Memorial

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Donald Bowie was a hotel clerk.

He joined the Regular Army in Portland, Maine, on 13 November 1940.

The aircraft was shot down by Lt Heinz Knoke in a Bf-109.

2nd Lt Wayne G. Gotke, navigator, gave this account: “Our ship was under constant fighter attack from the time that we reached the Island of Texel until we were shot down. We had fought off the planes with very minor damage until we were almost to Oldenburg, then all hell broke loose. I spent most of this time with position reports, trying to get shortcuts filled into the flight to allow us to gain and catch the rest of the formation. However, I am reasonably sure no one was injured up to this point except for Sgt Welsh, the belly gunner, who had passed out from lack of oxygen and, as far as I know, never regained his senses. When we were almost to Oldenburg, fighters hit us from all sides. Sgt Vogt, the engineer, and top turret operator shot the first fighter down, and I shot down the next down, however not until he had sent 20 mms into the nose and cockpit. Sgt Mifflin shot down the third from his waist gun position. At this point, my left gun jammed, and I know at least two planes made direct hits on nose and flight deck. Someone, I’m sure, was hurt on the flight deck, and I was hit twice in the nose of the ship operating a jammed gun. “Engines #3 and #4 had been hit and were on fire. I believe fire spread to the wing tank and caused the ship to explode. I was working on my guns when all at once it seemed someone pushed me from behind and all went black. I woke up falling through space and I pulled my ripcord and no results, so I reached back and tore the back of my chute out. My last look at the altimeter showed 26,000 ft. and the Germans claim they saw my chute open at 5,000 ft."

Two crew members survived the crash. Nine men were killed. They were initially buried at the cemetery of Bad Zwischenahn, Germany.