Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
GUISE, Harmen Edgar - Date of
birth
2 August 1916 -
Age
27 - Place of
birth
Straban Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania -
Hometown
Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
13092737 -
Rank
Staff Sergeant -
Function
Left Waist Gunner -
Unit
337th Bombardment Squadron,
96th Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
16 December 1943 - Place of
death
Between Rauwerd and Poppingawier, 9 miles southwest of Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| A | 10 | 4 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Ervin M. Guise (father)
Mary A. (Beamer) Guise (mother)
Lawrence Guise (brother)
Ida A. (Yohe) Guise (wife)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-31086 -
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Bremen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the port
MACR: 1567
More information
S/Sgt Harmen E. Guise worked in a metal factory. He volunteered for the Army of the United States in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 19 September 1942.The airplane was shot down by a FW 190A of JG 1/1 and may have collided with B-17 #42-37739. The entire crew of both planes (20 men in total) were killed and were initially buried at the cemetery of Poppingawier on 21 or 31 December 1943.
By coincidence, Harmen's brother Lawrence Guise was serving in the same unit with Sgt Frank Linn, the late Mayor of Gettysburg. The brothers were to meet at a London pub in December 1943, Lawrence recalled to the Gettysburg Times in a 1996 interview. They had seen each other after being shipped overseas. Lawrence Guise arrived at the designated pub on the meeting day, and waited in anticipation for Harmen. But he never showed up it was later learned that his plane went down while on a mission that day.
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, Gettysburgtimes.com, www.ancestry.com - Veteran Compensation Application File
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Guido Lambooij, Erwin Derhaag