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Personal info

Full name
VAN RAVENSTEIN, Edward Adrian
Date of birth
15 February 1920
Age
23
Place of birth
Appleton, Outagamie County, Wisconsin
Hometown
Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin

Military service

Service number
16046475
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Left Waist Gunner
Unit
359th Bombardment Squadron,
303rd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
14 May 1943
Place of death
North Sea, near Heligoland, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Adrian Van Ravenstein (father)
Wilhelmina (Vandehoof) Van Ravenstein (mother)
Arnold W. Van Ravenstein (brother)
Rose L. Van Ravenstein (sister)
Patricia Van Ravenstein (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-5243
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: FDR's Formerly Potato Peeler Kids
Destination: Kiel, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the U-boats yards
MACR: 15593

More information

S/Sgt Edward A. Van Ravenstein graduated from Oshkosh High School in 1938 and was an attendant at a filling station.

He joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 21 October 1941.

The airplane was shot down by enemy aircraft. Crew members of other B-17's in the group reported seven parachutes leaving the plane. It ditched near the island of Heligoland.

The entire crew of ten men was killed. The remains of nine men were never recovered. Only the body of waist gunner Francis W. O'Reilly washed ashore.

Six crew members are commemorated at the Walls of the Missing at Margraten, three men are commemorated at the Walls of the Missing at Cambridge.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - 1930/1940 Census, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, http://www.oshkoshmuseum.org/Virtual/exhibit6/e60209a.htm, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: www.findagrave.com, http://www.oshkoshmuseum.org/Virtual/exhibit6/e60209a.htm, Oshkosh High School, 1938, The Oshkosh Northwestern - 28 June 1944