“The Cap”

The “50 mission cap” which belonged to Captain Oscar T. Hanson, is still in existence. Its cloth cover faded and worn, the eagle emblem slightly tarnished with age. A relic of years ago, of training flights over the warm skies of Texas, and deadly bomber missions over Europe. It is from another world of different values. Today, it sits gently in a special box, lined with tissue paper, preserved with great honor, to be taken out and shown at times, to a new generation of young people, who learn about the price of freedom.

 

Captain Oscar T. Hanson

Oscar Thorvald Hanson was born in the small town of Gully, Minnesota, on February 18, 1918. He was the sixth child of nine brothers and sisters of Thomas and Clara Hanson. Growing up in the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Oscar and his siblings worked hard to help the family income to survive. After graduating from high school, he worked in the Civilian Conservation Corp until 1937, when he moved to Rochester, Minnesota. He worked as an orderly at the Kahler Hotel.

In the fall of 1937, Oscar began taking flying lessons at the Rochester airport, soloing after just eight hours of instruction. He was a natural flyer and in 1940, he became a bush pilot in Juneau, Alaska. With the war in Europe beginning, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in late 1940. He went through the standard RCAF flying course, flying Fleet Finches. Then in 1941, he was assigned to No. 5 Training School, at High River, instructing students in flying the DeHavilland Tiger Moth.

He met Clara Cooper, who worked at the base canteen. Her first airplane flight was with Oscar in one of the Tiger Moths from the base. Oscar and Clara were married on February 8th,1942, in High River at her parents home. In May of 1942, Oscar transferred to the US Army Air Corp with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He was assigned as a flight instructor to Perrin Field, Texas, instructing students in the Vultee BT-13 Valiant. By 1943, Oscar was becoming tired of instructing students, and was selected for training in Tennessee, learning to fly the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

After graduating, Oscar was assigned to the 34th Bomb Group, based at Blythe, California. He was assigned his crew, and they would stay together from that point on. Being assigned to the 391st Squadron,they were listed at aircrew #65.

The 34th Bomb Group received its overseas orders in March of 1944, to be assigned to the 8th Air Force in England. After flying across the southern ferry route to England, they arrived at their base in Mendlesham, England in April of 1944. After several weeks of flying and training in England, they were posted as an operational aircrew in late May.

Oscar and his crew flew their first mission on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. The next day, June 7th, they flew another mission to France. As the 34th Bomb Group was returning to their base at dusk, they were attacked by German night fighters and four of the bombers were shot down, including Oscar’s bomber. Oscar bailed out his crew, and with the help of the flight engineer, they flew north to another base at Eye, and crash landed the damaged bomber. They were later both awarded the Distinguish Flying Cross for saving the bomber.

The crew flew missions over France and Germany throughout the summer. By this time, bomber crews had to complete thirty missions, instead of the former twenty five, before rotating back to the States. In late summer, the crew became a “lead crew” which meant leading the squadron or in some cases, the bomb group over the targets.

In September of 1944, the 3rd Air Division, which included the 34th Bomb Group, switched to the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Missions were getting tougher and more demanding, with the biggest worry to the aircrews being flak. In the fall, the 8th Air Force began making the oil plants their priority. Merseburg-Leipzig, Germany was becoming a dreaded target, due to the intense flak. By now, Oscar and his crew were feeling the stress of missions and then came the November 30 mission to Merseburg, Germany.

A new co-pilot in the 391st Squadron, Lt. Bob DeLauriers, recalled, “Capt. Hanson came into the officers club the night before, quite agitated, which was unlike his character. He tossed his cap over to me, and walked out. Later, in the hut, I wanted to return it to him, but he just said, “Keep it!” I had high regards for him as he was very well liked in the squadron, so the next morning I wore it out to the plane. Storing it under my seat in our plane, we took off on the mission. It was a very bad mission due to the flak and just after the target, Capt. Hanson’s plane went right past us burning, when they went down. We arrived back at Mendlesham with over 240 flak holes in our aircraft, and there was a large flak hole just inches from Oscar’s cap. If he hadn’t tossed me the cap, it would have gone down with his plane. From then on, I considered it a “lucky” cap, and I wore it everywhere, including my thirty five missions. I survived and stored it in my wife’s hat box where it’s been ever since 1945!” 

