About This Blog

(THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - CHECK BACK OFTEN)

This blog was created by Tim Shaffer (nephew of pilot Ralph Vincent Shaffer) to maintain an active interest in the WW2 B-24 bomber “Ginger”, which, after being crippled by flak during a bombing mission over Ludwigshafen Germany on 26 August, 1944, crashed in the village of Schoeneck, France.


THE CREW












The crew of "Ginger", shot down near Saarbrücken Germany on 26 August, 1944. Standing, left-to-right: 1/Lt Ralph V. Shaffer (pilot) MIA, 2/Lt George Lesko (copilot) POW, F/O Norman Phillips (navigator) POW, Herbert Rubin (Bombardier) KIA on another aircraft. Kneeling, left-to-right: Sgt Charles Wyatt (engineer) KIA, Sgt Ted Zemonek (waist gunner) KIA, Sgt Frank Loichinger (radio operator) POW, Sgt Albert Lang (ball turret gunner) POW, Sgt Jack Staton (nose gunner) KIA, Sgt Willard Fetterhoff (tail gunner) KIA. Not pictured but on board Ginger that mission: Pvt Jack Maxwell (waistgunner) KIA. 


The abbreviated story about the crew: The pilot Vincent Shaffer's parachute appeared to open normally, but he was never found. Wyatt fell into the Saar River and drowned. (There is some conflict as to which crew member drowned, one report states that it was Staton, but I believe this to be erroneous). Zemonek, Staton, Fetterhoff, and Maxwell (a ground crewman on his first flight who was filling in for Rubin) were soon captured and shot the following day by members of the SS (Schützstaffel or Security Squadron) auxiliary. Ruben was not on this mission, but was KIA in Holland on another mission that day. Loichinger, Lesko, Lang, and Phillips were captured and survived the war as POWs. The latter three reunited at the crash site in Schoeneck France on 26 August 1998 for the dedication of a memorial to Ginger, her crew, and the allied war effort. 


Detailed information about individual crew members will be included in "Personal Accounts" (Photo: Shaffer)

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