Memorial

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Pvt Jesus G. Hernandez was a kitchen worker.

He enlisted in Los Angeles, California on 14 December 1942.

Pvt Hernandez was became an American citizen on 26 July 1944, when he was stationed in England.

He was on board of the CG-AA Waco Glider, serialnumber 43-19797 (MACR 15332) with destination landing Zone W near Best in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden.

Due to bad weather in the vicinity of Ghent several tow planes and gliders encountered navigation problems.

The glider piloted by F/O Fry was released from the tow plane for an unknown reason, dropped down, hit some tree tops and crashed in a field. All fifteen passengers and the pilot were killed. On
20 September 1944, they were all buried at the municipal cemetery of Kruishoutem. At that time, Kruishoutem was already liberated.

Following statement is from Capt John W. Gallager, the pilot of the tow plane:
"I was towing F/O Fry and was flying the number three position in a four ship element. I lost the formation over the sea about four minutes before I reached the Belgium coast. Due to instrument weather I went down and crossed the coast under the weather at an altitude of about 200 feet. When we reached a point about 6 miles from Ghent, Belgium, the visibility got so low we could just see the glider from the tow ship so I decided to try climbing up through the altitude of about 500 feet the glider pulled our tail down and left. Then it straightened up again for about 30 seconds. He then started having more trouble and either cut loose or the rope broke. We made a search of the area but found no trace of the glider. During this search we found an R.A.F. Field so we landed and reported the position of the glider as near as we could."