Memorial

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1st Lt Paul R. Sandhagen graduated from Peoria High School in 1938 and attended Iowa Wesleyan for a short while and was employed as a purchasing agent for Caterpillar Tractor Company.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Peoria, Illinois on 22 Ocotber 1942. He received his wings and commission in March 1944 at Deming Air Field, New Mexico.

Just a few seconds after bombs away over Osnabruck, Germany, the aircraft received a direct hit from anti-aircraft gunfire in the nose. Two of the navigators and the bombardier who were in the nose were killed instantly. The enitre nose below the cockpit was blown out, and there were large holes in the cockpit floor. The plane pulled away from the formation out of control because the automatic flight control equipment was knocked out. The pilot gave the order to bail out, and the tail gunner and waist gunner did so immediately. This was just west of Osnabruck, Germany. It is not known whether their parachutes opened. The pilot then found he had manual control of the plane so he told the top turret gunner (engineer) to stay as he intended to get the plane to friendly territory if he could. The radio operator overheard the order over the interphone, and he passed the information to the other navigator who was in the radio room. They decided to stay with the plane. The pilot and co-pilot were able to bring the plane back to friendly territory and land it near Volkel, The Netherlands.

Five crew members returned with the plane, two bailed out and were taken prisoner, three were killed.

The body of Lt Sandhagen was recovered near Osnabruck and he was initially buried at the prisoners of war cemetery at the Air Base Headquarters of Achmer on 28 November 1944.