European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I Page 4 the stars and stripes thursday september 29,1994 reunion recalls bloody air Battle by Vince Crawley staff Ivr iter Fried los Germany frietto Means town without peace an unlikely name for a Village that has a memorial built jointly by american and German fliers who survived one of the deadliest air Battles of world War ii. Reg Miner Pilot of an american b 24 Liberator bomber said that one of the Focke Wulf fighters flew so close to him that he could see the German Pilot s face. The thought ran through my mind what madness. We re the same Type of people and we re trying to kill each other " said Miner who bailed outland survived. Four years ago he met German pilots again face to face when american and German Veteran dedicated a Granite memorial on a Hillside above Fried los. The former enemies formed a Circle and joined hands and held their arms skyward in a sign of peace. The aging veterans fewer now with the passing of four More years returned again this year to Mark the 50th anniversary oif the sept. 27,1944, Battle in the Clouds above Fried los. Fifty years ago tuesday Miner was with the 445th bomb group part of a 500-plane formation that Bombe Kassel. V the Lead aircraft apparently made a navigational error causing the group s35 planes to stray off course. Nearly 150 German fighters attacked the lost bomber group in three Waves near the City of bad Hersfeldt a few Miles South Offrie Dlos. Within three minutes at 11 03 . 25 american bombers and 29 German fighters were shot out of the sky 118 americans were killed while 121 parachuted and survived in prisoner of War Camps. Five More of the b-24 Liberator bombers crash landed in Allied territory making it the worst loss of the War for a single bomber group. Eighteen German pilots died. Walter Hassenpflug was a 12-year old member of the Hitler youth that morning. After seeing parts of one bomber veterans and their families sing the american National Anthem tuesday at the memorial to the 136 fliers who lost their have san the air Battle Over Fried los Germany 50 years ago. Land in a Forest Hassenpflug ran up into the Hills East , using the smoke of the wreck As his guide. He found the body of an american flier lying on the Forest path. A Little farther ahead Lay the front of the Hull of the Liberator with four More bodies in it. More bombers came the following Day this time dropping leaflets and Hassenpflug was combing the Forest to gather and Burn the leaflets when he stumbled across a downed american flier hiding in the Bushes. The Man carried raw potatoes and a Bible and said he came from san Francisco. The Hitler youth group turned the american Over to German police. Two months later on nov. 21,1944, . B-17 flying fortresses bombed the train station in bad Hersfeldt and a bomb hit Hassenpflug s House killing everyone else in his family and putting him in the Hospital for three months. As an adult Hassenpflug studied everything he could about the bombings of bad Hersfeldt. And More than 40 years after the fact in the late 1980s, he finally tracked Down the Man he had captured As a 12-year-old, a Man named Frank Bertram who flew to Germany to meet him eight weeks after Hassenpflug first contacted him. Bertram and other veterans expressed interest in meeting the German pilots who fought them. One of the american veterans who parachuted out of a burning air plane recalled that a German Pilot instead of shooting him circled and waved. After some letters were exchanged the former enemies agreed to join in building a memorial listing All the names of the Axis and Allied fliers who died in the Battle. It is the Only such German american Monument known. American two germans bound together by loss by Vince Crawley. Staff writer Fried los Germany Jima Schaen Sparks is a South Carolina schoolteacher whose father Jim Schaen died in a world War ii air Battle Over Germany five months before she was born. Martin Brunotte is an Engineer from Ulm whose father Martin Brunotte died in the same Battle one month before he was born. Gerhardt melt is a furniture maker from former East Germany whose father Gerhardt melt died in the same air Battle sept. 27, 1944, near Fried los eight months before he was born. Sharing a common Bond the three met at the joint american German Monument on a wooded Hillside overlooking the Village of Fried los near bad Hersfeldt. It s a very special place Sparks said at a gathering tuesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the air Battle. Like the others Sparks is 49 and carries her father s name. She also said she feels a special connection among the group even though their fathers fought on opposite sides. I never knew anyone who grew up under similar conditions whose father was killed before they were born Sparks said. Then four years ago Sparks came to Germany to attend the dedication of the memorial at Fried los. That Day she met Brunotte and at tuesday s 50th anniversary commemoration she and Brunotte were introduced to Mett. The first time i Ever talked to him twas like the Twilight zone Sparks said of Brunotte. And Mett shared Many of the similarities. All were named after their fathers. All had two half Brothers from their mothers remarriage. All understood the strange emotions surrounding their births Twer a of their fathers m the air Battle Over Fried los Germany in 1944. Which they have trouble describing to outsiders. It s interesting but it s not that sad because i never met him Sparks said her father was a bomber Pilot flying a b-24 Liberator the Day he was killed i did t know him Brunotte said of his German fighter Pilot father who flew a Focke Wulf against the formation of liberators. Only from photographs and from his Brothers my uncles. And i have old  the three said that they do not Ponder the possibility that their father skilled one another. The first time we met Here it was i Friendship Brunotte said. And we had not one other idea than