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Personal info

Full name
BRICK, William Masson
Date of birth
18 September 1923
Age
19
Place of birth
Glen Ridge, Essex County, New Jersey
Hometown
Essex County, New Jersey

Military service

Service number
O-798735
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Navigator
Unit
548th Bombardment Squadron,
385th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
28 July 1943
Place of death
North Sea, off Heligoland, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 5 27

Immediate family

Members
Harry Brick (father)
Joan (Masson) Brick (mother)
Walker T. Weed (half-brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-30257
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Lady Susie II
Destination: Oschersleben, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Focke Wulf aviation industry
MACR 189

More information

William Brick attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He enlisted shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was commissioned at Delman Field, Louisiana in 1943.

Airplane 42-30257, 42-3316 and 42-30285 were flying in an echelon on a combat mission. Off Heligoland, at a time when visibility was poor, ship 30257 was struck by flak at a point in the fuselage about where the Navigator sits. Part of the fuselage was blown away, and the plane was thrown up into ship 42-3316. These two planes locked together for probably 30 seconds and fell into ship 42-30285. All went down together and blew up.

Of the crew of ten, seven were killed in the crash and three survived. T/Sgt Joseph D. McGarry bailed out and was taken prisoner but was killed the same day according to the available records.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Astrid van Erp, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com - Family Tree

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.ancestry.com - Dartmouth College School Yearbook 1945