ISOB Thomas West - 461st Bomber Group
Details:
At the B-24 Crash memorial in the center, back of the cemetery next to the ISOBs of Doe and Yesia.
Isolated BurialA large memorial where the mass grave of the crew of B-24 (44-41046) was located; a highly polished marble with pictures of the indivisdual crew members.
1LT Thomas Kurtz West was the Pilot on the the B-24 (44-41046) of the 765th Bomber Squadron, 461st Bomber Group (Heavy). They were shot down after a mission to Odertal Oil Rifinery in Germany on Dec 17, 1944. Six of the crew were killed in the plane crash; 4 survived. The grave site remembers the six who perished in the crash. The grave originally included the bodies of five crew members, but two were repatriated in the early 1950s.
For more on this crew, plane and mission, see this site Memorial: B-24 (44-41046) Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group.
Other sites associated with this mission and other crash memorials on December 17, 1944 in the Czech Republic:
Site Olomouc-Neredin, Memorial: B-24 (42-52025) 'Arsenic and Lace Crash Memorial -461th Bomber Group
Site Palacov Memorial: B-24 (42-50953) "The Flying Finger" Crash Memorial -461st Bomber Group.
Monument Text:
The text on the grave is written in Czech and English. The text in English reads:
Here repose American heroes after their last start
Wanderer read and announce to all
We gladly died for that you live and are free
Dont forget us.
1st LT Thomas K. West
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
15th Air Force
461st Bomber Group
765th Bomber Squadron, 461st Bomber Group (Heavy)
Resistance
Wars:
WWII
Other images :




