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name
KERN, Herbert R - Date of
birth
1924 -
Age
unknown - Place of
birth
Ohio -
Hometown
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
15103843 -
Rank
Staff Sergeant -
Function
Radio Operator -
Unit
535th Bombardment Squadron,
381st Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
12 August 1943 - Place of
death
Rheurdt, soutwest of Kamp-Lintfort, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Willard H. Kern (father)
Nina A. (Schultz) Kern (mother)
Willard R. Kern (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-29950 -
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Forget Me Not
Destination: Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the synthetic oil industry
MACR: 385
More information
S/Sgt Herbert R. Kern graduated from West Technical High School and was employed at the Electric controller CO.He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 26 June 1942.
The airplane was attacked by enemy fighters, which knocked out #2 and #4 engine.
Surviving crew member reports indicate that S/Sgt Herbert R. Kern was last seen going toward the escape hatch in the waist of the plane, when he was hit in the face by a 20mm shell from guns of a German fighter.
Five crew members were taken prisoner, five men were killed.
Note: On the Walls of the Missing at Margraten, his Bombardment Group is incorrectly listed as the 391st.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.usaafdata.com, www.8thafhs.com, www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census / Family Trees
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, The Cleveland Press - 2 April 1944