Staff Sergeant Max Isadore Markowitz, Army serial number 32505004, was born at Bronx, New York City, New York on June 29, 1921. His parents were Julius Markowitz (15 Sep 1889 – 28 Aug 1977), who was born at "Youss" (possibly Iași), Romania and immigrated to America about 1903; and Mary (Rosenzweig) Markowitz (30 Apr 1894 – 23 May 1981), who was born in Romania and immigrated to America with her mother Amelia Rosenzweig about 1900. His father was a self-employed clothing merchant.
He had an older brother, Nathaniel Abraham Markowitz (29 Dec 1918 – 23 Oct 2006), and a younger sister, Gloria (Markowitz) Maurer (abt Oct 1929 – unk). In 1940 the family lived at 2727 Mermaid Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. His brother Nathaniel completed four years of college and worked as a pharmacy drug clerk at Liggett Drug Company in Manhattan. Max Markowitz completed four years of high school and worked as a pharmacy clerk, also at Liggett Drug Company.
He registered for the draft at Brooklyn, New York on February 16, 1942. He enlisted by 1943 and completed Army Air Forces radio operator and aerial gunnery training. He was then assigned to 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. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. S/Sgt Markowitz 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.
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.
S/Sgt Markowitz 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 on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Bronx County. Markowitz, Julius. Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Bronx County; Bronx Borough. Markowitz, Julius. 9 Apr 1930 (his father; surname transcribed Muskowitz in this census by familysearch.org)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Kings County; New York City; Brooklyn; Ward 16; 2727 Mermaid Avenue. Markowitz, Julius. 5 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
7. 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)
8. Markowitz, David. Personal Communication. 8 Mar 2013 (nephew of S/Sgt Markowitz; identified his uncle in the Gross crew photo)
9. Obituary of Nathaniel Abraham Markowitz (his brother)
10. Social Security Death Index
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 (see Our Missing – World War II – World War II Summary)
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (his crewmate)
14. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
15. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
16. World War I Draft Registration of Julius Markowitz. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Added bio 19 Oct 2012
Last edited 26 Oct 2024
Staff Sergeant Max Isadore Markowitz, Army serial number 32505004, was born at Bronx, New York City, New York on June 29, 1921. His parents were Julius Markowitz (15 Sep 1889 – 28 Aug 1977), who was born at "Youss" (possibly Iași), Romania and immigrated to America about 1903; and Mary (Rosenzweig) Markowitz (30 Apr 1894 – 23 May 1981), who was born in Romania and immigrated to America with her mother Amelia Rosenzweig about 1900. His father was a self-employed clothing merchant.
He had an older brother, Nathaniel Abraham Markowitz (29 Dec 1918 – 23 Oct 2006), and a younger sister, Gloria (Markowitz) Maurer (abt Oct 1929 – unk). In 1940 the family lived at 2727 Mermaid Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. His brother Nathaniel completed four years of college and worked as a pharmacy drug clerk at Liggett Drug Company in Manhattan. Max Markowitz completed four years of high school and worked as a pharmacy clerk, also at Liggett Drug Company.
He registered for the draft at Brooklyn, New York on February 16, 1942. He enlisted by 1943 and completed Army Air Forces radio operator and aerial gunnery training. He was then assigned to 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. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. S/Sgt Markowitz 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.
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.
S/Sgt Markowitz 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 on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Bronx County. Markowitz, Julius. Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Bronx County; Bronx Borough. Markowitz, Julius. 9 Apr 1930 (his father; surname transcribed Muskowitz in this census by familysearch.org)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Kings County; New York City; Brooklyn; Ward 16; 2727 Mermaid Avenue. Markowitz, Julius. 5 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
7. 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)
8. Markowitz, David. Personal Communication. 8 Mar 2013 (nephew of S/Sgt Markowitz; identified his uncle in the Gross crew photo)
9. Obituary of Nathaniel Abraham Markowitz (his brother)
10. Social Security Death Index
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 (see Our Missing – World War II – World War II Summary)
13. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (his crewmate)
14. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946
15. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
16. World War I Draft Registration of Julius Markowitz. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Added bio 19 Oct 2012
Last edited 26 Oct 2024
Inscription
MARKOWITZ MAX I • S SGT • 838 BOMB SQ 487 BOMB GROUP(H) • N Y
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Entered the service from New York.
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