Posted By Willis S. Cole, Jr. Sam on May 18, 2006 at 23:57:09:
A couple of weeks ago, the surviving family of 1st Lt. Donald J. Gott, Congressional Medal Of Honor Awardee, GO38 16 May, 1945, conducted a private ceremony at his grave in Oklahoma, to bury additional Remains that was found at his crash site.
The remains were found at the end of May, 2000, by Members of the Battery Corporal Willis S. Cole Military Museum, who had identified the crash site in late 1998. it is located in the Woods of Hattonville and Hattonville is about 22km southeast of Verdun in eastern France.
The remains consisted of a 1.5" x 3" inch of skull fragment from just behind and above the right ear. They were turned over the Mortuary Affairs Unit in Germany, the day after they were found. The remains were identified via MDNA from Lt. Gott's Niece, Pat Gann, two months ago.
At the family's wish, the remains were cremated and buried in Lt. Gott's grave during the Ceremony.
Mortuary Affairs has refused to conduct a Search and Recovery at the crash site, which is now a Memorial Park, located in the Woods of Hattonville, about 22 km southeast of Verdun, in eastern France, to verify there are not other remains still in the crash site area.
On 9 November, 2000, a large Memorial was dedicated at Hattonville with the USAF providing an Honor Guard. Jean Metzger Schofield, a sister of the Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt. William E. Metzger, Jr. who was also awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor on GO38, 16 May, 1945 was in attendance, as were several members of the 109th Evacuation Hospital, which was located across from the American World War One St-Mihiel Cemetery. Many of that unit, had watched the final minutes of the bomber's flight, witnessing its crash into the woods some distance away.
The 109th treated over 44,000 casualties during the War and four of the five survivors from the B-17's crash were taken to their unit for treatment.
The B-17, correctly named, the LADY JEANNETTE, Sn:42-904 belonged to the 729th BS(H), 452nd BG(H) and it shot down during a mission to Saarbrucken on 9 November, 1944.
The Memorial Park at the crash site is still not complete, but it can be visited.
At the Memorial Park, a visitor will be able to see the actual shallow craters in the forest floor, where the four large pieces of the broken apart B-17 came to rest after the bomber created a 300 foot debris trail as it settled into the woods. From the first proof of the debris trail to the where the nose stopped, is a distance of 500 feet.
Anyone who checks will find, that does not match the description of their crash and their death, that is included in their Medal Citations. You will also find, that Roger Freeman had the name wrong.
With over 14 years research into this crash and another tied together, this story is just the beginning of the whole story that will become known in the near future.
If anyone plans to visit the Memorial and Memorial Park, please contact us, so that we can tell you how to have someone (a French guide, there is no charge and feel free to give a donation for the Memorial Park to him) take you to the Memorial Park, as the soon to be ready access, is still not available.
If interested, you may check our web site at www.ww1.org for more information. Now, that this is beginning to break, the site will be updated very soon concerning this and the other aircraft.
Please, only hard evidence to counter any of the above. The newly buried remains of 1st Lt. Gott, Congressional Medal Of Honor, provide the final proof to the validity of our research. And, we know of only one book that even comes close to what really happened.