Boris R. Salimsky (born Boris Yerusalimsky) was born on August 11, 1921, in Russia and immigrated to the United States with his parents at just one year old. By the 1930s, they had shortened their surname to Salimsky. Boris attended school in Brooklyn and later studied drafting before enlisting in the U.S. Army one week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 13, 1941. He joined the Army Air Forces and was assigned to the 394th Bomb Group, 587th Bomb Squadron, as a Sergeant and crew aboard B-26 Marauder #42-96249 during World War II.

On June 6, 1944, the B-26 Marauder #42-96249 was flying from Station No. 161, Boreham Airfield, Essex, on Mission #58 to bomb German gun emplacements at Varreville, France, in direct support of the Normandy invasion. While flying on instruments in poor weather over Battle, Sussex, amid thick clouds, low visibility, and reports of icing conditions, the aircraft inadvertently collided with another B-26 from the same group, the “Stinky” (#42-107592). The violent mid-air collision caused both planes to break apart and crash: #42-96049 went down at Ashburnham Place, while “Stinky” crashed nearby at Whatlington Level. All crew members aboard both aircraft were killed, except for the pilot of “Stinky,” who miraculously survived. Their quick actions to jettison bombs before impact likely prevented further disaster on the ground, sparing nearby villages from catastrophic damage.

Sgt Salimsky was initially buried in Cambridge, England, but in 1949, his remains were repatriated and interred in a group grave with 2nd Lt. Emil F. Ostrowski and Staff Sgt. James F. Bechtler at Richmond National Cemetery in Virginia.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, uk.forceswarrecords.com