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Louis J. Samsa Crew
Round Trip Rosie
723rd Squadron
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Photograph courtesy of Donald Papierniak, and Turner Publishing Company
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Crew Names
Emerson E. Lee
2nd Lt. James R. Green - Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. Leonard R. Getuan - Navigator
2nd Lt. Franklin J. Bublitz - Bombardier
S/Sgt. Edward L. Papiernak - Nose Gunner
S/Sgt. Ralph E. Vorhees - Radio Operator/Waist Gunner
S/Sgt. Thomas K. Newman - Tail Gunner
S/Sgt. Lyle L. Hansen - Ball Turret Gunner
S/Sgt. John J. Marinangeli
Louis J. Samsa - Pilot
Robert Breneman - Top Turret Gunner
Frederick A. Uphoff
John Hohman
Henry Greenough
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"Round Trip Rosie" was shot down on Feb 23rd, 1944 while on a mission to Steyr, Austria. The wreckage came down near the village of Grunau, Austria.
The pilot, Lou Samsa and top turret gunner Bob Breneman bailed out and spent the rest of the war in several POW camps.
The fate of the men in the photo is as follows:
2nd. Lt. James Green, co-pilot is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery Plot C, Row 17, Grave 13. Neupre(Neuville-en-Concroz) Belgium.
2nd. Lt. Leonard Getuan. Navigator is buried in Calvary Cemetery Queens County, New York.
2nd. Lt. Franklin Bublitz, Bombardier is buried in Memory Gardens Cemetery, Cook County, Illinois.
S/Sgt Edward Papierniak, Nose Gunner is buried in St. Hedwigs Cemetery, Thorp, Wisconsin.
S/Sgt. Ralph Vorhees, Waist Gunner is buried in Green Lawn Cemetery, Wapakoneta, Ohio.
S/Sgt. Thomas Newman, Tail Gunner is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery Neupre (Neuville-en-Concroz) Belgium. Plot C, Row 7, Grave 54.
S/Sgt. Lyle Hansen, Ball Turret Gunner is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery, St, Avold(Moselle) France, Plot K, Row, Grave 20.
S/Sgt John Marinangeli is buried in St. Vincents Cemetery, LaSalle, Illinois.
John Marinangeli was a replacement crew member for Fred Uphoff on this mission as Fred had suffered frost bite to the hands from a previous mission.
Fred Uphoff went on to complete his required mission serving on several crews.
John Holman and Henry Greenough are thought to have survived the war.
Emerson Lee was a replacement member on a B-24 and while taking off, the plane crashed and all members were lost.
Initially, English POWs were used to exhume the bodies from the crash site and buried them on the mountain where the plane came to rest. The graves were shallow as it was
winter and the ground frozen. Later, French POWs were used to relocate the graves and buried in a more fitting place of rest on the mountain.
In 1945 the allies exhumed the graves and transported the remains to allied cemetery's. As listed above, some of the men were then brought back to the US for burial in the respective locations.
Louis Samsa Passed away in Fort Collins, Colorado on 5th July 2004
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Information courtesy of Donald Papierniak
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