From the Rutland Daily Herald, Sept. 6, 1943:
A War department telegram received last night by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Belock of the Creek road, informed them that their 21-year-old son, Staff Sergt. Michael Belock, was killed in action in the European area on May 29, the date that had been stated in a previous telegram as the time when he was declared "missing in action."
Michael, who left his studies at Rutland High school in February 1941 to enter the armed forces with the Vermont National Guard, Company E, 172nd Infantry, was an engineer and crew commander on a Flying Fortress at the time he was killed, which was within two months after he entered the combat zone.
After leaving Rutland with the National Guard, the young man was later transferred to the Army Air corps and was stationed for some time at Salt Lake City, Utah.
While stationed at Gowen Field, Boise, Ida., Sergt. Belock won second place in an aircraft identification contest open to all officers and enlisted men of the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, with the score of 148 out of a possible 150 identifications of widely-used combat planes of all countries, under simulated combat conditions.
Besides his parents, Michael is survived by six brothers, John, a medical student at the University of Vermont; Charles, Paul, Anthony and George, all of Rutland, and Pvt. Frank Belock, who is stationed in South Carolina. Also three sisters survive, Mrs. John Palucci of 135 Spruce street, and Misses Helen and Anne Belock of Manchester, Conn.
*****
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces, World War II
On 29 May 1943, B-17F Flying Fortress (serial number) 42-29773 “Up and At Them”, took off from Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire, UK on VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 61 against submarine pens and locks at Saint-Nazaire, France (“Flak Alley”). They were shot down by AA fire, a burst (a direct hit in the waist compartment blew a large hole in the aircraft) on the turn-off-target, and German fighters, crashing around 1712. The forward crew successfully bailed out but was captured and subsequently sent to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria.
Lt Thomas returned to France on 3 May 1997 to inaugurate a monument his plane was commemorated on:
In memory of the B-17 "Up and At Them" crew that crashed at Kerdavid, 10 miles E of Lorient, France, on May 29th 1943.
2nd Lt Willard S. Thomas, Pilot, POW
Maj John O. Hall, Co-Pilot, POW
2nd Lt William J. "Bill" Koves, Navigator, POW
2nd Lt J.H. "Jim" Griffith, Bombardier, POW
TSgt Frank A. Adrick, Radio Operator, KIA
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert M. "Bob" Vanderstraeten, Ball Turret Gunner, KIA
SSgt George F. Hague, Waist Gunner, KIA
SSgt Clarence E. "Clarry" Gallamore, Waist Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert George "Bob" Kuehl, Tail Gunner, KIA
Note, Maj Hall, 526BS Commanding Officer, was flying this first mission as co-pilot and observer.
(Thank you SBR)
*****
He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in January 1950.
A War department telegram received last night by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Belock of the Creek road, informed them that their 21-year-old son, Staff Sergt. Michael Belock, was killed in action in the European area on May 29, the date that had been stated in a previous telegram as the time when he was declared "missing in action."
Michael, who left his studies at Rutland High school in February 1941 to enter the armed forces with the Vermont National Guard, Company E, 172nd Infantry, was an engineer and crew commander on a Flying Fortress at the time he was killed, which was within two months after he entered the combat zone.
After leaving Rutland with the National Guard, the young man was later transferred to the Army Air corps and was stationed for some time at Salt Lake City, Utah.
While stationed at Gowen Field, Boise, Ida., Sergt. Belock won second place in an aircraft identification contest open to all officers and enlisted men of the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, with the score of 148 out of a possible 150 identifications of widely-used combat planes of all countries, under simulated combat conditions.
Besides his parents, Michael is survived by six brothers, John, a medical student at the University of Vermont; Charles, Paul, Anthony and George, all of Rutland, and Pvt. Frank Belock, who is stationed in South Carolina. Also three sisters survive, Mrs. John Palucci of 135 Spruce street, and Misses Helen and Anne Belock of Manchester, Conn.
*****
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces, World War II
On 29 May 1943, B-17F Flying Fortress (serial number) 42-29773 “Up and At Them”, took off from Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire, UK on VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 61 against submarine pens and locks at Saint-Nazaire, France (“Flak Alley”). They were shot down by AA fire, a burst (a direct hit in the waist compartment blew a large hole in the aircraft) on the turn-off-target, and German fighters, crashing around 1712. The forward crew successfully bailed out but was captured and subsequently sent to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria.
Lt Thomas returned to France on 3 May 1997 to inaugurate a monument his plane was commemorated on:
In memory of the B-17 "Up and At Them" crew that crashed at Kerdavid, 10 miles E of Lorient, France, on May 29th 1943.
2nd Lt Willard S. Thomas, Pilot, POW
Maj John O. Hall, Co-Pilot, POW
2nd Lt William J. "Bill" Koves, Navigator, POW
2nd Lt J.H. "Jim" Griffith, Bombardier, POW
TSgt Frank A. Adrick, Radio Operator, KIA
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert M. "Bob" Vanderstraeten, Ball Turret Gunner, KIA
SSgt George F. Hague, Waist Gunner, KIA
SSgt Clarence E. "Clarry" Gallamore, Waist Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert George "Bob" Kuehl, Tail Gunner, KIA
Note, Maj Hall, 526BS Commanding Officer, was flying this first mission as co-pilot and observer.
(Thank you SBR)
*****
He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in January 1950.
