Henry Bernard Westhoff Jr, Army serial number 6974749, was born at Newburgh, Orange County, New York on July 25, 1917. He was the third of four children of Henry Bernard Westhoff Sr (9 Nov 1887 – 18 Sep 1960), who was born at Cologne, Germany and immigrated to America about 1911; and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (1895 – 17 Jul 1961), who was born at New York City, New York. His parents married at Newburgh, Orange County, New York on September 23, 1914. Henry Westhoff Jr was called 'Sonny' or 'Bernie' by his family and 'Hank' by his friends. He had two older twin sisters, Margaret and Catherine Westhoff, and one younger sister, Ruth J. (Westhoff) Sweeting. By 1920 the family lived at 246 Gertrude Street, Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, and his father was a bookbinder for the public library. By April 1935 the family lived at 719 Teall Avenue, Syracuse, New York. In August 1944 Henry Westhoff Sr moved his family to the house he bought at 103 Holiday Drive, Mattydale (Syracuse), New York.
Henry Westhoff Jr graduated from Eastwood High School in Syracuse, New York in 1935. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 30, 1939. He was 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighed 129 pounds. He reported for service at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York on June 1, 1939, and was sent to Cooks & Bakers School at Fort Slocum, Long Island, New York. He was then assigned as a cook at Mitchel Field on November 14, 1939. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on January 16, 1941; and to the rank of Staff Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on May 1, 1941. He applied for Army Air Corps pilot training in 1942, and in January 1943 was assigned to the Army Air Forces Classification Center at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. By March 1943 he was selected for pilot training. His Pre-Flight phase of training at San Antonio was delayed by his hospitalization for scarlet fever. On June 28, 1943 he began the Primary phase of pilot training at Corsicana, Texas, but washed out because of difficulty with landings.
He was sent to Army Air Forces gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, which he completed in November 1943. His next stop was the Army Air Base at Camp Kearns near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was assigned as an aerial gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Thomas Womer. In December 1943 the Womer crew was sent to Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona for initial B-24 crew training. On January 1, 1944 the Womer crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron, 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. The Womer crew flew B-24H 42-52662 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England 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. After arrival in England S/Sgt Westhoff was reassigned as tail gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron. 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 Westhoff 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.
S/Sgt Westhoff is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.
He has a cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Onondaga County. Westhoff, Henry. 6 Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 12 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 4 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. 1940 US Census; New York; Nassau County; Hempstead Township; Mitchel Field. Westhoff, Henry B (Private, US Army). 16 Apr 1940
6. American Battle Monuments Commission
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
11. Marriage record of Henry B. Westhoff Sr and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (his parents, married 23 Sep 1914 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York)
12. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
13. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See Our Missing, World War II, World War II Summary
14. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
15. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
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. Westhoff Jr, Henry B. Personal Papers and Letters (provided by Ruth J. Sweeting, his sister; includes a letter from the War Department dated 12 Apr 1948 which confirms that the Gross crew went down in the English Channel, thirty-five miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, on 6 Jun 1944)
18. World War I Draft Registration of Henry B. Westhoff Sr. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Henry Westhoff Jr graduated from Eastwood High School in Syracuse, New York in 1935. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 30, 1939. He was 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighed 129 pounds. He reported for service at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York on June 1, 1939, and was sent to Cooks & Bakers School at Fort Slocum, Long Island, New York. He was then assigned as a cook at Mitchel Field on November 14, 1939. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on January 16, 1941; and to the rank of Staff Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on May 1, 1941. He applied for Army Air Corps pilot training in 1942, and in January 1943 was assigned to the Army Air Forces Classification Center at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. By March 1943 he was selected for pilot training. His Pre-Flight phase of training at San Antonio was delayed by his hospitalization for scarlet fever. On June 28, 1943 he began the Primary phase of pilot training at Corsicana, Texas, but washed out because of difficulty with landings.
He was sent to Army Air Forces gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, which he completed in November 1943. His next stop was the Army Air Base at Camp Kearns near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was assigned as an aerial gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Thomas Womer. In December 1943 the Womer crew was sent to Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona for initial B-24 crew training. On January 1, 1944 the Womer crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron, 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. The Womer crew flew B-24H 42-52662 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England 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. After arrival in England S/Sgt Westhoff was reassigned as tail gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron. 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 Westhoff 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.
S/Sgt Westhoff is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.
He has a cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Onondaga County. Westhoff, Henry. 6 Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 12 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 4 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. 1940 US Census; New York; Nassau County; Hempstead Township; Mitchel Field. Westhoff, Henry B (Private, US Army). 16 Apr 1940
6. American Battle Monuments Commission
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
11. Marriage record of Henry B. Westhoff Sr and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (his parents, married 23 Sep 1914 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York)
12. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
13. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See Our Missing, World War II, World War II Summary
14. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
15. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
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. Westhoff Jr, Henry B. Personal Papers and Letters (provided by Ruth J. Sweeting, his sister; includes a letter from the War Department dated 12 Apr 1948 which confirms that the Gross crew went down in the English Channel, thirty-five miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, on 6 Jun 1944)
18. World War I Draft Registration of Henry B. Westhoff Sr. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Henry Bernard Westhoff Jr, Army serial number 6974749, was born at Newburgh, Orange County, New York on July 25, 1917. He was the third of four children of Henry Bernard Westhoff Sr (9 Nov 1887 – 18 Sep 1960), who was born at Cologne, Germany and immigrated to America about 1911; and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (1895 – 17 Jul 1961), who was born at New York City, New York. His parents married at Newburgh, Orange County, New York on September 23, 1914. Henry Westhoff Jr was called 'Sonny' or 'Bernie' by his family and 'Hank' by his friends. He had two older twin sisters, Margaret and Catherine Westhoff, and one younger sister, Ruth J. (Westhoff) Sweeting. By 1920 the family lived at 246 Gertrude Street, Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, and his father was a bookbinder for the public library. By April 1935 the family lived at 719 Teall Avenue, Syracuse, New York. In August 1944 Henry Westhoff Sr moved his family to the house he bought at 103 Holiday Drive, Mattydale (Syracuse), New York.
