Memorial: Forgotten WW2 Army Aircrew, B17 Shot Down No. France, June 1944; 10 Men, 1 Survivor [View all]

A forgotten WWII American bomber crew is being remembered in France, Phillip Walter Wellman, Stars and Stripes, June 23, 2024. Ed.
🇺🇸 🇨🇵 (Photo caption: Most of the Spare Charlie crew and other men they flew with in 1944).
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ÉPAGNE-ÉPAGNETTE, France — An Army aircrew whose B-17 bomber was shot down over northern France has been honored 80 years later thanks to the joint efforts of an American woman with a history degree and a Frenchman with a penchant for World War II. A memorial for the 9-member crew was unveiled near the crash site here Saturday, the anniversary of the incident, which left all but one of the airmen dead. About 50 of the soldiers’ relatives traveled to France from the U.S. to attend the memorial’s unveiling with local residents and government officials.

“I am very happy and very grateful that the Spare Charlie crew have not been forgotten,” Camille Noel, a George Washington University history graduate, told the crowd, identifying the crew by the name of their aircraft. Noel, who fought back tears as she spoke, played a key role in getting the memorial erected. Noel’s research of an American B-17 bomber crew whose plane was shot down during World War II lead to the crew being honored with a memorial near the crash site. Descendants said many details of the crew’s final mission likely would have been lost to history if not for Noel’s research.

Her research began in 2019 when the Utah native had to write a biography on a soldier from her home state and chose 2nd Lt. John Lundberg, the Spare Charlie’s navigator. That assignment sparked her interest in the rest of the crew, and she wrote about them for her final thesis. After contacting their families, obtaining personal records, piecing together the training they went through in the U.S. and the multiple bombing mission they completed in Europe, Noel wrote to a newspaper in Abbeville, France, in an effort to try to find potential eye witnesses.

The newspaper put her in touch with Emmanuel Berle, a retiree and local World War II aficionado. Together, the duo was able to piece together a detailed narrative of what happened on June 22, 1944.. “Those men died for the liberty of western European countries and it takes all of us, and future generations to not let their final sacrifice be useless,” Berle said. Every member of the Spare Charlie crew was between the ages of 20 and 27...
https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2024-06-23/army-bomber-crew-memorial-france-14271388.html
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