349th Sqdn. Crew joined the 100th Gp on 28 Nov 1943.. Sgt Gordon Keon was the only enlisted man of this crew to participate in the Frankfurt mission of 4 FEB 44. Other aboard for this mission and their fate is a follows:

Ship suffered severe flak damage and had three engines out over the German-Belgian border. The crew, with the exception of William Kemp, who was apparently badly wounded, bailed out safely. Gordon Keon had a flak wound in one arm.

A statement by Theodore Kleinman after his return say the bail-out occurred about 10 miles SSE of Turnhout, Belgium and continues: "After contacting an underground unit I was placed in a house in Turnhout. Several days later I was told something in French concerning the rest of the crew. With my meager understanding of French, Kemp was unable to leave the ship due to severe wounds and he went down with the plane. A man was found by the Germans in the rear half of the ship with his head badly battered, but alive. I later received a report the man with the battered head died." German records in the MACR file confirm a badly wounded man found in the ship died in the hospital the following day. Top

349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group on 6 Jan 44 (Crew #40)

For 6 Mar 44 mission see MACR #3014, Microfiche #1019. They were flying A/C #42-30170 which had flown under three names: TORCHY 2nd, HOT SPIT, and MISS CARRIAGE.

On 6 Mar 44, Lt Frank C. Laver was the Navigator and a POW; Sgt Wilbur Trembley (Capt. James Stout crew), on his first mission, was the ROG and a POW; T/Sgt George W. Burton was the TTE and a POW; S/Sgt Anthony Ruda was the RWG and a POW, and S/Sgt Louis P. Savell was the BTG and a POW.

Eyewitness Account:
"At 1215 hours just north of Hanover an A/c believed to be #170. I.D. of this aircraft is not positive, it may have been #051."

The Germans buried Lt Montgomery (Coy I.) on 10 Mar 1944, noting the cause of death as crash/ burns...

Roeder Crew (MIlton Grabel) Top

349TH SQDN.. Crew joined the 100th on 12 Apr 44 - A/C 42-102648 - MACR 5172, Mcrofiche 1855

On the Berlin Mission #250 on 24 May 44, T/Sgt Milton Grabel was flying a TOGG and was KIA. This crew, except for T/Sgt Grabel, joined the 100th Group on 12/4/44. At that time, Lt James H. Maddox was the Bombardier. This was about the 10 mission for the crew...pw

Statement in MACR by Fred Cebalo -made in 1945 - follows:
Circumstances of loss of aircraft: On a raid to Berlin we were hit by fighters, ME 109s. They shot the left wing off. I was thrown back and trapped in the waist, fracturing my right leg. As I was trying to get out, the ship broke at the Ball Turret and tail section, I crawled to the door and jumped. I saw four other chutes as I was going down. I was caught immediately by civilians with a couple of soldiers upon landing. I was taken first to a barn, and then by a civilian to a doctor's house. There I saw the pilot and the tail gunner. We were joined about twenty minutes later by the left waist gunner and the ball turret gunner. The pilot's right foot was shot off, and they were amputating the shreds. He was also shot in the arm. We gave him our own morphine, for the Germans had none. The tail gunner was limping, possibly from a sprained ankle. Both the left waist gunner and I had broken legs. The ball turret gunner complained of his back. They had the pilot in a separate room, and the rest of us in the next room. The pilot who shot us down came in to question us, and thought me rude when I refused to answer his questions. He visited the pilot and left. About four hours later, the five of us surviving were taken into a truck along with other airmen who had just been shot down, about a mile down the road toward camp. An ambulance met us and took the pilot and another man off. I did not see him again. My mother received a letter from the pilot's folks, with a clipping from his home town paper saying that he had died of wounds.

Statement by Anthony P.Lombardi:
We were going to Berlin. Made land fall between Kiel & Hamburg. McElroy (BTG) was ordered into turret. I saw something whiz by my tail -asked what it was. Soon McElroy called on intercom to say the door fell off ball & he escaped falling out sans chute. He was ordered to radio room to complete mission.. I called out fighters at six o'clock as the navigator called an attack at twelve o'clock. We were also attacked at nine O'clock and the ship broke in half at the radio room. The radio operator (Goldstein) fell out without his chute. The ball turret gunner (McElroy) grabbed his chute and managed to put it on and save himself. Both waist gunners (Cebalo & Poklemba) bailed out and reached ground OK.

