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Earl Sullivan MELVILLE
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Source : eyoung324 (Fold 3)(Ellen Marchese)
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| NUMBER OF SERVICE | O-735428 (19094219) | ||||||
| AGE | 26 yo | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH | 27 November 1916 OREGON | ||||||
| ENLISTMENT STATE | Thurston WASHINGTON | ||||||
| FAMILY | Parents : Frank Mel & Ann M Sullivan Melville | ||||||
| RANK | First Lieutenant | ||||||
| FONCTION | Pilot | ||||||
| JOB BEFORE ENLISTEMENT | Hotel and restaurant managers |  | |||||
| DATE of ENLISTEMENT | 7 March 1942 Seattle WASHINGTON | ||||||
| SQUADRON | 560th Bomber Squadron | ||||||
| GROUP | 388th Bomber Group, Heavy | ||||||
| ARMY | 8th US Air Force | ||||||
| DATE OF DEATH | 6 September 1943 |
Source : Brian Croegaert | |||||
| STATUS | FOD | ||||||
| PLACE OF DEATH | Voves - SE de Chartres | ||||||
| DATA PLAN |
B-17 Fortress - type F-90-BO - s/n 42-30201 *F "Tiger Girl/Shedonwanna"
Macr : 3124 Shot down by Focke Wulf 190 fighter – flown by Ofw Josef Bigge of 2./JG2 Aircraft partially evacuated around 11:30 a.m. - The pilot tries to land the aircraft | ||||||
| CEMETERY TEMPORARY |
CEMETERY TEMPORARY of St André N°3572
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| CEMETERY | NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY of Colleville | ||||||
| GRAVE |
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| DECORATION |
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| STORY | |||||||
| Earl Sullivan Melville was born 27 November 1916 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon. He was the son of Frank Mel Melville and Anna Maud Sullivan. His father was of Irish descent and worked as a cashier at an insurance company. The family moved to Olympia, Thurston, Washington, by 1930, where his father worked as a hotel clerk. Earl graduated from Olympia High School, where he participated in band and tennis club and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma. |
Source : Arnaud Gaté
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Source : Fold 3 |
Earl attended the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. In 1940, he was working in publicity for the Olympian Hotel in Seattle. On his 1940 draft registration, he was described as six feet one inch tall, 160 pounds, with a light brown complexion, brown hair, and blue eyes. He enlisted as a Private in the US Army Air Corps on 7 March 1942 in Seattle. He served with the 560th Bomber Squadron 388th Bomber Group (Heavy).
Earl was a pilot for a B-17G (#42-30201) nicknamed “Shedonwanna”. He and his crew flew ten combat missions. On September 6, 1943, he was selected to participate in the planned raid on German war industries at Stuttgart, Germany. His was the lead aircraft of the 22 planes the 388th put up that day. Before the day was over, eleven of the bombers lay in smoldering wreckage on the continent of Europe, and two others had aborted for mechanical reasons. | ||||||
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Earl’s aircraft was attacked by several German fighters. The left wing was set ablaze, and #1 engine caught fire. There evidently was a fire in the nose compartment as survivors state that Earl asked the radio operator to come forward, help fight the fire, and to man the nose gun. Observers in other aircraft state they witnessed several parachutes from the burning plane, one of which was collapsed by a German fighter, allowing the occupant to fall to his death.
The aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Vosges, France. Germans reported seven bodies were recovered and buried in the local village cemetery. Earl was considered missing in action until a finding of death. He was 26 years old. Earl’s body was recovered after the war and was reinterred in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. He earned the rank of 1st Lieutenant and was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart Medal. His name appears on the Washington State Roll of Honor. |
Source : patootie | ||||||
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Source : Fold 3 | |||||||
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Crew of B-17 Fortress - type F-90-BO - s/n 42-30201 *F"Tiger Girl/Shedonwanna"
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| 1Lt | Earl Sullivan | MELVILLE | Pilot | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer |
O-735428 - AM/PH - Washington | |||
| 2Lt | Robert Elwell | STONE | CoPilot | Prisoner Stalag Luft III Sagan-Silesia | O-799089 - Massachusetts |
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| 2Lt | John Edward Jr | PRONEK | Navigator | Prisoner Stalag 7A Moosburg Bavaria 48-12 | O-798872 - New York |
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| 2Lt | William Jennings | PASTRICK | Bomber | Prisoner Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang | O-670229 - Ohio |
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| S/Sgt | George Jr | LOTTER | Mecanicien/Gunner | Prisoner Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf | 13097265 - Pennsylvania |
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| T/Sgt | Frank | ALDENHOEVEL | Radio | Dead | Camp Butler Nat Cem. Springfield, Illinois |
16027745 - 22 ans - Illinois - Parachute non ouvert (il aurait été détruit pendant la descente par un chasseur allemand) | |||
| S/Sgt | Morris Dickinson | WICKERSHAM | Gunner | Prisoner Stalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf | 13099120 - Pennsylvania |
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| S/Sgt | Walter C | CREAMER | Gunner | Dead | Cim Am Colleville-sur-Mer |
31120142 - AM+2 - Rhode Island |
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| Sgt | William Alfred | BORCHERT | Gunner | Dead | Golden Gate Nat Cem. San Bruno, California | 19167958 - 20 ans - Fils de Max et Maria Borchert - District of Columbia |
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| S/Sgt | Bernard Morris | TUVMAN | Gunner | Prisoner | 11008804 - Massachusetts - Camp inconnu | ||||
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| SOURCE INFORMATION & SOURCE PHOTO | Francecrashes39-45.net - Aad.archives.gov - Abmc.gov - Findagrave.com - Airforce.togetherweserved.com - eyoung324 (Fold 3) - |
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| PROGRAMMEURS | Eric, Henri, Garrett, Clive, Frédéric & Renaud |