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Personal info

Full name
ALLEN, Henry Hanes Jr
Date of birth
30 August 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Jackson, Butts County, Georgia
Hometown
Newton County, Georgia

Military service

Service number
14120001
Rank
Sergeant
Function
Top Turret Gunner
Unit
732nd Bombardment Squadron,
453rd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 April 1944
Place of death
Near Wistedt, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.

Immediate family

Members
Henry H. Allen (father)
Maria (Death) Allen (mother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-52185
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Little Joe
Destination: Brunswick, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the MIAG-Petritor aviation industry
MACR: 3926

More information

Sgt Henry H. Allen, Jr. attended North Georgia College

The airplane was shot down by enemy fighters. The entire crew of ten was killed.

After the war, Army investigators from the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) attempted to find the crash site and recover the remains of the ten crew members. Captured German records noted that one unidentified plane crashed near Wistedt, County Salzwedel, on the same day that the Liberator went missing, however AGRC personnel were unable to successfully locate the site. In 2015, an independent research group, Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team (MAACRT), contacted DPAA historians with new information related to a possible crash site near Wistedt, Germany. Interviews with elderly local residents led investigators to a crash site location where they were able to recover various pieces of wreckage, including potential osseous remains. Between 2021 and 2023 DPAA investigators returned to the crash site for continued excavations and recoveries. By the end of September 2023, all evidence, including osseous remains and life support equipment, had been recovered and sent to the DPAA laboratory. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between the remains and Sgt Allen.

On 20 June 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Sgt. Henry H. Allen Jr., was accounted for.

He was given his final resting place at Southview Cemetery in Covington, Georgia on 12 October 2024.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.b24.net, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.fold3.com - MACR, www.8thafhs.com

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.ancestry.com, Kathy C. Kaminski, niece of Francis E. Callahan