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Personal info

Full name
SAYE, Roy Lee
Date of birth
5 February 1911
Age
32
Place of birth
Cherokee County, Georgia
Hometown
Polk County, Florida

Military service

Service number
34404301
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Tail Gunner
Unit
548th Bombardment Squadron,
385th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Distiguished Flying Cross,
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
29 November 1943
Place of death
Near Fesenfeld, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 10 9

Immediate family

Members
William L. Saye (father)
Maude E. (Lowery) Saye (mother)
Charles C. Saye (brother)
Paul W. Saye (brother)
Jackson L. Saye (brother)
John W. Saye (brother)
Thomas G. Saye (brother)
Leonard E. Saye (brother)
Susie (Little) Saye (wife)
Edward Saye (son)

Plane data

Serial number
42-30204
Data
Type: B-17F
Nickname: Gremlin's Buggy
Destination: Bremen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the port area
MACR: 1581

More information

S/Sgt Roy L. Saye worked at a fruit farm.

He enlisted at Camp Blanding, Florida on 30 September 1942.

The airplane was hit by flak. Five crew members were taken prisoner, and five were killed.

They were initially buried at the Memorial Cemetery for Enemy Dead at Diepholz on 30 November 1943.

Statement from 1st Lt. Robert A. Payne, co-pilot:
"I do not have much knowledge of these boys, as I was in the ship on the flight deck most of the trip. As previously stated before, I went back to the bomb bay for a few minutes as we passed over France, and all seemed well and in good spirits. When the time came to leave the plane, I went down in the nose and got the bombardier out, as he seemed dazed and at a loss as to what to do. It is my impression that the pilot, knowing that I had gone down to the nose, should have gone back through the plane to get out and at the same time seen how and if the other men had heard his signal to get out; also, the condition that these men were in. From all I could gather from those of us that are alive, the plane had been hit pretty hard around the radio room and that it is very possible that the radio opp. and ball gunner had been killed. The ball gunner called up on the interphone just before we were hit and said, 'they are bursting right beneath us,' then all went dead as we found we had gotten into a bit of trouble. As for the rest we felt that they were either dead or killed in the crash, although after the treatment I got on the ground the Germans were in the frame of mind to kill them if they were still alive."

The plane crashed in a forest and was mostly burned up.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Rik Verhelle, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.fold3.com, www.ancestry.com, hellothomas.org

Photo source: www.ancestry.com, Peter Schouteten