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Personal info

Full name
BEAUDRY, George Edouard
Date of birth
1921
Age
unknown
Place of birth
Massachusetts
Hometown
Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
O-758517
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
339th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
21 July 1944
Place of death
On the railway af Hüssenhofen, 5 km east of Schwaebisch-Gmünd, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Lorraine
Plot Row Grave
A 13 45

Immediate family

Members
Alfred J. Beaudry (father)
Rose A. (Delannie) Beaudry (mother)
Arthur A. Beaudry (brother)
Richard Beaudry (brother)
Gerard J. Beaudry (brother)
Jean Beaudry (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
43-37573
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Regensburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of Obertraubling airfield
MACR: 7412

More information

2nd Lt. George E. Beaudry was a machinist apprentice.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Boston, Massachusetts on 2 June 1942.

At about 4910N 0800E, while the group was somewhat disorganized, off course and flying through heavy cloud formations, a/c 573 was seen to pull up as though in a stall (possibly to avoid a collision), flip over and plunge straight down a considerable distance. It then recovered but almost immediately went into a spin from which it recovered again. Several minutes later it was seen flying about 2,500 feet below the formation, the same heading as the rest of the group, apparently under control, but it never again regained the formation and was lost to sight in the clouds. Several minutes later, at about 4845N 0915E, a crew in the formation reports seeing a B-17 heading toward Switzerland, tossing all loose equipment overboard, apparently under control but losing altitude. This may have been a/c 573, although it disappeared into a cloud bank before positive identification could be made.

Five crew members survived and were taken prisoner, four were killed.

After the war, a surviving crew member, Jerome Johnson, told that the surviving crew members were picked up by a truck. On the truck was a blood stained parachute and with a pair of gloves which was all recognized as Lt Beaudry's. A German woman told him that one of our comrades was pierced with a tree branch and died from loss of blood. He wa certain that this must have been Lt. Beaudry.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.abmc.gov, www.ancestry.com - family tree, www.fold3.com - MACR

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - AOsman, Arie-Jan van Hees, Pilot Class Book 43-J, Marfa, Texas