William "Billy" Hugo Huish is one of the names that I ran for today. 2nd Lieutenant Huish was the Navigator of a B-17 nickname "Skunkface" in the 91st heavy bomber group in Europe during WWII. In February of 1944, his bomber was shot down while returning from a target in Oschersleben Germany. He parachuted and survived the crash, and began to make his way to Allied territory. While in Belgium he met up with the Belgium underground resistance movement. He and 8 other American airmen evading capture were caught by German SS Officers.
They had been taking shelter in a farm with some local farmers when a Nazi collaborator turned them in. At the same time, over 30 citizens were arrested and sent to concentration camps. These airmen were taken to a nearby woods and stripped down, their dogtags clearly visible. Even though they were legitimate combatants, they were made to kneel down and were executed. All of these men had survived multiple harrowing missions through enemy flak, and enemy fighters, and had even survived being shot down, yet were mercilessly gunned down and buried in a mass grave. Their bodies were exhumed after the war and laid to rest in a military cemetery. The German Officers responsible were tried and executed or imprisoned.
Billy left behind a wife and family, and sacrificed everything. He did so in an ugly campaign of an ugly war in an ugly world, and I respect and honor him for that.
Billy Huish and Mary Lovisa Huish
HAWS, GILBERT SMITH
HECKER, JAMES C
HERMANSEN, GLEN R
HODSON, ROBERT
HUFF, MARVIN S
HUISH, BILLY HUGO
HUNTINGTON, ROYAL C
JANSON, LAWRENCE A
JOHNSON, DONALD U
No comments:
Post a Comment