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The Boys
On September 28, 1944, the Lead Banana, manned by the Buslee crew, and the Lazy Daisy, manned by the Brodie crew collided after coming off the target at Magdeburg, Germany. Neither crew of the 384th Bomb Group was the original crew as assigned.
That day, the Buslee crew was made up of five original crew members and four fill-ins. The Brodie crew was made up of seven original members and two fill-ins.
These are the two crews as they were that day:
The Buslee crew aboard Lead Banana, 544th Bomb Squad
PILOT John Oliver Buslee, original Buslee crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
CO-PILOT David Franklin Albrecht, original Buslee crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
NAVIGATOR William Alvin Henson II, Gerald Sammons crew, KIA 9/28/1944
BOMBARDIER Robert Sumner Stearns, Larkin Durden crew, KIA 9/28/1944
No photo available
RADIO OPERATOR Sebastiano Joseph Peluso, original Buslee crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
ENGINEER/TOP TURRET GUNNER Lenard Leroy Bryant, original Buslee crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
BALL TURRET GUNNER George Francis McMann, Jr., Stanley Gilbert crew, KIA 9/28/1944
No photo available
TAIL GUNNER Gerald Lee Andersen, Joe Ross Carnes crew, KIA 9/28/1944
FLEXIBLE GUNNER George Edwin Farrar, original Buslee crew member, POW Stalag Luft IV
The Brodie crew aboard Lazy Daisy, 545th Bomb Squad
PILOT James Joseph Brodie, original Brodie crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
CO-PILOT Lloyd Oliver Vevle, original Brodie crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
NAVIGATOR George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., original Brodie crew member, POW Obermassfeld Hospital #1249 (served Stalag 9-C)
No photo available
TOGGLIER Byron Leverne Atkins, James Chadwick crew, KIA 9/28/1944
No photo available
RADIO OPERATOR Donald William Dooley, from Group Headquarters, KIA 9/28/1944
ENGINEER/TOP TURRET GUNNER Robert Doyle Crumpton, original Brodie crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
BALL TURRET GUNNER Gordon Eugene Hetu, original Brodie crew member, KIA 9/28/1944
No photo available
TAIL GUNNER Wilfred Frank Miller, original Brodie crew member, POW Stalag Luft IV
No photo available
FLEXIBLE GUNNER Harry Allen Liniger, original Brodie crew member, POW Stalag Luft IV
Fourteen out of the eighteen boys aboard the two B-17’s were lost that day. Not only did they leave behind grieving parents and siblings, but they also left behind at least five wives and three children.
I have connected with many children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews of these boys. If I have not connected with you yet, and you are related to any of them, please comment or e-mail me. If anyone can provide pictures of those I don’t have yet, that would be greatly appreciated. They all deserve to be honored for their service and their fight for our freedom.
Sortie reports provided by the 384th Bomb Group.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2017
Gordon Eugene Hetu
Gordon Eugene Hetu was the ball turret gunner on the James Joseph Brodie crew of the 545th Bomb Squad of the 384th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force in WWII.
Gordon was born September 26, 1925 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. He was the only child of Raymond Joseph (1896 – 1982) and Esther A Johnson (1897 to unknown) Hetu. Raymond and Esther were married January 28, 1922, both at the age of 24. Gordon was born four years later, when they were both 28 years old.
Esther was born in Michigan, and her parents were also born in Michigan. Raymond was born in Michigan, but his parents were French Canadian. In 1930, the Hetu family lived at 3821 Webb Avenue in Detroit. Raymond worked a plumber, and Esther was a typist for an insurance office.
In 1940, the Hetu family still lived at 3821 Webb Avenue. Raymond was a maintenance man at an auto factory. Esther no longer worked.
At the young age of seventeen, Gordon enlisted in the Army Air Corps on June 24, 1943. After his training, Gordon was assigned to the 384th Bomb Group, 545th Bomb Squad on AAF Station 106 Special Orders #148 dated July 26, 1944, as the J Brodie Crew’s ball turret gunner.
Gordon’s first of nineteen combat missions was Mission #174 on August 7, 1944. The target was a Luftwaffe Aircraft Fuel Depot at Dugny (Paris), France. The Brodie crew was aboard Snuffy, also known as Worry Bird, as High Section Deputy of the Lead Group. The fuel depot was near Le Bourget and combined two strategic targets in one, the Luftwaffe and their fuel supply. Unfortunately, the lead and low groups dropped their bombs several miles to the east and the high group attacked Chateaudun Airfield as they were unable to sight the primary target. None of the bombs came near the intended target of the Luftwaffe or their fuel supply.
Gordon celebrated his nineteenth birthday on his eighteenth mission with the 384th – Mission #199 on September 26, 1944, to a steelworks target at Osnabruck, Germany. The Brodie crew completed a successful mission aboard Kathleen Lady of Victory.
Gordon’s next mission, his nineteenth, was Mission #201 on September 28, 1944. The target was the Krupps Steel Manufacturing Plant in Magdeburg, Germany. The Brodie crew completed a successful mission aboard Lazy Daisy, but coming off the target, collided with Lead Banana. Only three men made it out of Lazy Daisy alive, and Gordon was not one of them. He probably never had a chance to emerge from the ball turret.
Gordon Eugene Hetu died September 28, 1944, two days after his nineteenth birthday. He is buried at Oakland Hills Memorial Gardens in Oakland County, Michigan.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2015