Hello Mr. Kern,
My father inlaw was on that plane when it went down Roland Kleppin pow for 19 months at Stalag 17 . Here is a couple of pic's one is the crew with the plane and the other is the crew list. Maybe the name is one the tail or the other side of the nose..
Here is last mission..
The target was the airfield at Handorf, near Munster. 21 planes were dispatched
and the marshalling yards at Munster were bombed as the secondary target due
to adverse weather conditions over the Primary. Lt. Hamilton and his crew of
the 733rd Squadron were lost on this mission. Lt. Hamilton, flying B-24 serial no.
42-52277, crashed near Bruinehaar, Holland, The crewmembers were:
1/Lt. James W. Hamilton (P) KIA
F/0 George T. Kina (CP) POW, Ittbrbeck, Germany
2/Lt. William F. Kern (NAV) POW, Oldendorf, Germany
2/Lt. Henry C. Kier (BOM) POW, Oldendorf, Germany
T/Sgt. John F. Smith (R) POW, Itterbeek, Germany
S/Sgt. Jerome J. Norris (TG) POW, Itterbeck, Germany
S/Sgt. John D. MacKenzie (BTG) KIA
S/Sgt. Owen M. Haugen (TTG) POW, Itterbeck, Germany
S/Sgt. Roland P. Kleppin (RWG) POW, Langeveen, Holland
T/Sgt. Alfred Scott (LWG) POW, Itterbeck, Germany
Lt. Hamilton is buried in the USA and S/Sgt. MacKenzie rests at the US
Cemetery of Margraten, Holland.