Memorial

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1st Lt George W. Betchley graduated from Yonkers High School in 1942 and attended college for one year.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Atlantic City, New Jersey on 26 February 1943.

Statement of Cpt Andrew F. Crane a crew member who survived:
"After the plane received direct hits, a heading of 100 degrees was established to make an emergency landing at a Russian air strip. Fighters attacked and eventually all crew members bailed out. It is believed that all crew members were fired upon while descending in their parachutes. I was fired upon twice by an enemy fighter. When I landed, I was strafed by a Me109. He missed me by 2 feet and a second time by 6 feet. He came over a third time but I managed to dive in a creek. I saw none of the boys from the moment I hit the ground. I then tried to reach a haystack. Spotted, I was fired upon three times. I threw up my hands and surrendered. Taken to quarters I was told the Russian lines were but 10 kilometers away. My co-pilot Paul Honke was brought in bleeding. He suffered four strafing attacks, two in the air and two on the ground."

Field investigations, conducted on 29 December 1947 and 20 September 1949, failed to locate the remains of the eight casualties or of the crash site. It was revealed that an identification tag belonging to crew member S/Sgt De Matteis was turned in to American authorities at Bremen by a German refugee. Attempts were made upon receipt of the identification tag to learn the whereabouts of the refugee whose address was unknown.

On 8 April 1948, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) personnel recovered personal equipment and a set of remains, later designated as “Unknown X-7547 Neuville,” from Janowek Village Cemetery, near Glinica, Poland. The remains could not be identified and were interred as Unknown X-7547 at the United States Military Cemetery Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium in September 1949.

In April 1948, an AGRC team investigated a crash site associated with Betchley’s aircraft. Local authorities took the team to the crash site where equipment was found in the wreckage which had serial numbers correlating with weapons used on the B-17G Flying Fortress.

After a thorough historical and scientific analysis, it was determined that X-7547 could likely be identified. After receiving approval, on July 7, 2016, Unknown X-7547 was disinterred from Neuville and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Betchley’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (Y-STR) DNA analysis, which matched his family, as well as dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, and historical evidence.

Lt. Betchley was given his final resting place in Clearwater, Florida on 14 October 2017.