S/Sgt. Charles Holcomb, Jr. B-24 Nose Gunner During WWII

Crew of the WWII B-24 Bomber

L to R standing) Lt. W.J. Toczko, co-pilot; Lt. E.H. Patterson, pilot; Lt. K.W. Verhagne, navigator; Lt. Doug Reid, bombardier

(Kneeling) T/Sgt. H. Dodd, engineer; Sgt. Web Brown, gunner; S/Sgt. Serradell, w/gunner; S/Sgt. Higgs, tail gunner; S/Sgt. Edgar, radio; S/Sgt. Holcomb, nose gunner 

S/Sgt. Charles Holcomb, Jr. of Helena, Ohio enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. After completing his training, Holcomb was assigned to the 389^th Bomb Group as the nose gunner aboard a B-24 bomber.  He completed 17 successful missions before being shot down near Berlin, Germany on June 21, 1944.  Charles was captured that day and became a prisoner of war until April 29, 1945.  

Pictured below is the hat that he knitted prior to a forced march in the winter of 1945 from the Stalag Luft IV prison camp located in Pomerania, near the hamlet of Gross tychow.  Mr. Holcomb recalled watching a fellow POW knit the hat after they had only received coats from the Red Cross. His comrade eventually taught him how to knit his own cap.

Cap knitted by Sgt. Charles Holcomb, Jr. while a prisoner of war during the winter of 1945 at Stalag Luft IV.

The B-24 was produced in greater numbers than any other bomber in aviation history. In all, five plants built 19, 256 Liberators between May 1941 and the end of WWII in 1945. The Ford Motor Company built 6,792 at its Willow Run plant in Michigan. 

By the end of the war in Europe, 3,800 B-24s had become part of the Eighth Air Force. A third of these were lost in action over enemy territory.