L-4 Cub Collision - Ardennes - 23 Jan 1945 - 4 KIA

[Leendert]

US Army artillery spotter plane losses are not generally covered here, but I'll give it a try.

On 23 Jan 45 around noon two L-4 Cubs of the 325th Field Artillery Bn, 84th Inf Div collided in mid-air and crashed. All occupants, two pilots and two observers were killed.
This was at/near Gouvy-Beho, Belgium, just north of GD Luxembourg.
At that time the 84th Inf Div was in mopping up operations in the recently liberated area in the last phase of the Battle of the Bulge.

Pilots were 1st Lt William L. Bonnett and 2nd Lt Earl K. Van Derveer, both buried at the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery.

But who were the two observers?

Any leads welcome, thanks.

Regards,

Leendert

[dp_burke]

It infuriating, the archives.gov site database search gives PDF copys of

Weekly Burial Returns but the last one apparently available was the NO 115 report from December 1944.

No obvious pattern in the ABMC burials,

[Leendert]

Thanks Dennis.

I've (also) browsed the ABMC site, and only came wth Lt Karl Dettling (290th FA Observation Bn) who may have been involved.
No further info found so far.

Regards,

Leendert

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
Re the 290th FAOB, there are only 3 listed in ABMC for 1945, the other two are dated early March, so perhaps one may have passed later from injuries ?
Alex

PS
The Joe Baurgh site has only two with 23/01/1945 date which may be worth investigating.

[Leendert]

Alex,

Thanks for suggestion for observers, but all four men were found dead on the crash site.
See http://iagenweb.org/boards/emmet/obi...gi?read=499141

Will browse thru Joe Baugher's site.

Not on Facebook myself, but 325th FA Bn appears to be on it.

Regards,

Leendert

[RSwank]

Leendert, I may have found one of them.

On this link: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/C...5/v025p030.pdf

LEON J. KUHLMAN, Corporal, IT. S. Army. Home address: Shat,
tuck, Ellis Connty. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kuhlman, Parents, Shattnck,
Born December 10, 1920. Enlisted November 19, 1942. Decorations:
Order of the Purple Heart and Air Medal awarded posthumously~
Attended S hat tuck High School .and Southwestern Junior CollegeT
Member of Seventh Day Adventist Church. Served in the Field
Artillery 84th Division, in connection with the Air Forces of the
First Army. Died January 23, 1945, in action in Beho, Belgium.


Also see this where he is listed as an artillery observer. Also found a newspaper article from 1947 when the body was returned from overseas.

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...&GRid=83269213

I also found his headstone application on fold3.com, which lists him in the 325th FA BN, Co "B".

Link is here for those with fold3 access.
https://www.fold3.com/image/32087139...%20J%20Kuhlman

[Alex Smart]

Well found Roland, most certainly the fourth man.
Alex

[Leendert]

Thanks, Rolland, a very good find!

Alex: fourth man still to be positively identified... Possible connection of Lt Dettling with the Beho collision not verified yet.

Regards,

Leendert

[RSwank]

I am not sure Dettling is the 4th man either.

One avenue to proceed would be to get the "Morning Report" for 24 January 1945 for the 325th FA Bn. Those reports apparently only exist on microfilm and must be viewed by a researcher.

Some info those reports here:
https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/mi...t-rosters.html


Another option would be to research records of the 325th FA Bn at the Eisenhower library. See Boxes 450 and 451 on this next link. Again would need a researcher.

[url]https://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/pdf/US_Army_Unit_Records_Index.pdf[/url

The last option I can think of would be to request the IDPF files for the 4 names we have so far. (IDPF requests take about a year.)

[Leendert]

Fourth man KIA in the L-4 Cub collision most certainly Cpl. Ernest C. Graf from Chicago, IL. (16146947).

He also was with 325th FA Bn. He's buried in Skokie, IL.

See little article in http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...artillery-fire

To find him I used the findagrave.com website under 84th Infantry Division Casualties WW 2

Regards,

Leendert