Wednesday,
August 23, 2006
The remains of three airmen missing in action
from a World War II combat mission in 1944 have been identified and returned
to their families for burial, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Second Lieutenant David J. Nelson, of Chicago;
Technical Sergeant Henry F. Kortebein, of Maspeth, New York, and Technical
Sergeant Blake A. Treece, Jr., of Marshall, Arkanas, are to be buried at
Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, the Pentagon said.
Nelson, Kortebein and Treece were among nine
airmen aboard a B-17G Flying Fortress on a mission to bomb targets near
Caen, France, on Aug. 8, 1944, when the plane was hit by enemy fire and
crashed near a village south of Caen.
German forces and French villagers recovered
some of the remains of the crew and buried them nearby. Advancing U.S.
forces found additional remains, and six of the nine men ultimately were
identified. But Nelson, Kortebein and Treece remained unaccounted for.
In August 2002, a team from the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command, which is responsible for accounting for missing servicemen,
was told that a French aircraft wreckage hunting group had found a crash
site near the village where the B-17G went down. The U.S. team surveyed
the site, excavated it in July 2004 and recovered human remains, personal
effects and crew-related materials in the wreckage.
Also found were six unexploded 250-pound bombs.
David J. Nelson
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # O-552168
322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group,
Heavy
Entered the Service from: Illinois
Died: 8-Aug-44
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Brittany American
Cemetery
St. James, France
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple
Heart
Photo Courtesy of Holly, October
2006
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Henry F. Kortebein
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 12127310
322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group,
Heavy
Entered the Service from: New York
Died: 8-Aug-44
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Brittany American
Cemetery
St. James, France
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple
Heart
Photo Courtesy of Holly, October
2006
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Blake A. Treece, Jr.
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 14033465
322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group,
Heavy
Entered the Service from: Arkansas
Died: 8-Aug-44
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Brittany American
Cemetery
St. James, France
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple
Heart
Photo Courtesy of Holly, October
2006
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Warren
D. Godsey
Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 37534026
322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group,
Heavy
Entered the Service from: Missouri
Died: 8-Aug-44
Buried at: Plot D Row 16 Grave 11
Normandy American Cemetery
Colleville-sur-Mer, France
Awards: Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

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Charles
Sherrill
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # O-757927
322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group,
Heavy
Entered the Service from: Indiana
Died: 8-Aug-44
Buried at: Plot J Row 26 Grave 15
Normandy American Cemetery
Colleville-sur-Mer, France
Awards: Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters,
Purple Heart
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Suffern
hero home 62 years later
By BOB BAIRD
COURTESY OF THE JOURNAL NEWS
7 September 2006
For more than 60 years, the Collins family
of Suffern has told the story of the three brothers who went off to World
War II and preserved the memory Richard Collins — the one who never came
home.
Even as they passed along a box of newspaper
clippings, old photos and letters written to and from the war zones in
Europe and the Pacific, Rosemary Collins Schultz said, they thought his
story had long ago reached its natural ending.
But in 2003, that changed. A richer and more
detailed story of Richard Collins emerged, one that brought him home at
last to be buried with his crewmen in Arlington National Cemetery 62 years
after he was reported missing in action over France.
Collins, who played varsity hockey, football
and baseball, graduated from Suffern High School in 1941. That July, he
put aside the ambition he listed in the 1941 Panorama yearbook — "to be
a millionaire."
Collins, the youngest of 12 children, joined
the Army Air Corps. In May 1944, he went overseas as a gunner on a B-17.
By July, he had been awarded the Air Medal and a presidential citation.
On Aug. 8, two months after D-Day, he was the
waist gunner on a B-17, known as the "Chowhound," a plane children would
later build in plastic models. Their goal was to bomb German lines ahead
of advancing American forces south of Caen, France.
Witnesses in other bombers and on the ground
said the plane was hit and its tail section dropped straight down. The
rest spiraled to the ground. It hadn't yet dropped its bombs.
It took about a week for the family in Suffern
to learn he was missing. A year later, he was declared killed in action,
but it wasn't until 1948 that his family concurred, based on identification
of a section of jawbone. His remains were buried in one of the American
cemeteries in France.
As she shares her uncle's story now, Connie
Collins said of her family, "We all assumed that was the end of the story."
That turned out hardly to be the case.
John Collins learned about his Uncle Richard
as he grew up in Suffern. Now a vice president of Avery Dennison, the manufacturer
of office and labeling products, he moved to Ohio about 10 years ago and
was transferred to England in 2003.
One of his first trips was to France to visit
the Cemetery of St. James in Brittany, where he had learned his uncle was
laid to rest. During his visit, a conversation with the cemetery caretaker
unlocked more of the story — that remains of the crew had been buried by
townspeople. Later, they were moved to a temporary military cemetery before
being interred at St. James. The wreckage, John Collins was told, was still
partially buried at the crash site.
