Bernard is a native of New York County, before his commitment, he did 4 years of high school, then worked as a laborer in a company's metal products.

Bernard is committed in December 1941 and joined the US Army Air Corps. It goes through Sioux City Air Base where he follows his radio operator training. He left the United States for the old continent and England early 1944. He joined the US Air Force station Framlingham in Suffolk where stationed the 390th Bomber Group of the 8th Air Force B-17 compound. It is formed on this device commonly called "flying fortress".

barracks	View	Chart Room	Control of Tour	Passage of B 17

April 20, 1944, a major operation coded 309 is launched by the 8th US Air Force, it covers the areas of Pas-de-Calais, the Somme and the Channel. The B-17 "Big Friend" Bernard took off from Framlingham station 153 AAF with 10 crew members for its 33rd mission.

The training consists of 21 bombers into three small groups of seven aircraft (Lead Squadron, Low Squadron and High Squadron), its flight arrangement is as follows: The Lead steals the middle, the High flies above, behind and on the right of Lead; the Low flying underneath, behind and to the left of Lead.

Roadmap of 20 April 1944 the 390th BG	Training of B 17 flight	Training plan	Organizational chart of the 8th Air Force

Manche Cotentin and in particular, the mission is to attack the V-1 bases.

The 390^th Bomb Group's mission is to bomb the site Glacerie referred to the operation "Noball XI / A / 26 (a)."

Formation flying fortresses are fixed on the goal but the unexpected will arise, the mist. This ground compromising leaders referred to the approach. In the Low Squadron leader is hampered by fog at first and then hit by flak in a second step, these two factors are referred to lose bomber triggers the release despite the blindness of it; six other equipment of Low Squadron did not know the leader of the difficulties fièrent thereto to perform the mission; Flak but also affects many bombers training whose B-17 42-37890

Bernard, he received a direct hit and was hit in the back of the cockpit; an engine and a wing are on fire; he leaves the training and spades to explode in flight leaving no chance to the crew, it's 6:57 p.m.. But a miracle will occur, the gunner of the dorsal turret expelled by the explosion happen to open his parachute during its fall and will be captured when he arrived on the ground. It will be the only survivor, it is the S/Sgt Jesse Roberts.

The people of Brix witnesses to the tragedy will claim to have seen debris fell on the hamlets of Ectot, the Brix mare and a significant number in Genetel.

The body of Bernard will be found by two young boys, without a parachute ...

The new body will be buried on April 24 at the cemetery in Cherbourg. Bernard will be buried in the tomb number 96 in this cemetery. His body was exhumed 15 February 1945 and transferred to the cemetery Blosville with his eight brothers in arms. Of the nine bodies, four of them including the Bernard will then definitively buried in the cemetery of Colleville, the five other returnees to U.S.A .

All four engines of Low Squadron have been affected during this mission. When photographic analysis of the post-task one could see that the result was not at the rendezvous, several impacts were 550 meters northwest of the objective, that of the High Squadron at 1600m northwest in a village ... the village Glacerie. A dramatic toll, apart from extensive damage, sixteen people, including ten children will die during the bombardment. Impacts of Low Squadron training will be located 5.5 km southwest of the goal! but this time it's on the hamlet of Cross Park as bombs fall causing the destruction of homes and the death of ten civilians. Terrible human tragedies of the price to defeat the Nazi yoke and thus free the continent.

Bernard was on his first mission.

But the story does not end there, one of the two boys who had found the body of Bernard and who was then aged 11 managed to read his nameplate before the arrival of German day crash and remained in his memory the name of this hero. 60 years later he can bring the brother of Bernard on the exact place of his death.