On the front side of the private residence.

A yellow stone inscribed plaque.

The memorial remembers Staff Sergeant Joseph E. Sallings who was assisted by a Czech family hide from enemy detection from August 1944 to the end of the war in Pekovice, Czechia. 

SSG Sallings was a Waist Gunner on the B-17 'Tail End Charlie' (42-97159) of the 20th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group of the 15th US Air Force.  

On August 29, 2944, the 15th Air Force conducted "Mission 263",  a raid on the Moravska Ostrava industrial complex (Current day city of Ostrava).  The 2nd Bomber group supported this mission flying from flying from Amendola Air Base, Foggia, Italy. In what has become known as the "Air Battle over the White Carpathians", nine B-17Gs from 2nd Bomber Group were attacked by 89 German fighters and 20 minutes later eight of them were shot down and crashed in Slovakia (1), Czech Republic (7) and one crash landed in Hungary.  41 US airmen lost their lives, 28 of them were buried in a mass grave in Slavicin. Four fliers evaded capture and 55 airmen ended up in German POW camps. All the planes of the 20th Bomber Squadron were shot down that day.

B-17 Tail End Charlie crashed nearby (See Site Preckovice Woods).  Eight of the crew survived, six as POWs and two who evaded capture, to include Sallings.  Two crewmen were killed in action. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 8763.

Several of those killed in Mission 263 were buried in a mass grave in nearby Slavicin.  See site Slavicin - Cemetery from more about the mass grave.

Several museums in the area also remember this battle.  See sites: Sanov; Slavicin, and Bojkovice.

Search "Mission 263" for memorials and cenotaphs associated with this event on our website.

For more information, the  see the Air Battle over the White Carpathian website at: www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz 

Special thanks to Mission 263 - Aug 29,1944 / Letecká bitva 29.8.1944 Facebook page & group for remembering this battle and for the several memorials that remember this mission.

The plaque is inscribed in Czech:

NA PAMÁTKU RODINY
PEÁTOVY, KTERÁ V
TOMTO DOM OD SRPNA
ROKU 1944 DO KONCE
DRUHÉ SVTOVÉ VÁLKY
UKRÝVALA PED NMEC-
KÝMI OKUPANTY SESTE-
LENÉHO AMERICKÉHO
LETCE
JOSEPHA E.SALLINGSE

...PRAVÉ HRDINSTVÍ JE
TO, O KTERÉM SE NIKDO
NEDOZVÍ...

The translation:

IN MEMORY OF THE PEÁTOV FAMILY, WHO HID THE AMERICAN AIRMAN  JOSEPH E. SALLINGS FROM THE GERMAN OCCUPANTS IN THIS HOUSE FROM AUGUST 1944 UNTIL THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR...TRUE HEROISM IS THAT WHICH NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT...