Memorial

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S/Sgt Edward H. Staman was a machinist.

He volunteered for the Army of the United States in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 20 August 1942.

The airplane was hit by flak. Five crew members were taken prisoner, and five were killed. They were initially buried at the Memorial Cemetery for Enemy Dead at Diepholz on 30 November 1943.

Statement from 1st Lt. Robert A. Payne, co-pilot:
"I do not have much knowledge of these boys, as I was in the ship on the flight deck most of the trip. As previously stated before, I went back to the bomb bay for a few minutes as we passed over France, and all seemed well and in good spirits. When the time came to leave the plane, I went down in the nose and got the bombardier out as he seemed dazed and at a loss as to what to do. It is my impression that the pilot, knowing that I had gone down to the nose, should have gone back through the plane to get out and at the same time seen how and if the other men had heard his signal to get out; also, the condition that these men were in. From all I could gather from those of us that are alive, the plane had been hit pretty hard around the radio room and that it is very possible that the radio op. and ball gunner had been killed. The ball gunner called up on the interphone just before we were hit and said, ‘they are bursting right beneath us,' then all went dead as we found we had gotten into a bit of trouble. As for the rest we felt that they were either dead or killed in the crash, although, after the treatment I got on the ground, the Germans were in the frame of mind to kill them if they were still alive."

The plane crashed in a forest and was mostly burned up.