Last week we received an email which read:
I’m a US Navy Veteran, my family has a rich history in serving our great nation. I’m a member of Son’s of the American Revolutionary War on both sides of my family. I would like to purchase Waltham A17 watch in honor of my grandfather Edward B Hughel, a B-17 bomber co-pilot who was shot down on his fourth mission on Black Thursday, the second raid on Schweinfurt. He was POW for 21 months in Stalag 13, he lived until 93.
— Mark Hughel
Photo: United States Army Air Force 2nd Lt. Edward B. Hughel, 306th Bomb Group, 369th Bomb Squadron, 1943 prior to taking part in Mission 115 on October 14, 1943. (photo courtesy of Edward Hughel estate)
On October 14, 1943, 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses lifted off for the second bombing raid on the ball-bearing factories of Schweinfurt, Germany. It would go down in history as Black Thursday. Sixty aircraft were lost. Over 600 airmen killed or captured. The damage was so severe that the USAAF suspended all deep strikes into Germany until longer-range fighter escorts could be developed.
Among them was 2nd Lt. Edward B. Hughel, co-pilot of aircraft 42-30811, assigned to the 306th Bomb Group, 369th Bomb Squadron. Flying his fifth combat mission, his B-17 took rocket hits over the target, was further damaged by flak on the bombing run, and the crew of ten bailed out into enemy territory. Miraculously, all ten survived — and all ten became prisoners of war.
Edward endured several months of captivity, a forced winter march across Germany in sub-zero temperatures, and the austere conditions of Stalag VII-A — a camp built for 14,000 that held over 130,000 by the time General Patton's forces liberated it on April 29, 1945. He came home to his wife Vivian and a son, Craig, born during his captivity. He rebuilt his life in Anderson, Indiana. He lived to ninety-three.
Eighty years later, his grandson Mark chose a Waltham A17 to carry his memory. Engraved on the caseback: service number 0-746113. An object built for precision, worn in honor of a man who survived the most violent air battle of the Second World War.
Our gratitude to Edward B. Hughel, to the crew of 42-30811, and to all those who served.
