This page is dedicated to ALL who have served so that we may live in freedom!

This page was last updated June 18, 2006

These dreaded words appeared in a Western Union telegram on June 10, 1944. Thus began that painful journey for eleven families.

In the early morning hours of May 28, 1944 the skies above Sudbury, England were pierced by the sounds of B24 Liberators taking off and forming on the beacons. The mission was to bomb a synthetic oil plant at Lutzkendorf, Germany.

The lead plane of the lower squadron was piloted by 2nd Lt. EUGENE R. HICKS. There was the normal crew of ten men, but that day they had an extra man, a pin-point navigator on board.

The original plane assigned to Lt. Hicks was named "Robin-D-Cradle", in tribute to his fiancee. That plane was damaged and scrapped from an earlier mission and they were flying the third plane assigned to them since their arrival. This would be their 6th mission.

As the squadron neared the target the Hicks plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The most damaging hit was to the #3 engine. They immediately dropped out of formation allowing the rest of the squadron to continue on to the target. As they tried to return to base, the lone plane successfully dropped their bombs on a railroad storage facility.

The entire crew agreed that they could limp back home, as they had twice before. However, this was not to be as they also lost the #4 engine after crossing over the Belgium coast.

Three of the crew members survived and spent about 2 days in the North Sea. They were captured by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III. To the best of my knowledge these three are still living. None of the remaining eight crewmen were ever found, and after one year were declared killed in action.

The families were notified about the loss of their loved ones, and a network began to evolve. These families shared their addresses and would write words of hope, encouragement, sorrow and despair to the others. The letters that were received by my grandmother are still in the family and that has allowed me to make contact with the three survivors and the former fiancee of Lt. HICKS .

The reason that I am putting this on the WWW is that we are looking for relatives of the other crew members. If anyone can supply information on these men or their family members, please contact me.

In the past couple of years we have met with all three survivors and others who have answered many questions as to what happened that day. We are seriously trying to find other family members of these brave young men so that they too will know what happened.

We are truly grateful for the survival of the three men who came home and the English RAF Typhoon pilot, Bill Upperton, who spotted the missing crew members in the water. This brave man risked his life to reassure the guys that they had been spotted, fixed and to prevent the Germans from launching boats to capture them. Without their willingness to relive their ordeal, we would never have known the facts.

For 50 plus years nothing was really known about the fate of this crew.

These men were:

Pilot------------2nd Lt. EUGENE R. HICKS, hometown, Meadow Grove, Nebraska, father, Matt K. Hicks

Co-Pilot------2nd Lt. JOHN JOHNSON, hometown, Greenville, So. Carolina, wife, Elizabeth Johnson

Navigator---2nd Lt. DAVID D. MOLL, hometown, Los Angeles, California, mother, Jewell R. Moll

Pin-Point Navigator... CAPT. JAMES BOGERT {Survivor}.

Bombardier-2nd Lt. KENNETH E. RUSSELL, hometown, Cushing, Oklahoma (my uncle)

Radio Operator & Waist Gunner.. S/Sgt.GEORGE "TORCHY" MUNRO, {Survivor} hometown, Grand Junction, Colorado, mother, Margaret H. Munro

Flight Engineer and Waist Gunner-Master Sgt. JAMES R. TODD, hometown, Kingsport, Tennessee, wife, Gladys E. Todd

Asst. Eng. & Top Turret Gunner....S/Sgt. CHARLES A. "SMITTY" SMITH, {Survivor} hometown Coolidge, Georgia, mother, Belle Smith

2nd Eng.-----Sgt. OLIN BUNDRICK, hometown, Great Falls, So. Carolina, wife, Eloise G. Bundrick.

Armament and Ball Turret Gunner--S/Sgt. ROBERT E. DRAKE, hometown, Staten Island, New York, father, Thomas E. Drake. It has been learned that he had a brother also serving as a pilot in England during the same time. His name is unknown.

Nose Gunner-Sgt. MURRAY MOSKOWITZ, hometown, Miami, Florida, mother, Gussie B. Kapchan. It has been learned that he had a sister in Miami also. Her name is unknown.

JOHN JOHNSON had a wife and baby on the way when the plane was shot down. I would like to locate this son. Also, we know that DAVID MOLL had a brother named MAX or MAC.

                                       

                                       

WE NEVER, NEVER FORGET

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