64 – John F. Wolf age 25 (QR1048 EN)

64 – John F. Wolf age 25 (March 4, 1918 – November 11, 1943)

2Lt. John Frederick Wolf
March 4, 1918 – November 11, 1943

John Frederick Wolf was born on March 4, 1918 in Boston, Suffolk County in the state of Massachusetts. His father was Gustave Wolf and his mother Alice A. Kepple – Wolf. He also had five brothers, Gustave H., Joseph F., Charles, Paul, Robert F., and four sisters, Norma L., Doris K., Alice, and Marilyn. In 1930 he left primary school and attended the high school which he completed in 1935. He went to work as a technician in a car factory. He lived in Boston Suffolk County Massachusetts. At the beginning of 1942 he enlisted in the American Air Force (USAAF) and followed the pilot training. Early September 1943 he went to England where he was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 94th Bomber Group (Heavy), 331st Bomber Squadron. He was assigned as co-pilot to a B-17 Flying Fortress. On November 11, 1943, the crew of the B-17 with registration number 42-39868, including 2/Lt. Wolf, was ordered to launch an attack on the city of Munster in Germany with 560 more bombers. After the briefing, the plane took off from the R.A.F. basi Frederick Wolfs Bury Saint Edmund towards Germany. They arrived at the goal via the North Sea and the middle of Germany. They dropped their bombs and returned to home base. However, above the Hoeksche Waard the aircraft was attacked by three German fighter planes. The plane was hit and the left engine failed. Moments later, the entire plane was riddled. The pilot gave the order to abandon the plane, but it broke into two pieces and the front part was on fire. The pieces of the aircraft landed in the Molenpolder close to the old harbor in Numansdorp. Four crew members had left the aircraft of which three were taken prisoner, the fourth came down in the Hollandsch Diep and his body is still missing. The other six were unable to leave the plane in time and died. Likewise 2/Lt. John F. Wolf. He was buried on September 27, 1943 at Crooswijk cemetery in Rotterdam and on August 17, 1945 transferred to the American cemetery at Margraten Limburg where he was buried on plot J row 3 grave 15. There you can visit his grave.

Cemetary Margraten

17 – Crashlocation Numansdorp: click here

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