Personnel

CREW

 

     Crew #31           418th Sqdn. M.A.C.R. #1028



Mission:Munster Aircraft #42-30725

Date: 10 Oct.1943

Time: 1500/1530 "AW-R-GO"

A/C last seen: Munster

Cause:EAC



Crew aboard:

 Charles B.Cruikshank Capt.     P POW

 Glenn E.Graham 1st Lt.   CP POW

 Frank D.Murphy Capt.     NAV POW

 August H.Gaspar 1st Lt   . BOM POW

 Orlando E.Vincenti T/Sgt ROG KIA

 Leonard R.Weeks T/Sgt.    TTE POW

 Robert L.Bixler S/Sgt.BTG POW

 James M.Johnson S/Sgt  .  WG POW

 Donald B.Garrison S/Sgt.    WG POW

 Charles A.Clark Sgt.  TG KIA



Crew on 21st mission. Weeks said that Vincenti bailed out of bomb-bay with chute afire. Had been fighting fire in radio room.



Garrison saw both James Johnson & Robert Bixler wounded and in waist of plane. Plane blew up and Garrison blown out. Ship had dropped bombs on target.



Weeks said; "Germans said Vincenti's chute had burned in the descent and that he was dead before hitting the ground. Bixler said Germans had shown him Vincenti's dog tags and told him that he was dead."



Johnson said he was blown out of ship and his chute opened at about 5,000 ft.



Clark couldn't seem to get his escape hatch open and was probably killed when plane blow up.



Fighter attack caused fire in ship.



German Records show :Sgt. Charles A. Clark interred on 11 )ct 1943 at Lienen Cemetary/Wesph. Northwestern

third of cemetary, southern grave.



   O.E.Vincenti northern grave



(probably entirely burnt since Id tsg was found burnt,too.) Mrs.Agnes Clark 603 Laurel Ave. Highland Park,Ill.



Sadly, another search for one of our aircrew members has ended in futility.  Today I had a call from the nephew of Bob Bixler, BTG on our crew, in Kansas.  I also talked at length with Bob's widow in Wickenburg, AZ.  Bob died from a stroke in February 1998.  Practically all his life after the war he was an engineer with the Arizona Highway Department and, apart from his wife, left a son, Robert Bixler, Jr and a granddaughter.  Except for a fellow POW (not a 100th vet) Bob was never in contact with anyone from the 100th BG or any 8th AFveterans organization….Frank Murphy

 Wounded before bailout