2nd Lt. Charles E. Carlson comes home
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) they recently identified the earthly remains of 2nd Lt. Charles E. Carlson of the US Army Air Corps;
On Dec. 23, 1944, Carlson was a P-47 pilot with the 62nd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force, and was shot down south of Bonn, Germany, during an air battle between American and German pilots. His wingman believed that Carlson had bailed from the plane. German officials reported finding and burying Carlson’s remains at the crash site near Buschhoven, Germany.
An investigation after the war by the American Graves Registration Command in 1948 found material evidence and eyewitness testimony linking a crash site near Buschhoven to Carlson’s plane. However, efforts to find his remains at the site were unsuccessful.
In March 2008, an independent German researcher contacted the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (now DPAA) with information regarding a plane crash near Buschhoven. He informed analysts that a local German resident had found parts of an aircraft and other material evidence consistent with a P-47 aircraft.
Between May 2008 and September 2009, JPAC historians conducted more interviews of potential eyewitnesses and research on the site of the crash. Based on information gathered during this work, JPAC investigators recommended excavation of the Buschhoven site for possible remains.
So the folks at History Flight began their search February through May last year and turned over the remains to DPAA for identification.
According to DPAA, 73,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from WWII.
Category: We Remember
Welcome home, may you now finally rest in the peace you deserve.
Welcome home, Sir.
Welcome home, LT.
That’s a great picture. He has the look of calm confidence that you would hope that you would have in his place. I’ll bet it took dozens of Messerschmidts to bring him down.
RIP.
His unit, called The Wolfpack, had more air-combat kills than any other fighter group in the war. It also had more aces than any other group.
I saw your post below. The way I’m going to choose to interpret that story is that the kraut pilot referenced in the story was the only one of at least 20 that Carlson fought that day who lived to tell the tale-and that Carlson almost got him.
(Kudos to the German mechanic who helped find Carlson’s remains)
Here’s a link to a heck of a story about the finding and excavating of the crash site. It was found when a German who happened to be, of all things, an aircraft mechanic, was horseback riding and came upon a piece of metal. He looked at it and recognized that it was from a plane. The story is worth a read. Also, Carlson was in a fight against a German in a 109. The two dogfighters shot one another out of the sky, with the German pilot getting out and safely parachuting and the American going down with his fighter.
http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/ga-english/Search-for-American-WWII-Pilot-article3230341.html
Welcome home, LT.
Rest well.
Welcome home Brother. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your family.
Welcome home, Brother.
My Mother told me about an American plane that bombed a house in Speicher during WW2. She said every body understood that he was not targeting the house, or town, but trying to lighten his load because he was having trouble. It was dark, and the pilot bailed out, but did not survive. Our landlord’s wife found the body the next day, and reported it. The mayor had the priest give the pilot a Christian burial, and assigned my Frau Legrand the job of tending his grave. She was fourteen years old, and took good care of her “Ami” until the war was over. His family came to visit her after the war, but I do not know if the pilot’s remains were repatriated, or if he is still in the Friedhof.