65 years ago a B-24 Liberator crashed in the middle of my village.

[Garp]

(X-post from RL)
This Thursday a memorial will be unveiled in presence of two remaining crewmembers. The memorial is located on the exact spot where the B-24 crashed, just beside the castle and just a few 100 meters from where my kids go to school. It's a small goup of WW2 enthusiasts who have been pushing for this, I know many of them. They have some really nice gatherings, below is a picture of the vehicles the members own.

Link to article in a US newspaper.

[Seahawk]

Great article:

"It was pretty intense there for awhile", Colby says.

I bet.

[strupgolf]

We, who are here today, will never know the true sacrifice.

[LakeCleElum]

Wineka column: The day a B-24 fell from the sky | Salisbury, NC - Salisbury Post

Garp, Can't find the village on a map, maybe you post?

[Jim Bremner]

Damn, they got chewed up on that trip!

Thank you Gents!

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Garp,

Was a Messr Demontok (sic) there? He had two really nice half-tracks and some odd ends. He would be from Profondeville/Namur.

Just wondering, he was my landlord when I lived in Belgium! A nice man who, as I think of it, would be nearing 100 now...

[Normy]

Leuven is a GREAT town! When I worked for Kalitta Air, we used to fly to Brussels and they drove us to the Holiday Inn in Leuven for the two day stay. We had plenty of time to go out for dinner and an adult beverage [or 5...], and it was kind of a party spot. That is a college town, plenty of lovelies everywhere. And the beer was good too-

I never heard about the B-24 crash; then again, this sort of history is right under your feet sometimes in Europe and you never even know it. Glad to see that they are building a monument to those aviators.

N

[Sunroof]

My father was a waste gunner on a B-24 in the 7th Air Corps (Pacific campaign) and his plane, the "Bugs Bomby" lead the raid over Saipan. He was credited with shooting down four Japanese fighters.

I had a chance to get close to a B-24 recently and could not stop staring at that rectangular opening in the rear of the plane behind the wing where his gun was located. I cannot imagine what that must have been like mission after misson hanging onto that 50 cal. with no armour and fighters coming straight at you. How these guys never shot off their own wings or tore up engines from that location is amazing!

My father never talked about it much. He just referred to the B-24 as the "flying coffin". I am left with his military records, medals and great pride in knowing that at the age of 19 he did what he had to do to protect this nation.

Nice honor for the B-24 crew.

Bob

[imcarthur]

On a related note, I posted my father's bomber story in a previous post:

WWII Flying Stories

At the other end of the war - the early days.

Ian

[Garp]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Wineka column: The day a B-24 fell from the sky | Salisbury, NC - Salisbury Post

Garp, Can't find the village on a map, maybe you post?

Tx for the link Bob, the village is Leefdaal. Should be in the below link.
leefdaal - Google Maps

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

Garp,

Was a Messr Demontok (sic) there? He had two really nice half-tracks and some odd ends. He would be from Profondeville/Namur.

Just wondering, he was my landlord when I lived in Belgium! A nice man who, as I think of it, would be nearing 100 now...

I haven't come across the name but I will ask tomorrow if some of the oldtimers know/knew him.

Originally Posted by Normy

Leuven is a GREAT town! When I worked for Kalitta Air, we used to fly to Brussels and they drove us to the Holiday Inn in Leuven for the two day stay. We had plenty of time to go out for dinner and an adult beverage [or 5...], and it was kind of a party spot. That is a college town, plenty of lovelies everywhere. And the beer was good too-

I never heard about the B-24 crash; then again, this sort of history is right under your feet sometimes in Europe and you never even know it. Glad to see that they are building a monument to those aviators.

N

Yep, great initiative.

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Great article:

"It was pretty intense there for awhile", Colby says.

I bet.

You bet.

Originally Posted by strupgolf

We, who are here today, will never know the true sacrifice.

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

Damn, they got chewed up on that trip!

Thank you Gents!

+1

Originally Posted by Sunroof

My father was a waste gunner on a B-24 in the 7th Air Corps (Pacific campaign) and his plane, the "Bugs Bomby" lead the raid over Saipan. He was credited with shooting down four Japanese fighters.

I had a chance to get close to a B-24 recently and could not stop staring at that rectangular opening in the rear of the plane behind the wing where his gun was located. I cannot imagine what that must have been like mission after misson hanging onto that 50 cal. with no armour and fighters coming straight at you. How these guys never shot off their own wings or tore up engines from that location is amazing!

My father never talked about it much. He just referred to the B-24 as the "flying coffin". I am left with his military records, medals and great pride in knowing that at the age of 19 he did what he had to do to protect this nation.

Nice honor for the B-24 crew.

Bob

Nice indeed and you've got some great memories too right there.

