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Personal info

Full name
GARDNER, Lewis Scott
Date of birth
11 November 1915
Age
27
Place of birth
Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee
Hometown
Shelby, Giles County, North Carolina

Military service

Service number
O-735190
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Bombardier
Unit
568th Bombardment Squadron,
390th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
10 October 1943
Place of death
Burgsteinfurt, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
D 3 51

Immediate family

Members
Hume F. Gardner (father)
Annie Gardner (mother)
Hume F. Gardner Jr. (brother)
Bessie Gardner (sister)
Jean (Bost) Gardner (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-3328
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Miss Fortune
Destination: Munster, Germany
Mission: Bombing
MACR: 861

More information

2nd Lt Lewis S. Gardner graduated from Giles Co. High School, attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and studied under Don Grant in Nashville, Tennessee. He was employed as a commercial artist.

He enlisted on 30 March 1942 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

42-3328 was hit by a rocket which blew the tail off and collided with another B-17, just above it. The accident occurred just after the target was reached. Both ships crumbled, and no parachutes were observed. Lt Gardner was on his 15th mission when shot down over Germany.

Lt Gardner was initially buried on 13 October 1943 at the Protestant Cemetery in Burgsteinfurt, grave 13.

Source of information: Terry Hirsch, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil / United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 / 1920 Census, http://www.cmstory.org - Charlotte Mecklenburg Library / The Charlotte Observer, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://www.cmstory.org - Charlotte Mecklenburg Library / The Charlotte Observer