Memorial

More information

1st Lt William Schmoller graduated from South Milwaukee High School ion 1941 and was employed at Bucyrus-Erie.

He enlisted in San Antonio cadet Center, Texas on 14 January 1943.

Circumstances of loss of aircraft: "After dropping our bombs over our target at Dortmund, our plane was hit by flak which knocked out two engines. The remaining two engines were also failing and Lt. Schmoller ordered all his crew to bail out."
Known information: "There were nine of us in the crew. We had no Bombardier as such - the Navigator performed these duties. It was my first mission with Lt. Schmoller. Our station was at Norwich, England. All the crew were captured except Lt. Schmoller. We believe, however, that he did bail out - for the plane undoubtedly crashed as we saw some of the equipment from our plane that the Germans had picked up. Had he gone down with the plane the Germans would have seen him at the time of picking up this equipment. The co-pilot and I were the last ones to jump, except for Lt. Schmoller and he was all prepared to bail out when we abandoned ship. It is our personal opinion that he did jump but for some reason his chute did not open. We came down at a small town which I believe was called Arnstadt. This vicinity seemed to hold no importance from a target stand-point for there were many children around. All crew members were held in the same Prison Camp and we were Prisoners of War for about 100 days. Living conditions were not of the best, as the camp was full of lice and fleas, but troughout we were treated fairly by the Luftwaffe guards, and civilians. We have no reason to believe that the Germans killed or harmed Lt. Schmoller, and can only conclude from such information as is at hand that his chute did not open after he bailed out."

Cause of Death: "Plane hit by flak over target. Three Engines out. Subject gave orders to bail out. All crew bailed out. When I bailed out Subject was at bomb bay adjusting his parachute. Germans told us they found the wreckage and there was no bodies in it. They asked us what had happened to Subject. Subject was never heard of again."

8 POW, 1 KIA