COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
2ND LT WALTER J. GRENIER P POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 0-73319
2ND LT MICHAEL D'AMATO CP POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 0-745636
2ND LT SAUL TRAUNER NAV POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 0-671143
2ND LT DAVID H. PLANT BOM POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 0676319
T/SGT CARL H. PHILLIPS ROG POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 18160274
T/SGT HOWARD C. AUFSCHLAG TTE POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 33325502
S/SGT ANTHONY J. FUSCO BTG POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 12138211
S/SGT FRANCIS X. DONNELLAN RWG POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 31157034
S/SGT WILLIAM I. CHANG LWG KIA 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 39535646
SGT ROBERT N. SCHRUM TG POW 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART, CONCHES & EVREUX SN# 17086798
350th Sqdn.. This crew joined the 100th on 25 Aug 1943..
Lt Grenier is often referred to as "The Man who came to Dinner." Legend has it that he arrived at
Thorpe Abbotts and flew the above mission without having time to unpack. This may not be 100 percent accurate,
records indicate Lt Grenier and his crew were on the base about twelve days prior to the 6 Sep 43 mission.
None the less in 100th lore he is and will remain "The Man who came to Dinner."
MACR #687, Microfiche #227 A/C #42-30335 "SANS FINIS"
EYEWITNESS REPORT: "Saw A/C #335 at Colmar, France nose down through attacking fighers
with No 1 and No 3 engines dead. Eight chutes seen." Report from MACR and was made by Lt W.H. McDonald. (this is Lt Woodward Crew, not Grenier….mpf 2009)
Aircraft actually crash landed at Mönchweiler, Germany.
Dear Mike,
In searching for some more details about the Sans finis I run into an advertisement for the following book: Graf and Grislowski: A pair of Aces.
This also covers the activities 1943 of JG 50. Further on I have found that JG 27 II only was stationed at the base in Eschborn for a very short time, 20th of August to 12th of September 1943. Group commander had been captain Werner Schroer.
Regards
Dieter
The following documentation has beeen obtained from the Municipal Archiv of Mönchweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany File 67, Number AI 526
Mönchweiler 22nd of May 1946
Reference: Crash landing of an American airplane on 6th of September 1943
On 6th of September 1943 about 11 o'clock an American airplane touched down at the outskirts of the village in direction to Obereschach. It had been an airplane with four engines, which came along solo. Mister Haas, who had been Mayor at this time, had given me the information, that there had been one man injured during the crash landing. I immediatley hasten to the place where the airplane had touched down.
When I arrived, medical orderlies from the reserve military hospital at Königsfeld had already been there. The injured had been taken out of the airplane and had been addressed. The soldier had a stomach wound. He complained about heavy pain. I helped to put the injured on a strecher. Thereafter he had been transferred by motor ambulance to the military hospital for POW's at the Waldhotel in Villingen. The injured has been a big strong man with somehow chinese outlook.
Albert Marquardt.
Notes: Albert Marquardt has been the head of the local German Red Cross Organisation
Villingen: town 4,5 km to the south of Mönchweiler
Königsfeld: village 4 km north of Mönchweiler
Obereschach. Village 4 km east of Mönchweiler
Ernst Burgbacher police-officer Mönchweiler 22nd of May 1946
I have been one of the first men who arrived at the place of landing of the American airplane. The plane had made a belly landing and the landing gear had been torn off. When I came to the airplane the crew had disembarked and the heavy wounded man had been laid on the ground. I have heard that the airceaft had come under attack by German fighters over Rottweil. The two left engines had been shot to pieces. The airplane came from direction southeast from the area of Schwenningen. The crew consisted of 10 men. An officer presumably a captain could talk in broken German. Names of the prisoners have not been made known here. The American soldiers have been moved by German soldiers presumably to Villingen, 1 ½ hours after the accident occurred. The prisoners have been delt with correctly in every respect. At that time people from the village made a lot of pictures. I can no longer remember the number of the aircraft and other details. The airplane has been later dismantled by members of the Freiburg air-base and should have been brought to Paris.
Ernst Burgbacher
Notes: Rottweil town 30 km east of Mönchweiler
Schwenningen town 5 km southsoutheast of Mönchweiler
Swiss border is only about 30 km to the south
Translation by J. D. Pechmann July 19th 2009 dieterpechmann@gmx.de
To whom it may concern,
Im inquiring about a certain Ball Turrett Gunner, S/Sgt Anthony J. Fusco. On your website it lists him as a member of the Sans Finis flight crew that was shot down on Sept. 6th of 1943. I am inquiring for any information you may have on him, or anyway to obtain information about his career both before and after his time with the 100th.
Anthony J. Fusco was my uncle, my Grandmother's Brother. From what we know he was killed in Iran, and received the Purple Heart. I know he also served at Elmendorf AFB, in Anchorage, Alaska. Any information you may have on him, or any way of obtaining information would be greatly appreciated. Much of his life after he left to join the Air Force is unkown. And anything you could tell me would greatly help.
Please e-mail back as soon as possible.
Anthony Hazlett ahazlett57@yahoo.com
MEMO 2:
"Man who came to Dinner Crew" This Crew had been at Thorpe Abbotts only 12 days.
