Veteran revists site of tragic crash

Veteran revists site of tragic crash

(EXCERPT)

JOSEPH B. NADEAU , Staff Writer 02/20/2004

WOONSOCKET -- Raymond A. Noury, 80, has plenty of memories of his days
fighting in the skies over Europe during World War II but most aren’t
the type to dwell upon.

The city resident was part of an 11-member B-24 crew of the 98th Bomb
Group, 15th Air Force, that set out from Italy on February 22, 1944,
to strike an enemy aircraft plant in Regensburg, Germany. He was the
only survivor of an explosion that shattered the crippled bomber over
Nepomuk, Czechoslovakia, on the flight home.

Ever since crash, the town where Noury landed in a damaged parachute
has remembered the deaths of his fellow airmen with a small service at
the place where pieces of the Allied bomber fell.

On Saturday, Noury and two nephews of his crew’s tail gunner, Wayne
Nelson, will join the residents of Nepomuk in commemorating the 60th
anniversary of the crash.

The tribute will include a morning church service followed by
ceremonies in the town square attended by local officials and U.S.
Ambassador William Cabaniss.

"Those people have been doing it since 1944, and since they have been
that committed to it, I felt I should do my best to get there to honor
my crew," Noury said Tuesday while preparing for his flight to Prague,
Czechoslovakia.

"I thought of going for th...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com