Posts Tagged ‘krupp works’
American Krupp Descendent Bombed Essen from B-17 During WWII
Newly unearthed family records from WWII show that the husband of Engelbertha Krupp Stroebele’s granddaughter, bombed Essen during WWII.
Army Air Corp First Lieutenant Peter O.E. Bekker, Sr. who had not yet married Gloria Eileen Stroebel of Jersey City, New Jersey when the bombing mission took place, was piloting an American B-17G aircraft assigned to the 325th Bombardment Squadron of the 92nd Bombardment Group on March 8, 1945.
Lieutenant Bekker’s aircraft was one of 1,200 heavy allied bombers dispatched that day to destroy six benzol plants in Germany. His crew successfully bombed the Emil Benzol plant in Essen but did not take part in any bombing missions of the Krupp works itself.
Bekker married Stroebel in 1949 at St Paul the Cross Church in Jersey City. He retired from the US Air Force in 1967 in the rank of full Colonel.
1Lt peter O.E. Bekker, Sr (top-right)
First Lieutenant Peter O.E. Bekker (top-right)(courtesy Fred Stroebel Bekker)
B-17 mission log book (courtesy Fred Stroebel Bekker)
