Alikruikweg/Bremerbergweg, Biddinghuizen

 

After the war, the remains of an American bomber were found on the lot near this pole. Boeing B-17G 42-102565 of the 398th Bombardment Group, a four-engine aircraft, was returning from target Misburg to home base Nuthampstead on 26 November 1944 when it was hit by German anti-aircraft fire near Zwolle. The aircraft was apparently no longer controllable and the crew decided to evacuate by parachute. All perished in the icy water of the IJsselmeer.

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Crew

• Pilot: Benjamin G. Rolfe, 1st Lieutenant, age 24

• Co-pilot: Paul E. Doyle, 2nd Lieutenant, age 23

• Navigator: Vernon D. Anderson, 2nd Lieutenant, age 25

• Bombardier: Richard W. Rimmer, Staff Sergeant, age 19

• Flight Engineer: Joseph M. Price Jr., Technical Sergeant, age 24

• Radio operator: Frank Iaconis, Staff Sergeant, age 21

• Belly turret gunner: James B. Coulson, Sergeant, age 19

• Side hatch gunner: Arthur P. Schmidt, Staff Sergeant, age 20

• Tail Gunner: Thomas S. Pozder, Staff Sergeant, age 19

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The bodies of the crew members were recovered by fishermen or washed up along the coast. Three men (Rolfe, Doyle and Rimmer) were buried in Urk, two men in Elburg (Anderson and Schmidt), Coulson (via Nunspeet) in Ermelo, Price in Harderwijk and Pozder (via Bunschoten) in Amersfoort. Only the body of Iaconis was never found. He is still missing and his

name is on the wall of the missing at the American military cemetery in Margraten (Limburg). Anderson, Schmidt and Pozder were also reburied here, while Coulson was reburied at the American military cemetery in the Ardennes (Belgium). Rolfe, Doyle, Rimmer and Price were reburied in the United States at the request of their relatives.