Originally Posted by imcarthur

On a related note, I posted my father's bomber story in a previous post:

WWII Flying Stories

At the other end of the war - the early days.

Ian

I'm putting this aside for later reading, looks realy interesting. I'm a bit surprised about the lack of response to that thread.

[Garp]

The inauguration was an a great success. Quite a few dignitaries (US ambassador, a lot of brass, governor etc) but most importantly more or less the whole village came to the event. The three crew members each gave a very intense speech. They recieved a real ovation from the crowd, at their age they seemed very energetic and joyful.
I didn't get the chance to talk to them but I spoke with their sons and grand-sons. They've been embarked on a Benelux tour (Bastogne etc) by the guys from WW2 enthusiasts.
The weather was wonderful and after the ceremony the local council had free beer for all. I'll post pictures from the website later.




Mr Carbone on the right here, the nuns who cared for him were there too.

[Seahawk]

Garp,

Thank you so much for this thread.

Sometimes we question the depth of appreciation for those that sacrificed before us.

Mr. Carbone looks like a player, btw...do we know where his hands are?

[Garp]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Garp,

Thank you so much for this thread.

Sometimes we question the depth of appreciation for those that sacrificed before us.

Mr. Carbone looks like a player, btw...do we know where his hands are?

You're welcome Paul. I think his hands were in all the right places.

[greglepore]

Its hard to imagine, when driving around the beauty that is Spa, or through the Arenberg, that much of the great drama of the 20th century played out there. Thanks for the reminder.

[Normy]

Thanx for showing this Garp.

Americans: We feel like we are owed something for pushing dictatorial Germans out of western Europe twice. And I suppose that we are owed a debt- we left several hundred thousand bodies behind, you know. Bodies dead in wars that we probably could have avoided, and that had little to do with our homeland~

[We aren't Europeans. We are North Americans after all. We are from a different continent.]

At the same time, I think that we entered those wars correctly. Inevitably, Hitler would have tried to strike the United States, so it makes sense to me for us to have gone after that bastard. The first world war? That's a bit more difficult.

In any case, I am really glad to see that the crash of an American military plane gets such recognition. Belgium is the country that has been overrun twice in the past 100 years, yet it doesn't fret, it doesn't overreact, and Belgians are probably the most down to earth people in the world.

[As long as the Flemish and the Walloons get along, which....as of late hasn't been the case! I really hope the country doesn't disolve into political chaos!]

In any case-

Probably too-down to earth.

That is really cool that your town did this! I wish I could have attended.

N!

[shbop]

Thank you for posting this story.

[kevin993]

Outstanding post. Thanks very much for posting with info and pics. When we did our grand tour of Belgium a few years ago, we were amazed at the number of small towns that proudly had a US tank displayed in their town center and the number of well-tended monuments to various US units scattered around the countryside. People were extraordinarily polite and welcoming. After spending some time around Bastogne, in particular, we had a much better understanding of the Battle of the Bulge. Scary stuff. Thanks again and take care.

Kevin

[Garp]

Originally Posted by greglepore

Its hard to imagine, when driving around the beauty that is Spa, or through the Arenberg, that much of the great drama of the 20th century played out there. Thanks for the reminder.

Originally Posted by Normy

Thanx for showing this Garp.

Americans: We feel like we are owed something for pushing dictatorial Germans out of western Europe twice. And I suppose that we are owed a debt- we left several hundred thousand bodies behind, you know. Bodies dead in wars that we probably could have avoided, and that had little to do with our homeland~

[We aren't Europeans. We are North Americans after all. We are from a different continent.]

At the same time, I think that we entered those wars correctly. Inevitably, Hitler would have tried to strike the United States, so it makes sense to me for us to have gone after that bastard. The first world war? That's a bit more difficult.

In any case, I am really glad to see that the crash of an American military plane gets such recognition. Belgium is the country that has been overrun twice in the past 100 years, yet it doesn't fret, it doesn't overreact, and Belgians are probably the most down to earth people in the world.

[As long as the Flemish and the Walloons get along, which....as of late hasn't been the case! I really hope the country doesn't disolve into political chaos!]

In any case-

Probably too-down to earth.

That is really cool that your town did this! I wish I could have attended.

N!

Originally Posted by shbop

Thank you for posting this story.

The thanks are all mine guys. It's been a pleasure.

Originally Posted by kevin993

Outstanding post. Thanks very much for posting with info and pics. When we did our grand tour of Belgium a few years ago, we were amazed at the number of small towns that proudly had a US tank displayed in their town center and the number of well-tended monuments to various US units scattered around the countryside. People were extraordinarily polite and welcoming. After spending some time around Bastogne, in particular, we had a much better understanding of the Battle of the Bulge. Scary stuff. Thanks again and take care.

Kevin

Tx Kevin, see my museum thread for the next time you are around. We'll be happy to show you around.