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name
SUNDE, Harland Vernon - Date of
birth
14 September 1921 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Hennepin County, Minnesota -
Hometown
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
T-061036 -
Rank
Flight Officer -
Function
Pilot -
Unit
535th Bombardment Squadron,
381st Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
1 December 1943 - Place of
death
In the Lek river close to the shore on the other side of the shipyard.
The Lek River between Nieuw-Lekkerland and Streefkerk, the Netherlands
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| O | 9 | 12 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Raymond M. Sunde (stepfather)
Ruth P. (Anderson) Sunde (mother)
Delores I. Sunde (sister)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-31097 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Mission Belle
Destination: Leverkusen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of IG Farben factories
MACR: 1661
More information
F/O Harland V. Sunde completed 4 years of high school and worked as a farm hand.He joined the Regular Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota on 10 July 1940. He attended flight school at Helena Arkansas, class 43-C, however he earned his pilot's wings on 29 April 1943 at Turner Field, Albany, Georgia, after completion of flight training in class 43-D at Maxwell Field, Decatur, Alabama.
The plane's controls were shot away and as they were on the deck they did not have enough altitude.
The bomber made an emergency landing on the Lek river after a fight with German fighters. Seven crew members could escape the sinking bomber.
Everyone was still in the plane when they ditched. Everyone had been wounded with the exception of the co-pilot. Seven crew members survided and were taken prisoner, three were killed.
F/O Sunde´s body was found in the reed on 12 June 1944.
It was his seventh mission and his first as a pilot. Before he flew as a co-pilot.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census, www.fold3.com - MACR, Jana - B24 Co-Pilot Niece, Book: "De Waard in Oorlogstijd", http://hazy.home.xs4all.nl/MissionBelle.html
Photo source: Sebastiaan Vonk, 59th AAFFTD Thompson Robbins Field, Helena, Arkansas, 1942, Flight School Yearbook - Class 43-C