Arthur George Larsen, Jr. was born on 25 October 1916 in Texas.  He was the son of Arthur G. and Arliegh Homer Larsen.  Just as Arthur was named after his father, his sister Arliegh was named after their mother.  In 1920, the family was living in Galveston, Texas.  By 1940, Arthur was married to Frances Larsen, and they were living in the Houston area (Harris County.)  On 13 November 1942, Arthur enlisted in the USAAF and entered the Aviation Cadet program.  He graduated as a pilot, and shipped to England in August of 1944, where he was assigned to the 349 Bombardment Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group.  Initially, he served as a co-pilot on a B-17 piloted by John H. Williams.  However, when Williams’ crew became a Pathfinder crew, Larsen was given command of his own B-17.

On 31 March 1945, Larsen and his crew were on a mission to bomb the Parunkohle Benzin AG oil refineries near the German city of Zeitz.  Anti-aircraft fire hit the B-17 over its target, completely tearing off the #3 engine.  Larsen raidoed to the squadron that his #4 engine was going out and that he was going to try to make the Russian lines.  However, the plane filled with smoke and went into a deep glide.  The tail gunner, SSGT John E. Kaiser was able to bail out and became a Prisoner of War.  Officially, the other crew members are presumed to have been killed when the bomber crashed near Oberlungwitz.  However, civilians reported that 4 to 7 parachutes were seen jumping from the plane, and that SS troops with dogs searched the area for survivors.  There was a rumor among the local citizens that the Nazis captured and summarily executed at least some of the remaining crewmembers.  However, since the area where the B-17 crashed was deep inside of the territory that was to become communist East Germany, the US Army was never able to conduct an investigation of these allegations.  With one exception, the remains of the crew were never recovered.  The copilot, Thomas E. O’Neil, the Navigator, Dale F. Watterson, The Flight Engineer, Raymond R. Bazata, the Radio Operator, Joseph M. Popson, the Ball Turret Gunner, Willard P. Bostrom, and the Waist Gunner, Marvin F. Barner, are all also commemorated on the Teblets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery.  Charles M. Dineen, who was serving as the Togglier (acting bombardier), is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery.

Information is drawn from MACR 13714, the 100th Bomb Group Foundation (https://100thbg.com/index.php?option=com_bombgrp&view=personnel&Itemid=3...), and Together We Served (https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd...)