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| Sgt. Bernard Vermeer served with the 305th Bomb Group in England. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65971223/bernard-m_-vermeer/photo http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/254 |
UPDATED 8/1/2019
Bernard M. Vermeer never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 31, 1919 in Iowa. His parents Peter and Johanna were also both born in Iowa. His father worked as a farmer. Bernard had one older sister, two older brothers, and two younger bothers. By 1940 Bernard had completed four years of high school. He was living at home and worked as a farm laborer.
He entered the Army Air Forces in August 1942. He was trained to be gunner and reached the rank of tech sergeant with the 364th Bombardment Squadron, 305th Bombardment Group. which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. He arrived in England in August 1944. He flew at least two complete bombing missions.
On October 5, 1943 Sgt. Vermeer was on a practice flight over England when the bail out bell rang by mistake. Before word could get back to the three men at the back of the plane, they jumped. Because it was only flying at 350 feet there was not enough time for Sgt. Vermeer's parachute to open completely. He was killed in this tragic accident.
Younger brother David, born in 1924, also joined the Army Air Forces. He was trained as a pilot and flew B-17s. He served in the 613th Bomber Squadron, 401st Bombardment Group. While on a mission to bomb the railroad marshaling yards Berlin on March 18, 1945. His plane, nicknamed Lady Jane II, was shot down by a Me-262 jet. David and three other of the crew were killed and five became POWs. The reason this adds up to nine instead of the normal crew of ten is because this late in the war, the planes normally flew with only one waist gunner because there was little German fighter protection. (Big thanks to Randy Buckner who brought to my attention that I had overlooked David's service in my original profile.)
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| https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56361415/david-e-vermeer |
Bernard's grave is at Memory Gardens Sioux Center Cemetery in Sioux Center, Iowa.
David's grave is at Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
CURT GOWDY
Famed sports announcer Curt Gowdy shared a birth year and birthday with Bernard Vermeer. Gowdy was born in Wyoming. He excelled in sports in high school and college and graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1942. Gowdy joined the Army Air Forces and was slated to become a fighter pilot. However, a ruptured disk in his spine, caused by a pre-existing sports injury, forced the army to grant him a medical discharge in 1943.
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| https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/06df561b |
Gowdy passed away in 2006.
Last year on this date I profiled Medal of Honor hero and medic Frank Petrarca. You can read about Frank 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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