Memorial

Biography

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Capt Charles D. Hewes joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army in October 1939. After completing training, he served in the Pacific, completing 65 combat missions. After returning home, he volunteered for the European Theater

On 18 December 1944, his Mustang was seen to spiral out of formation while climbing through a cloud bank. He crashed in a moor in Tinholt, suffering a fractured spine. He was captured and sent to a hospital in Hordhalm; he later died in captivity on 13 February 1945.

Statement from 1st Lt Wilbur B. Eaton: "The last time I saw Capt Hewes was at approximately 1430 hours, 13 December 1944. We were flying at about 7,000 feet on instruments, trying to climb out on top, when Capt Hewes’ airplane flying in number two position on Lt Peters’ right wing made a sharp spiral turn down to the left under my aircraft. Lt Peters called Capt Hewes on the radio few minutes later, but received no reply. Since we were in clouds at the time, I could not say where we were."

Statement from 1st Lt John N. Peters"
"On 18 December 1944, I was leading a section of aircraft on a mission in Germany. Capt Hewes was my number two man. We had passed over a front, going into enemy territory, the other side of which we had let down to the deck for a while. We had then begun to head back to England, steering around 290 to 300 degrees. The cloud layers began getting lower, so we decided to climb back through them. While climbing through the clouds, I observed that Capt Hewes and Lt Eaton were with me. A short while later, I looked to see if they were still with me and found that Capt Hewes was missing. I called him on the RT but received no reply. This occurred at 1430 hours. As we were at about 7,000 feet, still in cloud, I do not know what our location was. However, we were still over German territory."