From the Rutland Daily Herald, Sept. 6, 1943:
A War department telegram received last night by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Belock of the Creek road, informed them that their 21-year-old son, Staff Sergt. Michael Belock, was killed in action in the European area on May 29, the date that had been stated in a previous telegram as the time when he was declared "missing in action."
Michael, who left his studies at Rutland High school in February 1941 to enter the armed forces with the Vermont National Guard, Company E, 172nd Infantry, was an engineer and crew commander on a Flying Fortress at the time he was killed, which was within two months after he entered the combat zone.
After leaving Rutland with the National Guard, the young man was later transferred to the Army Air corps and was stationed for some time at Salt Lake City, Utah.
While stationed at Gowen Field, Boise, Ida., Sergt. Belock won second place in an aircraft identification contest open to all officers and enlisted men of the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, with the score of 148 out of a possible 150 identifications of widely-used combat planes of all countries, under simulated combat conditions.
Besides his parents, Michael is survived by six brothers, John, a medical student at the University of Vermont; Charles, Paul, Anthony and George, all of Rutland, and Pvt. Frank Belock, who is stationed in South Carolina. Also three sisters survive, Mrs. John Palucci of 135 Spruce street, and Misses Helen and Anne Belock of Manchester, Conn.
*****
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces, World War II
On 29 May 1943, B-17F Flying Fortress (serial number) 42-29773 “Up and At Them”, took off from Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire, UK on VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 61 against submarine pens and locks at Saint-Nazaire, France (“Flak Alley”). They were shot down by AA fire, a burst (a direct hit in the waist compartment blew a large hole in the aircraft) on the turn-off-target, and German fighters, crashing around 1712. The forward crew successfully bailed out but was captured and subsequently sent to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria.
Lt Thomas returned to France on 3 May 1997 to inaugurate a monument his plane was commemorated on:
In memory of the B-17 "Up and At Them" crew that crashed at Kerdavid, 10 miles E of Lorient, France, on May 29th 1943.
2nd Lt Willard S. Thomas, Pilot, POW
Maj John O. Hall, Co-Pilot, POW
2nd Lt William J. "Bill" Koves, Navigator, POW
2nd Lt J.H. "Jim" Griffith, Bombardier, POW
TSgt Frank A. Adrick, Radio Operator, KIA
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert M. "Bob" Vanderstraeten, Ball Turret Gunner, KIA
SSgt George F. Hague, Waist Gunner, KIA
SSgt Clarence E. "Clarry" Gallamore, Waist Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert George "Bob" Kuehl, Tail Gunner, KIA
Note, Maj Hall, 526BS Commanding Officer, was flying this first mission as co-pilot and observer.
(Thank you SBR)
*****
He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in January 1950.
A War department telegram received last night by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Belock of the Creek road, informed them that their 21-year-old son, Staff Sergt. Michael Belock, was killed in action in the European area on May 29, the date that had been stated in a previous telegram as the time when he was declared "missing in action."
Michael, who left his studies at Rutland High school in February 1941 to enter the armed forces with the Vermont National Guard, Company E, 172nd Infantry, was an engineer and crew commander on a Flying Fortress at the time he was killed, which was within two months after he entered the combat zone.
After leaving Rutland with the National Guard, the young man was later transferred to the Army Air corps and was stationed for some time at Salt Lake City, Utah.
While stationed at Gowen Field, Boise, Ida., Sergt. Belock won second place in an aircraft identification contest open to all officers and enlisted men of the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, with the score of 148 out of a possible 150 identifications of widely-used combat planes of all countries, under simulated combat conditions.
Besides his parents, Michael is survived by six brothers, John, a medical student at the University of Vermont; Charles, Paul, Anthony and George, all of Rutland, and Pvt. Frank Belock, who is stationed in South Carolina. Also three sisters survive, Mrs. John Palucci of 135 Spruce street, and Misses Helen and Anne Belock of Manchester, Conn.
*****
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces, World War II
On 29 May 1943, B-17F Flying Fortress (serial number) 42-29773 “Up and At Them”, took off from Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire, UK on VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 61 against submarine pens and locks at Saint-Nazaire, France (“Flak Alley”). They were shot down by AA fire, a burst (a direct hit in the waist compartment blew a large hole in the aircraft) on the turn-off-target, and German fighters, crashing around 1712. The forward crew successfully bailed out but was captured and subsequently sent to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Bavaria.
Lt Thomas returned to France on 3 May 1997 to inaugurate a monument his plane was commemorated on:
In memory of the B-17 "Up and At Them" crew that crashed at Kerdavid, 10 miles E of Lorient, France, on May 29th 1943.
2nd Lt Willard S. Thomas, Pilot, POW
Maj John O. Hall, Co-Pilot, POW
2nd Lt William J. "Bill" Koves, Navigator, POW
2nd Lt J.H. "Jim" Griffith, Bombardier, POW
TSgt Frank A. Adrick, Radio Operator, KIA
TSgt Michael H. "Mike" Belock, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert M. "Bob" Vanderstraeten, Ball Turret Gunner, KIA
SSgt George F. Hague, Waist Gunner, KIA
SSgt Clarence E. "Clarry" Gallamore, Waist Gunner, KIA
Sgt Robert George "Bob" Kuehl, Tail Gunner, KIA
Note, Maj Hall, 526BS Commanding Officer, was flying this first mission as co-pilot and observer.
(Thank you SBR)
*****
He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in January 1950.
Inscription
VERMONT, S SGT, 379 AAF BOMB GP, WORLD WAR II
Gravesite Details
Killed in action
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