by Joy Etienne , sole niece of a KIA radio operator This is dedicated to WWII families left in the dark, abandoned in joyous victory, still wondering what happened to their loved ones; to the unsung heroic men of the 8th AA 2nd AD 445th BG 701st BS like cooks, riggers, mechanics, crew chiefs, nose artists, doctors and chaplains; and, to good French citizens who never forget American’s sons. 2/3/19 Update We found Schum.  No Nazi slit his throat.  It’s S/Sgt Walter Boyd Schum, Sunon Square Dance’s 20-year-old left waist gunner.  Altoona’s native son goes back generations from an early settler, a civil war veteran, great grandson of Henry Schum, founder of Altoona’s Evangelical United Brethren/Methodist Church, the same church Walter attended from his home at 120 E 5th Avenue. He’s a proficient marksman trained stateside for other bomber weapons, a gunner on 4 different bombers, and an English crash landing survivor with one other Sunon Square Dance airman. W...

by Joy Etienne, sole niece of an 8th AA radio operator BAM.   Fire in the empty bomb bay.   BANG.   The B-24 nose turret explosion. Chaos high above Oise still enjoying the painterly French summer light made famous by Vincent Van Gogh in another era. Black, molten flak lacerates the shiny skin of the Ford-built Lib.  BOOM. The wings fly off. Thursday 7:35 pm  Sunon Square Dance goes down in flames.  The German 88 meter anti-aircraft canon in Cramoisy got the squadron  leader. My 4F uncle, Tech Sgt John Harold Leahy, who went by Bill, the radio gunner in the bomb bay, grabbed the fire extinguisher before passing out. June 27, 1944 while supporting our D-Day troops bombing German supply lines in Creil, he and   Sgt Walter Schum, left waist gunner from Altoona, PA, Lt Walter Strychasz, bombardier from Cleveland, OH and Lt Arlee Reno, navigator from New Mexico died for a righteous cause. Missing Air Crew Reports & more MACR...