George Willis Hammond
Military
Bombardier/Navigator
340th BG - 488th BS - 12th AF
Murdered by the Gestapo after being captured
corrected caption
Object Number - UPL 55063 - 1LT George Willis Hammond Bombardier/Navigator 340th BG - 488th BS - 12th AF Murdered by the Gestapo after being captured
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 340th Bomb Group 488th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39404870
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Flight Engineer
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Advanced Landing Ground Alesanie
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Roopville, Georgia | 15 August 1917 | |
|
Other Shot Down/Captured |
Rabbi Valley, Italy | 20 March 1945 | On March 20th, 1945 8Z was part of a three plane flight to suppress the flak gun positions protecting the Campo Rail bridges. The six man crew flying in 8Z that day is 2nd Lt. James E. Jacobs -Pilot, 2nd Lt. Hardy D. Narron -CoPilot, S/Sgt Medard R. Tafoya -Top Turret Gunner/Flight Engineer, 1st Lt. George W. Hammond-Bombardier, S/Sgt Jack B. Willingham- Radio/Gunner, S/Sgt Melvin E. Kelley -Tail Gunner. The flak suppression flight required these three planes to breaking off from the main group two minutes before the bomb run would start. They would first drop chaff, to disrupt the radar used to aim the flak guns. Then they would drop Phosphorus bombs with fuses set for air bursts. This caused the Germans to head for cover until the Phosphorus had landed and burned out. In this scenario, by the time the Germans returned to their flak guns, the bombing run would be complete. Knowing this, the Germans knew the three aircraft that broke off from the main flight were heading for them and they concentrated their fire on them. 8Z was bracketed by flak, was hit and had to feather its starboard engine causing 8Z to drop out of formation. A B-25, without bombs, could fly on one engine but could only maintain an altitude of 6,500 feet at best. The crew of 8Z knew the mountains around them were higher than their B-25 could fly over on one engine. There had been only one B-25 that returned to Corsica, their home base, after losing an engine in the Brenner Pass area and that happened only three days before this mission. That pilot was one of the most experienced pilots in the group and he was lucky to find a pass low enough to get through on one engine. The crew of 8Z radioed they were bailing out. They had flow south from Campo for some 50 miles into the Valley of the Sun and then turned into the Rabbi Valley where the crew dropped their remaining five Phosphorus bombs (The M-47 Phosphorus bomb weighed 97 pounds) into the woods away from the locals. They managed to turn around and head back to the Valley of the Sun some 3 kilometers from where they dropped their remaining bombs. Three crewmen bailed out into the Rabbi Valley (Kelley, Willingham, Hammond) and the remaining three crewmen (Tafoya, Narron and then Jacobs) bailed out while crossing the Valley of the Sun and watched 8Z crash into the side of a mountain. Once on the ground, the crew of 8Z were quickly captured by the Germans and put in the jail in Male’ and held there until later being transported to the Gestapo holding cells at the Bolzano concentration camp on March 23rd. It should be noted the Germans had some 4,000 soldiers looking for resistance fighters and OSS agents in this area and the crew of 8Z landed in the middle of this German force searching for enemy combatants. |
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Died |
Bolzano Concentration Camp, Italy | 25 March 1945 | Murdered by the Gestapo The book “The Brenner Assignment”, by Patrick K. O’Donnell, details the OSS operations in the Brenner Pass and mentions the fate of the 8Z crew. The Gestapo (SS) had orders to interrogate all persons who parachuted into German occupied territory to determine if they were air crew or saboteurs. Saboteurs were to be shot and air crew sent to Luft Stalag VII. SS-Sturmbann-fuehrer August Schiffer was in command of the local Gestapo and SS-Untersturm¬fuehrer Heinz Andergassen and SS-Oberscharfuehrer Albert Storz were under Schiffer’s direct command. The SS/Gestapo headquarters appears to have been in the Italian Army Corps Build¬ing in Bolzano. Prisoners often were transported to the Gestapo headquar¬ters for interrogation or sometimes were interro¬gated in the holding cells at the con¬centration camp. In the case of our 8Z crew, they were interrogated in their holding cells at the Bolzano Concentration Camp. The interroga¬tions took place March 23rd. The crewmembers were beaten to get informa¬tion from them. The Gestapo was looking for information on American radar guided bombing techniques. It was here that Schiffer learned that three of the crew had been on at least 40 bombing missions (Narron and Hammond were on their 41st mission) with one being on his 61st (Tafoya). Schiffer decided these three men would be shot “while trying to escape.” 2nd Lt. Hardy D. NARRON CP, 1st Lt. George W. HAMMOND B, S/Sgt. Medardo R. TAFOYA EG were the three crewmen Schiffer selected for execution. It should be noted the Dresden firestorm happened only six weeks before the crew of 8Z bailed out. The Germans were very angry about the bombing and labeled all air crews as gangsters. On March 24th three of the 8Z crewmen were sent to Stalag VIIA. On that same day, a car was sent to pick up the three men to be executed. They climbed into the car under the pretense they were being taken to a prison camp on the edge of town near an aerodrome. On the way to the camp the vehicle “conveniently” broke down and the men were told to get out of the car and were then shot “while trying to escape.” Two died at the scene and one was still alive. The one wounded prisoner (S/SGT Tafoya) was taken back to the holding cells. He lived thru the next day and was shot in the head on March 26th. These three dead crewmen were taken to the Cemetery of the Resurrection at Bolza¬no and buried. After World War II ended, War Crime Trials were convened to try the Germans for their war crimes. The OSS had lost an agent by the name of Captain Roderick Stephen Hall and the OSS was very aggressive in finding out what happened to him. As a result of their investigation, it was determine Schiffer, Andergassen and Storz were the ones who murdered CPT Hall plus several Allied POWs including the three aircrew of 8Z. At the end of the trial, they were found guilty and sentenced to be hung. The driver of the Gestapo’s car was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement. The bodies of the three murdered 8Z’s air crew were recovered and two were sent home to the States for burial and one was buried at the US ABMC cemetery in Florence. The three SS officers were hung on July 26, 1946, at the Peninsular Base section near Leghorn, Italy. The SS men were initially buried in the US Military Cemetery, at Castelfiorentino, but later moved, in 1947 or so, to the German Military Cemetery at the Futa Pass. |
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Buried |
Newman, Georgia | Oak Hill Cemetery Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia, USA PLOT Sec 28 Row 1 Plot 47 |
