Harland Vernon Sunde
Military ROLL OF HONOURARowe95
Pilot, Sunde crew. 381st BG, 535th BS. Shot down 1 December 1943 in B-17 #42-31097 'Mission Belle'. Mission #46 to the chemical plant at Leverkusen, Germany. MACR 1661. Killed in Action (KIA). Buried in the Netherlands AMC.
Minnesota
Upon ditching the aircraft in the Rhine there was only one rescue dinghy. F/O Sunde, who was wounded, refused it and began swimming for shore. He was last seen yelling for help with his head covered in blood.
Connections
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Units served with
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 533rd Bomb Squadron 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 31196558
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39542283
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 19091089 and O-749108
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14106899 and O-685892
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
Missions
Places
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Enlisted |
Fort Snelling, Minnesota, United States | 10 July 1940 | as a Private in the Air Corps |
Other Killed in Action (KIA) |
Nieuw-Lekkerland, Holland, The Netherlands | 1 December 1943 | According to the testimony of a crew member, when the aircraft was ditched, having only one serviceable dinghy, Lt Sunde refused to use it (probably so as not to overload it) and tried to swim to shore, but he drowned before that crewman could reach him. His body was recovered by the Germans when they searched the débris of the ditched plane some months after the crash. |
Born |
Minnesota, Unired States | ||
Buried |
Plot O Row 9 Grave 12 | ||
Stevens County, Minnesota, United States |
Revisions
381st Bomb Group Memorial Association, March 1999; MACR 1661 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 1661 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database