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1st Lt. Magee C. Fuller

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1st Lt Magee C. Fuller P POW 20-Jul-44 Merseburg
2nd Lt Winton MacCarter CP POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
2nd Lt Harold L. Weachter NAV POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
2nd Lt George H. Ziegler BOM POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
T/Sgt Jack C. Rogers TTE POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
S/Sgt Robert W. Sandy ROG POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
S/Sgt Alexander F. Sawicki BTG POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
S/Sgt Cosimo A. DeMonica WG POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
S/Sgt George W. Easterwed WG POW 10-Oct-43 Munster
S/Sgt Raymond J. Manley TG POW 10-Oct-43 Munster

349th Sqdn. Original Crew #7 A/C #42-30042   MACR #1020.

On 10 Oct 43 (Munster) Winton MacCarter had already became the 1st pilot for the crew. Fuller later became the 418th Commanding Officer. He went down with the F. C. Kincannon crew at Merseburg 20 Jul 44. Magee became the last original 100th airmen to become a POW.

After a few missions Magee Fuller was made Operations Officer of the 349th - Later transferred to the 418th as Commanding Officer. of the 418th Sqdn. 

In a letter of 30 Jan 1979 to Jim Brown, Hal Weachter relates details of the 10 Oct 43 Munster mission:

"Our plane was hit in the wing behind the #3 engine after being hit by a rocket launched by a ME-109. It blew a large hole in the wing and started a fire. We could not get the fire out by side slipping, so we all bailed out. All of us landed safely with Dan Barna, Alexander Sawicki, and I each broke an ankle. We were rounded up and put in jail at an airfield overnight. The next day Barna, Sawicki and I were taken to a POW hospital near Dusseldorf. The gunners went to Stalag #4, I believe MacCarter and Ziegler to Stalag #3. Barna, Sawicki and I along with some others who were in the hospital were sent  (19 Nov 43) to Frankfurt, Germany for interrogation where we arrived at 0200 hours. We slept in a Railroad station and caught a Tram to Obestel at SAM. Our clothes were taken and we were put in solitary. On 30 Nov. we were given British army clothes, a great coat and shoes and then sent to Stalag #1. The Germans had just re-opened this camp and we were the first group of prisoners. This camp was expanded as the war progressed and at war's end housed close to 9000 POWs. We were packed into a box car at Frankfurt and given a box of food from the Red Cross and black bread and bologna from the Germans. We arrived at Barth, Germany at 1700 hours on 4 Dec 43 and marched to the Stalag which is a couple of miles west and north of the city - few miles from the Baltic Sea.

In March 45 we were liberated by the Russian army. The Germany Commandant wanted to march the whole camp west to stay out of Russian hands, but Colonel Zabreski, senior POW Officer, convinced him that it was useless. One morning we woke up and the guards were gone. The Russians came the next day. We sat in camp until the end of the war when the USAAF sent in planes to fly to Camp Lucky Strike in France. We left Le Harve on the USS General Butner and docked at Newport News, Virginia June 20, 1945.

20 July 1944  418th Sqdn.  A/C #42-97564 - Mission: Merseburg MACR #7414,  Micro-fiche #2701.  This was a Pathfinder aircraft:

Major Magee C. Fuller COM/PLT POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
Capt Francis C. Kincannon P POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
1st Lt Bernard L. Farnum CP POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
Capt Robert E. Nance BOM EVA 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
1st Lt Louis H. Abromowitz NAV EVA 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
Capt Henry C. Griffis Rad/NAV EVA 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
1st Lt George E. Bonitz NAV EVA 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
T/Sgt Daniel B. Deason TTE POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
T/Sgt Oscar L. Edge ROG POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
S/Sgt Glen E. Snider RW POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
S/Sgt Vaniel M. Cargile LW EVA 20 Jul 44 Merseburg
S/Sgt Robert D. Chavez TG POW 20 Jul 44 Merseburg

This A/C  was leading the mission in a Pathfinder ship which accounts for the seven officers aboard.  Major Fuller, who had flown overseas as pilot of an Original 100th 349th crew in June 1943,  was C. O.  of the 418th at Merseburg. 

EYEWITNESS:  "Just as bombs were released A/C #564 received a direct hit by AA fire between #2 engine and fuselage. Shell did not explode but a large hole was torn in the wing and gasoline poured from the tanks.  #2 engine feathered and A/C pulled out of formation directing deputy leader to take over.  A/C fell behind and was escorted by fighters and it was reported that #564 was heard to tell fighters over radio that it was all-right." This is all the information that interrogation of 100th "A" Group crews revealed.

From Bottisham (fighter base) to PFF War room to 100th BG the following report was received: "A/C #564 called for fighter support after it began to lag and contact was made over channel "C" with the fighters which gave it cover.  Subsequently the PFF had to crash land near Louvain just east of Brussels and prearranged plan (over channel "C") as soon as the crew had cleared the A/C the fighters strafed and set fire to the ship.  Fighter did not see PFF explode  but stated definitely that it was afire, and that all the crew was safe. '

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