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Personal info

Full name
KITTREDGE, Frederick Daniel
Date of birth
18 September 1920
Age
23
Place of birth
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
31163119
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator
Unit
367th Bombardment Squadron,
306th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
13 December 1943
Place of death
Jade Bay near Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 14 10

Immediate family

Members
Frederick M. Kittredge (father)
Gladys G. (Allen) Kittredge (mother)
Lester E. Kittredge (brother)
Raymond H. Kittredge (brother)
Betty W. Kittredge (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-39768
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Kiel, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the port
MACR: 1575

More information

S/Sgt Frederick D. Kittredge attended college.

He enlisted in Boston, Massachusetts on 24 August 1924.

Statement from 2nd Lt Bernard A. Grossman, navigator, who survived:
"We were on our way back from Kiel, after having dropped our bombs on the target thru an undercast. We were at 18,000 ft. when we were hit by individual tracking bursts of flak at a position which I fixed about 15 M. near the Danish coast. The ship had pulled away in fairly straight and level flight, the loging altitude with flak continually bursting about it. Finally, it made a very wide circle as it neared the undercast at the distance below and through, I saw flames. As an indication of what might have happened to my capture follows: I broke thru the undercast, inflated my Mae West and plummeted into the water. Before I could unbuckle all bucles of my parachute, my hands became numb so that I was unable to remove it. I saw a light house a few mis. distant and tried to pull my parachute but became exhausted. I heard a shout for help from off in the distance and decided to do the same. Presently a lifeboat appeared on the horizon. It contained two German sailors. They reached me, fished me out of the water and I passed out. I regained consciousness under blankets in the interior of what I found was a large German warship, most likely a cruiser. After a while, I was placed in launch with the two other boys who were captured, T/Sgt Landarr and S/Sgt Cargill, and was brought into a sub pen at Wilhelmshaven."
The body of S/Sgt Kittredge was found near the lighthouse Arngast in the Innenjade near Wilhelmshaven on 14 December 1943. He was initially buried on 17 December 1943 at the Garrison cemetery of Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

Three crew members survived and were taken prisoner, seven were killed.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, www.abmc.gov, www.memorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Birth Index, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.newspapers.com, www.ancestry.com - 1930 census, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.newspapers.com, www.ancestry.com - Quincy High School Yearbook 1939