Just of the road at the forest edge.

A wooden carved marker about 5 feet high with a painted background including the text.

On June 28, 1945, 2Lt James "Billy" W. Noland, 24 years old, of the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group “Mogin’s Maulers”, departed in his P-47 aircraft from Straubing Army Airfield, near Munich with orders to transfer the Aircraft to Nürnberg (Nuremberg), just 145 kilometers away. Enroute to Nürnberg Atzenhof (Airfield R-28) Noland encountered severe weather and attempted to return to his departure base.

Witnesses saw him circling near Zandt, Germany with apparent engine trouble.  His wingtip touched a treetop and he crashed in the forest.

2LT Noland served during the war completing many missions.  He was from Fauquier County, Virginia and is now buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in France.

The local citizens in Bavaria honored Noland in 2003 with a small memorial at the crash site. 

Special thanks to Joakim Steinweden of the Association of the U.S. Army, GEN C. W. Abrams Chapter (Germany) and of the U.S. Military Vehicle Club e.V., and, to Rolf Zuagg of the B-17 Museum in Utzenstrorf, Switzerland for the photos and information concerning this memorial.

The text on the marker is written in German.  The translation of the text in English reads:

An American Pilot died 

here of a plane crash on June 28, 1945.