Memorial

More information

John Stroud was a clerk.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Tampa, Florida, on 29 October 1942.

According to a witness statement of Capt Leroy L. Bryant, the pilot of another C-46 in the same group, this airplane dropped his paratroopers over the drop zone. As the group crossed the Rhine, back to allied occupied territory, he saw that the left wing behind the gas tank was on fire. As he was catching up with the aircraft to call the pilot over the VHF, it started to go down in a slow glide, as if preparing to crash-land. Instead of putting the aircraft down straight ahead, the pilot started a low turn at what seemed to be a slow airspeed. When the aircraft went into the turn, the fire spread to the extreme end of the left wing, burning the aileron off almost immediately. Unable to straighten out the aircraft, the left wing struck the ground followed by the nose and then the right wing. The aircraft then exploded, and the tail section was thrown clear of the wreckage.

Three crew members were killed, one man, T/Sgt Rhoads, crash-landed in the burning aircraft and suffered only minor injuries. He was taken to an aid station by British forces.

The airplane had 22 passengers, all members of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 17th Airborne Division on board.