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| Staff Sergeant Andrew Peterson was a B-17 gunner in the 303rd Bombardment Group. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68958022/andrew-carl-peterson https://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/8128 |
Andrew Carl Peterson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Andrew was born on April 30, 1920 in Wisconsin. His parents Andrew and Minnie were born in Wisconsin and Texas, respectively. His paternal grandparents were from Denmark and his maternal grandparents were from Germany. His father worked as an implements machinist and later as a motor shop enameler. Still later he worked as an auto manufacturer assembler. Andrew had one older sister and two younger sisters. By 1940 Andrew had completed four years of high school and was working as a waiter. He was still living at home.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces in January 1942. He served as a gunner and reached the rank of staff sergeant in the 360th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. By September he was stationed in England. He returned home on furlough and married a previous schoolmate, Lorraine Henderson, in December 1942.
As one of the first bombing units in Europe, the 303rd BG developed the bombing tactics that would be used in the war. Early missions were flown against targets in France. By summer, most of the missions were to Germany. Sgt. Peterson flew his first mission on April 16. He would fly a total of 14 missions.
On June 25, 1943 the 303rd BG sent 25 planes on a mission to bomb shipping yards in Hamburg. The weather created poor visibility and the bombs were not dropped on target. Sgt. Peterson was on the B-17 #42-5382 nicknamed The Witches' Tit. It was hit by flak and crashed near Oldenburg, Germany. The entire crew survived and became POWs except for Sgt. Peterson.
A posthumously awarded Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster was presented to his widow one year to the date after they were married.
His grave is at West Lawn Memorial Park at Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled Normandy fallen and Distinguished Service Cross hero Harold Ditter, 9th Infantry Division. You can read about Harold 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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