Memorial Shelter Crew Crashed B-17 #42-343 Werm

On August 17, 1943, the US Air Force carried out heavy bombing raids on industrial targets in Bavaria. In the morning the Messerschmitt factories were the target and in the afternoon a factory producing ball bearings in Schweinfurt. The bombings were carried out with B17 aircraft.

The B17 (42-3435) of the 92BG-327BS also took part in this mission. The crew of ten consisted of:
Pilot CPL Roland L. SARGENT
Copilot 1LT Keith E. BYINGTON
Navigator CPT Robert T. MCNEELY
Bombardier S/SGT George L. MIKEL, Jr
Flight Engineer T/SGT James L. BERRY
Radio operator S/SGT Charles J. SAILER
Gunner SGT John J. WHITLEY
Gunner S/SGT Harry S. RICHARDS
Gunner S/SGT Nathan SCHWARTZ
Gunner S/SGT Kenneth F. FAHNCKE

On the way back they were attacked by Lt. Werner Beckers with his ME Bf 109G-6 of the JG 2/4. The B17 caught fire and the crew was forced to jump. The pilot, co-pilot and navigator jumped last. The aircraft finally crashed near Kuttekoven (borough of Borgloon).
Charles SAILER, the radio operator, was injured in the abdominal area and landed with his parachute in a tree in the Papenbos in 's Herenelderen. He was transferred to the Sint-Jacobushospitaal (Tongeren center now Julianus shopping center) where he was cared for until September 8, 1943.
The pilot Roland L. Sargent was also injured, he landed in a beet field behind the rectory of Sint-Huibrechts-Hern. He was immediately placed in the house of one of them by the resistance. There he was joined with his co-pilot Keith Byington who had landed on the Hoogveld at Vliermaal and his navigator Robert McNeely who had landed on the edge of the Wijngaardbos at Althoeselt.
The three were hidden for a few days in the Hardelingenbos in Werm (Hoeselt). From there they were transferred to Mechelen-Bovelingen, after which they traveled by tram to Liège from where they were taken to Brussels. In Paris they were arrested by the Gestapo in a hotel, through treason, along with a few other escapees.
Flight engineer James L. Berry managed to escape and return to Britain with the help of the EVA line. Upon his arrival in Great Britain, Berry announced via the BBC "Uncle Donald has arrived safely" This way the resistance knew that he had arrived safely.
At the place where the three airmen were hiding in the Hardelingenbos in Werm, a memorial monument was erected on private initiative with one of the blades of the propellers of the crashed B17.

On August 17, 1986, Charles Sailer returned to Tongeren to thank his helpers again.

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Source

• Text: Rudi Triki
• Photos: Rudi Triki