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Personal info

Full name
HOLLENKAMP, Bernard Francis
Date of birth
24 May 1918
Age
25
Place of birth
Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio
Hometown
Montgomery County, Ohio

Military service

Service number
O-374311
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
532nd Bombardment Squadron,
381st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
20 december 1943
Place of death
Stapelmoor, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
B 25 1

Immediate family

Members
Theodore D. Hollenkamp (father)
Louise A. (Bucher) Hollenkamp (mother)
Elizabeth Hollenkamp (sister)
Theodore Hollenkamp (brother)
Theresa H. Hollenkamp (sister)
Joseph G. Hollenkamp (brother)
Frank C. Hollenkamp (brother)
Julia A. Hollenkamp (sister)
Lucille (McCullagh) Hollenkamp (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3563
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Bremen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the port
MACR: 1721

More information

1st Lt Bernard F. Hollenkamp was graduated from the University of Dayton in 1939 with the degree of bachelor of mechanical engineering.

Statement from Robert E. Levert, Sgt, 11034354, Tail Gunner:
"Lt Hollenkamp was flying on our left wing and after the bombs dropped, he fell back out of formation. Four ME 109´s breaking through the front of the formation came on him in a head-on attack and then passed to his rear, split up in groups of two and made repeated attacks in criss-cross fashion from the tail and the sides. About the second or third attack the vertical stabilizer(fin) was swept by flames so that you could look through and see the frame work. He continued to fly level and then the whole tail assembly was enveloped by flames. He lost altitude and then vapor trails covered my view. When I last saw him his tail was a mass of flames. I did not see any parachutes.
I was flying in ship # 42-37760, on the opposite wing of the lead ship of the element, that we were both in."

Five crew members survived and were taken prisoner. The other five were killed.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Hollenkamp, Terry Hirsch, Erwin Derhaag, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, www.schoenbergerwebs.com/hollenkamp, www.381st.org, The University of Dayton Alumnus - December 1944

Photo source: Jac Engels, The University of Dayton Alumnus, Michel Beckers/Jim Kadric