Operation: Pölitz (Mission #425), Germany

Date: 20th June 1944 (Tuesday)

Unit No: 565th Bombardment Sqn (H), 389th Bombardment Group (H), 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force

Type: B-24H

Serial: 42-95144

Code: EE:?

Base: Hethel (Station #114), Norfolk, England

Location: SE of Keldsnor on the island of Langeland, Denmark

Pilot: 1st Lt. Herschell Ray Chappell O-815075 AAF Age 23. MiA

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. Donald Marvin Fuller O-817656 AAF Age 20. KiA (1)

Navigator: FO. Alex Max Rodek T-125225 AAF Age 23. MiA

Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Richard Mark Mullins O-698592 AAF Age 24. MiA

Engineer/Top Turret: T/Sgt. Harold Henry Valentine 16031475 AAF Age 22. MiA

Radio Operator: T/Sgt. Richard Vinton Owens 38399220 AAF Age 20. MiA

Nose Gnr: S/Sgt. Ralph Paul Feliz 39118959 AAF Age 21. MiA

Right Waist Gnr: S/Sgt. Jacob George Heilich 17121428 AAF Age 23. PoW * (2)

Left Waist Gnr: S/Sgt. Howard Reese Penfield 37413509 AAF Age 21. KiA (3)

Tail Gnr: S/Sgt. Jack Elwood Wagner 33506689 AAF Age 19. KiA (4)

* Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

Above left: 2nd Lt. Richard M Mullins (Courtesy of and in memory of Fallen Graver Laura Phillips - FindAGrave); right: T/Sgt. Harold H. Valentine (Courtesy of retired Graver Carolyn deLoach - FindAGrave)

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the morning of the 20th June 1944 B-24H 42-95144 took-off from Hethel (Station #114), to join a force of three-hundred and fifty-eight (358) bombers to bomb three (3) targets including Pölitz in Germany.

Enroute to the target the concussion from a nearby burst of Flak caused 42-100351, also from the 389th BG, to collide with 42-95144 NW of Kiel in Germany. The collision severed the complete tail assembly and went spinning down.

B-25J 42-100351 (565th BS, 389th BG) – Flown by 1st Lt. William B. Powers Jr. who along with his Co-Pilot became PoWs. The remaining eight (8) were posted MiA three (3) of whom were recovered and identified.

The aircraft crashed into the sea SE of Keldsnor on the island of Langeland, Denmark and in the vicinity of B-24J 42-100351.

An after mission account of the collision of 42-95144 and 42-100351 and their loss by S/Sgt. Ray W. Romick 10675263:

“We were going into the target and were a few miles NW of Kiel, Germany when two the planes collided. I was tail gunner on aircraft 42-95240. I saw the planes within a second after they collided. The lower plane, 52-95144, had its tail assembly completely cut off and it immediately went into a spinning dive.

The upper plane, 42-100351, lost a propeller but otherwise seemed intact and was trailing a white vapour might have been gas or oil. This plane seemed for a short time to be in a controlled glide, but then it rolled over and began to spin in.

I followed both planes all the way down. 42-100351 was more or less intact and blew up when it hit the water. The other aircraft did not.

Only five (5) parachutes came out of the aircraft. The planes and chutes landed within a mile off shore.

There were several boats in the vicinity which probably picked up the men who were able to bale out”.

(1) 2nd Lt. Fuller’s body was picked up from the Strait of Storebælt (Great Belt) on the 21st June 1944 and was initially buried in Körsör Cemetery, Zeeland, Denmark.

(2) S/Sgt. Heilich was transferred to Dulag Luft. Oberursel on the 27th June 1944.

There follows a transcript of the letter S/Sgt. Heilich wrote and sent to the families of his fellow crew members who perished this day. In the letter he describes the moments leading up to and the collision and thereafter:

“I am going to try and tell you what happened on our mission of June 20th. 1944 to the best of my knowledge.

We were all feeling fine and to us it was just one more mission. I think in what part of the plane we were at the time of the accident isn’t known by all, as I going to tell you.

