Memorial B17 Man-O-War Opijnen

In Opijnen in a newbuild area this Memorial can be found. The Memorial honours the American crew members of the B17 'Man-O-War' that crashed in Opijnen on July 30th 1943. Eight of the ten crewmembers didn't survive the crash, they are buried in the Protestant churchyard in Opijnen. At the churchyard is also a memorial to express gratitude to the people of Opijnen for honoring the eight American crew members who were killed in action.

Robert U. Duggan, Navigator
Daniel V. Ohman, Bombardier
Douglas V. Blackwood, Radioman
Americo Cianfichi, Engineer
Mike A. Perrotta, Ball Turret
Harold R. Sparks, Waist Gunner
George R. Krueger, Waist Gunner
Hermon D. Poling, Tail Gunner

The two crew members that did survive the crash are:

Keene C. McCammon, Pilot
John P. Bruce, Co-Pilot

The memorial was reveiled in 2006 by John Bruce, the Co-Pilot of the B17 that crashed in Opijnen. (photo 4,5)

In the surroundings of this memorial ten streets are named after those who crashed in Opijnen, these streets can be found:

Brucestraat
McCammonplein
Blackwoodstraat
Dugganstraat
Cianfichipoort
Sparksstraat
Kruegerpad
Ohmanpad
Polingsstraat
Perrottastraat

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze