Jacques De Ceuninck, a retired police officer living in Tournai, Belgium, was just a boy in January 1945 when an American flyer parachuted into the street in front of his home. All but two of that crew survived, and were landing in neighborhoods across the city. That started a lifelong passion to know all about the airman’s stricken B-17, which crashed in the village of Kain, killing the pilot, Lt. Robert V. Mercer. Jacques has collected a vast amount of knowledge about the incident, and has published his findings in a French-language book, “Bob, Chuck et les autres”.
Jacques and the witnesses he interviewed say Mercer’s last act before dying in the flaming wreckage was to maneuver his doomed plane to avoid hitting the village church and a row of homes. Jacques is working with the town council to have a memorial installed at the church to this brave pilot. Jacques can be reached at this e-mail address: j_de_ceuninck@hotmail.com
Jacques and the witnesses he interviewed say Mercer’s last act before dying in the flaming wreckage was to maneuver his doomed plane to avoid hitting the village church and a row of homes. Jacques is working with the town council to have a memorial installed at the church to this brave pilot. Jacques can be reached at this e-mail address: j_de_ceuninck@hotmail.com
1 comment:
I contacted Jacques about getting a copy of this book, since I can passably read French. Hope to hear from him.
--Rob
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