 |
| Lt. George Brewer flew P-38s with the 430th Fighter Group in England and France. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121252029/george-h-brewer/photo http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/1072 |
George H. Brewer never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 22, 1919 in Kansas. His parents Harry and Bessie were both born in Iowa. By 1920 the Brewer family was living in Iowa, and Harry Brewer worked as a garage laborer. George had two older brothers, one older sister, two younger brothers, and two younger sisters. By 1940 George had completed one year of college and was living as a roomer in Des Moines.
He enlisted in the army on November 7, 1942 and became a first lieutenant in the 430th Fighter Squadron, 474th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. He flew P-38 Lightnings.
The 474th FG provided tactical air support to the US First Army. It operated out of Warmwell, England beginning in April 1944 until it moved its base to St. Lambert, France in August.
On September 12, 1944 American troops were moving towards the West Wall near Aachen and called in air support from the 474th FG to fly search and destroy missions between Aachen and Dueren. This area was being patrolled by a large squadron of Bf 109s and Fw 190s. Lt. Brewer was shot down near Froitzheim. (thanks to Frank Gueth for providing these details.)
His grave is at Oakhill Cemetery in Centerville Iowa.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 navigator Leo Tomaso. You can read about Leo 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
This was my great grandfather. Thank you for posting this, I have never seen a picture of him before until now.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. If you would like to learn about our new effort to tell that stories of ALL of the US WWII fallen, visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org.
Delete