Harry Ray Erickson
MilitaryIWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Assigned to 342BS, 97BG, 8AF USAAF. As a bombardier, Erickson occupied the glass cabin in the B-17's nose. It was his job to release the bombs accurately over the target. The son of a steam railroad engineer from Mankato, Minnesota, Erickson only completed eight missions.
In October 1942, his friend Lieutenant Ben Rushing recorded in his journal: 'Erickson was lost. He went in someone else's plane and happened to [have] hard luck. You begin to realise that it is war when they get your best buddies... I can hardly realise that he is definitely lost... May his soul rest in peace.'
However Erickson did not die: he was captured and became a Prisoner of War for nearly three years.
Shot down 21-Oct-42 in B-17 41-24441 'Francis X' while serving as Bombardier. Prisoner of War (POW).
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14012196 / O-419578
- Highest Rank: Captain
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39165066
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 20744087
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14073155
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 12043729
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Francis X
- Unit: 97th Bomb Group 342nd Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 21 October 1942
- Official Description:
Places
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Mankato, Minnesota | 17 June 1920 | BornMankato, Minnesota |
Died |
14 November 2017 | ||
Buried |
Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery Sierra Vista, Arizona | 17 November 2017 | InterredSouthern Arizona Veterans Memorial CemeterySierra Vista, Arizona |
Revisions
His enlistment record gives his middle name as 'R' but Find a grave says 'C'.
Lee Cunningham 27-Oct-2014. National Archives Records Administration (NARA) WWII POW database.
97th Bomb Group Association, Inc., Roster - June 1, 2000; Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol. 1, p. 38 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia