Today I learned that I had a great uncle (Perry W. Wolfe) who was a B-24 Liberator co-pilot in WWII and that he was killed in action near Magdeburg, Germany on March 3rd, 1945. Basically I received a huge stack of documents from another relative containing everything from the day he went missing to the correspondence between the War Dept. and his aunt and mother regarding the location of his remains and the return of his personal effects. This documentation and his dog tag didn't ever make it back to the family until just recently in 2008.
Here are the details of his last mission:
3 March 1945
Rothensee
b/Magdeburg
Type: Liberator (B24J)
Markings: 44-48844
Pilot: Lt. Richard Winters
Co-Pilot: 2/Lt Perry W. Wolfe
703 HB Sqd.
445 Bombing Group
8th Air Force
Target: Airfield Madgeburg-East
Of their 11 man crew, only 5 survived who were captured and later transferred back to U.S. Military control. In 1955 a German hunter turned in my great uncles dog tag to the U.S. Consulate General and stated he had come across some remains while hunting and that he had buried what little was left at the site. Upon investigation into his claims the Army was unable to locate the remains he said he had buried. This story also contradicts several other accounts that the remains of two airmen were recovered by a local policeman the day of the crash and taken into his custody, then turned over to German soldiers two days later who then buried them in a local cemetery the following day. The remains of 20 U.S. soldiers were disinterred from that cemetery in 1947, 10 of which could not be identified at the time and 5 of which were ultimately classified as unidentifiable and are now interned . So how that German hunter came by his dog tag is a mystery.
There is reference to an Air Medal, an Oak Leaf Cluster and three other citations in the documents regarding his personal items which were shipped back to his mother and aunt. Naturally he also received the Purple Heart posthumously.
Now imagine my surprise when I was actually able to find a crew photo via a simple Google search.
And according to the Status column in the next image their B-24 had only in service for a little over a month before being taken out by AA.
Here's the dog tag that the German hunter turned in at the Consulate in Germany in 1955 along with the black velvet United States Army pouch it was returned to the family in.
I have to admit that I got a hot under the collar when I stumbled across a military medals collector up in Grand Rapids, MI that has my great uncles Purple Heart for sale on his website whilst doing my research. I don't know how he came to have it (estate sale maybe?), but people buying/selling medals has never sat well with me - especially a medal awarded because the person was killed in action. The seller has it and a second PH packaged together as a "set" for $900 because they're from the same plane and were killed on the same mission.
http://militaryaviationartifacts.com/wings.htm
(third listing from bottom in left column)
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