Harold Kretzer was born September 1, 1910 in Marion, Illinois but lived in Clarks Grove, Minnesota. His parents were James and May McHaney Kretzer, there were eight children in the family. His father died and is buried in Illinois in 1936.

Harold worked for the A H Mc Cornack company and registered for the draft Oct 16, 1940 before enlisting in the Army Air Forces. He served during World War II. He had the rank of Technical Sergeant. Occupation or specialty was Flight Engineer. Service number was 37116421. Served with 44th Bomber Group, Heavy, 66th Bomber Squadron, 8th Air Force.

Kretzer was reported missing and ultimately declared dead on August 1, 1943. Recorded circumstances attributed to: "Missing in action". Incident location: Ploiesti, Romania.

He was on the crew of the B-24D Liberator #41-24015 "Wing Dinger" during a mission to the oil refinery at Ploiesti, Romania. They were shot down by enemy fire over the target area. 177 B-24’s, of IX Bomber Command (including Heavy Bombers on loan from Eighth AF) are dispatched to bomb oil refineries at Ploesti and nearby Campina. The operation (TIDALWAVE) was costly, 54 planes and 532 airmen being lost, but damage to the targets is severe.

Operation TIDAL WAVE. B24D Liberators attack the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The bombers flew low to avoid radar detection and dropped time delayed bombs. Out of the 177 B-24s that took part in the raid 167 managed to attack their targets. 57 B-24s were lost in total; 54 over Ploesti and 3 in the sea.

Five bomb groups were involved from the 8th and 9th Air Forces; the 44th, 93rd, 389th from the 8th and the 98th and 376th of the 9th.

Five Medals of Honor were awarded for the Ploesti raid. All five groups that took part received Presidential Unit Citations.

Harold Kretzer is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Distinguished Flying Cross ★ Air Medal ★ Purple Heart

Crew of #41-24015

7 casualties related to the #41-24015 incident on August 1, 1943.

Pilot: 1st Lt. George W Winger, IL Fold3

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. Edward Barnett, IL Fold3

Radio Operator: Sgt. Howard F Gotts, NY Fold3

Bombardier: Sgt. Jacob , WA Fold3

Flight Engineer: T/Sgt.Harold Kretzer, MN Fold3

Navigator: Frederick H Palmer, CA Fold3

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Elvin L Phillips, UT Fold3

Source: http://www.americanairmuseum.com/mission/2024

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.