Radio operator of the B-24 Liberator “Blunder Bus” which took off from Norfolk at 0800 as part of 420 American bombers determined to destroy the FG Farben chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The plane was shot down by Fw190 of the JG2 over Chateauneuf sur Loire between 1300 and 1330. SSgt Dillon perished in the crash, but the remaining crew were able to bail out. SSgt Hauger, who was born on September 20, 1921 in Donegal, PA, successfully evaded via the Pyrenees and Spain to Gibraltar. He returned to the UK on May 21, 1944—one of only two crew members to do so without being captured.