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Personal info

Full name
JACKSON, Robert Elmer
Date of birth
14 June 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas
Hometown
Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas

Military service

Service number
18166481
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Ball Turret Gunner
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, Germany
10 km west of Spandau, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 8 15

Immediate family

Members
Roy Jackson (father)
Lula (Smith) Jackson (mother)
Delmer Jackson (twin brother)
Margaret Jackson (sister)

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

S/Sgt Robert E. Jackson was a chainman before he volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United Stated in Little Rock, Arkansas on 1 September 1942.

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.comhttp://airforce.togetherweserved.com/, Raf Dyckmans, http://www.mcadams.org/fpdb/100thcasualty.asp , WWII Draft Card, 1940 US Census

Photo source: www.100thbg.com