Memorial

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Norman H. Gordon graduated from Washington Park High School with the class of 1943. He had been promoted to Sergeant while stationed in England.

The airplane was hit by flak shortly after leaving the target area. It was observed feathering #4 engine and beginning to drop down rapidly.

SS tank troop at the artillery practice range at Oldebroek, fired at the nine men who bailed out of the airplane and continued to shoot at them when they had already hit the ground. S/Sgt Gordon was killed on the ground when he was already wounded. The Germans said that he was shot because he was resisting capture, ran when he was ordered to stop, that he was carrying firearms, and that he was in the line of fire from a tank which was in the field. Certainly, the last two excuses were untrue.

Eight crew members were taken prisoner; one member evaded capture. S/Sgt Gordon was the only casualty. He was initially buried at the cemetery of Heerde, the Netherlands.