Lee B. Lithander was born on September 10, 1923 in Galesburgh, Illinois. He was the son of Carl F. Lithander and Hellfrid Augusta Lamberg Lithander. He served as a Pilot on B-24 #42-94913 “Pregnant Peggy” aircraft during World War II.
On Oct. 19, 1944, the crews of Pregnant Peggy and Bomber’s Moon, from the 844th Bomb Squadron, 489th Bomb Group, 8th Army Air Corps, were sent with their squadron to Mainz to bomb a railroad yard.
In the weeks prior to the attack, the 844th had hit Germany hard, bombing industrial areas in 10 cities and striking Cologne three times.
At 12:56 p.m., according to eyewitness reports, Pregnant Peggy got caught up in the prop wash of another bomber and the pilots lost control in the ensuing turbulence. As they struggled to maintain control of the 33,000-pound plane packed with thousands of pounds of bombs, the Pregnant Peggy slipped back, banked left and dipped down over the Bomber’s Moon.
It continued losing altitude and struck Bomber’s Moon’s tail section with its left wing tip. The wing disintegrated and the engine and prop fell off the Pregnant Peggy. The Pregnant Peggy, now overpowered on one side, went into a lateral spin some 20,000 feet straight to the ground and crashed into the woods near Forsthaus Heldenstein at Edenkoben, Germany.
2LT Lithander was KIA in the crash at the age of 21 and is now buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France. He also has a cenotaph located in East Linwood Cemetery, Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois.
Source of information: https://www.stripes.com