Here is what is recorded in the 44th Roll Call of Honor on this incident.
The second of the three 68th aircraft lost on 7 July was that piloted by 1st Lt. Ted L. Weaver.
68th SQUADRON:
68th Sq., #42-99966 W, Weaver FULL HOUSE MACR #7353
68th Squadron Crew:
WEAVER, TED L. Pilot lst Lt. Idaho Falls,
ASN 0-693829 Injured, evaded, returned Idaho
SHAMBARGER, WALTER B. Co-pilot lst Lt. Montpelier,
ASN 0-700998 KIA, murdered, buried Ardennes (D-11-28) Ohio
PLATT, LAWRENCE Jr. Navigator 1st Lt. St. Paul,
ASN 0-706965 POW, wounded, injured Minnesota
REED, ROBERT E. Bombardier 1st Lt. Pittsburgh,
ASN 0-699567 POW Pennsylvania
GNIADEK, JOSEPH S. Engineer T/Sgt. Northridge,
ASN 31258858 POW Massachusetts
FAHEY, DONALD F. Radio Oper. T/Sgt. Kansas City,
ASN 37506294 POW Missouri
CROUSE, MARVIN L. RW Gunner S/Sgt. Newark,
ASN 35631988 POW Ohio
NALIPA, STANLEY G. LW Gunner Sgt. Poland,
ASN 15324363 KIA, buried Ardennes (A-37-1) Ohio
VOIGT, LORIN L. Tail Turret S/Sgt. San Francisco,
ASN 19186262 POW California
Note: Sgt. Nalipa was a Ploesti veteran.
The MACR for this aircraft states that hits were observed on three engines, #1, #2 and #4, all
occurring on the first pass by the enemy aircraft at the IP. This plane dropped to about 15,000
feet and straggled behind the formation. It successfully withstood another attack by Me 109s and
was last seen flying with another 44th BG aircraft #170 – Wilson’s. Both planes were being
escorted by two P-38s when last seen. This aircraft eventually crashed near Valthe, 8 km north of Emmen at 1100 hours. Dutch records show that the call letter shown on the tail surface could be W. Ted L. Weaver sent his recollections, “July 7th, 1944 we were on our 23rd bombing mission,
which was to an airfield at Bernberg, Germany. I was flying high element lead that day and just
as we were making the standard ‘S’ maneuver to maintain position of close formation during the
final turn onto the bomb run, we were hit by Me 110s out of the sun at 2 o’clock, high. Between
their exploding shells and the flak that we encountered at the same time, we lost three of our
engines and were able to feather only one of them. The other two windmilled until they froze up,
and consequently caught fire just before we abandoned ship.“Charley Harrison had been wounded in the head by an exploding flak burst inside of our ship on a previous mission [27 June 1944], so was not with us this day. Stanley G. Nalipa, who was flying substitute waist gunner for Harrison, was seriously wounded. Even though Crouse and Voigt made sure he had a firm hold on his ripcord – and was conscious when they helped him out the window and yelled for him to pull as he went out, his chute did not open. The Germans picked his body up about a mile inside of Germany from the Netherlands border.
Note: Charley Harrison’s head wound was not serious. He flew again on 16 July 1944.
“With the exception of myself, all the rest of my crew landed inside Germany and were captured.
Lt. Platt, navigator, was wounded in one leg during the attacks and injured his other leg while
landing with his parachute. My co-pilot, Bart Shambarger was captured by a Nazi sympathizer
(NSB’r). After capturing Bart, he offered his hand in a handshake gesture. When Bart reached
out his hand, the NSB’r grabbed it and jerked Bart toward him and simultaneously stabbed Bart
with his bayonet. The Germans spread the story that Bart had impailed himself on a fence post
during landing. Joe Gnaidek, my engineer, was shown Bart’s body right after he was killed and
they told him Bart’s chute hadn’t opened.
Note: The name of the Nazi sympathizer was G.J. Trechsel.
“Bart’s body was moved after the war to the American Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz,
Belgium. His murderer, the Dutch NSB’r, was turned in to the Allies after the war and sent to
prison for eight and one-half years, then released. “Being the ship’s commander, and therefore, the last to bail out, I landed just barely on the border of Netherlands and Germany. FULL HOUSE was so near the ground when I got out that my chute barely had time to check my velocity before I hit the ground. I injured my back, but managed to crawl to a hiding place and later that evening got into contact with the Dutch Underground. I spent nine months in German-occupied Holland before getting back to Allied
lines. All others from my crew became POWs. “Incidentally, I am reasonably certain of the circumstances of Bart’s death since I have personally visited with the Dutch farmer whose daughter witnessed it.â€
Note: Ted Weaver’s wife Silvia has published a book of Ted’s experiences called “The Twenty-Third Mission.†(If you can find her book there will be photos I am sure of the crew and Shambarger in that)
Other sources have informed me that this NSB’r had been hounded by the Dutch ever since his
release until he is thought to have committed suicide. Too, during the 40th anniversary
celebration of the liberation of the Netherlands, Lt. Shambarger was distinctly honored by the
people of Holland. At their request, I sent his photo to them so that they could display it in the
Place of Honor at their ceremonies. (Unfortunately Will Lundy met with an untimely death this year and all his material is now in the hands of his family. I assume Shambarger's Photo is there.)
<message edited by 66-506 on 12/16/2007 10:51:32 PM >