Merlin Harvey Verberg
MilitaryCrew:
Standing (L-R) Roy Braly - Pilot, Norbert Gebhard - Co-Pilot, Merlin Verberg - Bombardier, James McGahee - Navigator
Kneeling (L-R) Essman Matthews - Radio Operator, Virgil Hoffman - Engineer, Andrew S Toth - Waist Gunner, George Scott - Ball Turret
John Filenger - Tail Gunner, Edward Goodall - Waist Gunner
Best Web - B-24 - SACK-TIME SALLY
Bombardier of B-24 42-40749 'Sack Time Sally'.
Took part in Operation Tidal Wave, the raid on Ploesti on 1-Aug-43, flying B-24 Liberator 42-40749.
Shot down by Me 109 fighters, Opeinde, Netherlands on 26-Nov-43 baled out and sheltered by resistance, captured by Gestapo during the journey to freedom, sent to Stalag Luft 1 till wars end.
Awards: DFC, AM, POW, WWII Victory, EAME.
"Verberg on landing was taken to a safe house from where he was collected by a teenager in the Resistance Tiny Mulder. She brought him a change of clothes and a bike and they rode off hand-in-hand, openly past German soldiers, to her home where he stayed for some weeks.
Sadly on arrival in Amsterdam on the 21st December, the four men were collected by a 'red-headed' man who drove them straight to the enemy. Verberg kept in touch with Tiny Mulder after the war and they exchanged several visits until Tiny's death in 1993; a very brave woman."
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
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 565th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Sack-Time Sally
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 565th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 26 November 1943
- Date: 1 August 1943
- Official Description:
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Soluch Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Grand Rapids, MI | 21 August 1920 | Son of Anne Verburg. |
Enlisted |
Grand Rapids, MI | 2 March 1942 | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
9218 Opeinde, Netherlands | 26 November 1943 | Shot down by Me 109 fighters, Opeinde, Netherlands on 26-Nov-43 baled out and sheltered by resistance, captured by Gestapo during the journey to freedom. |
Other Assigned |
Benghazi, Libya | 23 November 1943 | 565th BS, 389th BG, 8th AF. TDY 9th AF. |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Barth, Germany | Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag Luft I. |
Revisions
Flagged as a "Possible DUPLICATE" in the Nickname field so an Admin can check out this person.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3493 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database