George Waterman was the waist gunner on a B-17F (serial number 42-30076) that belonged to the 545 Bombardment Squadron of the 385 Bombardment Group.  The pilot of the B-17 Lt. Robert Oblinski.  On 22 June 1943, the crew was flying on its first mission.  The target was to bomb the (former General Motors) truck factory at Antwerp.  The B-17 successfully bombed its target, but it developed engine difficulties and fell out of formation.  Eight German FW 109 fighters attacked the isolated bomber. By the time it passed over the town of Goes in the Netherlands, three of the four engines were on fire and Oblinski gave the order to bail out. They jumped near the town of Wilhelminadorp. The German fighters turned their machine guns on the airmen as they fell to the ground. George died because his parachute failed to open. The remaining six crew members were taken prisoner.  The bomber’s tail gunner, Harold Cooke, and its flight engineer, Ernest Trickett, are also buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery.

Information provided by Menno Polderman