Local accordionist lost over Germany in World War II

This story is part of Mon Valley Sons of World War II, a series about our sons who lost their lives in service to our country during the war.

By JOHN J. TURANIN
For the MVI

When he wasn’t working in his family’s bakery in Charleroi, young Eugene Lalanze loved entertaining others with his accordion. But when World War II began, it was his technical abilities that vaulted him to the crucial position of flight engineer in the massive B-24 Liberator bomber.

After flying 20 combat missions, 20-year-old Eugene Lalanze met his fate in the skies over Germany. From then on, the sound of his accordion would only be heard in the shared memories of his family and friends.

The Lalanze Family

Eugene Alfred Lalanze was born on Aug. 8, 1924, to Marius and Josephine (née Nesti) Lalanze in North Charleroi. Marius worked as a laborer in a local steel mill, while Josephine managed the family household.

Lalanze

Marius, often called Morris or Maurice, was born in the commune of Besseges in southern France, and immigrated with his widowed mother to the United States in 1906 when he was 11. In 1917, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and during World War I, he served with the 385th Motor Transport Corps at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, attaining the rank of corporal.

Josephine, born Adele Nesti in Monsummano, Tuscany, Italy, immigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1920. Marius and Josephine met and married in Western Pennsylvania.

Eugene was the first of two children born to Marius and Josephine. His brother Edward was born in 1929. In 1930, the family was living in a rented home at 441 Center Ave. in North Charleroi.

By 1935, they moved to nearby Perry Township in Fayette County, where the boys attended school. Eugene loved music and took up the accordion. He was quite talented on the instrument, and played at several venues for events around the area in the late 1930s. In 1940, he performed live on a local radio station.

Eugene’s father left the steel mill and opened a bakery by 1940. Besides Charleroi and Perryopolis, the family also made their home in nearby New Eagle and Coverdale over the years.

Eugene Lalanze heads to war

Eugene’s draft number was assigned in January 1943, and he was drafted into the U.S. Army in April that year. He reported for his enlistment on April 27. Pvt. Lalanze was off to train with the U.S. Army Air Corps at Miami Beach, Fla., and then to Keesler Field in Biloxi, Miss.

After receiving high grades on his mechanical aptitude tests, Pvt. Lalanze was promoted to Private First Class (Pfc.) in August 1943. Pfc. Lalanze was selected for the Keesler B-24 Liberator bomber mechanics school. He was enrolled in the 17week intensive mechanical training program along with two other men from Charleroi.

The B-24 Liberator was a massive, four-engined heavy bomber made by the Consolidated Aircraft Co. Its long-range performance, high cruise speed and high bombload capacity eventually made it the world’s most produced bomber in aviation history. Its role in the bombing campaigns of the European theater became legendary.

While in training, Pfc. Lalanze learned about the B-24’s mechanical, electrical, fuel and hydraulic systems, as well as propellers, instruments, engine operation and aircraft inspection. For the final eight days of training, he attended “Fort Liberator” with the 302nd Technical School Squadron, a branch of the Keesler school, where he applied what he had learned under simulated battle conditions.

Pfc. Lalanze graduated from training as a newly qualified B-24 mechanic in December 1943. That Christmas Day, he was sent to the 478th Flexible Gunnery Training School in Harlingen, Texas, for a six-week course in aerial gunnery, one of the key roles of a B-24 crew member.

Lalanze was soon selected for training to be a B-24 flight engineer. A flight engineer is responsible for knowing all technical aspects of his assigned aircraft type, including how to fly it should the pilot and co-pilot become incapacitated. He is responsible, along with the ground crew chief and the pilot, to ensure that the aircraft is ready for its mission, and to maintain technical performance of the aircraft in-flight and for addressing any technical issues during missions. The flight engineer is also responsible for manning the top gun turret of the B-24.

In March 1944, Eugene graduated from gunnery school and was transferred to the Army Air Field at Salt Lake City, Utah, to further his training in a combat unit. In April 1944, Eugene was promoted to the rank of corporal and was assigned to train with an aircrew commanded by pilot 2nd Lt. Robert A. Hicks.

Two months later, the Hicks crew received their orders: they were heading overseas to Europe as a replacement crew and into harm’s way. They departed the U.S. on June 29, 1944, and flew their B-24 across the Atlantic Ocean along the northern route from New England, Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, Iceland and Ireland or Scotland.

Arrival and combat in Europe

Lt. Hicks’ crew arrived in the U.K. by July 27, 1944, and was immediately assigned to the 566th Bomb Squadron of the 389th Bomb Group located at Hethel, England. The 389th BG, known as the “Sky Scorpions,” had been flying combat missions for the past year, including from an interim assignment in bases in North Africa. The 389th BG participated in the now-famous bombings of the strategic oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, in August 1943 for which they received a Distinguished Unit Citation.

