Missing in Action Frankfurt 8/2/44 with Howard Snyder who joined Maquis, ret UK Oct ‘44, Tail gunner: Bill Slenker-WIA, landed Signe La Petite and remained in area until liberated by US troops (2 evaded capture); Co-pilot: George Eike, Navigator: Bob Benninger, Radio Operator: Ross Kahler, Ball turret gunner: Louis Colwart, Waist gunner: John Pindroch (5 KIA - all shot one by one after interrogation, German CO, executed after war);
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/42-31499
A full account of this mission and the fate of the crew can be found in the book "Shot Down : the true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth", by Steve Snyder, (Historian) .
Foto: Plaque in Saint-Rémy near Chimay, Belgium to the memory of the eight US airmen who were savagely executed by Germans soldiers on 22 April 1944 and of the two Belgian Underground members who had been arrested that same day and who died in German camps. The names : * Sgt Vincent Reese, aged 22 [ Right Waist Gunner on #42-39795 - 303BG/359BS - lost 30 December 1943 ] * Sgt Orian Owens, aged 24, * Sgt Charles Nichols, aged 23 and * Sgt John Gemborski, aged 21 [ all 3 on board #42-30782 of 306BG/368BS, lost 11 January 1944 ] * Lt George Eike, aged 23, * 2nd Lt Robert Benninger, aged 21 and * Sgt John Pindroch, aged 19 [ all three on board #42-31499 - 306BG/369BS - lost 2 February 1944 ] * 2nd Lt William Huish, aged 24 [ Navigator on #42-29656 - 91BG/322BS lost on 20 February 1944 ] The two Belgians : * Henri Fontaine, aged 25 [ deported; disappeared in Koblenz, Germany ] * Joseph Simon, aged 21 [ died in the Dachau concentration camp, Germany ]
Missing in Action Frankfurt 8/2/44 with Howard Snyder who joined Maquis, ret UK Oct ‘44, Tail gunner: Bill Slenker-WIA, landed Signe La Petite and remained in area until liberated by US troops (2 evaded capture); Co-pilot: George Eike, Navigator: Bob Benninger, Radio Operator: Ross Kahler, Ball turret gunner: Louis Colwart, Waist gunner: John Pindroch (5 KIA - all shot one by one after interrogation, German CO, executed after war);
