John Klagreich

George W. Buske was born in Clarendon, New York on September 19, 1921. He entered service on September 3, 1942 from Rochester, New York. No training records have been found. His first appearance in any found service record shows he was assigned as part of a replacement B-17 crew arriving in England in July, 1943. He flew a total of 13 missions, the first being in July 1943, a matter of a few days after he arrived. In July, on one of his first missions, he was badly wounded by a 20mm shell that tore open his left hip. Regardless of his injuries, he continued at his position, effectively saving the aircraft from enemy fighters. His actions on that raid brought the award of the Silver Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, and an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Air Medal. But it was on the mission to Bremen on December 20, 1943 that he encountered a life-changing situation. On the run from IP to bomb release point, German flak hit and took out #1 engine. After bombs away, #4 engine was hit directly by a flak shell. Unable to keep up with the formation, the B-17 fell out and was immediately singled out for attacks by 10-15 German fighters. Buske, in his tail gun position, was struck by a machine gun bullet that ripped through his chest and lodged in his back. Almost immediately, a 20mm shell exploded in front of him, blowing him back into the fuselage of the aircraft. Shell fragments ripped open his chest, damaged his lungs and liver, pierced his thigh, shoulder, and arm, leaving him bleeding profusely on the floor. The aircraft radio operator, TSgt Forrest Vosler, although wounded himself by the bullets shattering the aircraft, tended Buske's wounds as best as possible while moving from gun position to gun position, holding off the fighters. As the aircraft approached the coast, the fighters withdrew, sensing the aircraft would soon crash. All available gear was thrown out to lighten the aircraft, but with only 2 engines and rapidly running out of fuel, the plane kept sinking toward the North Sea. Finally, just off the coast of East Anglica, near Great Yarmouth, the pilot ditched the aircraft. In the scramble to get the crew out, the wounded Vosler got Buske out and into a dinghy, keeping hold of an antenna wire to keep them both from sinking. The ditching was witnessed by a Norwegian coaster that plucked the crew from the sea and transferred them to a British patrol boat. The crew was rushed to the nearest hospital upon reaching land where Buske underwent emergency surgery. His chest was blown open, his lungs and liver badly damaged, and he had multiple shrapnel wounds to his face, neck, and extremities. Somehow, he remained alive over the next 6 months, fighting infections and the refusal of damaged organs to heal. But he did survive and was returned to a hospital in the U.S. where the fight for his life continued for the next 4 months. George Buske somehow survived his bout with death and was finally sent from the hospital to active duty at Langley Field, Virginia. He was discharged from the service in September 1945. He then spent 30 years working for a lumber company as yard foreman. He retired in 1978. But in 1952, surgeons finally removed the bullet from his back. In 1988, after a coronary bypass operation, the doctor presented George with shell fragments he had removed from around his heart. TSgt George W. Buske passed away on December 7, 2003. He is buried in Riverview Cemetery in Henrietta, New York. -Credited to