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| Lt. Lester Saenger was a B-24 bombardier for the Helen B. Happy in the 44th Bombardment Group. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105606111/lester-e-saenger http://www.b24bestweb.com/helenbhappy1.htm |
Lester E. Saenger never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
I began this project on January 1, 2017. It will conclude on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2. During the intervening time, a different fallen serviceman was profiled every day on his 100th birthday. I have decided to round out the project by profiling one of the fallen born between December 7, 1916 and December 31, 1916. This will result in one of the fallen being profiled for every day America was engaged in World War 2. The total will be 1,3676 men and women. That's enough for only 13 stars out of the 4,048 on the Freedom Wall of the World War II Memorial.
Lester was born on December 17, 1916 in Illinois. His parents Paul and Hattie were also both born in Illinois. His father worked as a Chicago street car operator and later as a grocery store proprietor. Still later he worked as a retail grocery salesman. Lester had one older brother and one younger sister.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces in April 1942 where he was trained as a bombardier. He became a second lieutenant in the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. The 44th BG was the first B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment group to be stationed in England, and sustained the highest loss rate of any B-24 group in the Eighth AAF.
He married Georgia Bernice Stromske in May 1943. I am guessing that shortly after that he was sent to join his unit in England. In late June a large detachment of the 44th BG was sent to North Africa to bomb targets in Sicily and Italy prior to the Allied invasion of Italy. It also took part in the fateful August 1, 1943 raid on Ploesti, Romania.
In October, the B-24s were called back to England. At the time, Lt. Saenger's plane, nicknamed Helen B. Happy had made an unplanned landing to Sicily due to one engine being out and a large hole in one of the wings. By the time the plane was in flying shape and it arrived back at its Tunisian base, most of the rest of the unit was gone. They decided to take off again despite their plane being in less than top shape. After reaching an elevation of 600 ft, the plane lost all power, forcing the crew to make a dead stick glider landing. Lt. Saenger had ditched once before and decided he'd rather bail out than risk a second crash landing. Jumping at such a low altitude was risky and he did not survive. This was on October 10, 1943. The plane did land safely in a plowed field with no losses.
His grave is at Bethania Cemetery in Justice, Illinois. His widow remarried and died in 2001.
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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