David MacHauer, second from right, and his fellow crew members of the Miss Bea Havin’, a B-17G bomber of the 487th Bomb Group, U.S. 8th Air Force, that was shot down over Belgium on Christmas Eve, 1944. Back row from left: Howard A. Turnquist (pilot), 2nd Lt Thomas C. Chatterton (copilot), Parker (navigator), 2nd Lt Richard E. Ceder (bombardier). Bottom from left: T/Sgt. Warren J. Stanton (flight engineer), S/Sgt. Stanley Kleinman (radio operator), S/Sgt. Neil F. Matz (gunner), Cpl. Robert E. Sellers (gunner), Sgt. David H. MacHauer (ball turret gunner), S/Sgt Jefferson G. Gregory (gunner). (Photo courtesy of Cheryl MacHauer Schexnayder)
Christmas Eve, 1944, behind enemy lines near the Germany-Belgium border at an altitude of about 25,000 feet, 20-year-old Loyola New Orleans law student David MacHauer was manning two machine guns from the belly of a B-17 bomber nicknamed the “Miss Bea Havin.’”
An anxious voice cackled through the intercom: “Company front of 30 to 30 coming in at the tail!” MacHauer rotated his gun turret toward the tail of his airplane and saw a large formation of fighter planes quickly approaching.