Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
BRANDENBURG, Lawrence John - Date of
birth
17 September 1918 -
Age
24 - Place of
birth
Hospers, Floyd Township, Sioux County, Iowa -
Hometown
Le Mars, Plymouth County, Iowa
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
37114199 -
Rank
Technical Sergeant -
Function
Radio Operator -
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
17 April 1943 - Place of
death
North Sea, 11 miles northwest of the Isle of Norderney, Germany
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten - Walls of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
George E. Brandenburg (father)
Jane V. (Riedmiller) Brandenburg (mother)
Gladys K. Brandenburg (sister)
Esther E. Brandenburg (sister)
Clarence E. Brandenburg (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-5337 -
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Short Snorter 111
Destination: Bremen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Focke-Wulf aviation industry
MACR: 16090
More information
Sgt Lawrence J. Brandenburg worked on a farm.He enlisted on 17 February 1942 and left for overseas duty in January 1943.
The airplane made it through the flak over the target without being hit. On the way out to the coast it was attacked by fighters inflicting heavy damage on the aircraft. Still, it remained in formation. At 1326 hours, as the aircraft passed 3 miles east of Emden, it took direct flak hits that knocked out the No. 3 engine and set the No. 4 engine afire. The pilot, Lt Lindsey, feathered the No. 3 engine. Almost immediately afterwards another anti-aircraft shell burst into the cockpit killing both Lt Lindsey and the copilot, 2nd Lt George Slivkoff. More flak hits smashed into the aircraft and it began slowly circling downward in the direction of Norden and the North Sea.
The bombardier, 2nd Lt Albert Dobsa, was hit in the stomach by one of the flak bursts. The navigator, 2nd Lt Rocco J. Maiorca, was uninjured. Lt Dobsa, sensing the plane was out of control, went up into the cockpit to see what was wrong. There he saw both pilots dead in their seats. He looked back into the fuselage and saw crewmen lying on the floor, also apparently dead. Lt Dobsa knew it was time to bail out and went back down into the nose. Lt Maiorca was standing above the nose hatch, hesitating to jump. Lt Dobsa simply pushed him out the hatch and dropped through after him. Lt Dobsa came down in the shallow water on the Frisian Islands beach where he was captured immediately by German troops. Lt Maiorca drifted about a mile out to the sea off the Frisian Islands from where he swam ashore. He was in the water three hours and was taken captive by German troops upon reaching the shore.
The airplane ditched north of the Isle of Norderney. Eight crew members didn't survive and are all remembered at the Walls of the Missing at Margraten.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com Family Trees / Alton Democrat 30 April 1943
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, McCourt-Vacek Family Tree