Memorial

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Maj Gene Arth of the 406th Fighter Group, flying a familiarization mission. I saw a train running south on the track from Meppen to Lingen and took Red Flight down to strafe," said Capt Tom Beeson, who had Arth on his wing. "We made one attack from west to east and encountered no ground fire whatsoever. The train stopped, and we turned back and strafed again, this time from east to west, and destroyed the locomotive. I encountered no ground fire on this second attack, but as I pulled up to the left, I saw bursts of 20mm flak over the target area. At the same time, I saw a ship dive, crash into the yard of a farmhouse, and explode. Then my number three man, Lt Edwin Fisher, called that my number two man, Maj Arth, had crashed. Nobody in the flight saw a parachute, and number three noted Maj Arth's closed canopy as he went down. I do not believe there is any possibility of his having lived through the crash. Arth was indeed killed in the crash.