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| Tech Sergeant Mark Ebert was a B-24 flight engineer in the 449th Bombardment Group. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30737385/mark-j-ebert https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/8092052085 |
Mark J. Ebert never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 2, 1919 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. His parents Marcus and Isabel were born in New York and Wisconsin, respectively. His father worked as a camp manager and died in 1929. Mark had one older sister and two younger sisters. By 1940 Mark had completed four years of high school and was working as a lumberjack. He was living with his widowed mother who worked as a writer, and his two younger sisters. Mark was accepted to attend the US Naval Academy, but he was not able to pass the physical due to high blood pressure.
Mark was drafted into the army in March 1942. He volunteered for the Army Air Forces and was trained as a flight engineer. He attained the rank of tech sergeant in the 719th Bombardment Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force, which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. Sgt. Ebert joined his unit in Italy in January 1944.
Sgt. Ebert flew his tenth mission on April 4, 1944. The target that day was Bucharest, Romania and there was no fighter cover. Twenty-eight planes from the 449th BG made it to the target. Seven failed to return back, including Sgt. Ebert's plane. The 449th BG was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for this mission due to accurate bombing and downing of a high number of German fighter planes.
Sgt. Ebert was originally reported as missing in action. His body was not identified until after the war ended.
His grave is at Forest Home Cemetery in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
A more complete profile of Sgt. Ebert can be found here.
Last year on this date I profiled Home Stone, 82nd Airborne Division. You can read about Homer here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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