Henry Westhoff Jr graduated from Eastwood High School in Syracuse, New York in 1935. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 30, 1939. He was 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighed 129 pounds. He reported for service at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York on June 1, 1939, and was sent to Cooks & Bakers School at Fort Slocum, Long Island, New York. He was then assigned as a cook at Mitchel Field on November 14, 1939. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on January 16, 1941; and to the rank of Staff Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on May 1, 1941. He applied for Army Air Corps pilot training in 1942, and in January 1943 was assigned to the Army Air Forces Classification Center at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. By March 1943 he was selected for pilot training. His Pre-Flight phase of training at San Antonio was delayed by his hospitalization for scarlet fever. On June 28, 1943 he began the Primary phase of pilot training at Corsicana, Texas, but washed out because of difficulty with landings.
He was sent to Army Air Forces gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, which he completed in November 1943. His next stop was the Army Air Base at Camp Kearns near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was assigned as an aerial gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Thomas Womer. In December 1943 the Womer crew was sent to Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona for initial B-24 crew training. On January 1, 1944 the Womer crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron, 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. The Womer crew flew B-24H 42-52662 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England 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. After arrival in England S/Sgt Westhoff was reassigned as tail gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron. 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 Westhoff 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.
S/Sgt Westhoff is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.
He has a cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Onondaga County. Westhoff, Henry. 6 Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 12 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 4 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. 1940 US Census; New York; Nassau County; Hempstead Township; Mitchel Field. Westhoff, Henry B (Private, US Army). 16 Apr 1940
6. American Battle Monuments Commission
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
11. Marriage record of Henry B. Westhoff Sr and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (his parents, married 23 Sep 1914 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York)
12. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
13. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See Our Missing, World War II, World War II Summary
14. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
15. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
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. Westhoff Jr, Henry B. Personal Papers and Letters (provided by Ruth J. Sweeting, his sister; includes a letter from the War Department dated 12 Apr 1948 which confirms that the Gross crew went down in the English Channel, thirty-five miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, on 6 Jun 1944)
18. World War I Draft Registration of Henry B. Westhoff Sr. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Henry Westhoff Jr graduated from Eastwood High School in Syracuse, New York in 1935. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 30, 1939. He was 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighed 129 pounds. He reported for service at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York on June 1, 1939, and was sent to Cooks & Bakers School at Fort Slocum, Long Island, New York. He was then assigned as a cook at Mitchel Field on November 14, 1939. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on January 16, 1941; and to the rank of Staff Sergeant, Air Corps, at Mitchel Field on May 1, 1941. He applied for Army Air Corps pilot training in 1942, and in January 1943 was assigned to the Army Air Forces Classification Center at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. By March 1943 he was selected for pilot training. His Pre-Flight phase of training at San Antonio was delayed by his hospitalization for scarlet fever. On June 28, 1943 he began the Primary phase of pilot training at Corsicana, Texas, but washed out because of difficulty with landings.
He was sent to Army Air Forces gunnery training at Harlingen, Texas, which he completed in November 1943. His next stop was the Army Air Base at Camp Kearns near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was assigned as an aerial gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Thomas Womer. In December 1943 the Womer crew was sent to Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, Arizona for initial B-24 crew training. On January 1, 1944 the Womer crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron, 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. The Womer crew flew B-24H 42-52662 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England 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. After arrival in England S/Sgt Westhoff was reassigned as tail gunner on the crew of Lt Norman E. Gross in the 838th Bomb Squadron. 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 Westhoff 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.
S/Sgt Westhoff is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery.
He has a cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; New York; Onondaga County. Westhoff, Henry. 6 Jan 1920 (his father)
3. 1930 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 12 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; New York; Onondaga County; Syracuse. Westhoff, Henry. 4 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. 1940 US Census; New York; Nassau County; Hempstead Township; Mitchel Field. Westhoff, Henry B (Private, US Army). 16 Apr 1940
6. American Battle Monuments Commission
7. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
8. 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)
9. 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)
10. 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)
11. Marriage record of Henry B. Westhoff Sr and Margaret (Bahr) Westhoff (his parents, married 23 Sep 1914 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York)
12. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
13. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). See Our Missing, World War II, World War II Summary
14. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
15. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945
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. Westhoff Jr, Henry B. Personal Papers and Letters (provided by Ruth J. Sweeting, his sister; includes a letter from the War Department dated 12 Apr 1948 which confirms that the Gross crew went down in the English Channel, thirty-five miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, on 6 Jun 1944)
18. World War I Draft Registration of Henry B. Westhoff Sr. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Inscription
Wall of the Missing inscription:
WESTHOFF HENRY B JR • S SGT • 838 BOMB SQ 487 BOMB GP(H) • N Y
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from New York.
Family Members
Other Records
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