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name
GESSERT, Charles Eugene - Date of
birth
25 May 1923 -
Age
20 - Place of
birth
Baltimore, Maryland -
Hometown
Baltimore, Maryland
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
13137126 -
Rank
Staff Sergeant -
Function
Left Waist Gunner -
Unit
710th Bombardment Squadron,
447th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
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
Carl E. Gessert (father)
Nina N. Gessert (mother)
Lillian E. Gessert (sister)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-97484 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Munster, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the marshalling yards
MACR: 3188
More information
S/Sgt Charles E. Gessert attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and worked for Montgomery Ward & Co.He volunteered for the Air Corps of the U.S. Army in Baltimore, Maryland on 27 November 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 or possibly two engines on fire, trying evasive tactics to put the fire out. The aircraft appeared and reappeared several times above clouds, 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.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.447bg.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census, www.newspapers.com - The Evening Sun
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspapers.com - The Evening Sun 18 April 1944