 

Conclusion To The Final Mission On November 30, 1944

In my years of researching the final mission and with the most current information I have been able to obtain, I have tried to piece together what happened to the crew, rather that what we all thought happened over the years. There are so many factors that you have to put together, the whole mission, weather conditions, and the periods of flight time that have the final outcome. This is what I have come up with:

As the crew left the target around 1315 hours, they were hit by a barrage of German flak, (three to four flak guns firing at the same target, altitude, at the same time.) They usually aimed at the lead aircraft, this time being Oscar’s, who was leading the low squadron. Flying at 27,000 feet, the #2 engine was hit and began to burn. At the same time, Lt. Topping, (navigator) stated that a large piece of flak came up through the nose, blowing off the back of his seat, smashing the G-box and exiting through the top of the nose section.

If he had been in his seat, he would have been killed. That piece of flak would have had to come from under the right side of the nose, as the navigator’s table is on the left.

In the meantime, the waist section of the aircraft was struck by a flak burst, as Sgt. Brown (waist gunner) was struck in the forehead, knocking him groggy. As the #2 engine and wing began to burn, the pilots made a banking turn to the left and headed in a SW direction over the German countryside. They immediately began bailing out the crew. The distance roughly between Halle, where they were hit, and Bad Kosen is about twenty five miles, which the time element would be anywhere from five, to maybe ten minutes. Sgt. Brown (tail gunner), most likely bailed out the small escape hatch door under the right stabilizer. Lt. Topping (navigator), was pushed out by Lt. Lipscomb (bombardier), who then bailed out, followed by Sgt. Shull (flight engineer). When you look at the pattern of the locations where the crew members were captured, it clearly shows the Sgt. Burton was probably the first one out, as he landed the furthest out. Next in location was Lt. Topping, then Lt. Lipscomb, and Sgt. Shull. A couple of minutes would have passed by the time Sgt. Brown (waist gunner), and Sgt. Simpson (radio operator), bailed out. Sgt. Brown stated that he was so groggy from the flak wound to his head that he never recalled who pushed him out, but who ever it was, he stated that he owed his life to him. That probably would have been Sgt. Simpson, and Sgt. Brown was captured just NE of Bad Kosen. He and Sgt. Simpson possibly bailed out just before the B-17 broke up after the left wing separated. I always thought that the other waist gunner, Sgt. Layton, bailed out also, but after reading the autopsy report on his remains, he was most likely dead or fatally wounded to bail out. (the autopsy report stated that he died from a major head wound and major abdomen wound). The B-17 had to have been badly damaged by flak, which would have weakened the aircraft. (The B-17 that flew behind Capt. Hanson’s B-17 returned to Mendlesham with over 240 flak holes throughout the aircraft and every B-17 in Oscar’s formation had 80% major flak damage). Sgt. Simpson was either wounded by flak and bailed out, or possibly shot after dropping by parachute as his autopsy report stated that he died of a major head wound. The pilots stayed with the aircraft, so the crew could bail out, so that is probably why they never had the chance to bail out themselves. When the wing separated from the fuselage, the aircraft would have gone down at this point, twisting apart and breaking into three sections. The tail section, including the waist, would have probably broke apart just behind the radio room position. Sgt. Layton’s body may have been thrown out at that time, landing somewhere NE of Bad Kosen, as that section came down in that part of town. The main part of the fuselage (mid-section of fuselage and right wing) came down in the center of Bad Kosen. The nose section landed on the SW section of Bad Kosen, with two engines in the main street. Capt. Hanson and Lt. Keirn’s bodies were located in a field across the road from where the front section landed. Comparing autopsy reports stated that Capt. Hanson, Lt. Keirn, and Sgt. Layton’s remains all had the same major injuries showing that they were thrown from the aircraft and killed on impact. Being that the four airmen were buried together at Schulpforte, showed that Sgt. Simpson and Sgt. Layton’s bodies were closer to Bad Kosen rather than SE of Naumburg, where the surviving crew members were captured. That also shows that Sgt. Brown and Sgt. Simpson bailed out a few minutes after the other crew members bailed out.

It was always thought that the four airmen were caught and hung by German civilians, but thanks to all of the new information and records made available, it changes the outcome of what really happened.

