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Personal info

Full name
JOHNSON, Edward Jack
Date of birth
11 May 1924
Age
19
Place of birth
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Hometown
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois

Military service

Service number
16145047
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Ball Turret Gunner
Unit
710th Bombardment Squadron,
447th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

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
Leonard Johnson (father)
Clara (Gear) Johnson (mother)
Nancy Johnson (sister)
Donald Johnson (brother)

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 Edward J. Johnson was a machine operator.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the U.S. Army in Chicago, Illinois on 28 October 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.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1940; 1940 United States Federal Census, www.447bg.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com - MACR

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspapers.com - Chicago Tribune, IWM/American Air Museum