I'm a french aeronautic passionate - born in 1963 -, on sept 3rd, 1944, a B-17 made a crash landing in my village (DAMEREY, in Burgundy), the nine men were captured by Germans, they belonged to 381st Bomb Group 534th Bomb Squadron,one was made prisonner and others can escape, in 1998 1999 i started my research and in 2000 i found 5 men still alive in the States (it was before internet... with only my phone) they were reunited again in 2004; in 2013 and 2014 i had the honor to welcome two families ... a lot of emotions, the name of the plane was "Sweet Patootie", (in 2001, i was in contact with Larry Wallerstein, former pilot of this B-17, he send to me some letters and the narration of his mission to Berlin on 24 may 1944... very rough mission, he was very surprised when i told to him that Sweet Patootie flew again and made a belly landing in a green field of Burgundy....),

i've made thousands of annotations on fold3 website, and inserted lot of WWII vet' pics on findagrave website

i'm working too, since several years, with Gary Moncur (303rd BG historian and webmaster, Vern L Moncur's son, B-17 pilot)

my "personnal" mission in fact, is to put a name on a face (and vice versa) of those young and brave men (for their families, and the next generations...)...

Daniel BON,
from France

I'm a french aeronautic passionate - born in 1963 -, on sept 3rd, 1944, a B-17 made a crash landing in my village (DAMEREY, in Burgundy), the nine men were captured by Germans, they belonged to 381st Bomb Group 534th Bomb Squadron,one was made prisonner and others can escape, in 1998 1999 i started my research and in 2000 i found 5 men still alive in the States (it was before internet... with only my phone) they were reunited again in 2004; in 2013 and 2014 i had the honor to welcome two families ... a lot of emotions, the name of the plane was "Sweet Patootie", (in 2001, i was in contact with Larry Wallerstein, former pilot of this B-17, he send to me some letters and the narration of his mission to Berlin on 24 may 1944... very rough mission, he was very surprised when i told to him that Sweet Patootie flew again and made a belly landing in a green field of Burgundy....),

i've made thousands of annotations on fold3 website, and inserted lot of WWII vet' pics on findagrave website

i'm working too, since several years, with Gary Moncur (303rd BG historian and webmaster, Vern L Moncur's son, B-17 pilot)

my "personnal" mission in fact, is to put a name on a face (and vice versa) of those young and brave men (for their families, and the next generations...)...

Daniel BON,
from France