Arthur F. PRICE
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NUMBER OF SERVICE | 20937557 | ||||||
AGE | 25 yo | ||||||
DATE OF BIRTH | 1919 | ||||||
ETAT | Portland, OREGON | ||||||
FAMILY | Single | ||||||
RANK | 2nd Lieutenant | ||||||
FONCTION | Bomber | ||||||
JOB BEFORE ENLISTEMENT | |||||||
DATE of ENLISTEMENT | 16 September 1940 | ||||||
SQUADRON | 412th Bomb Squadron | ||||||
GROUP | 95th Bomb Group | ||||||
ARMY | 8th US Air Force | ||||||
DATE OF DEATH | 10 July 1943 | ||||||
STATUS | KIA | ||||||
PLACE OF DEATH | Saint Didier des Bois See crash map | ||||||
DATA PLAN |
B 17 Fortress - Type F-85 BO s/n 42-30105 QW-R Carré B Macr: 4902 Mission: Le Bourget (93) Take off 6h00 station 119 Horham, Suffolk UK Shot by the hunt at 08:15 - Engines 3 and 4 on fire Partially evacuated plane - explodes in flight and falls on the village | ||||||
CEMETERY | NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY of Colleville | ||||||
GRAVE |
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DECORATION |
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STORY | |||||||
The formation flies at an altitude of 23000 feet with the B17 #230705 named « Slightly Dangerous as a leader, when it is attacked by Luftwaffe fighters. The co-pilot Mac Cowen, aboard the leading plane, sees seven to eight Messerschmitt ME109 fighters (also known as Bf109) shooting at his plane.
Two of its engines are hit, they go on fire. The plane is immediately into trouble, it loses altitude and speed. It becomes obvious it will crash since it is desintegrating due to the vibrations and then the explosions. Some inhabitants of La Haye-Malherbe see some parachutes open while others candle. Incandescent materials fall onto our village while a huge piece of the fuselage falls not far from the war memorial. In the plane's fall, a big-calibermachine gun got loose from the cabin and fall through the roof of a house rue de la Baronnerie. Dreadfully disfigured bodies were found here and there. Inside the plane's tail a 18 year-old gunner lost his life, as did 5 out of the 10 men who composed this bomber crew. One of them fell from the plane and crashed in M. Meslin's garden ; as for the pilot, he is found burned to death piloting the B17 of which a big part fell in the small valey behind the rue de la Baronnerie. Miraculously, the bombs carried inside the aircraft did not blow up. This plane, just like the other bombers of this mission, went on to an objective with several ns of it. An explosion of its cargo would have provoked an absolute carnage. Everybody in Saint Didier des Bois witnessed the tragedy, however, very few saw the parachutes open while the aircraft fell. Theses survivirs are Mr. Hardink and Mr. Ruskaas well as two other crew members. The first one will be taken care of by Adonat Mercier and Fernand Prévost, garage-owner in Saint Didier. The second, recovered at the foot of a burning apple tree down the Chemin d'Ageronne, by Germaine Diénis and her sister Andrée with the help of Albert Bécherel.Germaine will get rid of the parachute by throwing it into the flames, which will make the Germans think its owner was burned to death, since they found only fragments.
Paul Ruska came back in Saint Didier des Bois in 1973. A ceremony was organized in the Town Hall by Mr. André Dupuy, the then mayor of the town. Many people remember those who witnessed the tragedy, of course, but alsothe othersbecacuse strong emotions were conveyed that day, a mix of shared emotion, joy, respect. As it was written by a journalist : « The beautiful human scenes are like works of art, we do not comment on them, we contemplate them, almost reverently. We did not laugh last Thursday in Saint Didier, we smiled, moved... ». On that day, Mrs Micheline Laurent presented the veteran with a lid her father made in 1943 with a piece of the shot down plane's cabin. Mrs Paulettre Branchu, did prent him with bullets from the B17 machine guns. A commemorative plaque was already fixed at the corner of the rue du 11 novembre on a house's wall, right on the spot where the biggest part of the rear fuselage fell. | |||||||
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Equipage du B17 |
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Crew of B-17 Fortress - type F-85-BO - s/n 42-30105 QW*R"Slightly Dangerous" | ||||||
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1st Lieutenant | James R SARCHET | Pilot | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer | O-735671 - PH - Cambridge, OHIO | |
2nd Lieutenant | Robert M | McCOWEN | CoPilot | Escaped - Escape by Pyrenees / Spain / Gibraltar - Back UK 13/01/1944 | O-743055 - Né le 12/10/1918 - Waterloo, IOWA | |
2nd Lieutenant | Donald S | McMULLEN | Navigator | Dead | Jefferson Mem Park. Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania | O-796564 - Glassport, PENNSYLVANIA |
2nd Lieutenant | Arthur F PRICE | Bomber | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer | O-734737 - PH - Portland, OREGON |
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T/Sergeant | Paul J | RUSKA | Mechanic | Prisoner - Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf |
35380985 - Farmdale, OHIO |
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S/Sergeant | Donald E | HARDING |
Radio Gunner |
Escaped - Escape via the Bourgogne network via Pyrenees / Spain / Gibraltar - Back UK 05/10/1943 |
19077011 - Né le 30/11/1921 - Eureka, KANSAS | |
/Sergeant | Leonard A BUDNIK | Gunner | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer | 36257844 - PH - Milwaukee, WISCONSIN |
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S/Sergeant | John A LUTTRELL | Gunner | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer | 19126937 - PH - Boyce, LOUISIANA |
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T/Sergeant | Jennings L | LILLER | Gunner | Prisoner | 13103680 - Baltimore, MARYLAND |
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S/Sergeant | Edwin M | HARMON | Gunner | Dead | Columbia Cem. Adair Co, Kentucky | 22 ans - Columbia, KENTUCKY |
SOURCE INFORMATION & PHOTO | Francecrashes39-45.net - Julie MARIN - www.saint-didier-des-bois.com - 95thbg.org |
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PROGRAMMER | Clive, Frédéric & Renaud |