In the church cemetery.

A large, polished marble engraved upright plaque.

The memorial remembers 28 Aircrew members of the 20th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, 15th US Air Force,  who were buried here in a mass grave after the August 29, 2944, "Air Battle over the White Carpathian Mountains". 

On August 29, 2944, the 15th Air Force conducted "Mission 263",  a raid on the Moravska Ostrava industrial complex (current-day city of Ostrava).  Nine B-17Gs from the 2nd Bomber Group were attacked by 89 German fighters, and 20 minutes later, eight of them were shot down and crashed in Slovakia (1), the Czech Republic (7), and one crashed and landed in Hungary.  41 US airmen lost their lives, 28 of them were buried in a mass grave in Slavicin. Four fliers evaded capture, and 55 airmen ended up in German POW camps. All the planes of the 20th Bomber Squadron were shot down that day.

The bodies of the 28 Airmen were repatriated in 1946 in a moving joint ceremony with local, Czechoslovakian soldiers and US officials. (See link for a video of the ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjhRjKHlc_s)

Many aircraft did not return that day, and several have an associated memorial.  The list of the planes that did not return in Mission 263 was:

- B-17, 42-97159 'Tail End Charlie', crash site Preckovice, 20th Bomber Squadron (BS), 2nd Bomber Group (BG)

- B-17, 44-6359, crash site Kasava, 20th BS, 2nd BG 
- B-17, 42-107118 'Snafuperman', 20th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 42-32048 'Queen', crash site Krhov, 20th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 42-38096 'Big Time', crash site Sanov Woods, 20th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 42-31473 'My Baby', crash site Nova Bosaca Woods (Slovakia), 20th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 42-31885 'Lovely Ladies', crash site Vyskovec North, 20th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 44-6369, crash site Liptal, 49th BS, 2nd BG
- B-17, 42-97915 'Wolf Pack', crash landing near Környe-Kömlöd (Hungary), 429th Bomber BS, 2nd BG
- B-24, 42-52313 'Rough Cobb', crash site close to Nemsova (Slovakia), 737th BS 454th BG

Several museums in the area also remember this battle.  See sites: Sanov, Slavicin, and Bojkovice.

Search "Mission 263" for memorials and other cenotaphs associated with this event on our website.

For more information, see the Air Battle over the White Carpathian website at: www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz 

Special thanks to Mission 263 - Aug 29, 1944 / Letecká bitva 29.8.1944 Facebook page & group for remembering this battle and for the several memorials that remember this mission.

The text on the plaque is written in Czech and English:

ZDE BYLO POHRBENO 28 SEVEROAMERICKYCH LETCÜ,

KTERÍ ZAHYNULI VE VZDUSNEM BOJI 29 SRPNA 1944

(TRANSLATION: 28 AMERICAN AIRMEN WHO DIED IN AN AIR COMBAT ON AUGUST 29, 1944, WERE BURIED HERE)

2nd BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)

U.S. 15th ARMY AIR FORCE

....A JEJICH PRACH SE NAVRATIL DO ZEME, KDE BYL

A JEJICH DUSE SE NAVRÁTILA K BOHU, KTERÝ JI DAL...

...AND THEIR ASHES HAVE RETURNED TO WHERE IT CAME FROM, 

AND THEIR SOUL HAS RETURNED TO LORD WHO GAVE IT TO THEM....