Find Body Sgt. Benson Of Kellogg

BENSON, CALLISON, TAYLOR, WHITE, THOMPSON

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 11/13/2008 at 12:58:43

Newton Daily News

FIND BODY SGT. BENSON OF KELLOGG

Army Discovers Remains In Village Cemetery at Point Where Plane Hit

Special to The Daily News
KELLOGG -- Mrs. Iona Benson of Kellogg has received word that the body of her husband, the late Sgt. Willard Kenneth Benson, has been located and his remains are now interred in the U.S. Military cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium. Sgt. Benson had been reported missing in action Apr. 20, 1945.

According to Army reports, Sgt. Benson was bombardier on a B-17 bomber which failed to return from a mission to Brandenburg, Germany. Five members of the 10-man crew were reported casualties.

Direct Hit

Eyewitness accounts state that the plane received a direct hit in the wing by flak at about 24,000 feet. The flak burst started a fire in one engine. The plane pulled out of formation and dropped its bombs, but as it started to rejoin the formation the wing burned off, the plane rolled into a spin and blew up several thousand feet below the other planes.

Personnel of the American Graves Registration service conducted a search in the Brandenburg area after its capture by Allied troops. They found several parts of American airplane wreckage at Brielow, a small village four miles from Brandenburg.

Buried in Fields

The bodies of three fliers found near the scene were originally buried by the German Army in the fields nearby, but were later transferred to the village cemetery by the burgomaster and villagers. One of the bodies in an isolated civilian plot in the cemetery was found to be that of Sgt. Benson. All three bodies were buried in the plot. The three still wore their flight suits over olive drab uniforms.

The family has requested that Sgt. Benson's body be returned to the United states for final burial. Besides his widow, he is survived by a small daughter, Peggy; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Willard Benson; four sisters, Mrs. Myrtle Callison and Mrs. Dwight Taylor of Kellogg and Mrs. Clifford White and Mrs. George Thompson of Newton; four brothers, Glenn, Ronald, Louis and Merle, all of Kellogg, and several nieces and nephews.