Alphonse J. Kech

September 28, 1921 – August 4, 1944 (KIA)

EARLY DAYS

Alphonse Joseph Kech was born on 28 September 1921 in Chicago, Illinois. His father was Alphonse Leibundguth Kech; his mother was Cecelia Benedicta (Artman) Kech.

Alphonse had four younger brothers, and his family lived in the home where his father had grown up at 7006 South Elizabeth Street in the West Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. (This address was a vacant lot in May 2019 according to Google Street View.)

Alphonse's father was a college educated engineer who made frequent trips to Central America. When he was 14 years old Alphonse evidently visited his father on the job, then returned by way of the Port of New Orleans aboard the S.S. Matapan, a U.S.-flagged ship that had sailed from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, on 17 November 1935. There does not appear to have been anyone traveling with young Alphonse. That must have been quite an adventure.

We do not know why, but Alphonse was sent away to attend high school at the Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Crawford County, Wisconsin.

The 1940 federal census found Alphonse, at the age of 18, back in Chicago in the family home with his parents, Alphonse and Cecilia, and with his brothers Edward, Robert, and Bernard. Alphonse was still seeking his first job, but had completed four years of high school.

SECOND WORLD WAR

On 16 February 1942 Alphonse registered for the military draft in Chicago. Alphonse reported that he was working at Harris, Upham & Co., Inc., an old‐line brokerage house. However, we do not know what job he held there. The draft record went on to note that Alphonse was 5'-11" tall, weighed 145 pounds, had blue eyes, brown hair, and was light complected. He was also unmarried and still living at home.

Alphonse enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a private on 30 January 1943 in Miami Beach. He was 21 years old.

Alphonse was selected for flight school, and received his wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant at Stuttgart Army Airfield, Arkansas.

Following flight school, Alphonse was assigned to the 95th Bomb Group, 336th Bomb Squadron, based at Royal Air Field (RAF) Horam in Suffolk, England.

Military records show that Alphonse flew as co-pilot on at least four missions with the same aircraft commander/pilot: 2nd Lt. Robert W. Hamilton. On 31 July 1944 Alphonse's aircrew flew a strategic bombing sortie to Munich in a B-17G with the tail number 42-31989 nicknamed "Black Magic." And in back-to-back missions on 1 August and 2 August 1944, Alphonse again flew with 2nd Lt. Hamilton on tactical bombing sorties over France in a B-17G with the tail number 42-31514 nicknamed "Full House."

FRIDAY, 04 AUGUST 1944

Alphonse's aircrew was on rest on Thursday, 3 August 1944. Then during the pre-flight briefing on Friday, 4 August 1944, the airmen learned they'd been assigned to a B-17G with the tail number 44-6098, and that they would fly a daylight mission to bomb designated targets at Hamburg with 19 other B-17s.

Their aircraft for that mission had been turned out of the factory on 2 May 1944, was delivered to RAF Horham on 30 May 1944, and had already flown 20 sorties over France and Germany under aircraft commanders J.W. Streeton, H.L. Laird, J.M. Bastion, J.H. Baumgardner, W.K. Olney, E.A. Jacobsen, G.B. Herchenhahn, and R.F. Harvey. But no single aircrew had evidently spent enough time in 44-6098 to christen her with a proper nickname.

In addition to Alphonse sitting in the cockpit's right-hand seat, the aircrew of 44-6098 that day included to his left the pilot, 2nd Lt. Robert W. Hamilton. Arrayed throughout the aircraft were the navigator, 2nd Lt. Charles L. Shippee, the bombardier, 2nd Lt. Jack Sternbeck, the top turret gunner and flight engineer, Staff Sgt. Oliver C. Schriner, the radio operator, Sgt. Rollie C. Kilgore, the ball turret gunner, Staff Sgt. Kenneth C. Barnett, the waist gunner, Sgt. Harvey L. Kastner, and the tail gunner, Sgt. John J. Brogan. These nine men all had the same amount of mission experience, and had flown together on all their previous missions. And by 1944 European Theater standards, they were probably considered a seasoned flight crew.

Alphonse's B-17 lifted off with a flight of 19 other B-17s, and carrying the call sign "Nan" ("N"). It would probably have been carrying a full load of 4,800 pounds of bombs on two racks situated in the bomb bay behind the cockpit.