John Collins contacted the 91st Bomber Group,
requested his uncle's records from the National Archives and worked with
the Normandy Association for Air Remembrance, which honors those who fought
to liberate France.
Over the years, partial remains of Collins
and five other crewmen had been recovered. But when a U.S. team from the
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, excavated the site in June 2004,
they found remains and personal effects of the other three crewmen inside
the wreckage. John Collins watched their work and was presented with a
Holy Name Society medal that belonged to his uncle. "It was pretty nice
that they could pull that out of the wreckage," John Collins said. There
were also some tense moments when the JPAC crew found live munitions.
They also found the machine gun Richard Collins
operated and the nose section of the plane, complete with the "Chowhound"
artwork painted by Tony Starcer, the same artist who decorated the famed
"Memphis Belle," said Rosemary Collins Schultz, Connie Collins' sister.
It's likely both artifacts will be donated,
possibly within a month or so, to either the Suffern Museum or Suffern
Free Library.
John Collins' sister, Mary, joined him in France
in August 2004 as the town where the plane crashed, Lonlay L'abbaye, celebrated
the 60th anniversary of its liberation. "The townspeople were so reverent,"
Mary Collins said. "Children marched in costumes, and World War II veterans
paraded to the center of town to place a plaque as a memorial to the crew.
"It came as a complete surprise to us that
the story wasn't over, that the plane and the men had been found," Mary
Collins added.
But even then, there was more.
On Aug. 24 — 62 years to the day after the
old Ramapo Valley Independent newspaper reported Collins missing in action
— he and the other eight members of his crew were buried side by side in
Arlington National Cemetery.
There were three individual caskets for the
crewmen found in the wreckage. Partial remains of Collins and five others
were buried in a common casket carried on a flag-draped caisson.
John and Mary Collins, their cousins Rosemary
and Connie Collins and their mother, Shirley — the last of the World War
II generation — were among about 30 family members at Arlington for the
ceremonies.
A night earlier, they met families of the other
crewmen, including the widow of Sgt. Gerald Gillies, who gave them a copy
of the only known photo of the "Chowhound" crew.
Connie Collins said the events were an opportunity
for her generation to set an example for younger family members. "It was
an uncle we didn't know personally, except for the stories. We were honoring
our fathers" — Charles Collins had died in 1990 and Thomas Collins in 1995
— "and teaching the younger generation about family."
It's all still a bit hard to believe for John
Collins. "I just wanted to see Uncle Richard's grave site," he said, "but
I know a lot more now than the family ever knew." |
GROUP BURIAL POST CHAPEL 11:00
CHARLES BACIGALUPA, 2ND LT, USA POST CHAPEL
RICHARD R. COLLINS, SGT, USA POST CHAPEL
GERALD GILLIES, SGT, USA POST CHAPEL
WARREN GODSEY, SGT, USA POST CHAPEL
HENRY KORTEBEIN, TSGT, USA POST CHAPEL
DAVID J. NELSON, 2ND LT, USA POST CHAPEL
CHARLES SHERRILL, 2ND LT, USA POST CHAPEL
JACK THOMPSON, 1ST LT, USA POST CHAPEL
BLAKE TREECE, TSGT, USA POST CHAPEL
Above Three Photos Courtesy
of Holly, 24 August 2006
An
unidentified honor guard member waits for the start of the funeral of
World
War II airmen: Technical Sergeant Henry F. Kortebein, Second Lieutenant
David J.
Nelson
and Technical Sergeant Blake A. Treece, Jr., at Arlington National Cemetery,Thursday,
August 24, 2006.
The
remains of three airmen missing in action from a World War II combat mission
in 1944 have been identified
and
returned to their families for burial
Honor
Guard members carry a coffin containing the combined remains of Technical
Sergeant
Henry
F. Kortebein, Second Lieutenant David J. Nelson and Technical Sergeant
Blake A. Treece, Jr.
during
funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday, August 24, 2006.
The remains of
three
airmen missing in action from a World War II combat mission in 1944 have
been identified and
returned
to their families for burial
Honor
Guard members stand over the flag draped coffins of Technical Sergeant
Henry F. Kortebein,
Second
Lieutenant David J. Nelson and Technical Sergeant Blake A. Treece, Jr.
left, during funeral services
at
Arlington National Cemetery Thursday, August 24, 2006. The remains of three
airmen missing in action
from
a World War II combat mission in 1944 have been identified and returned
to their families for burial
Honor
Guard members fold the flags that draped the coffins of Technical
Sergeant Henry F. Kortebein,
Second
Lieutenant David J. Nelson and Technical Sergeant Blake A. Treece, Jr.,
obscured, rear left, during
funeral
services at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, August 24, 2006. The
remains of three airmen
missing
in action from a World War II combat mission in 1944 have been identified
and returned to their families for burial
Posted: 23 August 2006 Updated: 24 August 2006 Updated:
7 September 2006 Updated: 9 October 2006
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