Memorial

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In the vicinity of Groesbeek, a shell exploded somewhere under her nose of the airplane.

Commander Larry Hewin, only 19 years old, took glowing red fragments in his legs and neck. While he was lying on the flight deck behind his chair and radio operator Bill Kirlin was trying to stop the bleeding by applying tourniquets to his wounds, second pilot Richard Scott, aided by flight engineer Donald Dukeman, was frantically trying to keep Baggy Maggy afloat. By plotting a southwestern course the crew tried to reach a part of Belgium that was liberated by the Allies, but after having passed Baarle Nassau, Baggy Maggy lost her last precious height.

The Baggy Maggy, at approximately 100 miles made a gentle right turn, only to crash hard onto the Hoogstratensebaan, more or less a kind of dike, one meter higher than the potatoe field. Bill Kirlin, who had refused to leave his commander and take his crash position, was crushed and killed by the 300 kilo heavy top turret, that broke loose off the fuselage because of the impact. Bill Kirlin was buried on the spot, but after the war his body is brought to the big War Cemetery at Margraten, Limburg.