Robert A Norvell
Military
media-23716.jpeg
UPL 23716
The monument to Norvell's and Snyder's crews of the 490th Bomb Group. They were shot down over Sedlcany, Czechoslovakia two months before the war ended. From Norvell's crew everyone except the pilot and top turret gunner bailed out and landed alive and unhurt in and on the edge of a Nazi SS training camp. From Snyder's plane only three bailed out before their plane exploded mid-air. They also landed in the SS training ground Nine of those who bailed out were captured and taken to SS Headquarters at Konopiste Castle and executed by the SS that night. Only three men, the pilot, R. A. Norvell, the tail gunner, Newton Parker and the top turret gunner, Wendell Snyder, escaped alive. Newton Parker was taken in by a farmer and his family and concealed as a deaf mute farm hand. He was returned to forward units of Patton's army at the end of the war. Every year in April at the monument near Konopiste Castle the Czechs have a ceremony and wreath laying service in remembrance of the American Airmen executed by the SS on April 19, 1945
Tommy Lee (son of C/Msgt Wendell Lee of the 490th BG) and Scot Lowry, (nephew of Newton Parker of the 490th BG).
Prisoner of War (POW) near Schonau 19 Apr 1945, B-17 #43-38078
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
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Little Red's Wagon
- Unit: 490th Bomb Group 849th Bomb Squadron
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA | ||
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Germany | 19 April 1945 |
Revisions
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 14194 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database