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    Shot down over occupied France: How a Utah Guardsmen searches for answers to his family’s World War 2 legacy, Part II

    Members of the "Fellowship of the Baguet" search for B-17 crash site

    Photo By Senior Master Sgt. John Winn | Members of the "Fellowship of the Baguette" search for remains of an aircraft crash in...... read more read more

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES

    05.16.2019

    Story by Tech. Sgt. John Winn 

    151st Wing

    SALT LAKE CITY - Tech. Sgt. Erik Bornemeier arrived in France on July 7, 2018.

    One witness who contacted Bornemeier about the crash was a young man named Charlie. Charlie was a World War 2 enthusiast that offered to help Bornemeier in his search with the use of his metal detector. Not one to pass-up an opportunity, Bornemeier accepted Charlie’s offer.

    After making several connections with people that had knowledge of a plane crash somewhere in a field outside the small town of Monchy-Cayeux, France, Bornemeier ventured to the French countryside to investigate. Armed with an interpreter, potential eye witnesses and a metal detector, Bornemeier arrived in Monchy-Cayeux, France on July 8.

    Bornemeier began what would be the first of many trips to Northern France where he meet with Pierre Vion, known locally by his publishing pseudonym, “Le Goblein du Ternois (The Goblin of Ternois)”. “I told him ‘I don't have a hotel room, and I don't speak French. Can you guide me to the best hotel or a bed and breakfast?’” said Bornemeier “and he said ‘Hey, I run a bed and breakfast.’” So Bornemeier headed out with The Goblin and stayed at his bed and breakfast in a cozy town in Northern France.

    On July 8, 2018, a partly cloudy morning 74 years to the day of the crash, Erik Bornermeier and a small group headed out to the field where they believed George and his B-17 had crashed. “I’m in France, 74 years later,” said Bornemeier “It’s kind of a special day. I woke up and said to myself this is going to be a good day.”

    Bornemeier and his team, who would later dub themselves the “Fellowship of the Baguette”, ventured to the first location they suspected the crash site to be at. Upon their arrival at around seven in the morning, they were greeted by the fields owner Sebastian. Bornemeier described the feeling of being there as surreal.

    When he stepped out onto the field, he had a sense that time had stopped. Waist high, golden colored wheat grew in the picturesque field. Impact craters from bombs exploding during the war more than seven decades prior could still be seen along the roadsides. At that moment, Bornemeier knew he was somewhere special, “I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life” he recalled.

    Minutes into walking through the field, Charlies’ metal detector began chirping. Just below the surface in loosely turned soil was a piece of riveted aluminum painted in a green paint, reminiscent of a World War 2 military vehicle or aircraft. As they move around, they found a hinge, a .50 caliber bullet, pieces of plexiglass, a small piece of a propeller, and more. The amount of parts just on the surface of the field was astonishing to the group.

    “Within an hour, I had a piece of what would be very much a B-17, based on the various pieces we found,” said Bornemeier “we’ve got a plane here.”

    They didn't know if it was George’s plane, but the evidence they collected pointed to that of a B-17.
    Realizing the importance of their sudden discovery and the realization that they could possibly fill a wheelbarrow with miscellaneous metal parts, Bornemeier said they decided to go speak with two brothers who Charlie had found when knocking on doors. The brothers were seven and nine at the time of the crash and they claimed to have been living near the crash site when it happened.

    The brothers lived only one-eighth of a mile from the crash site and volunteered to go back out to the field and tell the group what they remember of that fateful morning. The brothers explained that they had heard what they believed to be a plane crash. “They drove up and saw the fire. There were Germans all around and they told them to go away,” recalled Bornemeier “so they went away but came back later.”

    The brothers later explained that the remains of the plane sat in that field for three years, occasionally being picked apart for materials and parts due to the shortage from the war, which included things like plexiglas, which some people used to make into wedding rings and some of the ordinance that survived the crash which the children would remove explosive content from and detonate just for fun.

    One of the more vivid memories the brothers recalled was that of them removing the .50 caliber guns and disposing of them in the local river to keep the German troops from using them. “This was particularly important to me,” said Bornemeier “on every .50 cal, there’s a serial number…that helps me to identify the plane as George’s.” He noted the story and placed a GPS marker in his journal as a place to follow-up with on another visit.

    They toured a few other sites and even knocked on a few doors of neighboring homes. After speaking to a few more folks in the area, the Fellowship felt they had acquired a good amount of testimony and evidence of an unknown crash that quite possibly could be Lt. George Wilson’s B-17 crash site.

    With an aircraft crash site, eye-witness accounts and airplane parts in hand, Bornemeier was more confident than ever that they were on the right track, and that they were one step closer to getting a more complete picture of George’s final moments.

    This story is the second part of an ongoing series.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.16.2019
    Date Posted: 05.16.2019 17:31
    Story ID: 322674
    Location: SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US

    Web Views: 87
    Downloads: 1

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