Edwin C. Rechlin was born in New York on February 12, 1917. He was inducted into the Army Air Corps on August 6, 1942. He enlisted in the Army on August 6, 1942 in Buffalo, New York. He was noted as being employed in a machine shop and also as Married.

After basic training, he attended airplane mechanics course where he qualified for flight duty and was trained as a flight engineer. He was sent to an operational unit for combat crew training which included aerial gunnery courses. After completing all required tasks, he was assigned as flight engineer and top turret gunner on a replacement combat crew.

The crew was deployed to England in late 1943, and eventually were assigned to the 563rd Bomb Squadron of the 388th Bomb Group, located at Knettishall, England. The crew flew 11 missions, but 7 resulted in aborts, mostly for mechanical, equipment, and weather reasons.

On March 23, 1944, the crew was part of the low squadron in a raid on the aircraft factories located at Brunswick, Germany. Because the formation arrived early at the enemy coast, it did not meet the friendly fighter escort, so proceeded unprotected.

Approximately 35-40 enemy aircraft attacked on the route to the IP. The attacks were mainly from the 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock high positions, and were aimed at the low squadron. Two B-17s were shot down. Then, Rechlin's B-17 fell prey to the attacks. Badly damaged, it fell out of formation, and all crew bailed out. Unfortunately, one chute did not open and an additional four men were killed in the descent. Five men survived, and were captured.

Rechlin's body was recovered and is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA. He was one of the many brave Americans of the 388th Bomber Group who lost their lives in aerial operations against the German forces from June 1943 - August 1945.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, airforce.togetherweserved.com