S:Sgt Francis 'Bud' Owens was a waist gunner on B-17F 42-29928 when it was shot down over the Norman countryside in 1943.
The aircraft was part of 533rd Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group(H), and was taking part in a raid on the Gnome-Rhone plant in le Mans on July 4th when it was attacked by Messerschmitt Bf-109s and finally crashed near the small village of la Coulonche.
Three of the crew of ten perished when the 'plane hit the ground, two of those who baled out were quickly captured. With local help, the remaining five attempted to make their way down to neutral Spain with a view to re-joining the fight against Nazism.
Four of them made it to Spain but 'Bud' Owens, a man who on many occasions had put others before himself, was to die of exposure in the Pyrenees, aged just 21. He now rests in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
Please follow our project to honour and remember 'Bud' Owens and support it if you can. Thank you.

Friday, 19 June 2015

Luke Oman

Please help us fund Luke Oman’s participation in our exciting upcoming documentary project. Luke is a Captain in the United States Air Force and is assigned to the 381st Training Group (what once used to be Bud Owens 381st Bomber Group!), Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Luke currently serves as an Instructor for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), Operations Training.


Luke was born in Ocala, Florida and spent his younger years growing up in Mukwonago, Wisconsin and Valparaiso, Indiana. Luke attended Indiana State University, where he graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in criminology. In 2007, he earned his commissioning, as a 2d Lieutenant, in the United States Air Force as a distinguished graduate from Detachment 218, Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). In 2013, he earned his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Liberty University.
Luke is married to Kate Oman (née Jenkins) and has a beautiful 3 year old daughter Olivia. He has a deep heritage in the United States Military, having relatives that have fought in almost all major U.S. conflicts to include the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.
Luke is extremely honored to be a part of this project and can think of no better way to pay respect to “The Great Generation” than walking in the footsteps of an American Hero like SSgt Bud Owens. He also hopes to gain a better understanding of what some of his relatives lived through to provide the freedom that at times this world takes for granted.
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1 comment:

  1. Pirineos en guerra25 June 2015 at 02:03

    Dear M. Van den Bogaert,

    My name is Andrés Luengo and I work as a journalist in Andorran newspaper Bon Dia. I amb very interested about World War II traces in Pyrennees, as you can see in my blog,



    pirineosenguerra.blogspot.com



    Two years ago, as I worked for another andorran newspaper, I touched in contact with Bud Owens story and I wrote and article about his life (and death). See attached pdf (in Catalan) and Spanish translation at this link:

    http://pirineosenguerra.blogspot.com/search/label/Owens



    And this morning I have just read about the project of filming a documentary about him, with the promenade fron july, 4th to july and the inauguration of a monument in memory of Owens at Port del Rat.



    May you send me all the information you have about this project (timetable, participants, who are you!) in order to write an article for my newspaper?



    Thanks for your attention.



    Best regards,





    Andrés Luengo

    Diari BONDIA

    Cultura

    C/ Na Maria Pla, 28, 1r

    AD500 ANDORRA LA VELLA

    cultura@bondia.ad

    tlf: +376 80 88 88

    ReplyDelete

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