Name:
Herman S. Lavine
Rank:
First Lieutenant
Serial Number:
O-799802
Unit:
96th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group
Date of Death:
1944-03-19
State:
Georgia
Cemetery:
Pelham City Cemetery, Pelham, Georgia
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Air Medal with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters
Comments:
Herman Lavine was born on July 27, 1920 and was from Georgia. On March 19, 1944, he was a crewmember (Pilot) of a B-17F “Dark Eyes” (41-24405) flying out of Amendola, Italy on a bombing mission to Klagenfurt, Austria with the 96th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, 5th Bomber Wing, 15th Air Force. On the return trip, the formation was attacked by enemy fighters. “Dark Eyes was attacked by 2 fighters and shot down after being hit by rockets. Eight of the crew were killed to include Lavine and two parachuted to safety but were captured and spent the rest of the war as POWs. The town of Andraž nad Polzelo in Slovenia, where the bomber crashed, remember the crew of Dark Eyes with a memorial dedicated in 2017.