Art Kramer

ART KRAMER'S WWII STORIES

Death Over Paris


On preparation for D-Day the 344th was hitting bridges and rail lines leading to Omaha Beach. A critical target was the Paris RR bridge which allowed vast amounts of train traffic to move west toward Omaha. We hit the Paris RR bridge on the morning 28 May, 1944. The defenses were brutal and out of the 56 B-26's that went out that day, 5 were were shot down over the target with a loss of 31 aircrew.

We lost 4 from the 495th squadron including the crews of Seale, Woodrum, Peterson and Shewel. The fifth loss was Reynolds crew of the 497th squadron.

5 out of 56. No survivors. There were a lot of empty bunks that night. It was a bad day over Paris.

I forgot to add that we got the bridge.

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