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Personal info

Full name
HESSE, Edward Anthony
Date of birth
11 April 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Dell Rapids, Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Hometown
Cedar County, Nebraska

Military service

Service number
O-823075
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
350th Bombardment Squadron,
100th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
6 October 1944
Place of death
Ringstrasse 51-6, Finkenkrug
10 km west of Spandau, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 8 14

Immediate family

Members
Edward W. Hesse (father)
Katherine M. (Huewe) Hesse (mother)
Agnes M. Hesse (sister)
Robert H. Hesse (brother)
James R. Hesse (brother)
Norbert Whittle (Brother-in-law)

Plane data

Serial number
43-37882
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Happy Go Lucky
Destination: Berlin, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the industrial area
MACR: 9509

More information

2nd Lt Edward A. Hesse joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri in 1 February 1943.

The aircraft received a direct flak burst between engines 2 and 1. The wing burst into flame and it peeled off, spinning and burning. No parachutes were seen.

The bomb load detonated some time after the crash and killed a German woman who was attempting to assist the crew. One crewmembers was taken prisoner. Eight bodies were recovered as unknow and buried in the communal cemetery of Falkensee, Germany.

In August 1947 four crew members were positively identified and returned to the USA. At the request of next of kin the unidentified were buried in Ardennes in two adjoining graves. There is a gravestone between the two crosses with the names of the buried crewmen. Joseph J. Burghardt and John T. Carmichael are buried in separate graves.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.100thbg.com, Peter Schouteten, Rik Verhelle, www.ancestry.com Family Tree, http://airforce.togetherweserved.com/, http://www.mcadams.org/fpdb/100thcasualty.asp

Photo source: www.100thbg.com