The ship broke again at the tail wheel well. That left me and the tail floating thru space. After riding the tail part way down, I bailed. When we got together later we came to the conclusion on how the other boys made out. The Navigator (Robison), Toggelier (Grabel) and Engineer (Eason) were killed by the fighters. The pilot (Roeder) and the Co-pilot (Lammers) were blown out of the cockpit. The pilot had a seat type chute but was shot up badly & later died. The co-pilot had no chute on. The four survivors spent a year at Stalag Luft #4 and finally made it home again."

Amiero Crew (Owen D. Stockton) Top

349th Sqdn. See MACR #3019 (Micro fiche #1021). Flying A/C #42 31731 on 6/3/1944.

This appears to be a "pick up" crew. Kilmer joined the 100th on 26/2/44 as an individual. Baer was from the original crew of V. Reed. Kovacs was a spare on original 100th Air echelon. Stockton was from the crew of J. W. Brown. Hobart Spires was from the original crew of Sam L. Barr. A. P. Rule on original crew of Leon R. Morgan.

Excerpts from a letter to Paul West 22 Feb 1994 from Sherman Gillespie, a cadet class mate of John W. Brown:
John Brown and I were in a group of twenty sent to Blythe, CA. Our orders read "Twin engine fighters" for assignment to light bombardment!!! We expected A-20s!!! We all ended up in B-17s for the duration....Brown and I were in "B" Flight Squadron 65 in flight training at Santa Ana, CA in 1942...He never told me much about his evasion, eventual capture and escape, this would make a real adventure yarn....only that the Germans kept him in solitary for a month trying to crack him -- wouldn't even give him salt to brush his teeth with...The Brown family may have pictures of him and a Belgian family taken before the Gestapo caught him...Sherm Gillespie 1994. Mr. Sherman Gillespie completed a tour as a pilot in the 418th Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group based at Shetteron Heath. 100th veterans will remember flying with the 96th by the "Square C" on the tail of their planes. The 96th was in the 45th Combat Wing of the 3rd Air Division and made many of the missions with the 100th of the 13th Combat Wing, 3rd Air Division.

Obituary: Lawrence Marion Pratt: Top
A funeral service for Lawrence Marion Pratt, 82, of Newark, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Newark Chapel of Henderson, Van Atta & Johnston Funeral Service, with the Rev. Robert L. Knox officiating. Burial will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Mr. Pratt, who served our country during World War II in the U. S. Air Force, 100th bombing group, 8th Air Force as a technical sergeant, B-17 engineer. He flew 25 missions over Germany and then retired from Martin Heating after 40 years, died June 25, 2003, at the Selma Markowitz Care Center of Hospice of Central Ohio. He was born Aug. 28, 1920, in Meigs County, to the late William D. and Daisy M. (Birch) Pratt. He is survived by his wife, Ada M. (Fitch) Pratt; son and daughter-in-law, Jerry W. (Karen) Pratt of Newark; grandchildren, Michelle J. (James) Hunt of Heath, and Brian W. (Amanda) Pratt of Clintonville; daughter and son-in-law, Marlene R. (Thomas) Armstrong of Newark; grandchildren, Scott L. (Jennifer) Armstrong of Newark; and Sarah E. Armstrong of Newark; brother, William (Betty) Pratt Jr. of North Lawrence; sisters, Audrey (Elmer) Crothers of Newark; Thelma (William) Spurr of Zenia, and Wilma (Al) D'Angelo of Canal Fulton; and great-grandchildren, Jonathan Tyler Hunt, Kyle Matthew Hunt and Maizy Margerite Pratt. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, David Pratt; and sister, Genevieve Johnson. Friends may call from 1 to 3 p.m. and 7 to 7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, 59 Fifth St., Newark.