BUTTERFIELD, Joseph Vanransler Jr

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Personal info

Full name
BUTTERFIELD, Joseph Vanransler Jr

Date of birth
26 August 1922

Age
20

Place of birth
Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Hometown
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Military service

Service number
16094889

Rank
Staff Sergeant

Function
Right Waist Gunner

Unit
527th Bombardment Squadron,
379th Bombardment Group, Heavy

Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action

Date of death
11 June 1943

Place of death
Near Tossens, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten

Plot	Row	Grave
K	7	5

Immediate family

Members
Joseph V. Butterfield (father)
Frances M. (Teske) Butterfield (mother)
Harold E. Butterfield (brother)
Kenneth F. Butterfield (brother)
Robert Butterfield (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3138

Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Eight Ball
Destination: Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the U-boat yards
MACR: 1357

More information

Joseph Butterfield Wauwatosa High Schooland was a chauffeur.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The formation was attacked by approximately 200 enemy fighters over the target. Two singled out this airplane. It exploded in mid-air.

Two crew members survived and were taken prisoner, eight men were killed. They were initially buried at the Port Cemetery of Wesermunde on 19 June 1943.

The Tail gunner, S/Sgt Raymond D. Lauters, was one of the survivors and was held captive in Stalag XVII until the end of the war. On the occasion of his death on 16 April 2001, a newspaper article was published about him, reporting on an interview in 1995. He then said that his stay in the Stalag was not the most horrible experience of the war. While waiting in a train station with Joseph Butterfield to return to their base after a furlough, Butterfield's mother told him, "Take good care of Joe". "I came back but he didn't and that's what has haunted me all my life," he said.