On July the 17th of 1944 about one hundred B

On July, the 17th of 1944 about one hundred B-24 american bomber- planes , belonging partly to the 456th and 451st bomb group of the 15th air force , took off from US bases in Italy.

Their mission : destroy the bridges and railroads around the cities of Avignon ,Arles and Tarascon , in the south east of France . Mission accomplished .

However , above the city of Avignon , the Flak ( German anti aircraft Defence ) is fierce.
Three bomber planes are hit .

Among them , the B -24H No 42-74821 of the 744th BS attached to the 456th bomb group , quits the group with two engines on fire . On board , one of the gunners , Willis Harless ,apparently dies , hit by a splinter of shell. Benjamin Hill , the pilot ,tries to reach Corsica in order to land there , but he cannot , for the plane is loosing too much of its fuel . He thus decides to turn back above the French land in order to parachute the crew .

Once above Sainte Marie de la Mer , the men start jumping . However , James Zimmerman, the co-pilot , who takes command of the aircraft , refuses to jump for he wants to land at any cost , not to abandon Willis Harness who he thinks might still be alive ..

Now alone in the plane , he crashlands succesfully in a vineyard nearby the village of Castries , next to the city of Montpellier . The aircraft comes to a stop and James Zimmerman is helped by three countrymen who hide him for a few hours in a wood .

Denounced by a French collaborator , Zimmerman is arrested by the Germans and sent to a Stalag . The rest of the crew was also captured and sent to a Stalag . They all survived the war .

As to Willis D. Harless , the gunner, he was already dead when the plane landed. The wound in his chest was too deep . He was burried in Castries that very night by the villagers.

So far ,there is nothing to remind his sacrifice for the liberation of France.

-LES TEMOIGNAGES / The testimonies

-L'EQUIPAGE / The crew

-LES PHOTOS

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