Memorial

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1st Lt Ben C. Wassell graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1937 and Green Mountain Junior College in 1940. He was attending Syracuse University and was employed at General Electric Company.

He enlisted in January 1941.

42-97242 was manned by Crew 12. This was their 6th mission, the first had been just 10 days ago on April 8. Their target was the Heinkel Aircraft Factory near Oranienburg, Germany, just a stone's throw from Sachenhausen, the first Nazi concentration camp, and about 20 miles from Berlin.

At 2:40 that afternoon, directly over their target, they were hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire. The entire tail section, from the waist gunners back, was completely torn off. Official records indicate that no parachutes were seen as the plane went down. German records state that there were no survivors and list only 4 crew names in their reports (indicating that 4 dog tags were found). Nine of the crew were buried in a common grave. The remains of one of the crew, most probably that of Pilot Ben Wassell, was found during salvaging of the wreck, after the remains of the other nine had been buried.