War is hell, for all involved.

[Ack-Ack]

(Image removed from quote.)

I had a day to spend in DC last summer, spent most of it wandering around Arlington. This grave marker struck me...all these kids died at once, in one plane (B25...B26? dunno) Tried googling some history, found an event in Italy of some note, have no idea if it was these guys

If what you found mentioned Italy, then it wasn't the crew on the gravestone.  

The crew was onboard B-24D-53-CO "Big Chief Cockeye" (Serial Number 42-40351) on a weather reconnaissance mission when contact was lost after they radioed a weather report.  It was later found that the B-24 had crashed into a mountain on Ceram.  All but three of the crew perished, the three that survived were captured and executed by the Japanese garrisoned on Ceram Island.  Some of the crew, the ones not listed on the Arlington grave marker are buried in the Honolulu Cemetary.



ack-ack

[Guppy35]

(Image removed from quote.)

I had a day to spend in DC last summer, spent most of it wandering around Arlington. This grave marker struck me...all these kids died at once, in one plane (B25...B26? dunno) Tried googling some history, found an event in Italy of some note, have no idea if it was these guys

I believe what that means is those remains were co-mingled, and they were not able to separately ID them.  When they were brought home they were interred together.  As they didn't have DNA etc at the time, this was often a problem with crews that went down.

[BFOOT1]

Found this searching today


Flak damage completely destroyed the nose section of this Boeing B-17G, a 398th Bomb Group aircraft flown by 1Lt. Lawrence M. Delancey over Cologne, Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQSy4cRd4gk

[Ack-Ack]

I believe what that means is those remains were co-mingled, and they were not able to separately ID them.  When they were brought home they were interred together.  As they didn't have DNA etc at the time, this was often a problem with crews that went down.

It seems the crew that were separately identified were the ones buried in Hawaii, the ones that were executed by the Japanese.

ack-ack

[xNOVAx]

Speaking of B17's, my great uncle was shot down over Merseberg Germany Nov 2nd 1944. This is somewhat of a famous photo as it appeared in several newspapers during the war:



The link says it was hit by flak, but you can see bombs dropping and no flak bursts. Our family speculates that it was hit by a falling bomb.

http://486th.org/Photos/AC1/Hit.htm

That's him, back row on the far right. Ball turret gunner. He was 19. War is indeed hell.

[Guppy35]

I've always wondered about that crew.  Thanks for putting a face on them.  What a horrific image that is.

[bj229r]

If what you found mentioned Italy, then it wasn't the crew on the gravestone.  

The crew was onboard B-24D-53-CO "Big Chief Cockeye" (Serial Number 42-40351) on a weather reconnaissance mission when contact was lost after they radioed a weather report.  It was later found that the B-24 had crashed into a mountain on Ceram.  All but three of the crew perished, the three that survived were captured and executed by the Japanese garrisoned on Ceram Island.  Some of the crew, the ones not listed on the Arlington grave marker are buried in the Honolulu Cemetary.

(Image removed from quote.)

ack-ack

very cool, thanks