“Linda”

Lindie, a 328th Squadron B-24 commanded by Captain Paul L. Mathison, was hit hard by flak on the August 1, 1944 mission against the Melun and Chartres aerodromes. With the Number Four engine already out, Mathison ordered the crew to prepare to bail out as the aircraft continued taking hits; at 1813 hours, with the aircraft down to 3,500 feet, the Number One and Three engines had also failed. Believing the bail-out signal applied to them, navigator James Anderson, bombardier Thomas L. Boggan, and nose gunner Edwin W. Ritter jumped while the ship was still over enemy territory. With the interphone knocked out and no way to recall them, Mathison brought the aircraft down in a belly landing on a mud-sand beach near East Church, England; no one aboard was hurt, though two wounded crewmen, Donald N. Kraeger and Herman Greenfeld, were taken to a British hospital, where Greenfeld later died of his flak wound. Boggan evaded capture in France and returned to Hardwick on August 30; Anderson and Ritter also made their way back to duty.