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| Sgt. Albert Beyke was the flight engineer on the B-17 Dear Mom. http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/4380 https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=37205286 http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2013/08/18/Belgian-town-honors-crew-of-Dear-Mom-a-U-S-bomber-shot-down-in-WWII/stories/201308180169 |
Albert V. Beyke never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 21, 1917 in Ohio. His mother also born in Ohio and his father was born in Tennessee. His father worked as a farmer. Albert had two older brothers and an older sister. He also had three younger brothers and a younger sister. By 1940 Albert had completed one year of high school. He lived at home working on the family farm.
He enlisted in the army on April 14, 1942. He became a tech sergeant in the 331st Bombardment Squadron, 94th Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force which was equipped with B-17s. The 94th arrived in England in April 1943 and flew its first mission in June. Sgt. Beyke was a flight engineer / top turret gunner.
On August 17, 1943 Sgt. Beyke was on the B-17 Dear Mom on a mission to bomb the Messerschmitt factory at Regensburg. Once over Belgium the 146 B-17s on the mission were expecting to pick up a P-47 escort. The Thunderbolts never showed up, but German fighters did. Dear Mom had the misfortune to be the first B-17 to go down. A FW-190 shot up Dear Mom's oil tanks and the plane flipped over on one side. The front of the plane exploded, killing six airmen, including Sgt. Beyke. The back part of the plane survived the explosion and four men jumped. Two of the crew were captured but two evaded capture and escaped safely. The plane crashed near Lummen, Belgium. Only half of the bombers on the mission returned relatively unscathed. More than 50 sustained heavy damage and aside from Dear Mom, another 23 were lost.
The Belgians built a memorial to honor the men from this plane. You can read more here.
His grave is at St. Mary Cemetery, Fort Recovery, Ohio. Three of his brothers served in the army during the war. All came home.
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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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