World War II Honoree

Martin W. Nielson

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Dane, Wisconsin

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

RANK: 2ND LIEUTENANT. SERVED AS A B-17 ‘FLYING FORTRESS’ BOMBER NAVIGATOR ASSIGNED TO THE 350TH BOMB SQUADRON, 100TH ‘BLOODY HUNDREDTH’ BOMB GROUP, U.S. 8TH AIR FORCE ‘MIGHTY EIGHTH’. HIS UNIT WAS BASED AT THE THORPE ABBOTS ROYAL AIR FORCE AIRFIELD ENGLAND, UNITED STATES ARMY AIRFIELD STATION #139. KILLED IN ACTION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1944 DURING A BOMBING RAID ON THE RUHLAND SYNTHETIC OIL REFINERY, RUHLAND-SCHWARZHEIDE, GERMANY. HIS FLYING FORTRESS WAS SHOT DOWN WHEN IT WAS ATTACKED BY A LARGE FORMATION OF GERMAN FIGHTERS AND CRASH-LANDED AT KRETSCHAM-ROTENSEHMA, GERMANY ABOUT 5 KILOMETERS FROM KOVARSKA, CZECH REPUBLIC. THERE WERE 9 CREWMEN ON BOARD, 8 PERISHED IN THE DISASTER AND THE WAIST GUNNER WAS THROWN OUT OF THE AIRCRAFT UPON IMPACT AND SURVIVED. THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE AMERICAN AND GERMAN AIR FORCES, LATER KNOWN AS ‘BLACK MONDAY’ TOOK PLACE AROUND MIDDAY AND WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST AIR BATTLES FOUGHT OVER THE ORE MOUNTAINS IN THE EUROPEAN THEATER. HE WAS INTERRED IN A BATTLEFIELD CEMETERY AND AFTER THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES IN EUROPE, HIS REMAINS WERE RETURNED TO HIS FAMILY FEBRUARY 27, 1950, WITH INTERMENT IN THE JEFFERSON BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1994, THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ‘BLACK MONDAY’, THE CITIZENS OF KOVARSKA UNVEILED AND DEDICATED A MEMORIAL, HONORING THE AIRMEN WHO TOOK PART IN THAT GREAT AIR BATTLE.