Lester Weiss was born at Brooklyn, Kings County, New York on April 5, 1920. His friends in the service called him Wiggie. His parents were Dr. Meyer Weiss (15 Oct 1883 – 16 Jul 1940), who was born in Russia and immigrated to America about 1893; and Rose (Rosen) Weiss (9 Feb 1889 – 1 Jun 1951), who was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents married at Philadelphia on January 1, 1911. He had an older sister, Sylvia (Weiss) Lazar (8 Jun 1912 – 7 Mar 1990). The family lived initially in Manhattan, New York, where his father was a dentist. By September 1918 they lived at 782 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. In 1923 the family moved to Yonkers, Westchester County, New York, and by 1930 lived at 84 Elliott Avenue. His father set up his dental practice at 16 Palisade Avenue in Yonkers.
He graduated from Nathaniel Hawthorne Junior High School (now PEARLS Hawthorne School) in Yonkers in June 1934. In June 1937 he graduated from Yonkers High School (now Yonkers Middle High School), where he excelled at running track. He completed three years of college at Cornell University. After his father died in July 1940, he and his mother moved to 26 Post Street in Yonkers, the residence of his sister Sylvia and her husband Albert Earle Lazar (21 Jan 1909 – 1 Jan 1990).
He registered for the draft at Port Jervis, Orange County, New York on July 1, 1941. He was six feet tall, weighed 160 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. At that time he was employed at Camp Talcott, a New York City YMCA Camp at nearby Huguenot, New York. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet at New York City, New York on December 8, 1941.
He completed Army Air Forces navigator training at Turner Field in Albany, Georgia, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on May 23, 1942. He was then assigned as a navigator in the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron, part of the the 26th Antisubmarine Wing of the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command. The 26th Antisubmarine Wing was headquartered at Miami, Florida. In 1942–1943 it dispatched B-24 antisubmarine patrols from bases in Florida, the Caribbean, South America, and Ascension Island. These included bases at Miami, Florida; Havana, Cuba; Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico; Waller Field, Trinidad; Atkinson Field, British Guyana; Zandery Field, Suriname; Belem, Fortaleza, and Natal in Brazil; and Wideawake Field on Ascension Island. In May–June 1943 Lt Weiss was stationed at Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Boca Chica, 6 miles east of Key West, Florida.
On October 1, 1943 the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron was designated the 839th Bomb Squadron, and was assigned to the newly-formed 487th Bomb Group. The Squadron moved temporarily to Pueblo, Colorado; and on November 17, 1943 moved to the 487th Bomb Group's base at Bruning Army Air Base, Nebraska.
In December 1943 the 839th Bomb Squadron moved with the 487th Bomb Group to Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico to conduct B-24 crew training. Some of the veterans of antisubmarine patrol were assigned to the other three Squadrons in the Group. Lt Weiss was assigned to the crew of 2/Lt Olen F. Huff in the 838th Bomb Squadron. Lt Huff's crew completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. There is a photo of Lt Weiss and the Huff crew that was taken in March 1944 at Herington, Kansas, the first stop of the Group's flight echelon during the deployment. They flew B-24H 42-29525 from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England 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 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. The base control tower was located about two miles north of Lavenham at 52.1330°N, 0.7693°E.
Because of his previous experience, Lt Weiss was transferred off the Huff crew after arrival in England and was made a lead navigator. On May 11, 1944 he flew with the lead crew of Captain Edward J. Brodsky in B-24H 42-52763, in the deputy lead position of the 838th Bomb Squadron.
The primary target for this mission was the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France, southeast of Paris. The secondary target was Troyes. The 487th Bomb Group formation never reached the target. Navigational error resulted in the formation flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Brodsky's plane was hit by flak in the number 3 engine, which caught fire. The aircraft peeled off to the right. After losing number 4 engine it dove down, and Capt Brodsky made a crash landing on farmland belonging to a Mr. Hubert Bourjois near the village of Gaubert, commune of Guillonville, France, about fifteen miles east of Chateaudun. One crew member, Lt Lee Grover Johnson, bailed out safely before the crash landing. Capt Brodsky and his copilot, Capt John Willard Roberts, were able to escape from the aircraft on the ground, but were unable to suppress a wing fire. Six crew members—Lt Weiss, Lt Pearce, T/Sgt Simoni, T/Sgt Nance, S/Sgt Lipskas, and S/Sgt Murphy—were trapped in the aircraft and died when the fire spread and the fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the aircraft in flames. S/Sgt Elton Tollett was thrown from the plane during the crash landing, and suffered a severe head injury. He died at a German Air Force hospital in Orleans, France on May 12, 1944.
Five of the dead—Lt Weiss, Lt Pearce, T/Sgt Simoni, T/Sgt Nance, and S/Sgt Murphy—were interred as unknowns at the Saint Cheron civilian cemetery in Chartres, France on May 16, 1944, and were not identified until after the war. The remains of S/Sgt Lipskas were never found. S/Sgt Tollett was buried at the Memorial Cemetery in Orleans, France, but after the war a search failed to identify his remains. Lipskas and Tollett are still listed as missing in action.
In October 1949 the remains of Lt Weiss were permanently reinterred at the US Military Cemetery Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer, France. This cemetery is now named Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He is memorialized on the Washington Park Veterans Memorial near City Hall in Yonkers, New York.
B-24H 42-52763 crew:
• Brodsky, Edward J – Capt – Pilot – POW
• Roberts, John W – Capt – Copilot – POW
• Weiss, Lester – 1/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Johnson, Lee G – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Pearce, Thomas W – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Simoni, Walter – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Nance, Clifford P – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Tollett, Elton – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – MIA
• Lipskas, Bronis D – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
• Murphy, William J – S/Sgt – Top Turret Gunner – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com