WW2 Fallen 100: WW2 Ploesti Fallen - B-24 radio operator Max Lower + Star Trek actor

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

WW2 Ploesti Fallen - B-24 radio operator Max Lower + Star Trek actor

Tech Sergeant Max Lower flew his final mission in the Operation Tidal Wave bombing of Ploiesti, Romania.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118380559
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/14213

Max Wendell Lower never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, I invite you to help write some!

Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org

This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.

Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Max was born on March 3, 1920 in Twin Falls, Idaho. His parents Samuel and Mary were both born in Utah. His father, a WWI veteran, worked as a farmer, first in Filer, Idaho and then in Lewiston, Utah. Max had two younger brothers and three younger sisters. By 1940 Max had completed four years of high school and was still living at home. He went on to one year of college and worked as a driver.

He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 3, 1942. He became a tech sergeant and was trained as a radio operator. He was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group, which operated out of North Africa. It was equipped with B-24 Liberators.

On August 1, 1943 Sgt. Lower was part of the crew on B-24 42-40102 Old Baldy on the ill-fated Operation Tidal Wave mission to bomb the Ploesti oilfields that lost 53 out of 162 bombers that reached the target. Sgt. Lower's plane was hit by flak and no one onboard survived the crash. His unidentified remains were buried in Romania and later moved to Belgium.

His centotaph grave is at Memory Grove Memorial in Salt Lake City, Utah. His remains were finally identified and returned for burial in Lewiston, Utah in November 2019. See story at: https://kutv.com/news/local/a-long-journey-home-76-years-later-utah-soldier-killed-in-wwii-re-united-with-family

Thank you Sgt. Lower for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Max.

JAMES DOOHAN
The future Star Trek actor James Doohan was born on the same exact date as Max Lower. Doohan was born in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In 1940, Doohan was an artillery officer in the Canadian Army. He landed on Juno Beach on D-Day when he as part of the 3rd Infantry Division. He lead his men safely inland, but was injured by a Canadian sentry who mistakenly shot him six times. One bullet shot off his right middle finger and four struck his leg. The final bullet, fired at his chest, could have killed him but it was deflected by a cigarette case. He would tell people that smoking saved his life.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/james-doohan

After the war Doohan found work in radio, the stage, and television. He landed his most famous role as Scotty in the original Star Trek TV show and movies. He died in 2005.

Last year on this date I profiled Normandy fallen Ernest Smith, 82nd Airborne Division. You can read about Ernest 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.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100