70 years ago today on April 13th 1944 on a bombing mission to Schweinfurt Germany. 6 out of 7 B17’s attached to the US 8th Air Force, 384th Bomb Group, 545th Bomb Squadron were shot down between the time of 13:54 and 13:57. The list below was given to me by Dewayne ‘Ben’ Bennett. He was the pilot of the only B17 from the 545th to make it back to their base that day. I had the honor and the privilege of knowing Ben. He helped me find information about my Uncle Joe who was a tail gunner with the Fioretti crew on the B17 Mrs. Geezil that was shot down that day. 4 out of the 10 men on my uncle’s plane were killed during the attack. My uncle survived but spent the rest of the war as a POW at Stalag 17B.
One thing Ben told me was that he wanted the men that lost their lives that day to be remembered. I told him I would do that. Along with the other information about that day’s mission, Ben sent me this list of those men. Ben pasted away in March of 2011. I miss him greatly.
I’m keeping my promise!
Schweinfurt dead 4-13-09.jpg
RIP Ben.
Semper Fi
Phil
I have also attched a link to Ben's story about that day.
An Aviation Masterpiece & The Story Behind It
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