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1Lt. William Edward Cramsie KIA
Bois des Huit Rues, France
4/10/1944
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- On the morning of 10 April
1944, a cold and overcast day, 36 A-20s of the 416th Bomb Group were
dispatched from Wethersfield RAF station in England.
- Their
mission was
to destroy a secret German installation hidden within the Bois des Huit
Rues (Forest of the 8 streets) near Morbecque and Hazebrouck
- in
Flanders (northern France). The flight encountered heavy flak and was
forced to make three passes over the target due to cloud cover.
- Three
aircraft were lost, with only one crew surviving. A-20G tail number
43-9699, flown by 1st Lt. William E. Cramsie with gunners SSgt Charles
R. Henshaw
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SSgt Jack Steward lost an engine due to flak over the
target and went down in Bradwell Bay between North Foreland and Clacton
on Sea.
- Neither
the crew nor aircraft were ever located or recovered. Lt.
Cramsie was a graduate of the United States Military Academy (West
Point) class of June 1943,
- the
most highly decorated class in the
history of West Point. He was the first of his illustrious class to be
killed in action.
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- The names of Lt.
Cramsie, and Sergeants Henshaw
and Steward are engraved in the Wall of the Missing
- at the American
Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge, England.
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- Through a twist of fate, or
perhaps by Providence,
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West Point class ring of Bill Cramsie has
survived and surfaced after more than sixty years.
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extraordinary
artifact, symbolizing the principles of Duty, Honor and Country
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guided Bill Cramsie's life has inspired the telling of his personal
story
- in
the biography "First to Fall" by Wayne G. Sayles.
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- Click
Here to Play the "First to Fall" video clip (turn volume up)
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"Goin' Home" courtesy of the
U.S. Air Force Band
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