| 2nd Lt |
Walter J. Grenier |
P |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| 2nd Lt |
Michael D'amato |
CP |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| 2nd Lt |
David H. Plant |
BOM |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| 2nd Lt |
Saul Trauner |
NAV |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| T/Sgt |
Carl H. Phillips |
ROG |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| T/Sgt |
Howard C. Aufschlag |
TTE |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| S/Sgt |
Anthony J. Fusco |
BTG |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| S/Sgt |
Francis X. Donnellan |
WG |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
| S/Sgt |
William L. Chang |
WG |
KIA |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches &
Evreux |
| S/Sgt |
Robert N. Schrum |
TG |
POW |
6-Sep-43 |
Stuttgart, Conches & Evreux |
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 fighters
with No 1 and No 3 engines dead. Eight chutes seen." Report from MACR
and was made by Lt W. H. McDonald.
The following documentation has been obtained from the Municipal Archiv
of Mönchweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany File 67, Number AI 526
Mönchweiler 22nd of May 1946
Reference: Crashlanding 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 has been an
airplane with four engines, which came along sole. Mister Haas who had been
mayor at this time, had given me the information, hat there has been one man
injured during the crash landing. I immediately hasted to place where the
airplane had touched down.
When I arrived there, there had been already medical orderlies from the
reserve military hospital at Königsfeld there. The injured had been already
taken out from the airplane and had been dressed.
The soldier had a stomach wound. He complained about heavy pain. I helped to
put the injured on a stretcher. 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
Organization
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 earth. I have heard that the
aircraft 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 dealt 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 2009Further eyewitness reports
about the crash-landing of a B17 in Mönchweiler on September 6th 1943
Karl Cattarius, Hebelstr. 6, on 5th of August 2009
The airplane flew very low. Along the road from Mönchweiler to Königsfeld,
there were poplar-trees. The airplane hit one of these trees with the tip of
one wing and lost part of this wing. The aiming mechanism for the bombing
officer did no longer exist. At its place there was a big hole in the floor
of the bomber. There were no bombs on board only plenty of ammunition for
the machineguns. For moving the wreck the Deutsche Wehrmacht placed big air
cushions below the wings, inflated them and so lifted the airplane.
Afterwards it had been dismantled and moved away.
Heinrich Müller, Obere Mühlenstraße 47, on 28th November 2009
The airplane came in very low, just over the tops of the trees. [The area
between Mönchweiler und Peterzell ist thickly wooded.] Along the road from
Mönchweiler to Peterzell there were single trees. The airplane hardly
managed to fly between two of these trees over the road into the open field.
When crash landing in the open it hit a tree [at the road to Königsfeld]
with one of its wings and a part of the wing broke off. The crew had very
nice new leather jackets. Something like this people in Mönchweiler had
never seen before. All the people from the village ran to the site of the
crash landing.
The mayor of the town of Villingen. 22nd. of May 1946
On 9th of September 1943 the POW hospital V-B reported, that the POW William
Chang, farmer, born on 6th of August 1921, in Dinuba/California, has died on
9th of September 1943. The deceased had been brought as wounded soldier into
the local POW-camp. He had been member of the crew of an American airplane
that crash landed on the precincts of Mönchweiler with a crew of 10
soldiers. According to my inquiries the other members of the crew had been
taken as POWs. From the enclosed obituary notice one can learn what has
caused his death. The exact personalities with place of residence etc. are
also included there. The deceased has been buried in a coffin on the local
cemetery in the presence of a priest. The death has not been certified in
the book of the deceased of the town of Villingen, because this has been a
death caused by war, which had to be reported by the military hospital to
the information bureau of the Wehrmacht. Only this department had been
authorized to issue the certification of the death. Until today also from
the subsequent department there has been no order to this administration to
certify the death.
The mayor
Confirmation
Herewith there is confirmed, that the American air force-soldier, William
Chang, born on 6th of august 1920 in Dinuba in California (3109 1/2 Van
Buren Pl Los Angeles Calif) according to information given by the former
senior medical officer of the former reserve military hospital has died in
the former military hospital for POWs V.-B in Villingen on 9th of September
1943. The burial has been made on the local cemetery on 11th of September
1943. The grave is situated in section V, third row, grave number 14. The
excavation has been made today by the order of the American military
authority.
Villingen 27th of May 1946
The Mayor
The registrar of births, marriages and deaths
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