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| Lt. Louis Bass was the pilot of the B-24 Kentucky Baby, shown here with another airman and after the crash. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5981978 http://www.b24.net/MM042144.htm http://www.b24.net/aircraft/KentuckyBaby.jpg |
Louis F. Bass never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 1, 1917 in Texas. His parents Ben and Emma were also both born in Texas. His father worked as a farmer. Louis had an older sister and brother and a younger brother who was a lieutenant commander in the US Navy and survived the war. By 1940 Louis had completed four years of high school and worked on the family farm.
He enlisted in the army on January 28, 1941. Some point later he volunteered for the Army Air Forces and was trained as a pilot. He attained the rank of second lieutenant, 577 Bombardment Squadron, 392nd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. The 392nd BG arrived in England in 1943.
On April 21, 1944 Lt. Bass and his officers were briefed on the mission to bomb the aircraft repair factory in Zwickau, Germany as part of a 28 bomber mission. The weather over the base in England was bad with severe icing up in the clouds. Nevertheless, Lt. Bass took off the Kentucky Baby with the rest of the bomb group. Perhaps due to icing, the left wing broke off in flight. The plane exploded on its way down. Two men got out and parachuted to safety. The other eight were killed, including Lt. Bass.
His grave is at Altoga Cemetery in Texas. In 2010, the English village near where the plane crashed erected a memorial to honor those who died.
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
Small world, I live a couple of miles down the road from what's left of Wendling and I know the Common at North Tuddenham where the aircraft crashed but I had no idea that the crash site was there. RIP you brave lads.
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