Benjamin Adolph “Ben” Huebel, Jr. was born at Cape Girardeau, Missouri on August 8, 1922. His parents were Benjamin Adolph Huebel Sr (30 Jul 1887 – 4 Dec 1964), who was born in Missouri; and Grace (Wynes) Huebel (22 Jun 1892 – 31 Dec 1981), who was born in Illinois. He had a brother, Harry Russell Huebel (23 Oct 1918 – 1 Nov 1983). In 1940 the family lived at 1117 Main Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. His father worked in a shoe factory, and his brother worked at an electric plant.

He completed two years of high school, and registered for the draft at Cape Girardeau on June 29, 1942. He was 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed 160 pounds, and had gray eyes and blonde hair. At that time he worked as a machinist in a shoe factory. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Jefferson Barracks, Saint Louis, Missouri on October 13, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned as engineer on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 3d Bomb Division of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. S/Sgt Huebel and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.

The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.

S/Sgt Huebel is memorialized along with his five enlisted crewmates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.

S/Sgt Huebel has another cenotaph at New Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where his parents are buried.

B-24H 42-52629 crew:
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA

Source of information: Paul Webber, www.findagrave.com