VICTOR A. LOPEZ

My Uncle Victor, was listed as one of the names on of persons on Dufi Kock's list of persons who died during World War II who were connected to Aruba.  The note said little was known about him except he was a child of a Lago Colony resident.  That would be my Grandfather, Louis G. “Louie” Lopez and my father James L. “Jim” Lopez was his brother.  In the interest of accuracy He went missing, presumed dead on a raid over Germany.  The details of his crew and plane is as attached.  He was decorated with the U.S. Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.  He received the first air medal for saving the life of a cockpit member.  He was wounded himself and required a recuperation period.  He received the second Oak Leaf cluster for similar action we haven’t any details on.  He also received a Purple Heart.  Victor lived in Lago Colony as a child in the late 20’s.  References can be found n the stories of both in “The Lago Colony Legend – Our Stories” (the first and biggest of the 3 volumes).  Also attached is a photo of this handsome and funny guy whom I was named after when I was born in 1945.  My favorite possession is an album my father noted as mine and in a Freudian slip wrote “Victor A. Lopez.”  Regards, Victor D. Lopez

APRIL 1944

68th SQUADRON:

Three planes and crews were lost by this squadron. They were: Lts. Altemus', Barry's and Townsend's.

68th Squadron A/C #42-110020 Z     No Name   MACR #3854 68th Squadron Grew:

ALTEMUS, WILLIAM B. od, Pilot          2nd Lt.   Hollywood,

ASN 0-2045026           KIA                     California

PHELAN, EUGENE A.       Co-pilot       1st Lt.   Chinook,

ASN 0-748234            POW                     Montana

BELLARD, HAROLD W.      Navigator      1st Lt.   Woodlawn,

ASN 0-675984             KIA                     Maryland

STEADHAM, ROY J.        Bombardier    1st Lt.   Jacksonville,

ASN 0-668816            KIA                     Indiana

BAKER, LANNING C.       Engineer       T/Sgt.    La Grange,

ASN 35350340            POW                     Indiana

LOPEZ, VICTOR A.        Radio Oper.   S/Sgt     Claremore,

ASN 18135755            KIA                     Oklahoma

MICKEY, JAMES D.        Ball Tur.     S/Sgt.    Cleveland,

ASN 35305177            KIA                     Ohio

FEENEY, JOHN E.         RW Gunner      T/Sgt.    Washington,

ASN 33155399            POW                     D. C.

GILBERT, ROBERT N.      LW Gunner      S/Sgt     Conneaut,

ASN 15102189            KIA-Buried Margraten    Ohio

GAFFNEY, WILLIAM J.      Nose Tur.      S/Sgt.    Brooklyn,

ASN 12143699            KIA                      New York

HOCK, FRANK             Tail Tur.      S/Sgt.    Bethlehem,

ASN 33186384            POW                     Pennsylvania

William B. Altemus was the pilot of #020.  The MACR includes this explanation, "At 1344 hour near Salzwedel this aircraft was attacked by enemy aircraft.  It broke into flames and blew up.  No parachutes were seen."Again, it appears that the wording on this MACR is not quite correct as I have been advised by the engineer, Lanning C. Baker that, "We were flying a new plane so it had no name.  It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky.  I re­member feeling quite secure because there were so many bomb­ers in the air, well escorted by P-51s. 

"We were hit by fighters which came out of the sun from above and in front.  Our plane was hit so hard it seemed to momen­tarily stop in the air.  Fire immediately erupted from the bomb bay and flashed onto the flight deck.  I got out of the top turret, losing my oxygen mask in the process, and opened the top hatch door.  This allowed the fire to go over us and out that hatch between the pilots.  I then passed out from lack of oxygen.

"When I came to, I was lying on the flight deck floor right next to my parachute pack.  I noticed that the right front bomb bay door was open or had been blown off.  The other three were still closed.  So I snapped on my chute and got out as quickly as I could.  The bombs were still in place.

"By this time, the plane could not have been too high because I hit the ground tn no more than 3 or 4 minutes.  I remember looking up after my chute opened and the plane was still fly­ing, but there was a lot of fire.

"What happened to the others on board? Hock and Feeney were in prison camp with me.  I saw Lt. Phelan at Camp Lucky Strike in France after the war was over.  He said Lt. Altemus told him to Jump and he would follow.  He also said he saw me lying on the deck and thought I was dead· But when I got out of the plane, I saw no one!  Altemus could still have been in his seat as the smoke and fire made poor visibility.  As hard as we were hit in the front, I'm sure all in that area were killed or badly wounded.  "The big question of the day was, how did the single bomb bay door get open?”  I discussed it with Lt. Phelan when we met in France.  He thought I had opened it and I, in turn, thought that he did it.  I have now concluded that for some reason the Almighty decided to keep a couple of us guys around a little longer·"