Max Isadore MARKOWITZ

Source : F Lavernhe

Bombardier B-24H 42-52629 "Sweatin' It Out"

Macr: 6484 

Décollage : Station 137 près de Lavenham, Suffolk

Map of Normandy American Cemetery

Source : Hudson Louie

Staff Sergeant Max Isadore Markowitz, Army serial number 32505004, was born at the Bronx, New York City, New York on June 29, 1921. His parents were Julius Markowitz (14 Sep 1889 – Aug 1977) and Mary (Rosenzweig) Markowitz (30 Apr 1893 – May 1981), who were both born in Romania. He had an older brother, Nathaniel Abraham Markowitz (29 Dec 1918 – 23 Oct 2006), and a younger sister, Gloria Markowitz (abt 1930 – ). In 1940 the family lived at 2727 Mermaid Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. His father was a salesman. Nathaniel Markowitz completed four years of college and worked as a pharmacy drug clerk. Max Markowitz completed four years of high school, and worked as a pharmacy clerk when he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

He completed Army Air Forces radio operator and aerial gunnery training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew, taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England, that is posted on the 487th Bomb Group website. 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.

Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:

rew of  B-24H 42-52629 "Sweatin'It Out"

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target.

On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. S/Sgt Markowitz and his nine crew mates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel.

A station at Saffron Walden, England received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.

The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.

S/Sgt Markowitz is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. There is another photo of his inscription on the Wall of the Missing posted on the 487th Bomb Group website.

The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.

Max I. Markowitz (right) and his friend Herbie Katz, probably during in the states.

Source : Paul Webber