Personnel

CREW



CAPT.  SAM R. TURNER               P INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND) Taps  date unk

2ND LT WILLIAM R. FREUND     CP INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND)

2ND LT MORRIS WEINBERG    NAV INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND)

2ND LT VANCE R. BOSWELL   BOM INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND) TAPS: 1985  (original Lt Ray Crew)

T/SGT HAROLD W. SMITH      TTE INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND)

T/SGT CARMINE A. GALLO      ROG INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND) TAPS:10 FEB 1985

S/SGT JOSEPH F. MOLONEY    BTG KIA  6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

S/SGT CARTER F. THORNTON  WG INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND) TAPS: 9 JUL 1988

S/SGT DEWITT J. WEIR           TG INTERNED 6 SEP 43 STUTTGART     (SWITZERLAND) TAPS: 4 JUL 1987

S/SGT NORMAN F. BRETT       WG RFS  Medicial - failed flght physical.. 



351ST SQDN.. AN ORIGINAL 100TH CREW.  A/C 42-30057 "RAUNCHY"



S/SGT JOSEPH F. MOLONEY IS BURIED IN THE EPINAL AMERICAN CEMETARY.  PLOT B, ROW 2, GRAVE 13



NORMAN F. BRETT TAIL GUNNER ON ORIGINAL CREW, GROUNDED AFTER 7 MISSIONS.   REPLACED ON THIS MISSION BY JAMES SPEAKMAN



STATEMENT BY SAM TURNER:  "I crashed - landed on Lake Constance on 06 Sep 1943 at 1030 hours approximately one and one fourth miles from land. The plane remained afloat for about four minutes. The life rafts failed to work properly. The plane was completely demolished. After the plane crashed I saw the ball turret gunner who had been killed by a 20mm shell. He was left in the plane. On 05 Oct 1943, the plane was raised by the Swiss and the ball turret gunner  was removed and buried."



Turner was slightly wounded in the chest by a 20mm fragment. He was interened until March 1944 at which time he returned to the U.S.A.



According to Morris Weinberg, Joseph Moloney was hit by two 20mm's between the shoulder blades. He was buried at Bad Ragaz and later moved to American Cememtary at Musterlingen, Switzerland.



On this sixteenth mission for the crew, Vance Boswell was wounded and his chute torn to pieces.



Mission Log

Sam Turner Crew



 Mission log courtesy of William Freund in 1995.. Paul west..

 Sam Turner Crew

# MISSION                             DATE              COMMENT

1 Bremen, Germany                 June 25, 1943 

2 LeMans, France                     June 26, 1943 

3 St. Nazaire, France                June 28, 1943 

4 LeMans, France                     June 29, 1943 

5 La Pallice, France                   July 4, 1943 

6 Hamburg, Germany                July 17, 1943 (Aborted -- engine failure)

7 Trondheim, Norway               July 24, 1943 

8 Warnemunde, Germany          July 25, 1943

9 Oschersleben, Germany          July 28, 1943

10 Bonn, Germany                   August 12, 1943 (major damage to “Raunchy”)

11 Woensdrecht, Belgium         August 19, 1943 (not flown in "Raunchy")

12 Evreux-Fauville, France          August 24, 1943

13 Watten, France                   August 27, 1943 V-1 Rocket, No Ball

14 Meulan les Merueaux, France August 31, 1943

15 Paris, France                       September 3, 1943 (Difficult mission for the crew)

16 Stuttgart, Germany             September 6, 1943   (Interned in Switzerland)



 Mission log courtesy of William Freund in 1995.. Paul west..

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________





Special Orders, March 2, 1944  (see this page on http://www.americanswiss.org/andrews/Special%20Orders%20Bern.htm)

 

The Special Orders cut in Switzerland on 2 March 1944 designating seven U.S. Army officers to be exchanged against seven German aviators also interned in Switzerland. 



1st Lt. William Cantwell was a B-17 pilot of the 99th Bomb Group based in Tunisia. His plane was shot down on 1 October 1943 while on a mission to Regensburg, Germany. Only five of his plane’s ten-man crew parachuted out and landed safely in the Alps where they were picked up by Swiss soldiers. 



Lst Lt. Donald Oakes piloted a B-17 of the 100th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. He landed at Dubendorf near Zurich on 17 August 1943 while on a mission to Regensburq, Germany. His was the first B-17 -- though not the first plane -- to land in Switzerland. 



Lst Lt. Martin Andrews piloted a B-17 of the 306th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, who made a forced landing at Magadino, Switzerland while on a mission to Stuttgart on September 6, 1943. 



lst Lt. Alva Geron, piloting a B-24flying out of Tunisia, was on a mission to Wiener Neustadt, Austria when he was forced to make a landing in a farmer's field at Thurnau, Switzerland on 13 August 1943. His was the first American plane to land in Switzerland. 



Lst Lt. Sam Turner, piloting a B-17 of the 100th Bomb Group of the 8th AF, was on the same mission to Stuttgart as Andrews. He was forced to ditch in the Lake of Constance  where his dead ball turret gunner went down with the plane. 



2nd Lt. Robert Titus was a navigator of the 95th Bomb Group of the 8th AF. When his plane went down over France on the 6 September 1943 mission to Stuttgart, he parachuted safely down, evaded capture and crossed the French-Swiss border. Because he had walked into Switzerland, he was considered an "Evadee," not an "Internee," and could move freely around Switzerland.           



2nd Lt. Stephen Rapport piloted a B-17 of the 390th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force.  He was on the same mission to Regensburg as Lt. Oakes, when battle damage forced him to make a crash landing in a farmer's field near Utzendorf, Switzerland.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Subj: Wm Freund  

Date: 7/16/2002 6:05:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time 

From: rwtechserv@bartnet.net 

To: MPFaley@aol.com 

Sent from the Internet (Details) 

 



Hi Michael,

Yes I do have that info.

William R Freund

3335 Coldwell Dr.

Tarpen Springs, FL

(727) 944-2050

Have a good one.

Rene





EMAIL = chris@familyfoundation.org

UNAME = Chris Freund

CONNECTION = I am a relative of a 100th veteran

COMMENTS = My Father was Lt. William Freund, CP on "Raunchy."  I noticed some new pictures of "Raunchy" submitted by Mark Boswell, son of Vance R. Boswell, "Raunchy's" bombadier.  I was wondering if I could get a phone number or email addres to Mark.  My dad and I are trying to contact as many relatives of "Raunchy's" crew as possible.

VISITS = 21 - 100

MOST_USEFUL = Database search

GRADE = A+ (Outstanding)





Mark Boswell

4604 101st Street

Lubbock,  TX

home telephone: 806 698-9437

email: boswellmv@earthlink.net