Memorial

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T/Sgt Erick C. Swenson graduated from Leander R. Peck High School in 1935 and attended Rhode Island State College for one year.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Providence, Rhode Island on 17 March 1942.

The airplane was attacked by enemy fighters. Crew members of other airplanes in the group saw the left engine and left side burning and reported it crashed on a hillside.

One crew member was taken prisoner, five men were killed.

From Brian Gibbons, 397th BG Historian: Co-Pilot Robert Altman is the only known survivor from this aircraft, despite four being reported as having parachuted out. At least two of those, possibly all four, along with some other aircraft crewmen, were attacked after they had landed near Daun, Germany. The full details of the attack, which formed part of a potential war crimes trial, have unfortunately gone missing from the files that were created for that trial. As no specific individuals could also be found or confirmed, nobody was ever brought before a court for what was clearly a horrendous action. The attack resulted in several men being killed or so severely beaten that a German Army officer administered a 'Coupe de Grace' to end some of their lives. Only that unidentified officer, and the few that witnessed or where involved in the attack(s) will ever really know a small part of the events of that day.