[modenbach]

Gentlemen: I quote the article from the Battalion newspaper my grandfather saved from his army days.

The Shield 634th AAA AW Battalion
Volume No. 1 Forchheim, Germany July 7, 1945

“At the Remagen Bridgehead With Baker 2”

"The 634th AAA AW Bn claims the first ARADO 234 to be shot down by antiaircraft fire and perhaps the first one shot down by any means. The plane was shot down by Number 2 Gun of the First Platoon of Battery B on the 9th of March 1945 at Erpel, Germany. The 634th, the first ack-ack battalion across the Rhine, had been fighting Hun planes all that day. Suddenly, out of the clouds, dove a German twin-jet plane trying to make a run on the Remagen Bridge. It was immediately spotted by Sergeant Edward Szewczek, who ordered rapid fire. The men on the gun opened up at once and the experience gained from previous encounters with jet-propelled aircraft on the Ruhr took effect instantly. The initial speed estimates of 450 miles per hour resulted in a good lead on the plane on the very first round. The sixth shot from the Bofor scored a direct hit on the fast moving aircraft. It burst into flames and was seen crashing several miles away in territory then held by the Germans.
After the firing had ceased, a discussion developed among the men as to the make of the plane just destroyed. All agreed that it was a German jet job. These men are all proud of their ability to spot and identify any plane that flys. But for once they could come to no agreement. There were two camps. One group said that the plane was probably a Messerschmitt 262 with new modifications in silhouette. The others were convinced that the plane was something entirely new.
Several days after this engagement, Battery B changed its position and moved into territory which had been held by the Boche. Immediately areconnaissance [sp] party led by Lt. Martens was sent out to the place where the plane was reported to have crashed. They found the remains of the plane and the pilot within 100 yards of the co-ordinates they had originally estimated. Investigation of the plane by Captain Richard L. Horton, the battalion intelligence officer, revealed that the plane was a new secret German jet-propelled aircraft which they had designated as the ARADO 234."

My grandfather said some of the story was inaccurate. The third shell was the round that brought it down. The Bofor was set for manual fire because the gun shook too much to readjust the gun for firing on auto. The Ar 234 was hit near the tail and it shot up into the clouds and came straight down to crash, making a hole big enough to drive a tank into. My grandfather loaded the rounds and stepped on the trigger as position #7 man on the gun. Other men on the gun were; Sgt. Szewczek, Cpl. Grabowski, Cpl. Sorensen T/5, Messrs. Pfc's Scannon, Lemirez, Bochosian, Richardson, Hearn and Lemerond, Pvt's Merkley, Chavez, and Steiner.