I first saw it several years ago. We were already well into the project of trying to bring home our eight Kassel Mission MIA soldiers and get them identified when it happened. From out of nowhere, I saw myself standing at graveside during a burial service for one of these men. Until that moment, the thought that we might be successful (the government was looking to identify tens of thousands of remains), and that I might attend the funeral had never occurred to me. Then it wouldn’t let go.
For all the information we have accumulated on most of the 35 Kassel Mission crews, there was one we knew absolutely nothing about. All we had was the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) and the crew list. Roy Bolin’s crew was the first to go down on the mission. Their Liberator crashed near Eisenach, Germany. Only one crew member survived.
We got dressed and went to mess hall for breakfast in the dark, then to briefing. It was a long path to the mess hall. There wasn’t much talking. I never ate much breakfast. I should have...
<p>To honor the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Kassel Mission, we take a look at what occurred on the Kassel Mission in detail over the next few weeks… 0230: Wake Up Call
"Home by Christmas?" Not likely. Up to this point, even the generals had been talking about finishing up the war in the ETO by Christmas. Not any more…
Earlier in September, we’d landed on a 2,700 foot grass field. Normally we had 6,000 feet of tarmac. On that mission to Hamm, Germany, we’d put on our oxygen masks as we crossed the Channel and began to rise above 11,000 feet...
September nights weren’t as peaceful once the Germans began firing V-2 rockets at England on September 9. They hit at the rate of six per night, with the first target being London…
Twelve-year-old Walter Hassenpflug loved airplanes. He belonged to the Hitler Youth modeling club that got together one evening a week at the museum center to build replicas of German, American and RAF planes. He knew them all and could identify them down to their divisions when they flew overhead. He didn’t know about the secret <em>Sturmgruppen…</em>
September 11, 1944 was a busy day for the 445th, but especially for <a href="https://www.kasselmission.org/crews/700th/bruce">William Bruce's crew</a>. Flying their plane from the US, <a href="https://www.kasselmission.org/bonnie-vee-story">the Bonnie Vee</a>, named for Bruce's wife Vyrlin, they were badly hit over enemy territory on a mission to hit oil targets at Hanover…
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