Lester Schrenk, a former U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 gunner who was shot down over Denmark in February 1944, spent about half ...

Francis Wiemerslage returned home Friday. Wiemerslage, a native of suburban River Grove, was a 20-year-old ball turret gunner on a B-17G Flying Fortress bombing during a mission over Dresden on ...

His last flight of the war, on Jan. 11, 1944, was on B-17 bomber No. 42-30357. The ball turret gunner on that flight was Staff Sgt. Thomas Harkey, a southern Rowan County native. My father and Sgt.

Inspired by the Eggers, Burke volunteered to become a ball turret gunner, and flew his first mission on September 16, 1943. He was later wounded in action when a German shell came into his turret ...