight Officer on October 7, 1943. He was assigned as bombardier on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. F/O Levine and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
Remains of Flight Officer Levine were found in the English Channel on July 3, 1944 by the crew of British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192), and were buried at sea in the English Channel that same day. The British did not give any details about the recovery or the condition of the remains, but the burial at sea was reported by a Staff Officer, Intelligence, C-in-C's Office, Portsmouth, England. A statement typed on the Report of Burial shows that the remains were identified by a photograph (an "escape photo") recovered with the remains, which was positively identified as being that of F/O Levine by friends and members of his unit. The identity was also confirmed by the laundry mark "3014" (last four digits of his Army serial number) found on a piece of clothing. An Army Air Forces insignia shoulder patch was also recovered.
None of the other crew members was ever found.
Flight Officer Levine and the other officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery. The enlisted men are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Mattapan Precinct 2. Levine, Nathan. Jan 1920 (his father's father)
3. 1930 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 14. Levine, Harry. Apr 1930 (his father)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. Army Air Forces Collection of Mike Voisin. GYRO: Class Book for Army Air Forces Bombardier Class 43-14. Big Spring, Texas: Big Spring Flying School, 1943
6. Boston, Massachusetts City Directories, 1937 and 1939 (ancestry.com)
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. Enlistment Record of Milton Levine
9. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 March 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
10. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 January 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
11. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992; contains a map of the route of the three Bomb Divisions of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force on the morning of June 6, 1944)
12. Levine, Arthur. Personal Communication. Mar 2013 – Oct 2018 (his nephew)
13. Social Security Death Index
14. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
15. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka 293 File; obtained on 30 May 2013)
16. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
17. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
18. U.S. World War II Jewish Servicemen Cards, 1942–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Inscription
Wall of the Missing:
LEVINE MILTON • FLT O • 838 BOMB SQ 487 BOMB GP(H) • MASSACHUSETTS
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Massachusetts.
