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| Lt. Irwin Zaetz volunteered to fill in for a sick navigator on the B-24 Hot As Hell for his final, fatal mission. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56786488 https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/42-73308/b24-hot-as-hell-noseart.html |
This profile was requested by Gary Zaetz, the nephew of this fallen Army Air Forces navigator.
Irwin G. "Zipper" Zaetz never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 2, 1917 in Vermont. His parents Morris and Jennie were both born in Russia. His father owned the Vermont Mattress and Furniture Company. Irwin had three older siblings and two younger siblings. He got his Zipper nickname from the speed he displayed playing football and basketball. By 1940 Irwin had completed one year of college. He was living with his parents and working as a manager for his father's company.
He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on December 26, 1941 as an aviation cadet where he ended up being trained as a navigator.
He married Ethyle Wolfe, who had been his girlfriend since junior high, on September 4, 1942 in Florida while undergoing flight training.
He held the rank of first lieutenant in the 425th Bombardment Squadron, 308th Bombardment Group, 14th Air Force which was equipped with B-24 Liberators.
The 308th BG was operating out of India and China by March 1943. It made regular flights over the dangerous Himalayan Mountains. It's focus was strategic bombing to support the war efforts in China and Indochina. Lt. Zaetz was twice award the Distinguished Flying Cross for missions over China and Burma. In November 1943 his plane was shot down. Lt. Zaetz was able to bail out and survived many days in the jungle before returning to safety.
On January 25, 1944 the B-24 nicknamed Hot As Hell was assigned a mission to fly from Kunming, China to Chabua, India to pick up weapons and other supplies. The regular navigator was ill so Lt. Zaetz volunteered to take his place. The plane took off in bad weather with four other B-24's. Reaching the Himalayan Mountains, with visibility less than one mile, the planes were forced to break up their flying formation and make the dangerous flight on their own. All five planes crashed. There were survivors from three of the planes but Hot As Hell and one other plane remained missing.
The mystery of the Hot As Hell remained unknown until a expert MIA investigator Clayton Kuhles (see http://www.miarecoveries.org) discovered the wreckage in 2006. Kuhles has discovered 15 crash sites of US aircraft in India related to the remains of 82 MIA airmen.
Lt. Zaetz's nephew Gary Zaetz visited the crash site in 2008. Due to local political posturing the crash site has not been fully excavated and the remains of only one of the Hot As Hell crew has been returned home (bombardier Robert Oxford).
You can read more about the discovery and attempt to return the crew's remains here, here, and here.
Lt. Zaetz's cenotaph grave is at Hebrew Holy Society Cemetery in South Burlington, Vermont. His widow remarried after the war.
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
Thank you for this article about my uncle!
ReplyDeleteHeidi Zaetz Briley