Personnel

CREW



2nd Lt Robert P.Kramer                P KIA      10/10/43  THIS WAS THE FAMOUS MUNSTER MISSION OF 10 0CT 1943

2nd Lt Edward F.Connelly,Jr.      CP P0W    10/10/43 TAPS: 24 JAN 1981

2nd Lt Hugh S.Geiger,Jr.          NAV POW    10/10/43

2nd Lt Thomas B.Casey,Jr.       BOM POW  10/10/43               ,

T/Sgt Dean O.Todd                    TTE POW    10/10/43

T/Sgt James A.Watkins            ROG POW    10/10/43                           A/C #42 3433 "LEONA"

S/Sgt Donald M.Glaze               BTG KIA     10/10/43                            MACR #1024,Micro fiche 339

S/Sgt George A.White              RWG KIA    10/10/43

S/Sgt Fred B.Moore                 LWG POW 10/10/43 TAPS: 10 MAY 1983

S/Sgt Harvey F.James                TG POW  10/10/43



350th Sqdn.  This  the 3rd mission for this crew, having flown the first one 4 Oct 43.(Hanua)



Oct  4, 1943 to Hanau

Oct. 8, 1943 to Bremen

Oct 10, 1943 Munster (shot down)



SEE: "MUNSTER: The Way It Was" by Ian Hawkins   p.133,134,363,352



Reply from Geiger Oct.1990: Plane named "Leona" after wife of R.P.Kramer.



From statememts in the MACR file it would appear three men were killed were unable to bail out

prior to the ship entering a spin and finally exploding. Gieger (Lt Hugh E. Gieger, Jr.) said he personally

examined the dogtags and they had the appearance of being burned. Kramer (Lt Robert P. Kramer) was at

the nose exit ready to jump, when he turned back for one last verification all crew members had bailed out. This

gallant action cost the popular Bob Kramer his life.



German reports pinpoint the crash site and time as 1515 hours 10 Oct 1943 "at Lambeck near

Wulfen, 100 meters north of Schloss Lembeck." Interment was on 14 Oct 1943 at Catholic cemetary, Lambeck in Row #1 graves 10, 11 and 12.





Re: 350/100 "Leona"

Posted by Patrick White   Mpwhite@aol.com  on 3/28/2003, 

in reply to "Re: 350/100 "Leona"" 



Mr. Faley, Thank you for your helpful reply. S/Sgt. White was my first cousin. No information about his death was known to my family until now. I'll look for a photo of the Lena crew. I have one of "Ready Betty". Any interest? Regards and God bless. Patrick White

--Previous Message--



Dear Patrick, 

You must be a relative of S/Sgt White? This crew was on their third mission, having flown Oct 4, 1943 to Hanau and Oct. 8, 1943 to Bremen. On October 10, 1943 the Kramer Crew participated in one of the most savage air battles of the War, MUNSTER. The 100th BG lost 12 B-17's that day, Lt Kramers Crew being one of those planes. Your relative along with Lt Kramer and Sgt Glaze (BTG) did not make it out of the aircraft before it went into a spin and exploded. I know that Lt Kramer stayed in the plane to make sure his Crew had all bailed out. My feeling is that Sgt White was trying to get Sgt Glaze out of the Ball Turret and all three of them ran out of time. This Crew arrived at Thorpe Abbotts in Late September 1943 and was assigned to the 350th Bomb Squadron. The missions from Oct 8-14, 1943 became know at BLACK WEEK in the 8th Air Force because of all the losses sustained over Bremen, Munster and Schweinfurt…(MPF 2003)