Unfortunately, the surviving crew members have passed away, along with members of the 34th Bomb Group who knew these men, and older family members, all of whom were never able to find out the final outcome of the events of November 30, 1944.

 

Discovering The 

“50 Mission Cap”

One afternoon in the summer of 2010, I typed in, “Captain Oscar T. Hanson - B-17 Pilot” on the computer, which brought up some listings. Scrolling down, I came across a notice regarding an article written in the LaMeza, California newspaper. It covered local World War II veterans for the upcoming Veterans Day. The notice that caught my attention was, “I have Captain Oscar Hanson’s cap given to me the night before he was shot down over Merseburg.” I noticed that the article had been written five years earlier, but with the help of my wife, Bonnie, we began the search. I assumed that the person interviewed had by now passed away, but she located him listed as still living in LaMesa, California.

I called that evening, not knowing what to expect. When the man answered my call, I gave him my name and told him that Captain Oscar Hanson was my uncle. He quickly replied, “I’ve been waiting a long time, hoping that someone from your family might see the article!” His name was Mr. Robert DesLauriers, and he did indeed, have my uncle’s “50 mission cap”. He briefly told me about himself, and how he got the cap. Many questions were asked and answered in our conversation that night. We exchanged address and telephone numbers, and he offered to send me a photograph of the cap.

A few months later, Oscar’s oldest son, Jerry and his wife visited Robert DesLauriers at his home in LaMeza, California. Mr. DesLauriers invited me to visit him, so in June of 2011, I flew down to LaMeza, and spent three days with him. We covered everything about his flying with the 34th Bomb Group, as a 20 yr. old co-pilot and his association with Oscar. I couldn’t get over the deep respect that he still had for my uncle, after all these years. Robert DesLauriers survived the war to become one of California’s leading architects. I had a chance to put the cap on, while I was there. It was truly a “50 mission cap”, as it had gone on Oscar’s training flights in 1943, thru all of his flying, and most of his combat missions in 1944.

Starting with the November 30 mission to Merseburg, it went on all of Robert DesLauriers thirty five combat missions, and survived. This contact with him was the beginning friendship between Robert DesLauriers and myself over the last few years. Over the years, whenever he was asked to speak of his wartime years at different occasions and events, he always centered it around “Capt. Hanson’s cap”. He was always eager to educate the younger generation on the “price of freedom” and what it meant to him. Our friendship lasted until November 4th, 2013, when Robert DesLauriers passed away. It was because of this friendship with me that he requested in his will, that “Capt. Hanson’s cap”, be left to me.

On January of 2014, the special box arrived, from his son, Craig DesLauriers. The faded cap was carefully packed, along with another gift from the past, a set of Robert DesLaurier’s pilot wings.

Because the “50 mission cap”, had two owners, Capt. Oscar Hanson and Lt. Robert DesLauriers, the cap and the wings will remain together, as they have all these years in the original box since 1946.

The remains of Capt. Oscar Hanson, Lt. Roy Keirn, Sgt. George Simpson and Sgt. Lawrence Layton were taken to the church cemetery in the village of Schulpforte, about five miles from Bad Kosen and buried. The four airmen remained there until American forces arrived on April 15, 1945. The Germans showed them the graves, each marked with a white wooded cross. The 606th QM Graves Registration soldiers arrived and on April 24th 1945, the bodies were transported to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Bruena, Germany, where autopsies were conducted for identification. On August 8th, 1945, the remains of the four airmen were moved to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Margraten, Holland. Further autopsies were conducted and the four were interned there until 1949. While there, Dutch families adopted graves of the U.S. servicemen, and Oscar’s grave was adopted and cared for by members of the Boyon family. In a letter to Oscar’s mother, dated August of 1946, they wrote, “It takes about an hour by train from our village of Heerlan, to Margraten. We visit the grave two times a month, and we like to put flowers on the grave of someone who has given his life, to liberate us. We, and all Libburg people appreciate it very much. It’s the least thing we can do is take care of the grave.”

Capt. Oscar Hanson’s remains were removed in 1949, and shipped to Antwerp, Belgium.

Arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was interned on August 18, 1949 at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Ft. Snelling, Minneapolis, Minnesota, at Block 24, Grave 14098, where they remain today. 

Jim Hanson

nephew to Oscar Hanson

October, 2017