Memorial

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The airplane was shot down by enemy aircraft and exploded in midair.

Six crew members survived and were taken prisoner; five men were killed.

According to surviving crew members, T/Sgt Leukering was wounded and did not have the time to bail out.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organization tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In 1946, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site, and they discovered two sets of remains; however, neither was associated with Leukering. He was declared non-recoverable on 26 July 1951.

In 2012, a German researcher notified Department of Defense investigators of an aircraft crash site near Kimratshofen, Germany, possibly associated with Leukering’s B-17. This information subsequently led to an investigation in 2013 and excavation efforts in 2018. The excavation team located possible human remains and material evidence.

In 2019, DPAA partner teams from the University of New Orleans and Cranfield University continued work at the Kimratshofen site, recovering additional material, which was also transferred to the DPAA laboratory.
To identify Leukering’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Sgt Leukering’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Epinal American Cemetery. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

He was given his final resting place at Round Springs Cemetery in Metropolis, Illinois.