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Personal info

Full name
OVERDORF, Herbert W
Date of birth
2 January 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
East Vincent, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
O-746000
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
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
John I. Overdorf (father)
Bertha A. Overdorf (mother)
Paul Overdorf (brother)
Richard Overdorf (brother)
Thelma Overdorf (sister)
Dorothy T. (Bierman) Overdorf (wife)

Plane data

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

More information

1st Lt Herbert W. Overdorf graduated from Pottstown High School and was an electrician.

He joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 5 July 1940.

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, www.447bg.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - 1920/1940 Census / WWII Enlistment Record / Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.newspapers.com - Pottstown Mercury

Photo source: Jac Engels, Lorraine Verboort, www.newspapers.com - Pottstown Mercury