Sergeant Harold Oliver Allensworth, Army serial number 38541748, was born at Lexington, Cleveland County, Oklahoma (35 miles south of Oklahoma City) on June 29, 1925. His parents were Oliver Armstrong Allensworth (14 Nov 1898 – 21 Apr 1989) and Ara Velma (Cheek) Allensworth (9 Dec 1907 – 8 Dec 1987), who were born in Oklahoma. His parents married at McClain County, Oklahoma on October 12, 1923. He had a younger brother, Bill Allensworth (1931 – 2022). By April 1940 the family lived at 5910 Schuler Street, Houston, Harris County, Texas, and his father worked as a welder.
He completed four years of high school and registered for the draft at Houston, Texas on June 29, 1943. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents in Houston and was employed by Shudde Brothers Hat Company on Travis Street in Houston. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Houston, Texas on August 10, 1943. His home of record was 328 Bob Street, Houston, Texas, his mother's address in 1944.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, and was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. This Group was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Sgt Allensworth was assigned as ball turret gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the Group after mid-April 1944, when the Gross crew arrived in England. Here is the crew roster 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. Sgt Allensworth 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 of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt Allensworth is memorialized along with his five enlisted crewmates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1940 US Census; Texas; Harris County; Houston; 5910 Schuler. Allensworth, Oliver. 20 Apr 1940 (father of Harold O. Allensworth)
3. Allensworth, Bob. Personal Communication. Jul 2013 (nephew of Harold O. Allensworth)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
6. Enlistment Record of Harold O. Allensworth
7. Harold Oliver Allensworth (1925 – 1944) in Bob Allensworth family tree (ancestry.com)
8. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (new imprint by the Center
for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
9. Social Security Death Index
10. Texas Death Records
11. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
12. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
14. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945 (ancestry.com)
15. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
16. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
He completed four years of high school and registered for the draft at Houston, Texas on June 29, 1943. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents in Houston and was employed by Shudde Brothers Hat Company on Travis Street in Houston. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Houston, Texas on August 10, 1943. His home of record was 328 Bob Street, Houston, Texas, his mother's address in 1944.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, and was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. This Group was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Sgt Allensworth was assigned as ball turret gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the Group after mid-April 1944, when the Gross crew arrived in England. Here is the crew roster 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. Sgt Allensworth 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 of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt Allensworth is memorialized along with his five enlisted crewmates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1940 US Census; Texas; Harris County; Houston; 5910 Schuler. Allensworth, Oliver. 20 Apr 1940 (father of Harold O. Allensworth)
3. Allensworth, Bob. Personal Communication. Jul 2013 (nephew of Harold O. Allensworth)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
6. Enlistment Record of Harold O. Allensworth
7. Harold Oliver Allensworth (1925 – 1944) in Bob Allensworth family tree (ancestry.com)
8. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (new imprint by the Center
for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
9. Social Security Death Index
10. Texas Death Records
11. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
12. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
14. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945 (ancestry.com)
15. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
16. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Sergeant Harold Oliver Allensworth, Army serial number 38541748, was born at Lexington, Cleveland County, Oklahoma (35 miles south of Oklahoma City) on June 29, 1925. His parents were Oliver Armstrong Allensworth (14 Nov 1898 – 21 Apr 1989) and Ara Velma (Cheek) Allensworth (9 Dec 1907 – 8 Dec 1987), who were born in Oklahoma. His parents married at McClain County, Oklahoma on October 12, 1923. He had a younger brother, Bill Allensworth (1931 – 2022). By April 1940 the family lived at 5910 Schuler Street, Houston, Harris County, Texas, and his father worked as a welder.
He completed four years of high school and registered for the draft at Houston, Texas on June 29, 1943. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents in Houston and was employed by Shudde Brothers Hat Company on Travis Street in Houston. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Houston, Texas on August 10, 1943. His home of record was 328 Bob Street, Houston, Texas, his mother's address in 1944.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, and was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. This Group was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Sgt Allensworth was assigned as ball turret gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the Group after mid-April 1944, when the Gross crew arrived in England. Here is the crew roster 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. Sgt Allensworth 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 of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt Allensworth is memorialized along with his five enlisted crewmates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1940 US Census; Texas; Harris County; Houston; 5910 Schuler. Allensworth, Oliver. 20 Apr 1940 (father of Harold O. Allensworth)
3. Allensworth, Bob. Personal Communication. Jul 2013 (nephew of Harold O. Allensworth)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
6. Enlistment Record of Harold O. Allensworth
7. Harold Oliver Allensworth (1925 – 1944) in Bob Allensworth family tree (ancestry.com)
8. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (new imprint by the Center
for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
9. Social Security Death Index
10. Texas Death Records
11. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
12. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
14. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945 (ancestry.com)
15. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
16. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
He completed four years of high school and registered for the draft at Houston, Texas on June 29, 1943. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he lived with his parents in Houston and was employed by Shudde Brothers Hat Company on Travis Street in Houston. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Houston, Texas on August 10, 1943. His home of record was 328 Bob Street, Houston, Texas, his mother's address in 1944.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, and was assigned to the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. This Group was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Sgt Allensworth was assigned as ball turret gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the Group after mid-April 1944, when the Gross crew arrived in England. Here is the crew roster 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. Sgt Allensworth 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 of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt Allensworth is memorialized along with his five enlisted crewmates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1940 US Census; Texas; Harris County; Houston; 5910 Schuler. Allensworth, Oliver. 20 Apr 1940 (father of Harold O. Allensworth)
3. Allensworth, Bob. Personal Communication. Jul 2013 (nephew of Harold O. Allensworth)
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
6. Enlistment Record of Harold O. Allensworth
7. Harold Oliver Allensworth (1925 – 1944) in Bob Allensworth family tree (ancestry.com)
8. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (new imprint by the Center
for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
9. Social Security Death Index
10. Texas Death Records
11. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
12. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
14. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945 (ancestry.com)
15. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
16. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Inscription
ALLENSWORTH HAROLD O • SGT • 838 BOMB SQ • 487 BOMB GP(H) • TEXAS
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Texas.
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