Bid to build Home Covert, in Symonds Road, Bury St Edmunds, memorial to 94th Bomb Group crew lodged

A bid to build a memorial to the crew of a plane which crashed in a town during World War Two has been lodged.

Mrs Michelle Spatariu, on behalf of Mission Mistress Memorial Trust, submitted the proposals to West Suffolk Council for the piece at Home Covert, in Symonds Road, Bury St Edmunds.

The memorial will commemorate the lives of American airmen, from the Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 42-97082 ‘Mission Mistress’, which crashed in Home Covert on January 6, 1945.

Of the nine-strong crew, five men lost their lives in the incident.

The plane had taken off from the nearby Rougham Airfield, home of the 94th Bomb Group, at 8.15am and was headed for Kaiserslautern.

The crew themselves were from the 410th Bomb Squadron, 94th bomb group.

When the plane crashed, it exploded, killing the five men and injuring the four others.

The names on the memorial would read:
1st Lt. Jack W Collins. Pilot – KIA
2nd Lt. Robert J. Doran. Co-pilot.
2nd Lt. Gordon F. Henry. Navigator – KIA.
Sgt Clinton R. Hallman Jr. Togglier – KIA.
S/Sgt James F. Tate. Top Turrent Gunner/Engineer – KIA.
Sgt Raymond J. Von Bokel. Radio operator KIA.
Sgt Ony M. Carrico. Ball Turret Gunner.
Sgt Nicholas A. Urda. Waist Gunner.
Sgt Cecil H Schermerhorn. Tail Gunner.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

The piece will be set off from a path and built with bricks with two engraved tablets – one on the top and the second on the front.

The memorial itself will be on top of a granite base, which in turn will be on top of a concrete base.

It will be surrounded by gravel and finished with a post and chains around it.

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A decision on the application is due by May 4.