Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
ADAMS, Chester - Date of
birth
2 May 1920 -
Age
23 - Place of
birth
Magoffin County, Kentucky -
Hometown
Harrison Township, Scioto County, Ohio
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-685919 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Navigator -
Unit
710th Bombardment Squadron,
447th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
11 March 1944 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Haamstede on Schouwen-Duivenland, Zeeland, the Netherlands
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Colby Adams (father)
Verna Adams (mother)
Elone Adams (sister)
Armie Adams (brother)
Nell A. Adams (wife)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-97484 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Munster, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yards
MACR: 3188
More information
2nd Lt Chester E. Adams graduated from Minford High School in 1938 and was a salesman at the American Steam Laundry in Portsmouth.He enlisted on 4 September 1942.
The aircraft was last sighted at 1105 hours, approximately 25 miles off the coast of Holland in a westerly direction from Voorne with one and possibly two engines on fire, trying evasive tactics to put the fire out. The aircraft appeared and reappeared several times above clouds, and when last seen under control and preparing to ditch in the channel.
Nine crew members were killed. One crew member, tail gunner S/Sgt Julius H. Schultz, was taken prisoner. Most of them landed on a sandbank at low tide, but pleas for help to German workers and soldiers as the tide came in were ignored, and they all drowned. After the war, searches for those responsible failed.
All the deceased crew members were buried at the military cemetery of Haamstede.
In March 1946, his body was transported to the American Military Cemetery in Ardennes and was buried there as an unknown soldier. His body was never identified.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Nicole Sproncken, Terry Hirsch, www.447bg.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com - MACR, IDPF, Kentucky, Birth Index, 1911-1999
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Lisanne Dijck