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Personal info

Full name
PASTRAS, Peter Archie
Date of birth
4 May 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Oconto County, Wisconsin
Hometown
Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan

Military service

Service number
O-828502
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 5 oak leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 April 1945
Place of death
Near Stendahl, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
M 10 9

Immediate family

Members
Harry Pastras (father)
Anna L. (Biron) Pastras (mother)
Margerite Pastras (sister)
John B. Pastras (brother)
Evelyn K. (Jourdain) Pastras (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-102504
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Times-A-Wastin'
Destination: Stendahl, Germany
Mission: Bombardment of the marshalling yard
MACR: 14295

More information

Peter A. Pastras was a chauffeur.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Lansing, Michigan on 9 november 1942.

Statement of T/Sgt William J. Carlson, a crew member of another airplane in the group: "I first observed aircraft 42-102504 to be in trouble at about 30 seconds to one minute after bombs away. I saw the no. 2 engine smoking badly and there appeared to be flames between the no. 2 engine and the fuselage. The right wing and engines appeared to be untouched. The aircraft then nosed upward, stood on the right wing tip, and side slipped downward in a steep dive. After it had fallen for a couple of hundred feet I saw one man leave the aircraft and his parachute opened immediately. The aircraft continued downward on a steep circling dive to the right."

Seven crew members were killed, two survived and were taken prisoner.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - Family Trees / Marriage Record, www.newspapers.com - Lansing State Journal

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Fred, Gary Hall, www.newspapers.com - Lansing State Journal