St. Didier-des-Bois, France
Monument & Plaque to the Crew of Slightly Dangerous
In the early days of its operation, the crews of the 95th Bomb Group (H) faced especially dangerous missions—even those to targets that were fairly near, in Normandy, just across the English Channel. An aircraft dubbed Slightly Dangerous ran into just such trouble on July 10, 1943.
A furious air battle with four German fighters felled the aircraft. Six of the crew were lost:
S/Sgt. Leonard A. Budnick, Ball Turret Gunner
S/Sgt. Edwin M. Harmon, Waist Gunner
S/Sgt. John Austin Luttrell, Waist Gunner*
2nd Lt. Donald S. McMullen, Navigator
2nd Lt. Arthur F. Price, Bombardier*
Lt. James R. Sarchet, Pilot*
*Buried in the Normandy American Cemetery at St. Laurent-sur-Mer
Two crew members became prisoners of war and survived the war:
S/Sgt. Jennings L. Liller, Tail Gunner
T/Sgt. Paul J. Ruska, Radio Operator
The remaining two crew members successfully evaded capture, though not together, and returned eventually to base:
S/Sgt. Donald E. Harding, Top Turret Gunner/Engineer
2nd Lt. Robert M. McCowan, Co-Pilot
James Sarchet Crew
Three of the four German fighter pilots involved in the battle were dead before the end of the year. The fourth survived the war as a decorated German ace pilot. Slightly Dangerous crashed near the village of St. Didier-des-Bois. Many years later, the villagers erected a headstone in the garden of the churchyard, and a plaque on their November 11 village wall, to commemorate the loss of those six brave fliers from the 95 th Bomb Group (H).