- SURNAME
Anderson
- FORENAME
Jean R.
- UNIT
406 Night Leaflet Squadron
- RANK
Second Lieutenant
- NUMBER
0-034342
- DATE OF DEATH
26th April 1945
- AGE
23
- GRAVESITE
Maple Grove Cemetery, Mason, Ingham County, Michigan, USA. Section O
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 05.03.1922
father Henry Rasmus Andersen (1897-1962)
mother Mary Gertrude (nee Richards) Andersen (1888-1960)
from Ingham County,Michigan
pilot
B-24 42-51251
crashed on take-off Harrington
On April 26, 1945, Air Force lieutenant Jean Anderson was the pilot of a USAF B-24 bomber. He and his crew were flying out of England to a WWII mission in northern Germany.
During the ascent in inclement weather, the aircraft's wings developed several inches of ice, disabling it. As Lt. Anderson was trained, he descended to 10,000 feet in an attempt to de-ice the plane. Unfortunately, this failed to resolve the issue, and the plane began to lose altitude. Lt. Anderson gave the crew the order to bale out, which they all did.
But Lt. Anderson, recognizing that the aircraft may crash land into a neighborhood, did not bale out. He stayed with the aircraft in attempt to guide the inevitable crash away from innocent civilians below.
Lt. Anderson went down with the aircraft, managing to steer it into a field, no more than 100 feet from the residential area that included a church and a school.
In 1984, the area of the open field where Lt. Anderson crashed was developed into a residential area, and "Anderson Drive" is one of the main roads through this area.
VFW Post 7309 in Jean's hometown of Mason, Michigan, was named in his honor.
DATE OF DEATH:
26-Apr-1945FINDAGRAVE:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36642004/jean-r.-anderson
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