Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
BIRDSEY, Charles Bartlett - Date of
birth
13 August 1920 -
Age
23 - Place of
birth
Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts -
Hometown
Belmont, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-809911 -
Rank
First Lieutenant -
Function
Pilot -
Unit
338th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
8 May 1944 - Place of
death
In the vicinity of Schwarmstedt, 6 km west of Gut Hustedt, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Charles E. Birdsey (father)
Beatrice (Holte) Birdsey (mother)
Gertrude H. (Kronenberg) Birdsey (wife)
Charles J. Birdsey (son)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-102525 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin
Mission: Bombing of the city
MACR: 4576
More information
1st Lt Charles B. Birdsey joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Boston, Massachusetts on 6 May 1942. He graduated from Searles High School and Cambridge School of Art. He was a commercial artist before he joined the army.The airplane was attacked by fighters and broke in half prior to the crash. The entire crew of 10 was killed.
Eight of them were recovered and buried at the Jewish cemetery of Hoya on 10 May 1944. Only the remains of James V. Ball, then listed as unknown, was buried at the Russian POW Cemetery of Vechta on 11 May 1944. Eight days after the crash, a Luftwaffe guard detail discovered the totally burned remains of the last two crewmembers in the wrackage (Edward J. Bondy and Charles B. Birdsey). Their are no records what happened with these bodies.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Charles J. Birdsey, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.96bg.org, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Charles J. Birdsey