Harry W. Eck

ECK, Harry Winfield Servicenumber: O-760805 Age: 23 Born: 29 May 1921, Minot, Ward County, North Dakota Hometown: Minot, Ward County, North Dakota Family: Harry B. Eck (father) Hilma E. (Opheim) Eck (mother) Lois J. Eck (sister) Gertrude M. Eck (stepmother) Rank: First Lieutenant Function: Pilot Regiment: - Battalion: - Division €“ Transport: - Company €“ Squadron: 327th Bomber Squadron Unit €“ Group: 92nd Bomber Group, Heavy Plane data: (Serialnumber, MACR, etc.) Serialnumber: 42-31250 Type: B-17G Nickname: Mag the Hag the 2nd Destination: Altenburg, Germany Mission: Bombing of the oil refinery MACR: 8882 Date of death: 13 September 1944 Status: MIA/KIA Place of death: Neustädt on Werra river, Germany Spot: Not available Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster Gravenumber: Walls of the Missing Cemetery: American War Cemetery Margraten Biography: www.minotdailynews.com Other information: Lt Harry W. Eck joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 5 Agust 1942. He took his primary flying training at Tulare, California, and received basic training at Marana, Arizona. In December 1943, he received his pilot's wings at Yuma air field, Arizona, and then visited in Minot with his father before leaving to report to Hobbs, N.M., where he completed a four-engine pilot transition course and qualified as a Flying Fortress commander. He completed the final stages of his training at Dyersburg, Tennessee. Before going into the Army Air Forces, he was employed by a glider school in Oklahoma. He went overseas in July 1944, to serve with the Eighth Air Force. Lt Eck was promoted to first lieutenant only a short time before his death. He had completed 20 or more bombing missions before the fatal mission. The airplane feathered one engine and left the formation about half way between the target and Frankfurt, shortly after the formation was attacked by fighters. the pilot looked for a suitable place for an emergency landing but the aircraft lost altitude very rapidly, hit a chimney on a house and crashed at 12.45 hrs at the railway line on point 184,8. Only one crewmember had time to jump before the crash.One crew member was taken prisoner, eight were killed. They were all buried at the cemetery of Neustädt-Werra. According to the report of an investigation in January 1950, the remains of all the crewmembers were recovered by the 3046th QM Unit from this cemetery on 3 and 4 June 1945 and transferred to Margraten. At that time, the remains of only one crewmember was interred by name. A new investigation at Neustädt could not be conducted due to the political situation in the area since this town layed in the Russian occupied zone of Germany. In 1991, a German citizen, who was digging a grave in the cemetery of Neustädt, discovered a metal U.S. military identification tag and notified officials. The U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command was not able to gain acces to the site until 2007, and in 2008 excavated the area within the cemetery, and recovered human remains, and additional metal identification tags from three of the crewmembers. After forensic and circumstantial evidence research the remains could be identified as those of John J. Bono, John E. Hogan and Emil T. Wasilewski. 1st Lt Eck is now buried at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Barsness/Opheim Family Tree, www.minotdailynews.com - Eloise Ogden Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.americanairmuseum.com, www.ancestry.com - US School Yearbook, Mr. Robert Hutchings via Arie-Jan van Hees