Guys, my current plan is to put in a request to the Red Cross (link was suggested in post #3). They will start taking requests again in a few days. Apparently, they do only so many requests per quarter.
Meanwhile, here is what I have done so far. I have worked through this list of men who returned on the troopship Admiral Benson trying to find POW number 3496 from Stalag Luft 4.
For those with Ancestry access this list starts here, page 1 of 355 pages:
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer...pId=3020077370
This Ancestry list is indexed to be searched by name not by POW numbers, so I looked at every page.
I decided to concentrate on men with POW numbers between 3450 and 3550 and were held at Stalag Luft 4. You quickly find the Admiral Benson list will sometimes show a different camp than Stalag Luft 4 for the POW, so I looked up anyone with a POW number between 3450 and 3550 and checked what camp shows up for them in the National Archives POW listing. . Sometimes the Admiral Benson will show the Camp as LUFT 4, or L4, sometimes just 4, and sometimes another camp entirely, e.g. 11B, etc. I think some of the camps were camps the Stalag Luft 4 men were evacuated to once Stalag Luft 4 was emptied.
On page 106 I found Derwin, Benjamin F ASN: 32730533, who had POW Number 3493. I looked up the MACR for
Derwin:
https://www.fold3.com/image/28719855 He was shot down September 13, 1944.
Note also: on the crew was a Walter G Brand from Wisconsin. For a moment I thought that Walter G Brand was going to be “our” guy then, on page 155, I found POW 3491 Walter G Brand (see Derwin MACR).
Some other very close numbers I have found are:
Page 178 Jefferson Hulme Dunford ASN: 39921705 Stalag Luft IV POW: 3494
https://www.fold3.com/image/28731357
The MACR for Dunford:
https://www.fold3.com/image/28731357
It shows Dunford was also shot down on September 13. No members of the crew were from WI.
Page 178 POW number: 3500 Holler, John F 39141373
https://www.fold3.com/image/28697821
Shot down September 13, 1944. No members of the crew from WI but one was from Michigan.
Page 297 Gordon, Richard O POW: 3524, ASN: 31257623
https://www.fold3.com/image/28723637 shot down 10 September 1944. No crew members from WI
Page 228 Harold Moll H POW: 3539 ASN: 33020321 (from PA)
B-17 44-6332, MACR 8361 September 10, 1944
MACR seems to be missing from fold3, but I found:
https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/44-6332/
Enlisted POW on crew also at Stalag Luft 4:
Robert H Smith 37519666 from MO
Frank M Roberson 14038981 from FL
It appears that the man we seek, with POW number 3496 would possibly belong to a man who was shot down somewhere from September 10 to September 13 1944 (Plus a few days on each end.) If we restrict ourselves to men from Wisconsin (which may be too limiting), here is the list for all of September. (date of shoot down shows as: day 9 1944)
BRAND WALTER George ARMY 13 9 1944 Wisconsin 16024189
BROUETTE HAROLD Lewis ARMY 20 9 1944 Wisconsin 16154881
CHERMACK LEO John ARMY 26 9 1944 Wisconsin 36815267
EISENMAN ARTHUR Francis ARMY 27 9 1944 Wisconsin 16009835
HAYES ROBERT M ARMY 12 9 1944 Wisconsin 16007730
KRAINZ LEO Victor ARMY 25 9 1944 Wisconsin 36834397
MILLER LYLE Francis ARMY 23 9 1944 Wisconsin 36235697
MILLER WILFRED F ARMY 28 9 1944 Wisconsin 36834864
OHDE WILLIAM Martin JR ARMY 12 9 1944 Wisconsin 36814000
OSTROWSKI GEORGE ronald? ARMY 11 9 1944 Wisconsin 16116480
SCHROEDER GRAYSON L ARMY 11 9 1944 Wisconsin 36292648
SCHULZ ELMER A E ARMY 19 9 1944 16134694
SORENSON JAMES J ARMY 28 9 1944 Wisconsin 17155212
I think I will see what the Red Cross says before I decide what to try next.
I may run the names from Wisconsin and maybe all the enlisted men on the MACRs identified above through Ancestry to see if they show up on some other troopship that listed POW numbers. I already know that not all troopships listed POW numbers, in fact I think most of them did not. These returning POWs were listed as RAMPs in some of the troops ship rosters (Recovered Allied Military Personnel).
The Army did try to collect information about POW numbers as can be seen in the document included here on a RAMP registration card.
http://www.stalag17b.com/lucky_strik...special%20care.
I don't think those cards are accessible if they still exist.
Here is an interesting article on RAMP Camp No 1, Camp Lucky Strike and how the system worked for US POWs.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/wa...p-lucky-strike