B-24 'Tenmenbak' (42-51324) Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group
Details:
Just off the road on the edge of the woods.
Monument
The memorial includes pieces of the aircraft and an inscribed marble plaque; a cross stands next to the memorial.
The memorial remembers the B-24 Crew of Tenmenbak (42-51324) which crashed near this site on December 17, 1944. Nine of the crew survived, one, Roland Rollie Morin died in the crash. Tenmenbak or Ten Men Back was a B-24 of the 764th Bomber Squadron, 461st Bomber Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force based out of Torretta Airfield, Italy. On December 17, 1944 Tenmenbak was part of a mission to bomb oil refineries in Odental, Germany. Tenmenbak had mechanical problems with an engine after the bombing run, dropped out of formation and was attacked by fighters. The plane crashed in present day Slovakia near Trenianske Teplice. One crewmember was killed; 8 became POWs and one evaded capture with the assistance of partisans. Reference Missing Aircraft Report {MACR} 10683.
The crew of Tenmenbak included:
2LT Kenneth B. Smith, Pilot (POW- Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12)
2LT Chester H. Rudel, Co-Pilot (POW- Hospital)
2LT Frank V. Hokr, Navigator (POW- Stalag 1)
2LT Harry D. Edminton, Bombadier, (POW - Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow {moved to
Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust, then to Usedom Bei Savenmunde 54-16})
CPL Charles F. Foss, Right Waist Gunner, (POW)
CPL Homer E. Hymbaugh, Left Waist Gunner, (POW- Stalag Luft 1)
CPL Roland W. Morin, Ball Turret Gunner, (Killed in Crash)
CPL Robert T. Trumpy, Top Turret Gunner, (POW Stalag 7A)
S/SGT Urbain H. Granger, Tail Gunner, (POW- Stalag 1)
CPL Edwin A. Burkhardt, Nose Gunner (Escaped Capture with assistance
of Partisans)
Other sites associated with this mission and other crash memorials on December 17, 1944 in the Czech Republic:
Site Palacov Memorial: B-24 (42-50953) "The Flying Finger" Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group.
Site Troubky Hbitov (Cemetery) Memorial: B-24 (44-41046) Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group
Site Olomouc -Neredin Central Cemetery Memorial: B-24 (42-52025) 'Arsenic and Lace' Crash Memorial -461th Bomber Group
Monument Text:
The text on the plaque is written in Slovakian and reads:
NA TOMTO MIESTE
SA PO VZDUNOM SÚBOJI
17.DECEMBRA 1944
ZRÚTILO AMERICKÉ TVORMOTOROVÉ
BOMBARDOVACIE LIETADLO
CONSOLIDATED B 24J-5-DT LIBERATOR
V JEHO TROSKÁCH ZAHYNUL
CORPORAL ROLAND W. MORIN
The translation:
AT THIS PLACE
AFTER AIR COMBAT
DECEMBER 17, 1944
AMERICAN FOUR-ENGINE
BOMBER AIRCRAFT
CONSOLIDATED B 24J-5-DT LIBERATOR
CRASHED
DYING IN THE CRASH
CORPORAL ROLAND W. MORIN
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
15th Air Force
461st Bomber Group
764th Bomber Squadron, 461th Bomber Group (H)
United States Air Force
Wars:
WWII
Other images :
