World War II (WWII)
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Fallen
Alexandria, ND
Circumstances:
While returning from a mission to Regensburg, Germany, his B-17, "Rosemary III", lost 3 engines. He was able to nurse it back to southern England where his crew was able to bail out safely but his parachute failed to open.
Biography:
Clarence Arnold Aaberg was born in Dickey, Divide County, North Dakota on April 26, 1918, to Carl Alfred Aaberg and Anna Ione Lund. He entered the United States Air Force in Missoula, Montana and was a pilot of a B-17 replacement crew at Rattelsden, and was flying "Rosemary III", when the ship lost three engines on the return voyage from Regensburg. Second Lieutenant Aaberg nursed the ship over the coast of southern England, (Tonbridge, Tonbridge and Milling Borough, Kent, England) where the crew bailed out safely. Second Lieutenant Aaberg's parachute failed to open, and he was killed on February 25, 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart awards. Second Lieutenant Aaberg is buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Colton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England, Plot D, Row 1, Grave 49. In 1959, a memorial was placed at East Writing Rock Cemetery in rural Fortuna, Divide County, North Dakota.
Sources: Ancestry/Find a Grave
From Facebook, American Air Museum in Britain;
On February 25, 1944, returning from a mission to Regensburg, Germany, Second Lieutenant Clarence Aaberg was killed on his 3rd mission, flying the B-17 42-37855. His Fortress was hit and lost an engine 10 minutes after bombing its target. The crew saw quite a few German fighters, and a few shot rockets at them, but they never came in close.
Their bomber made it back to the French coast on 3 engines but was hit again by coastal flak guns. Two more engines were hit and failed exiting the French coast, yet, Second Lieutenant Aalberg still managed to cross the English Channel, descending on one engine. Once over southern England, he ordered his crew to bail out, and all of them did so safely. But Aaberg, the last to bail, had waited too long. He bailed out too late, too low, and was killed when his parachute failed to open in time. His plane crashed in the woods at Starvecrow Hill, a mile north of Tonbridge, Kent.
