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Mario Schulze My name is Mario Schulze, I am 40 years old and live in Oranienburg, Germany, not far away where both planes have crashed. I am an amateur air war historian in my home district Oberhavel and in research for local air war history and crashed planes since ten years. Mr. Curran had send this link to us and I am so gratefull to him. It seems to be a late easter gift. I had done a lot of research in the matter of both planes and crews, especaily to the B-17 of Lt. Sheehan. For me it was the first B-17 crashsite I had located in 1999. Among the few wreckage parts I had found both ID-tags of the crew engineer Gregory P. Aversa, wich were handed over to the US authorities in 2000. One year later I had located the crashsite of the B-17 42-97242 by an Strike photo made by the 381st Bomb Group, which was two minutes after the 390th over the target and have catched the tragic scene on pictures. If you are interested to get more informations, please feel free and contact me.
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Kim I found your comment on Kylee’s blog, Our Little Acre. Since I grew up about 30 minutes from Van Wert–and since my grandfather was a bombardier on a Liberator in the Pacific theatre, and I have been fascinated by WWII airplanes all my life–I couldn’t resist coming here to read this story. It amazes me that you have found so much information online… and that Mr. Stetler’s ID tags were found so many years after the crash… amazing. I can’t even imagine what his brother would be able to say upon hearing that news. |
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Emeline Harpster Hood Eugene Harpster, one of the men on the plane Good Pickin, was my brother. I was 5-6 when he went off to war. As someone has already discovered, they were declared missing in action and then declared dead one year later. Gene’s home was in central PA. When the mass grave was found, it was determined that the bodies would be returned to the US for burial. Originally they were to be buried in a military cemetery in MO but some of the parents got in touch with their congressmen and asked them to interven so they could be buried in Arlington. I was about 14-16 when the bodies were brought back to the US and buried in Arlington. I vividly remember going to the ceremony at Arlington. There were 7 caskets with two flags on the caskets and of course the flags were presented to the families present. The families were told that they had been buried in a mass grave by a German farmer which fits with all the pieces already discovered. My brother was the radio operator on the plane. Our son who is a West Point graduate was to give the Memorial Day speech in the small town where he resides and wanted some information on his uncle so he googled him and came across the website. |
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Victor B. Ratliff II Emiline, I assume you have a copy of the crew photo. If not, let me know and I can get you a copy of mine. Your brother and my Father are both included in the photo. I was at the same internment service ,at Arlington, although I was 6 or 7 at the time. I do have some additional information, but have commended Declan and Mario for all their efforts. Best Personal Regards! VBR II |
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Leon A. Sarnowski My father, Stanley Sarnowski is Leon (Leo) Sarnowski’s brother. Stanley visited the crew in Amarillo, Texas a few days prior to their departure for England. Stanley was working in Kansas City at the time. The crew had a difficult time in obtaining spirits and he brought them 5 bottles of whiskey. My father and the entire crew had a party to celebrate their departure. |
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Carol Austin My father, Stanley Sarnowski was Leon(Leo)Sarnowski’s brother. I attended the ceremony at Arlington with my father, a brother, my grandparents and aunt. I was only nine years old at the time but I found it to be a very impressive and moving ceremony. I never knew my uncle Leon as I was under two years old when he died. Thank you for all your research and time in locating family members. This was very informative and interesting. |
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Vicki Ishler Matthews I am amazed at this story. I found the site “googling” the Harpster surname, as my great-great grandmother was Nancy “Ellen” Harpster Harshberger from Centre Co, PA (she is buried in Gatesburg) I suspect Eugene was in this same Harpster line somewhere. As a teacher/sponsor of our school’s annual History Day competitors, I applaud Alec for his scholarship and the great parenting that supported this project— It truly ended up going above and beyond! Bravo! |
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Jill Smelser My grandmother is Berniece Stetler Young, Robert Stetler’s sister. She is currently 95 1/2 years old. Her younger brother, Dud, was contacted last year about the ID bracelet and dog tags. It was very hard for both of them to believe that after 64 years later they would finally have something of Bob’s back from the war. In January they received a package from Mario with the dogtags, ID bracelet and a coin found nearby. My grandmother and her brother are the only two remaining siblings of a family of 6 boys and 2 girls. We have photos of the Arlington burial as well as a photo of 30 young men that must have been in training together. The photo has 3-21-A written on the bottom left corner. I am not sure what this means. So many thanks go out to Mario and his son for finally providing my grandmother and her brother with personal items of their brother. It is certainly a blessing well worth the wait. |
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Gerald Leighton Great to see someone preserving the memories and photos of the brave men who served our country in WWII. I too have a photo of that particular B-17, however, it has a different crew. I was wondering if you had any information on the earlier crews that flew that aircraft. My great uncle Phil Kierstead was in the picture and I’m trying to find out the rest of the crew. The names I can make out are Jeff Roberts, Stephen O’Lear. Thanks |
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Poorhousephotos Gerald, Thank you for your kind comments on the Good Pickin story. Your Great Uncle Phil was with the 96 Bombardment Group, 339 Squadron, 8th USAAF. He was stationed at Snetterton in England (station 138). He was a Ball Turret Gunner. His B-17 was hit by german fighters near Magdeburg while on a bomb run to Berlin on March 8, 1944. The actual crash site was near Helmstead. The seriel number of his plane was 42-31576. The crew was as follows;
I believe all survived and spent the remainder of the war as POW’s at Stalag Luft 4. Stephan O’ Lear is not listed as a crew member on the downed plane but that’s not unusual, he could have been assigned to another crew to fill in as a replacement or he may have been injured himself and one of the above was his replacement. Missing Air Crew Report for your great uncle’s plane is MACR 3426. |
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The Rayhawk Family We are grateful for the information in the article along with the photograph. My mother who passed away a few years ago did not have any information on Uncle Pete’s death other than her mother and father receiving a telegram informing them and that they also received a flag. My grandparents were of Slovak descent and spoke very little English. We attempted to locate information as to where Pete was and what occurred when he was killed but could not locate anything. I want to thank you again . |
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Julian Evan-Hart Hi there
just came across your superb website, I noticed your mention of Albert
Joyce who co-piloted the B17 named Ding Dong Daddy. This aeroplane was
later involved in a mid air collision over Hertfordshire on 26th August
1944. I have researched this collision for over 30 years and next week
I have Mary the daughter of Ding Ding Daddy`s waist gunner Martin
Kilbride flying over from USA to stand in the wood on the exact spot
that this B17 impacted. I have written a book called War Torn Skies Hertfordshire published by redkitebooks in which I have wartime crash photographs. I
have numerous artefacts from the crash and will ensure she has a
memorable visit. Just thought I would touch base with you....kind
regards |
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| If you have any information about any of the crew members or you have a photo of Good Picking you are willing to share you can contact me at info@poorhousephotos.com | ||||||||||||||||||
