Elmer Kudej.
Waist Gunner · 329th Squadron · Of OH.
The Man Behind the Name
S/Sgt. Elmer Kudej served as waist gunner on B-24D 42-40990, 328th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group on the 7 January 1944 mission to Ludwigshafen. He was one of only nine crew members flying that day.
Kudej was last seen at his right waist gun position approximately ten minutes before the aircraft was hit, where he had been supplying five-minute walk-around oxygen bottles to the top turret gunner while fuel was being transferred. His fate after the loss was unknown to his surviving crew members.
Kudej was listed as MIA on the original MACR. Two days after the crash, Hite heard in Paris that two crew members were in the city, but these were later identified as Smith and George. French witnesses reported two bodies in the burned wreckage, but no positive identification of Kudej was made in the available records.
Service record.
Missions flown.
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.