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Opijnen Protestant Churchyard |
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Netherlands |
Pictures courtesy of Frits Kruishaar
| The cemetery contains the graves of eight American airmen shot down in the area around Opijnen on July 30, 1943. The bodies of the airmen were held by the villagers until permission was received from the German authorities in Berlin for their burial. After the war when all American graves on foreign soil were being re-interred into centralized cemeteries the villagers of Opijnen requested that the bodies of the eight airmen be allowed to remain in the village churchyard in their care. The request was granted by the US authorities and the graves remain to this day, marked by marble headstones. |
| Flight Details: Aircraft type: B-17 from the 91st Bomber Group Target believed to be Kassel in Germany. Eight men abandoned the aircraft after it was shot down by enemy fighters, 6 were killed by strafing from the fighters, two were captured and the other two members of the crew died in the aircraft. |
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Burial Details: 1st Lt. Robert U. Duggan, Navigator 2nd Lt. Daniel V. Ohman, Bombardier T/Sgt. Douglas V. Blackwood, Radioman T/Sgt. Americo Cianfichi, Engineer S/Sgt. Mike A. Perrotta, Ball Turret S/Sgt. Harold R. Sparks, Waist Gunner S/Sgt. George R. Krueger, Waist Gunner S/Sgt. Hermon d. Poling, Tail Gunner
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