World War II Honoree

Walter Brady Nicodemus

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Clearfield, Pennsylvania

Honored By

R. Gilbert Peterson

Relationship

Nephew

He served as a Sergeant with the 8th Army Air Force, 92nd Bombardment Group (H), 326th Bomb Squadron in the European Theater of Operations and was a Top Turret Gunner and Flight Engineer. On April 24, 1944, he was part of a large bombing mission over Germany to bomb the Dornier aircraft factory located in Oberpfaffenhofen, located about 15 miles southwest of Munich, Germany. His squadron flew out of Podington air base in England and the overall mission consisted of seven hundred and sixteen B-17 and B-24 bombers which encountered about 250 German fighters that day. His aircraft, B-17G 42-31914 known as “Butch” lost two engines during the air battle and could not keep up with the formation. They landed at Dubendorf Air Force Base in Switzerland, but a gear failure caused it to roll off the end of the runway, causing substantial damage. The aircraft was scrapped and stored on May 16th, 1944, in nearby Kloten. After the crash landing in Switzerland, the crew was interned by the Swiss military. It was standard practice for Allied aircrews to limp into “neutral” Switzerland to avoid capture by the Germany Military. They stayed nearly a year in Switzerland from April 24, 1944 to March 21, 1945. The crew was assigned Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) number 4147 and he was listed as a Prisoner of War, serial number 33397307.