Right waist gunner Staff Sergeant Frank T. Lusic of Eighth Air Force’s “Meat Hound” a Boeing B-17F-55-BO Flying Fortress (s/n 42-29524) assigned first to the 423th Bomb Sqn, 306th Bomb Group in early 1943 then chopped to the 358th Bomb Squadron, 303th Bomb Group at RAF Molesworth in England.
On her 25th mission over Oschersleben Germany on 26 January 1944, Meat Hound was hit hit by enemy aircraft over Durgerdam, and her crew bailed over the huge Ijsselmeer lake, Holland (the largest lake in Western Europe) while the pilot kept her in the air as long as he could.
Four crewmembers drowned. One who did not, co-pilot Clayton David evaded capture while another four fell into German hands and became prisoners of war.
The pilot, Jack Wilson, managed to coax the stricken bird back to England and crash landed near Metfield in Suffolk. Meat Hound was written off.
As for Cook County, Illinois-native Lusic, 23, he was a quest of the Reich and was sent to Stalag 7A near Moosburg, Germany where 8,209 other American POWs were held. In the end he was imprisoned for at least 382 days until he was liberated.
According to public records he died in Wisconsin in 1977.
