Memorial

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1st Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr. was a descendant of German Jews some generations back.

He graduated from Central High School. He graduated with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He was a chemical engineer at the Seagram & Company in Indiana.

He spent 18 months in chemical warfare service in the Canal Zone returning to the US in early 1943.

Aircraft 888, piloted by Lt Sugarman, went down over the target as a result of flak. The initial damage was sustained at an altitude of 24,000 feet, a big concussion was felt in the left wing and the aircraft peeled off steeply to the left. The general concensus of opinion is that A/C 888 then went into a fast dive. Some feel that it was spiraling and then went into a spin. Some report that there were moments when it seemed as if it would recover but that it was losing altitude too quickly. There was no fire observed, only faint smoke coming from one of the engines just before it disappeared. All props were turning. Some thought that the A/C disintegrated just before it disappeared into the clouds. Although no chutes were seen a gunner in A/C 598 saw 4 small objects come tumbling out. When last seen the aircraft was going straight down, in a slightly south-easterly direction.
One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became prisoner at war. The nine men who died were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg, Germany.

In coordination with Operation Benjamin,the Latin Cross headstone which marked his grave was replaced with a Star of David during a ceremony on 28 April 2022.