New guy here with a request.

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Alas, my job in the military has kept me very busy the last few years, but I have visited the crash-site and have and still am in contact with the family of LT Carl Booth and even talked to the daughter of the pilot a few days back. I wish I would have known about SSG Fink prior. I could have possibly facilitated contact between the families. Relatives of LT Booth will be visiting the site later this year and we are working on erecting a memorial at the site.
I know there is a crew photo in existence and I am trying to obtain a copy for the community of Birgden, the village where the B-17 came down at. Danny
 
Here is a photo of the crash-site. She came down to the left of the silver car, closer to the row of trees in the background.
Booth Site.jpg
 
Ssg Keay,

Drop me a PM with your email info and I will pass on to the family members. I think they would be please about the memorial marker. They may have a picture of the whole crew to send you too.

Radman95611
 
On Friday the 4th of September, we had a memorial unveiling ceremony for the crew of B-17F 42-3195. She belonged to the 305th BG and went down at Waldenrath on 14 October 1943, during the second Schweinfurt Raid.
The Fisher crew was shot down by enemy fighters and 4 men perished. Of those, LT Carl Booth Jr. is still listed MIA. His three nieces visited Margraten cemetery on Thursday and wanted to visit the crash-site on Friday.
What they did not know is that I was able with the help of Pat Doyle, my Airforce, buddy and some of the locals from Waldenrath, to arrange for a memorial to be erected overlooking the crash-site.
The stone was donated by a local gravel pit, they even delivered it!
The plaque was paid for by the Airforce's Top 3 Association and the wreath was paid for by the 305th Air Mobility Wing, the unit that spawned out of the 305th Bomb Group.
The Waldenrath St. Josef nursing home provided a corner overlooking the crash-site for the stone, plus provided refreshments.
The Protestant NATO chaplain read the eulogy and did the invocation, while the Airforce's Honor Guard provided the color guard.
Over 80 people attended including senior members of the local government and many eye-witnesses who are actually residing at the nursing home.
I hope you enjoy the photos.

Danny


Region - Lokales - Aachener Zeitung
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I found this forum thread looking up "Loren Fink POW" trying to find the short interview video for my son to watch since we are learning about WWII.
I grew up going to church with the Finks, and in 1989 the church put out a self published book of interviews with some of the members. I ended up with a copy from the library discards. There is a 24 page chapter / interview about Mr Fink's experience during WWII. I could scan it if you would be interested in reading more of his story?
 
Random Rachel said:
I found this forum thread looking up "Loren Fink POW" trying to find the short interview video for my son to watch since we are learning about WWII.
I grew up going to church with the Finks, and in 1989 the church put out a self published book of interviews with some of the members. I ended up with a copy from the library discards. There is a 24 page chapter / interview about Mr Fink's experience during WWII. I could scan it if you would be interested in reading more of his story?
Click to expand...
Hi, welcome to the forum, why not scan it anyway, someone like you may come along next week with an interest in it.
 
Thanks.

Here is the interview with Mr Loren Fink - I scanned the title page first, and the first page of text is actually the end of another interview since Mr Fink's story begins on the back of that page. (I don't have the right software to remove the extra page.)

The rest of the book is about random members of the church, and how the buildings were built, and would likely be of no interest to anyone, (except possibly the individuals' relatives - even the church library was discarding the book.) The back cover has a picture which caught my eye, and is the only reason I picked it up.

This is the back cover:
back.jpg


And I also found that Google Arts and Culture has a good picture of the items pictured in the book, which are currently in the FSU Museum of Fine Arts collection.
 
Old thread, I know. I am just hopping on here because my grandpa (Bush) was the co-pilot on this plane. He passed back in 2010. I've always been interested in his story, but watching Masters of the Air really rekindled it. It is great that there are places like this where we can gather and share information. Thank you all for you interest in keeping these stories alive.
 
MrBush said:
Old thread, I know. I am just hopping on here because my grandpa (Bush) was the co-pilot on this plane. He passed back in 2010. I've always been interested in his story, but watching Masters of the Air really rekindled it. It is great that there are places like this where we can gather and share information. Thank you all for you interest in keeping these stories alive.
Click to expand...
Welcome aboard, M MrBush .
 
Thank you kindly!

I have been gathering what I could for a couple weeks. Still have some family feelers out there, so hopefully more information is coming. But here is the sum of what I got regarding 42-3195. Thought people in this thread might be interested.

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threa...s-305th-bomb-group-366th-bomb-squadron.63206/

I have not seen the name of this plane anywhere on the internet. My father uncovered an interview with my Grandfather in which he called this plane "Kayos". Can anyone confirm?

Cheers!
Bush
 
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