Memorial

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1st Lt Charles L. Gempel was a graduate of Scott High School and employed in the office of the Acklin Stamping Co. before entering the Army Air Forces in February, 1943. He went overseas in June 1944 and was based in England.

"Immediately after bombing, at 1318 hours, in vicinity of Hamburg, this aircraft went into a very steep bank. Heavy flak was encountered at this time.Aircraft came out of the 90-degree bank and was last observed flying apparently under control on 180-degree heading. Poor visibility, due to high clouds, made further sightings impossible.No chutes were seen." (Wrong aircraft?) Lester Griffin, engineer, said that three men survived: Fuller, Capps, and himself. "We were a radar crew and flew only in bad weather. We were on our 23rd mission. The plane exploded, knocking or blowing me out, and I came down by parachute after regaining consciousness. I am writing this letter from the V.A. Hospital in Gainsville."Further information was not possible as Sgt Griffin died in 1983. Sgt Clint Fuller sent other brief statements, "Bentcliff, Gempel, Fiskum, Barefoot, Celentano, Maschmeyer, Downey and a man of Mexican descent (Garza), went down with the plane. Ralph W. Capps and I bailed out over Hamburg, but I don't know how Lester Griffin managed to get out." We flew into a heavy front while leading the high, right squadron. Soup was so thick that we had to fly on instruments. Someone crossed over in front of us, with the prop wash flipping us over, and the plane spun into the ground from approximately 28,000 feet." On the contrary, our plane did not explode – it hit the deck. Neither was it a radar ship. The radio operator, Maschmeyer, froze, apparently from shock, and would not bail out. I had to climb over him in order to get to the catwalk in the bomb bay. On this mission, I was riding the top turret and that is why I had to fight my way past the radio operator. Both Barefoot and Garza were new to our crew. Barefoot was riding the nose turret in order to complete the final mission of his tour. He was killed.

1st Lt Charles L. Gempel was first buried at the Hamburg-Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Germany.