Memorial

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S/Sgt Robert N. Gilbert volunteered for the Army of the United States at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, on 19 May 1942.

The primary target was the aviation industry at Brunswick. This target as well as the secondary were obscured by a smoke screen, so a target of opportunity, Langenhagen/Hannover Aerodrome was bombed instead.

On the way to the target, the airplane was attacked by enemy aircraft in the vicinity of Salzwedel at 1344 hrs. It broke into flames and blew up.

On 2 April 1946, the former mayor of Suderburg, August Burmeister, made the following statement to 2nd Lt Hugo H. Grosz of the 608th Quartermaster Grave Registration Company:
"On the 8th of April 1944 an air battle took place above the town of Suderburg between German fighters and American bombers. One plane was hit and crashed near the station. Four men of the crew parachuted down and were found later on with unopened parachutes. One man lay dead near the plane. The five deceased were buried in the cemetery of this place by German Military. The names of the deceased are unknown to me as nobody was admitted to the place of accident."

It can be assumed that this was the location where airplane 42-110020 crashed. Seven crew members were killed, four were taken prisoner.

The remains of the crew members were found in a radius of 20 km around the crash site and buried at various community cemeteries. Not all of them could be identified.

According to a statement of a local citizen on 2 April 1946 he attended the burial of five American airmen at the cemetery of Suderburg.

Of other crew members, the remains were recovered and identified from other cemeteries. These remains were evacuated to the cemeteries of Margraten and Ardennes. The remains of unidentified casualties were all evacuated to Ardennes.

The picture shows Sgt Gilbert when he was awarded one of his medals.