American War Hero · World War II · Notice Nearby

No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the service and the writing, not an invented face.

Charles W. Freschauf

November 10, 1917 – unaccounted for since May 21, 1943

Born Dodge, Dodge County, Nebraska

Loss location: North Sea north of Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands (loss location)

First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces; copilot, 324th Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy); B-17F Flying Fortress 41-24515 (Jersey Bounce / Marie Jane), Wilhelmshaven mission, May 21, 1943

Missing in action — DPAA lists 1st Lt. Charles W. Freschauf as Unaccounted For (Non-recoverable), profile a0Jt0000000BSH0EAO (verified 2026-09-24). Copilot of B-17F 41-24515 lost May 21, 1943 with pilot Philip S. Fischer on the Wilhelmshaven mission; North Sea crash; full crew unrecovered. Memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten. Non-recoverable is not a recovered grave.

View on blockchain

Charles William Freschauf was born in Dodge, Nebraska, on November 10, 1917, and grew up around David City. He finished Creighton in 1941, volunteered for the Air Corps at Fort Crook that December, and earned his wings at Lubbock the next summer. By October 1942 he was in England as a second lieutenant — then a first lieutenant — in the right seat of a Fortress.

On May 21, 1943, he flew as copilot on B-17F 41-24515 against Wilhelmshaven with the 324th Bombardment Squadron. Fighters hit the formation hard. The bomber went into the North Sea. No chute was seen. Freschauf did not return with any of the other nine.

DPAA profile a0Jt0000000BSH0EAO still reads Unaccounted For, analytical category Non-recoverable. He is on the Walls of the Missing at Margraten beside his crew. Paperwork can close a file. It cannot invent a grave from Schiermonnikoog's water.

Publication: NN-HERO-1941-018
Content hash: 6848efd1 eb39e97c d24a1059 44ea4497 b057e4bd 706c05cf 669d7c1f 51004e90
Base anchor: 0xda7e76 75c4c611 c9e74133 a61764ed fb5af440 97b49d45 769f1f25 d1f2f226 c2

Base stores the content hash, publication number, memorial id, and timestamp — not the full obituary text. The complete memorial remains on Notice Nearby. This is not a legal affidavit.