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Personal info

Full name
POULSON, Glenn William
Date of birth
29 October 1922
Age
22
Place of birth
Williamsburg, Iowa County, Iowa
Hometown
Williamsburg, Iowa County, Iowa

Military service

Service number
O-788083
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Bombardier
Unit
599th Bombardment Squadron,
397th Bombardment Group, Medium
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 April 1945
Place of death
Peine, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
N 21 1

Immediate family

Members
William A. Poulson (father)
Magaret C. (Martin) Poulson (mother)
Ruth E. Poulson (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
44-68148
Data
Type: B-26
Destination: Nienhagen, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the oil refinery
MACR: 14263

More information

2nd Lt Glenn W. Poulson graduated from Williamsburg High School with the class of 1941.
Following graduation he attended an aircraft school in Des Moines for a time. After that, he went to California where he was employed in a large machine shop and in the shipyards for nearly two years before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
The aircraft suffered a direct hit by heavy flak in the bomb bay. At the same time, it blew off the left wing and engine and about twelve feet of the tail was blown clear of the aircraft.

Two crew members survived and were taken prisoner, four were killed.

According to S/Sgt Doane, the pilot, Lt Starkey, was desperately trying to regain control of the aircraft after it was hit. S/Sgt Doane's last communication with Lt Starkey was when the pilot instructed him to go to the bomb bay and remove the safety pins from their bomb load.

Lt Poulson was apparently in the nose of the aircraft, a rather cramped place. He did not have his parachute, it was stowed in the radio room (aft of the cockpit). According to S/Sgt Doane, Lt Poulson was unable to reach the radio room to get his parachute due to the aircraft being in a spin. Apparently Lt Poulson may have been slightly injured. The last S/Sgt Doane knew of the bombardier was the co-pilot pounding him on the legs, trying to "hurry him up.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Family Trees

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.ancestry.com, Family Poulson, Georges Herijgers