Jack, Howard and myself were the only three in the tail section of the plane. Jack was in the tail turret, Howard and I were flying in the waist, the others were all in the front. As you know we can’t see them at all from where we are, and they can’t see us, however we talk to one another by interphone.

Well we were flying along fine, and not too far from our target, when a B-24 from our formation cut off our tail. Howard and I saw Jack trying to get out of the turret, but it all happened so fast, he didn’t make it, and he went down without his chute. We don’t wear our chutes while flying as we can’t move around with them on. We all had chest chutes, except for the Pilot, Co-Pilot and Bombardier, They had back chutes which are worn all the time.

The boys in front of the plane didn’t know what happened, I don’t think until the plane went into a spin. Right after jack went down, Howard got on his chute, and baled out of the tail as it was all open. I didn’t here anything from the boys in front. I don’t know if our interphone was working or not now, but not a work was said. I don’t know what they were doing at this time, anyhow I reached for my chute, and at that time the plane went into a spin. I couldn’t move, I was pinned to the floor, and I thought we would go down with the plane.

We were flying at 20,000 feet at the time of the accident, we must lost 5,000 feet or more in our spin, then the plane levelled off, and I could get up. So I quickly put on my chute and baled out of the tail. How long the plane stayed in level flight, after I got out, I don’t know, but for the few seconds it did, I think some of boys in front could have baled out.

When I was coming down with my chute, I could see Howard, but he was pretty far down from me. I kept looking for more chutes, but didn’t see any. As I was still in the air, I saw one plane hit in the water and explode. We were flying over the Baltic when it happened. But I didn’t known if it was our plane, or the one which ran into us. The last time I saw Howard he hit in the water and in few minutes, I also hit. I know Howard was OK up until that time. If Howard drowned, I am sure he would have been found as they found Jack ten days later. So I still have hopes that Howard is somewhere in Denmark.

I was in the water for a half hour, I had plenty of trouble with my chute, and I came near going under several times, but with the help of God, and my Mae West, I kept from drowning. I was picked up by Danish fishermen, they said they couldn’t help me escape, or hide my out, so I was turn over to the German Navy, and then over to the German Air Force. The accident happened about 9:30 A.M. It was about 11:00 A.M. when two German soldiers marched me for four miles to a place up on a high hill where the Germans had a look-out station over the Baltic Sea.

On my way up the hill we passed a place that looked like a barn. It had a number of windows in it. First I thought that is where they were going to take me, but we passed by. Passing by so I looked at the barn, and saw a fellow in it who I thought was Howard. I didn’t want to look back again, as I was afraid the Germans would see him also, so we kept going.

Later on in the same day, I was told to ride a bicycle which had a spade and shovel tied to it. The Germans also went along on bicycles. I was in the middle and we rode several miles and stopped at a cemetery. We got off our bicycles and walked and finally came to a grave. Then they told me to start digging a hole not knowing what it was all about, I figured I was digging my own grave. After a few hours I found out from what they were talking that they had found nine bodies in the sea and they would bury them at 7:00 A.M. the next day. So when we returned to the look-out station, I asked the German officer if he would let me see the bodies. He said no, that I couldn’t identify them as there wasn’t much left of them, so I didn’t get to see them. We were still carrying our bomb load yet, and if the men at the front didn’t get out, then I can understand why the Germans couldn’t identify them. But I still think that I could be able to tell them just by looking at their hands.

The next day I was taken into Odensa, Denmark, without seeing the funeral. The place where they were buried was in Sondberg, (Søderborg) Denmark.

Getting back to Howard, when I was picked up by the Danes, another Danish boat pulled up along side of us, and I told them in which direction I thought Howard was. So they went looking for him but never did com back. Hoping they did find him and he is still in Denmark. I sure do hope so, nothing would make me happier than to have at all the fellows home.

I did see the pilot and co-pilot of the other plane, the pilot was in Nuernberg, that’s where I saw him when I got there in February of 1945, and the co-pilot I saw in France in May 1945, when I was on my way back to the USA. I asked them what was the trouble and why they were flying so close. They said they saw us too late to avoid hitting us. The pilot didn’t talk very much, I could see it bothered him to talk about it, you know how he must feel.

