Operation: Maisons-Laffitte Railroad Bridge, France

Date: 27th May 1944 (Saturday)

Unit No: 574th Bombardment Squadron (M), 391st Bombardment Group (M), 99th Combat Wing, 9th Air Force

Type: B-26B

Serial No: 42-95827

Code: 4L:?

Location: 500 m. NW of Grisy-les-Plâtres, France

Base: Matching Green (Station #166), Essex, England

Pilot: Capt. James Franklin Shofner DFC O-662682 AAF Age 22. PoW, Unknown camp

Co-Pilot: 2nd Lt. Bernard Davidson O-667495 AAF Age 23. PoW *

Navigator/Bombardier: 1st Lt. Stephen J. Sivak DFC O-669130 AAF Age 23. PoW, Unknown camp

Engineer/Gunner: S/Sgt. Leslie Ross Miller 33180010 AAF Age 26. PoW **

Radio/Gunner: T/Sgt. Francis Joseph Holdridge 32287062 Age 30. PoW ***

Armorer/Gunner: S/Sgt. Paul James Wilson 31013843 AAF Age 25. Id No. 78297 ****, PoW No. 8198 *** (1)

* Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang, today situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

** Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

*** Stalag Luft 4 Groß-Tychow, Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland (Moved from Stalag Luft 6 Heydekrug on 28th May 1944. Moved to Wöbbelin near Ludwigslust and then to Usedom near Swinemünde).

**** Buchenwald concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany in July 1937.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the second mission of the day the Sqn detailed 37 aircraft to attack the Maisons-Laffitte Railroad Bridge in France. Each aircraft was loaded with 2x2000 lb General Purpose bombs with the attack being carried out by flights of six aircraft.

After take-off, the formation proceeded to a rendezvous with the 386th Bombardment Group (M) and then to Beachy Head for their rendezvous with their P-47 fighter escort. The formation experienced heavy but inaccurate flak as it passed Elbeuf, but was subjected to heavy, intense and accurate flak in the target area.

Capt. Shofner’s B-26B was one of two aircraft lost from the Sqn, the second being B-26B 41-31716 flown by 2nd Lt. Dauteuil.

B-26B 42-95827 was flying at #2 in the high flight of Box #1

Statement by S/Sgt. Paul J. Swearingen 18115529 of 1st Lt. Stanley Bird’s B-26B 42-95804

T6:A, flying in position #1:

“I was flying as Top Turret Gunner, Lead ship, 2nd Flight, 1st Box and I saw Capt. Shofner’s ship, right engine burning about one minute after bombs were dropped. About a half minute later he dropped out of formation, feathered his prop, and had the ship under good control as he was peeling off to the left and looked as if the fire was out. That was the last I saw of Capt. Shofner”.

Statement by S/Sgt. James H. Arrant 18154810:

“I was flying as tail Gunner in the same ship as S/Sgt. Paul J. Swearingham, and I saw Capt. Shofner’s ship with the right engine on fire after we dropped the bombs. I saw him pull out of formation feathered his prop, and it seemed that the fire was going out. The last I saw Capt. Shofner, he was sliding away to the left and losing altitude”.

Statement by T/Sgt. Robert E. Hammond 15102407 of 1st Lt. Morris’s B-26B 42-95927 Pop’s Wagon 4L:N, flying in #5 position.

“I was Radio Gunner in an airplane in back of Capt. Shofner’s. I saw Flak hit his ship, and his right engine burst into flames. His ship started down in shallow glide, and he feathered the prop on the right engine, and the fire went out. I then lost sight of the airplane”.

The aircraft crashed at 21:00 hrs 500 m. (550 yds) NW of Grisy-les-Plâtres which is 10 km (6¼ mls) NNW of Pentoise and 20 km (12½ mls) NNW of the target.

