This B-24 Liberator, 42-99772, “Fat Joe,” and crew were assigned to the 747^th Squadron of the 456^th Bomb Group. The plane was shot down by flak on April 21, 1944 with four of the ten crewmembers parachuting from the stricken plane. However one crewmember was killed by ground fire before landing. On January 18, 1950 three crewmembers were buried in Section E Plot 243 at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

The Crew:

  2/Lt Arthur Malinowski, Copilot       Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
 2/Lt. Joseph T. Taylor, Navigator    Zachary Taylor National Cemetery

 S/Sgt Bassil Garros, Gunner         Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
 2/Lt. Earl W. Wallace Jr, Pilot
 2/Lt. Wallace O. Tilt, Bombardier        Bailed out, POW was liberated.
 T/Sgt John C. Buehler, Flight Engineer
 S/Sgt Dennis W. Medenwaldt, Radio Operator            Bailed out.
 S/Sgt Hugh D. Borden, Gunner          Bailed out, POW. Liberated
 S/Sgt Eugene Wright, Gunner
 S/Sgt Frederick H. Battis, Gunner           Bailed out but KIA.
 
 

Mission History File

From Fred Riley, the 456^th Bomb Group Association Historian. This is the story of the crew from S/Sgt Dennis Medenwaldt, Radio Operator. :

" In regards to our last mission on 4/21/44 the following is what occurred to the best of my recollection. We were unable to drop our bombs on either the primary or secondary targets due to adverse weather conditions. I am not sure but I think our target of last resort may have been Belgrade. As the radio operator I was manning the hand held 50 caliber machine gun from the right waist window of the aircraft (B-24).

We experienced a direct anti aircraft (Flak) hit on our tail and it and the tail gunner just disappeared. We immediately went into a spin. Luckily I was able to pull my self out of the right waist window.

We had ten (10) crew members aboard and only four (4) bailed out. They were, bombardier, 2nd Lt. Wallace O. Tilt, radio operator, T/Sgt. Dennis W. Meldenwaldt, upper turret gunner, S/Sgt. Hugh D. Borden, and ball turret gunner, S/Sgt. Frederick H. Battis. We were being fired upon by civilians from the ground as we descended in our chutes. Battis was hit in the neck and was dead when he hit the ground. That left only three (3) survivors of the ten crew members. 

The civilians who captured us were extremely angry at Allied airmen because of all of the bombing they had experienced and I am sure they would have killed us if a truck load of German soldiers had not arrived and took us from them. As it was they beat us up pretty well.

Let me tell you briefly what I recall of our crew that day:

Pilot Wallace was a replacement for our crew's regular pilot, 1st Lt. Phillips, who for some reason was not flying that day.

Flight engineer, Buehler was a replacement for our regular engineer, T/Sgt Moran, who was not flying that day.

All of the crew members except for the three who survived after bailing out perished.

I will now continue to outline what happened after our capture. We went through the normal couple of days of POW interrogation by the Germans somewhere in Belgrade. We were then placed on a train, along with two guards.

We had little to eat but the guards shared some very stale bread and cheese with us. Our destination turned out to be Stalag Luft III located in lower Silesia, one hundred miles South East of Berlin. We were placed in he West compound of Luft III which was just opened. This compound eventually contained 2500 American POW's. The entire Stalag Luft III housed over 10,000 from various countries. The three of us, myself, Borden and Tilt, remained together in Stalag Luft III. We remained there until January 28th, 1945 at which time 10,000 POW's were evacuated. The Russians were approaching and we could hear their Artillery fire. I'm sure that all 10,000 men will forever remember the tortuous trek that followed in the ever increasing fury of the blizzard and near zero temperatures, ill fitting packs, blisters, frozen feet, hands and sickness all contributed to the misery of the marchers.

There were seemingly endless hours of marching with occasional rest periods. Six days after leaving Luft III we boarded a train at Spremberg (40 x 8) box cars with our destination being Stalag XIII-D at Nuremberg for a miserable two month period. These two months were memorable for the large scale Allied Air Raids, lice, bed bugs, fleas and food shortage. The aptly named "Green Death" soup caused wide spread diarrhea and dysentery. Bites from bed bugs and lice covered every exposed part of the body to include the nose and eyelids.

The American Seventh and Third Armies pushing into Western Germany precipitated the Second evacuation by foot from Nuremberg on April 4, 1945. The weather was spring like so it was a better march. After a 10 day march we arrived at Moosburg, Germany Stalag Luft VIII-A. Upon arriving we were informed that President Roosevelt had died suddenly the day before. That was a shock to all. We remained at Moosburg for sixteen days. During that time we remained very cold, filthy and many were ill. But at least we were rid of the lice, fleas and bed bugs. We knew that he end of our captivity was near unless they moved us again.

We could hear the artillery fire and in fact shells were whistling over our heads. We remained low to avoid injury. A couple of days before our liberation American artillery spotting aircraft flew over Stalag VIII-A. On Sunday April 29th as Sunday mass was being conducted bullets began to whistle through camp amid the chatter of machine guns and rifle fire. Early in the afternoon Mooseburg fell. General Patton came into camp and was welcomed by thousands of POW's. The POW's were represented by nearly every Allied country as they had been moved to Mooseburg from camps throughout Germany as Allied forces advanced. We finally got some decent food and a bath. The white G.I. bread as I recall tasted angel food cake to us.

Most all American prisoners were taken to "Camp Lucky Strike" in France to be processed. And eighteen days after Liberation we were placed on ships at LeHavre, France to be returned to the good old U.S.A.

I have never seen Tilt after liberation. Borden and I still correspond, usually at Xmas time. Both Borden and I eventually made a career in the USAF. I retired as a CMSGT (E9) and Borden as a SMSGT (E8).

All crew members on A/C 42-99772 except Tilt, Borden and Medenwaldt were killed when the plane crashed.

 This is more information from Fred Riley, the 456th Bomb Group Association historian, about this mission. On 21 April 1944, it was the Group's 35th mission. The target was Bucharest Romania, marshalling yards (rail yards), Twenty four bombers were unable to reach the target because of a heavy overcast.

This B-25, Mitchell, and crew were assigned to the 447^th Squadron of the 321^st Bomb Group. The plane was shot down on April 14, 1944 near the target area by heavy flak. Four of the six crewmembers were buried on December 8, 1949 in Section E Plot 218-219 at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

Cpl Ellis, Francis R,  Gunner      

S/Sgt Phelps, Jack L,  Gunner    

Sgt Smith, Daniel R,  Gunner     

2/Lt Wingrove, Allen E, Bombardier

2/Lt Dalley, Fenton M.  Pilot         Florence American Cemetery

2/Lt Kelley, James E.  Copilot

447 BS War Diary: 8 of our ships participated in a raid on Viterbo A/D with Lt Stocking leading the flight. Good coverage indicated and hits on or near 3 hangars. Also hits in barracks area. Lt Dalley and crew were shot down near target by heavy flak.