In those months following D-Day, primary targets might be any facilities that directly supported the German war machine: fighter-production facilities, ball-bearing plants, shipyards, and so forth.

The three-odd hour flight from RAF Horam to Hamburg was grueling. The B-17 was open to the atmosphere, extremely loud, and very cold: Cruising at 160 knots at 25,000 to 30,000 feet, the -60F temperatures would numb extremities, and freeze oxygen masks to the men's faces. And for the entire time their airplane was over enemy territory, the four gunners were in their turrets, constantly scanning the skies for Luftwaffe air defense fighters.

At about 1330 hours (1:30 PM) on Friday afternoon somewhere over Hamburg, Germany (around 53°28'N, 10°00'E), the pilot released the controls to the Bombardier. Lt. Sterneck rotated the Norden bombsight so the vertical line in the sight passed through the target. The B-17's autopilot then took over to guide the airplane, and the bombsight automatically released the load of bombs at the optimum time.

As the bomb bay doors closed, the pilot turned in formation with the other bombers, shaping a course back to RAF Horman. And at that moment, the plane's number 3 engine was peppered by anti-aircraft flak.

DISASTER

Observers in other squadron bombers reported 44-6098 dropping out of formation about a minute after bombs-away. Within 10 frantic minutes, the fire which had begun in the number 3 engine, had quickly spread over the entire right wing, which, on that return leg, probably still contained about 600 gallons of high-octane aviation gasoline in three in-wing tanks.

Then the flight engineer, Staff Sgt. Schriner, announced over the intercom that the fire had jumped to the left wing.

Between these two young men of the same rank, and with about the same amount of flying experience, Alphonse almost surely volunteered to stay in the right-hand seat where he struggled to hold the plane in level flight while 2nd Lt. Hamilton went to get the rest of the crew out.

In fairness to those men who left Alphonse behind, the B-17 had a remarkable reputation for survivability; the first eight jumpers probably expected to see Alphonse's parachute opening not far above them.

Observers in nearby bombers were also anxiously counting chutes so they could report the number of possible survivors upon their return to base.

The pilot, bombardier, and turret gunner were reportedly the last to make it out. But even then, it was a near-run thing: the three were thrown clear by the explosion, with their parachutes blown open by the sheer force of the blast.

It appears that before Alphonse could engage the autopilot and make his way to a hatch, 44-6098 exploded in a ball of fire at about 1340 hours, at over four miles above Germany.

CAPTURE

As the eight horrified airmen watched large burning sections of their airplane plunging earthward, they floated towards German soil, hoping against hope to still see Alphonse's parachute open. But it was not to be.

German troops easily tracked the men's' descent in the afternoon light. They rounded up the eight survivors, and added them to a gang of prisoners who were being sent about 450 miles east to Stalag Luft Vier (Luftwaffe Prison Camp No. 4) near Toruń, Poland.

Meanwhile, the remaining 19 bombers on the mission that Friday afternoon limped back to RAF Horman, many with severe flak and fighter gunnery damage. But there was no other reported loss of life among the 171 other crewmen on that day's sortie to Hamburg.

BURIAL AND RE-BURIAL

Alphonse's remains were recovered from the burnt wreckage that came down near the village of Poggemühlen, then hastily buried for health purposes. A Lutheran pastor from nearby Basdahl-Oese may have come out to read over the grave. Alphonse's metal ID "dog" tags were probably hung on a makeshift wooden cross to aid in future identification.

In February 1945 'Cemetery 1260' was established in a large field southeast of Neuville, Belgium. Many soldiers were reinterred to this temporary site from battlefield graves. The cemetery also received the bodies of many downed airmen like Alphonse whose graves were scattered around Holland, Belgium, and Germany.

Sometime after 1960, Alphonse's remains were moved from Cemetery 1260 to their permanent resting place in the Ardennes American Cemetery near Liège, Belgium, which contains a total of 5,329 American graves from the Second World War (including 792 unknowns).

Alphonse was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, a rote award bestowed on anyone who is "wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States." However, the selfless giving of one's life, so that eight others could fully live out their lives, seems to have been an act of bravery that demanded more somehow.

Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56359070/alphonse-joseph-kech