Little did the Hicks’ crew know that they would be joining the same outfit as famed film actor Jimmy Stewart, who served with the 389th BG at Hethel in 1944.

The Hicks crew, who proudly called themselves “Hicks’ Heroes,” began their combat missions over Europe on Aug. 6, 1944. During that time, Cpl. Lalanze was promoted to the rank of technical sergeant. In less than one month in combat, TSgt. Lalanze earned an Air Medal “for meritorious achievement while participating in bombardment missions over enemy territory.” During one mission, the plexiglass of his top turret was pierced by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft artillery shell, yet he escaped injury. Through November, the crew had participated in 20 bombing missions over enemy territory since arriving in Europe, and TSgt. Lalanze earned two Oak Leaf Clusters for his Air Medal. Not bad for a 20-year-old accordion-playing baker.

A fateful mission

On Nov. 26, 1944, Lt. Hicks and his crew were assigned to participate in a major mission over Germany. Their B-24J #44-10579, affectionately named “Pugnacious Princess Pat,” would join the attack by the 389th BG and other bomb groups comprising more than 1,000 bombers on an audacious mission over Germany.

Along with more than 700 accompanying escort fighters, the mission would be one of the biggest air battles over Germany of the war. More than 500 fighters of the German Luftwaffe were ready to meet them.

Multiple targets were planned for the bombers, including railroad marshalling yards, viaducts and targets of opportunity. But the primary objective was the last synthetic oil refinery operating in Germany: the Deurag-Nerag refinery in Misburg, a suburb of Hannover. Knocking out this refinery would deliver a critical blow to Germany’s ability to operate its machinery of war.

Lt. Hicks and his crew departed Hethel in the early morning hours with the rest of the 389th. In addition to his regular crew, 389th staffer Maj. Paull C. Garrett joined the flight as an observer on his first mission.

In formation with the rest of the 566th squadron, pilot Lt. Hicks guided his bomber across the English Channel, the Netherlands and over Germany. The crew would have been tense with expectations of opposition by enemy fighters and “flak” from the dreaded 88mm anti- aircraft artillery gun, which could fire its shells up to an altitude of 35,000 feet and well within reach of allied bomber formations.

Visibility was clear and unobstructed. Within the open-air, unpressurized cabin of the B-24, the crew would have relied upon their heated suits to protect them from the frigid cold air of their extreme altitude.

Pugnacious Princess Pat was within two miles of Hannover flying at 21,500 feet, when TSgt. Lalanze reported the appearance of the black clouds of exploding flak shells from his position in the top gun turret behind the flight deck.

Seconds later, the bomber took a direct hit by flak in its bomb bay. Almost instantaneously, the aircraft exploded in mid air.

Witnesses from nearby aircraft reported that the explosion caused the #3 engine to catch fire and blew the right wing off. Hicks’ B-24 immediately began a spin toward Earth. The aircraft fell apart during its descent, and four men with parachutes were seen emerging from the falling machine.

TSgt. Eugene Lalanze was not one of them. He, along with five others, perished in the explosion. The four crew members who parachuted to the ground were quickly captured and made prisoners of war.

The lifeless body of Eugene Lalanze was found in Altwarmbuechen, Burgdorf district, by German citizens and was buried in the community cemetery the following day. Unaware that he had been killed in action, the War Department initially informed his family in December that he was reported missing in action.

It was not until April 1945, after receiving confirmation from the International Red Cross, that the War Department informed them that he had been located and Eugene was in fact killed in action.

As the allies advanced into Germany, Lalanze’s remains were subsequently removed and reinterred at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Margaraten, Holland, in April 1945. Germany surrendered the following month.

Eugene Lalanze, remembered

In October 1945, a young Dutch girl, Jeanne van Kan, wrote to the Lalanze family. She had been tending to the Holland grave of Eugene with fresh flowers nearly every day, in gratitude for his sacrifice for their freedom from Nazi oppression. She sent photographs of Eugene’s grave to the family.

TSgt. Eugene A. Lalanze was returned to U.S. soil under the Return of the War Dead program in 1949. He was finally laid to rest in Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Allegheny County in April 1949.

John J. Turanin is a retired Western Pennsylvanian and grandson of the Mon Valley. His latest book is “Tin Men Steel Soldiers: The price paid in World War II by a Pennsylvania mill town: True stories of the lives and losses of 82 men is about Monessen, PA.” John is one of hundreds of volunteers with the nonprofit organization Stories Behind The Stars who are writing memorial stories for every one of the 421,000 U.S. service members and 31,000 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during World War II. Those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to visit www.StoriesBehindTheStars. org.