Capt. Shofner, 1st Lt. Sivak, S/Sgt. Miller and T/Sgt. Holdridge were captured immediately in the vicinity of the crash site. T/Sgt. Holdridge was transferred to the Luftwaffe Lazarett (Hospital) in Clichy, Paris with fractures to both ankles and a leg, where he remained for some 5 weeks.

It appears that 2nd Lt. Davidson managed to evade capture for a time although no details have been found other than for a record dated 2nd November 1944 which documents that he was being held at Dulag Luft West which is believed to have been at Châlons-sur-Marne.

(1) Details of S/Sgt. Wilson’s evasion are not known other than he was betrayed and captured in Paris on the 5th August 1944.

He was then taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This was where French political prisoners were held and ordinarily Allied airmen, after questioning, were moved to a PoW Camp. In the summer of 1944, with the Allies having liberated Paris and closing in, the Gestapo guards started reducing the prison population by execution, and then relocating surviving prisoners to various concentration camps east of France. On the 15th August 1944 he was amongst 169 Allied PoWs and hundreds of French men and women who were packed into a freight train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp on a journey lasting five days. Buchenwald was located 8 km (5 mls) north of Weimar, in the German province of Thüringen. It was established and administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Fg Off. Joel Mathews ‘Tex’ Stevenson C27788 RCAF, the pilot of 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF Lancaster X KB727 VR:H escaped from the train and successfully evaded.

Sqn Ldr. Lamason and Fg Off. Chapman succeeded in getting all but two of the Allied PoWs transferred to Stalag Luft 3. Two airmen, 1st Lt. Levitt Clinton Beck Jr. O-736945, US AAF and Fg Off. Philip Derek Hemmens, 152583, RAFVR died in the sick barrack.

Recognition:

For decades the International Red Cross (IRC) had stated that there were no military personnel in Buchenwald despite the overwhelming documentary and anecdotal evidence. It was not until 1988 that the IRC eventually confirmed the airmen were illegally held at Buchenwald.

The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments also consistently denied that any of their service personnel were ever held in concentration camps and refused to investigate the claims made by a 'mere’ handful of men.

Reparations were made to the British airmen who had been illegally held at Buchenwald in 1965. Eventually in 1988 the Australian, New Zealand and it is believed the Canadian governments acknowledged that their airmen had been illegally held in concentration camps.

American airmen were among those receiving compensation and the US Air force have acknowledged the Buchenwald airmen with an exhibit at the Air Force Museum, albeit the airmen are shown in uniform rather than in civilian attire. Furthermore, there is no mention of decades-long denial of their experiences by other branches of the government.

He was transferred to Stalag Luft 3 over the period 15th to 20th October 1944.

On the night of the 27th January 1945, with Soviet troops only 26 km (16 mls) away, orders were received to evacuate the PoWs to Spremberg which is to the West in Germany. The PoW’s were informed of the evacuation, which was on foot, at about 22:00 hrs the same night and were given 30 mins to pack and prepare everything for the March. The weather conditions were very difficult, with freezing temperatures, and it was snowing accompanied by strong winds. There was 15 cm (6 in) of snow and 2000 PoWs were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main groups.

The first groups of American PoW’s set out from the South Compound with the last PoW leaving at 23:00 hrs. The next group of American PoWs set out from the West Compound. At 03:45 hrs the North Compound left, followed by the Centre Compound. At 06:00 hrs the East Compound left. All the groups were accompanied by guards.

After a 55 km (34 mls) march, the PoWs arrived in Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours. The PoWs were then marched the remaining 26 km (16 mls) to Spremberg where they were housed in empty garages, storerooms and in military barracks. There they were provided with warm soup and bread.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages.

On the 31st January, the South Compound prisoners plus 200 men from the West Compound were sent to Stalag 7A at Moosburg followed by the Centre Compound prisoners on the 7th February.

The camp was liberated on the 29th April 1945 by units of the 14th Armoured Division from Patton’s 3rd Army.

Burial Details:

None. The crew survived

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew (Nov 2023). Update to include forced-march information (Jun 2024).

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