My incrimination isn’t much, but I do hope I was able to help you some, as I know you are all anxious to know what happened. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will be only too glad to answer them, and maybe I can help you more.

I am very proud to have been able to fly in combat with such grand fellows as my crew members were. My only wish is that they would all be home with the ones they love”.

Sincerely: [signed by Jacob George Heilich]

Jacob George Heilich was born on the 1st November 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri. He married Helen Marie Kramer on the 11th November 1945. She passed away on the 11th March 1985.

Jacob passed away on the 27th November 2004 St. Louis, Missouri and is buried in the Resurrection Cemetery in Affton, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

(3) Twenty-eight (28) graves were exhumed from their isolated graves and processed by a unit of First Field Command, American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) in June and July 1946, however identities could not be established with the equipment and techniques available at that time. These remains were reburied in the same grave from which they had been disinterred.

Authority was granted by the US Ambassador to Denmark to again disinter these remains in order that a mobile team from the Central Identification Point could apply the latest techniques in an attempt to identify the remains. This operation commenced after the 1st May 1947.

On the 4th September 1944 the remains S/Sgt. Penfield were recovered and identified from a cemetery in Magleby which is on the Stevns Peninsula, some 33 km (20 mls) SSW of Copenhagen.

(4) A notification by the Danish police reported that on the 8th July 1944 a Danish civilian found the body of Rear Gunner S/Sgt. Jack E. Wagner washed ashore on the east end of Ærøs Hale on the island of Ærø. On the 11th July at 06:45 he was laid to rest in the Marstal New Cemetery with military honour’s. His Next of Kin requested that the grave remains at the cemetery.

Burial details:

Above: Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery (Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC))

1st Lt. Herschell Ray Chappell. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery. Born on the 11th October 1920 in Villa Rica, Carroll, Georgia. Son of Herschell Ray and Mary Pearl (née Allen) Chappell. Husband to Virginia Jessie (née Schroeder) Chappell of Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, USA.

2nd Lt. Donald Marvin Fuller. Air Medal (AM), Purple Heart (PH). Ardennes American Cemetery, Plot B, Row 39, Grave 18. Born on the 2nd December 1923 in Council, Idaho. Son on the Marvin V. and Ruby L. (née Lakey) Fuller of Council, Idaho, USA.

FO. Alex Max Rodek. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery. Born on the 14th August 1920 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Son of Max Heracim and Anna (née Wiecierok) Rodek of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA.

2nd Lt. Richard Mark Mullins. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery. Born on the 8th August 1919 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Son of James Joseph and Agnes (née Hannon) Mullins. Husband of Mable D. (née Brown) Mullins of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA.

T/Sgt. Harold Henry Valentine. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery. Born on the 9th October 1921 in Jonathan Creek Township, Illinois. Son of Floyd H. and Carrie Lanola Valentine of Sullivan, Moultrie County, Illinois, USA.

T/Sgt. Richard Vinton Owens. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery. Born on the 21st November 1923 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Son of Amon Lawrence and Vera E. (née Keim) Owens of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

S/Sgt. Ralph Paul Feliz. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)), Purple Heart (PH). Remembered on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery. Born on the 10th January 1923 in Salinas, California. Son of Joseph Paul and Edith Alice (née Pyeritz) Feliz of Salinas, California. Husband to Jean Bernice (née Tash) Feliz of Salinas, California, USA.

S/Sgt. Howard Reese Penfield. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)). Repatriated and laid to rest at the Sunset Memorial Burial Park, Affton, St. Louis County, Missouri. Born on the 28th May 1923 in Roanoke, Virginia. Son of Howard S. and Bertha (née Reese) Penfield. His sister Peggy Reese was recorded as his Next of Kin contact of St. Louis City, Missouri, USA.

S/Sgt. Jack Elwood Wagner. Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster (AM (OLC)). Marstal Kirdegard, Marstall, Syddanmark, Denmark, Grave 85. Born on the 21st September 1924 in Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pennsylvania. Son of Jacob Aaron and Edna May (née Hassinger) of Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pennsylvania. Husband to Dorothy E. Wagner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape from Aircrew Remembered as dedicated to this crew and their families (Jun 2025).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt