Bernard J Komasinski
MilitaryFront row, from left to right : Bernard J. Komasinski, pilot; Winfield Scott Gippert, Co-Pilot; Edgar W. Michaels, Navigator; Charles H. Lain, Bombardier.
Back row, from left to right : Stanley J. Hulewicz Jr, Tail Gunner; Frank LaFazia, Ball Turret Gunner and Assistant Engineer; John H. McKee, Radio Operator/Gunner; Nelson E. Brott, Right Waist Gunner and Assistant Radio Operator; Walter E. Bohenko, Left Waist Gunner and Frank N. Schaeffer, Engineer. (Photo courtesy of Frank N. Schaeffer.)
► Note : Ball Turret Gunner LaFazia was replaced by S/Sgt Coley W. Richardson (not in the photo) for the 8 August 1944 mission when the Komasinski crew was shot down in B-24 "My Peach" Serial 42-100415.
Added photo of the Komasinski crew
Bernard Komasinski was on his 6th mission, piloting B-24 42-100415 when it ran into mechanical trouble on return in the afternoon from the 8 August 1944 mission to bomb the airfield at Romilly-sur-Seine, France. He and seven other crew members managed to evade with the help of French patriots. Komasinski, his Co-Pilot Winfield Gippert and Top Turret Gunner Nelson Brott were taken in charge by Eugène Pommier of Montmirail, chief of the local underground and his wife Marcelle. As the Gestapo was on Pommier’s track, the men were handed over to underground fighters of the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur.) The three men and other Allied airmen were hidden in woods in the Epernay area with Maquis fighters. When they heard that US troops had liberated the nearby village of Montfort, they drove there on 27 August 1944 and met the liberators. Sent back to US 3rd Army HQ via Reims, Komasinski, Gippert, Brott and their fellow crew members Navigator Edgar Michaels, Bombardier Charles Lain and Tail Gunner Stanley Hulewicz left Laval, France, by air in a C-47, landing in Grove, England on 31 August 1944. Escape & Evasion Report E&E 1296.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 13108425
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner/Armorer
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32855843
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16104111 and O-696765
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35914236
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15108057 and O-717078
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: My Peach
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 8 August 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Pathway
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Michigan City, Indiana, United States | 23 May 1920 | the son of Louis and Lottie Komasinski |
Enlisted |
La Fayette, Indiana, United States | 17 August 1942 | as a Private in the Air Corps |
Other Evaded |
Marne, France | 8 August 1944 - 27 August 1944 | Landed 1 mile North of Vauchamps (Marne), France. Helped by French patriots and underground fighters of the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur), he was liberated on 27 August 1944 by advancing US troops. He was back in England on 31 August. Escape & Evasion Report E&E 1296. |
Died |
Michigan City, Indiana, United States | 7 August 2001 | |
Michigan City, Indiana, United States | |||
Buried |
Saint Stanislaus Cemetery, Michigan City, Indiana, United States |
Revisions
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 8080 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database