George "Bud" Reuter's Obituary
1st Lieutenant Army Air Corps George “Bud” Julius Reuter, 25 years old, was killed in action on August 1st, 1943, near Ploiesti, Romania . Bud was born June 21, 1918 in Harrison, Indiana, to the late John George and Elizabeth Theodocia (Johns) Reuter. His parents were married on June 6, 1915 in Harrison, Indiana.
Bud was enrolled in college when World War II broke out. Bud had a photographic memory and was an excellent student, hoping for a future career in engineering. Wanting to serve his country, he joined the Army Air Corps on December 9, 1941 at Craig Field in Selma, Alabama. His father John worked at NACA (now NASA) as an engineer and Bud wanted to follow in his footsteps. After returning from basic training, Bud did not have an optimistic view of his upcoming time in the service. He did enjoy playing poker and was known for his ability to count the cards.
The 93rd Bombardment Heavy Group was sent on temporary assignment to North Africa. Half of his fellow crewmates had flown their 25 combat missions and this included Bud. The experienced bombardiers and navigators were needed for another assignment, so Bud was recruited for Operation Tidal Wave, regardless of meeting his 25 mission mark. Bud and two crewmates were flying on a new aircraft called “Hell’s Wench”, a B-24 plane.
177 B-24’s of the 9th Air Force Bomber Command were dispatched for Operation Tidal Wave to bomb oil refineries at Ploiesti and nearby Capina. The operation was costly, 54 planes and 532 airmen being lost, but the damage to the targets was severe. The B-24 Liberators flew low to avoid radar detection and dropped time delayed bombs. Out of the 177 planes, 167 managed to attack their targets.
The command pilot flew over what he thought was Romanian Oil Refineries, but was actually the capital city. The lead aircraft turned south heading for Bucharest instead of north to Ploiesti. Warned over the intercom that they had taken a dangerously wrong turn, the other air crafts including Bud’s, broke formation to continue their mission and bomb their targets. On approach to the refinery areas, Hell’s Wench took two devastating direct flak hits, hitting both wings. The aircraft was leaking large amounts of fuel and quickly became engulfed in flames. Before going down, they tried to gain latitude so their crewman could have some chance to bail out and live. Despite their attempt, the aircraft lost speed in the climb, stalled, rolled over, crashed, and exploded, killing everyone aboard. A total of ten men were killed.
Five Medals of Honor were awarded for the Ploiesti raid. All five groups that took part of the mission received Presidential Unit Citations. He was also awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal for conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy while serving with the 9th Air Force in the European Theater of Operations. His commendations including World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign.
Following the operation, the Romanian government recovered and buried 216 Americans killed in the raid, 27 of whom were identifiable. The rest were buried by Romanian citizens as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan in Ploiești. The American Graves Registration Command conducted a large-scale exhumation of Bolovan Cemetery, recovering dozens of remains that could not be identified but were believed to belong to casualties from 1 August 1943. Eventually, AGRC was unable to identify more than 80 remains from Bolovan Cemetery, and reinterred those they could not identify at U.S. Military Cemetery Neuville (today, Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré, Belgium) and USMC Henri-Chapelle (now Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium).
On January 10, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the missing remains of First Lieutenant George Julius Reuter. Many airmen were interred by Romanian citizens into the Bolovan Cemetery in Ploiesti. During the postwar operations, the American Graves Registration Command exhumed unknown remains, eventually reinterring those that could not be identified. First Lieutenant Reuter is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.
In addition to his parents, he was joined in Heaven by his siblings, Almeda Lucy Reuter in 1995, SGT. William “Bill” Ronald (Marilyn) Reuter in 1969, Robert “Bob” Donald (Alice) Reuther in 1979, and Evelyn (Walter) Drummond.
Bud will be finally laid to rest near his parents on Saturday, July 29th, 2023 at 1:00PM at Sunset Cemetery, 6265 Columbia Road, North Olmsted, Ohio 44070, with full Military Honors. The community is welcome and encouraged to attend in honoring this World War II Veteran. We will be meeting at Evangelical Friends Church in North Olmstead at 12:30 to join together in an honorary procession to the Cemetery.
Please consider a donation to the family of Bud to purchase a memorial headstone at the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/george-j-reuter-in-operation-tidalwave.
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