Submitted by Gerald & Tammy Westmoreland
USAAF WORLD WAR II
Engineer Sgt. Garland R. Broome MIA/KIA
Hometown: Prentiss, Mississippi
Squadron: 67th Sq. 44th Bomb Group
Service# 34623016
Awards: Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
Pilot 2ndt/Lt. William F. Green MIA/KIA
MACR #7805
Target: Bremen, Germany
Mission Date: 29-Jul-44
Serial Number: #42-109820
Aircraft Model B-24
Aircraft Letter: N-Bar
Aircraft Name: THE WASP’S NEST
Location: English Channel
Cause: Mid Air Collision
Crew of 9 3KIA 6MIA/KIA
The shipbuilding area of Bremen, Germany was the target for this day’s mission. Specific area was Oslebshausen. 34 aircraft were dispatched but only 32 hit the target due to a collision earlier only a few miles off the English coast near Cromer. Only one man survived from the two crews.
At 0830 hours and with visibility fair, the above aircraft was flying in #3 position of low left element. While the formation was in a turn, this element slid under the center section of formation. 2nd Lt. Eberhardt, pilot in aircraft #42-95309, came down and its #2 propeller chewed off the tail of aircraft #820, Lt. Green’s. This aircraft, The Wasp’s Nest, went into a dive immediately, while #309, Eberhardt’s, went into a flat spin. Four chutes were in the air from both aircraft, two of which were caught in the falling debris. Air-Sea Rescue boats were dispatched immediately to the area but they did not arrive in time to save any lives. However, they did recover the bodies of Mortensen, Kenner and Landry – all from Green’s crew, with the six others being listed on the Wall of the Missing.
One man from Eberhardt’s crew, and the only man to survive from either aircraft, was S/Sgt. Alva F. Favors. Sgt. Favors was picked up by Dutch seamen in a boat that was in the area at the collision.
Sgt. Broome appears Tablets of the Missing Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial Coton Cambridgeshire, England. His memorial Antioch Cemetery Prentiss Mississippi, is a cenotaph his body was never recovered.
THE WASP’S NEST Crew
2ndt/Lt. William F. Green Pilot MIA/KIA
2ndt/Lt. Douglas W Mortensen Co Pilot MIA/KIA
2nd/Lt. Herbert B Lentz Navigator MIA/KIA
2nd/Lt. Herbert B Lentz Navigator MIA/KIA
2nd/Lt. James D. Kenner Bombardier KIA
T/Sgt. Garland R. Broome Engineer MIA/KIA
T/Sgt. Garland R. Broome Engineer MIA/KIA
S/Sgt. Lawrence J. Sherwood Radio Op. MIA/KIA
Sgt. Henry C. Landry Gunner KIA
Sgt. Earl R McArthur Gunner MIA/KIA
Sgt. Clifford L. Byers Gunner MIA/KIA