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Chitwood Russell O.

Name:
Russell O. Chitwood
Rank:
Staff Sergeant
Serial Number:
37102509
Unit:
359th Bomber Squadron, 303th Bomb Group
Date of Death:
1943-01-03
State:
Arkansas
Cemetery:
Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Plot:
Tablets of the Missing
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Air Medal, Purple Heart
Comments:

Russell O. Chitwood was born in 1915 in Arkansas. He was the son of Minnie Fisher Chitwood.

Russell served in the 359th Bomber Squadron, 303rd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Staff Sergeant and Tail Gunner on the B-17F #41-24608 'Yahoodi' during World War II.

On January 3, 1943, his crew took off from RAF Molesworth in England on a mission to attack the St-Nazaire submarine base in France. At around 11:30 AM, they were shot down by flak and enemy fighters, and their plane crashed in the town of Batz-sur-Mer - 10 km south of Le Croisic. The incident resulted in the deaths of seven crew members. The rest were able to survive but were captured by the Germans. SSgt Chitwood was one of the casualties. His body was never recovered, but his name is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Some sources say that his body was found on March 10, 1943 on a beach by the town of Barbatre on the island of Noirmoutier and that due to a misspelling of his name by the Germans who buried him there he is now buried as an unknown soldier in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France. An exhumation for DNA testing is planned.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, francecrashes39-45.net