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Personal info

Full name
HARPER, Woodrow W
Date of birth
19 February 1911
Age
34
Place of birth
Wilson, Carter County, Oklahoma
Hometown
Robstown, Nueces County, Texas

Military service

Service number
38358206
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Top Turret Gunner
Unit
710th Bombardment Squadron,
447th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
12 March 1945
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
Robert J. Harper (father)
Juliann F. (Thomas) Harper (mother)
Clara Harper (sister)
Mable Harper (sister)
Minta Harper (sister)
Berniece Harper (sister)
Billie P. (Stripling) Harper (wife)
Robert W. Harper (son)

Plane data

Serial number
42-97484
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Munster, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yards
MACR: 3188

More information

The incident took place on 11 March 1944.

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.

S/Sgt Harper was officially declared dead one day and one year after he was reported missing in action.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.447bg.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.newspapers.com - Albuquerque Journal - 25 December 1944, www.ancestry.com - Texas County Marriage Records / U. S. Draft Cards for Young Men

Photo source: Peter Schouteten