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- Not married - S.Sgt. in USAAF - 8th AF, 388th BG Shot Down and KIA returning from 25th mission - Awarded DFC, Purple Heart Staff Sergeant Harold Adrian Brassfield. This photo was taken in late Feb/early March 1944, just a few days before he was killed in action on a mission to Berlin, March 6, 1944. The photo was taken at Knettishall, England home to his 388th BG of the 8th AF. Harold was awarded the following medals: Distinguished Flying Cross (for his actions of March 6, 1944) Air Medal w/ three Oak Leaf Clusters Purple Heart along with several other battle ribbons and lesser medals. A couple of points of historic interest: *The March 6, 1944 mission was the largest single day loss in 8th AF history. 69 aircraft went down. *At the time of his death , 25 missions were required to complete a tour and rotate back the the states. Harold was returning from his 25th mission when he was shot down. *Four of the 10 crewmen on his crew were KIA when the aircraft exploded. The rest parchuted safely to the ground in Holland and were POW's for the rest of the war. *From the time Harold left is Harlan Co, Kentucky on Dec. 7th, 1942, he was stationed in Florida, Utah, Oregon, Washington and perhaps a couple other places.. but he never again returned home. He never got a leave, and to my knowledge never saw Kentucky again. His plane was a B-17 Flying Fortress named "Blitzing Betsy". He was tail gunner. ******************************* Harold Adrian Brassfield Staff Sergeant Born: 1 June 1923 - Gatliff, Whitley Co., Kentucky Years of Service: 7 December 1942 - 6 March 1944 Branch of Service: USAAF Unit: 388th Bomb Group (Heavy) - 562nd Bomb Squadron - 8th Air Force Decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal w/3 OLC, Purple Heart S/Sgt. Harold A. Brassfield, "Ad" to his friends, was a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress named "Blitzing Betsy." At the time he served with the 8th AF, it was required that a crew member fly 25 missions to complete his tour. S/Sgt. Brassfield flew his 25th mission on 6 March 1944, which fate had was the first full scale U.S. raid on the German capital of Berlin. S/Sgt. Brassfield and his crew made it to Berlin and dropped their bombs suffering some minor anti aircraft damage. On the return trip to England, "Blitzing Betsy" was attacked by German fighters, set afire which led to a collision with another B-17, and then exploded. During this time S/Sgt. Brassfield reported shooting down a German fighter and immediately being seriously wounded. He was unable to bail out of the spinning, burning B-17 and perished with 3 of his fellow crewmates, one of which probably sacrificed his chance to escape to instead go tend to S/Sgt. Brassfield's wounds. Harold Brassfield was 20 years old. S/Sgt. Brassfield was buried wth great reverence by Dutch citizens who risked the wrath of their Nazi occupiers to see that S/Sgt. Brassfield and his three crewmates got a proper Christian burial. The original burial location was at Nieuw Dordrecht, Holland. After the war S/Sgt. Brassfield was brought back to Whitley Co. and buried in Williamsburg at Highland Park. I would be interested in hearing from anyone at all who knew Harold Brassfield during his youth in Whitley and Harlan Counties. I know he had a girlfriend named Betty or Betsy (hence the name "Blitzing Betsy on his plane.. several of the crew had Betty or Betsy's for girlfriends/wives), who I believe attended Cumberland College. I'd love to know what happened to her.
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1923 - 1944 (20 years)
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