Wright Ellis Gerke
Wright Ellis Gerke.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Serial: O-523518
366th Bomber Squadron
305th Bomber Group, Heavy
Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: August 12, 1943
Buried at: Plot O Row 6 Grave 6
Netherlands American Cemetery
Margraten, Netherlands
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
Introduction
Second Lieutenant Wright Ellis Gerke was the son of Henry J. Gerke, a member of the Camden Fire Department, and his wife, the former Ida Cox. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Wright E. Cox, who had a long career as a member of the Camden Police Department. A great-uncle, George P. Cox, retired as a battalion chief with the Camden Fire Department. Wright E. Gerke’s early years were spent at the family home at 619 South 4th Street in South Camden. The Gerke family moved to 2131 47th Street in Pennsauken NJ shortly after the 1929 Camden City Directory was compiled.
After graduating from Merchantville High School in Merchantville NJ in 1938, Wright E. Gerke attended Drexel Institute in Philadelphia PA before enlisting in the United States Army’s Air Corps on July 19, 1941. He qualified for flight duty and trained as a pilot at Camden SC, where he won his wings. He returned home on furlough and married his high school sweetheart, Lavinia Farquhar on July 2, 1942.
Wright E. Gerke received further training as a bomber pilot at Savannah GA, Langley Field VA, Bangor ME, Boise ID, and Maxwell Field AL before going overseas as a member of the 366th Bomber Squadron, 305th Bomber Group, Heavy. He was able to come home on furlough at least once before going overseas on May 30, 1943. During this time he trained under Col. Curtis LeMay, who would later be promoted to general and won everlasting renown for conducting the strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
While training, he was assigned to a bomber crew, where he met Second Lieutenant Joseph Costa, who had qualified as a navigator. When the men were sent overseas, their wives stayed together, making their home at 141 East Park Avenue in Merchantville. Mrs. Gerke bore a daughter, Dona, in August of 1943. Sadly, Wright Gerke never got to see his daughter.
Tragically, Second Lieutenant Gerke was shot down during a daylight raid on Gelsenkirchen, Germany on August 12, 1943. 20 planes took off on this raid, two returned early and only Lieutenant Gerke’s plane failed to return. Five other aircraft sustained serious damage during this raid. Lieutenant Gerke was piloting the B-17F known as “ARKY,” serial number 42-29553. Reports state that the bomber was observed at 0855 being hit by flak and dropping out of formation. It was immediately attacked by 5 or 6 fighters. The plane was seen going down on fire with at least three parachutes seen. Although three parachutes were seen, only Staff Sergeants Fullerton and Chalker were taken prisoner; all others were killed either in the plane or when the plane crashed near Mönchen-Gladbach, Germany.
Both he, Joseph Costa, Second Lieutenant Thomas Read (co-pilot), Second Lieutenant Jack J. Little (bombardier), Staff Sergeant Joseph J. Hall (tail gunner), Staff Sergeant Herbert A. Kalwa and Staff Sergeant Rowlinson (waist gunners), and Staff Sergeant Edward F. Keesling (ball turret gunner) were killed. Radio operator Staff Sergeant James L. Chalker and top gunner Technical Sergeant Harry Fullerton managed to parachute to the ground and were taken prisoner by the Germans.
After the war, Wright Gerke’s remains were recovered and buried at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands, with the other members of his crew who had been killed.
Lavinia Farquhar Gerke later remarried. Her husband, Allen Rockafellow, and Wright Gerke had been best friends before the war. The Rockafellow family owned and operated Parks Dairies on 42nd Street in Pennsauken. Allen Rockafellow’s brother, Sergeant Verton R. Rockafellow, was also killed in action during World War II.
Home on Furlough, Weds Sweetheart
Camden Courier-Post —
Flying Cadet Gerke of Camden Weds Lavinia E. Farquhar of Pennsauken
Flying Cadet Wright Ellis Gerke came home for a short furlough while he was being transferred to an advanced school of aviation, but the brief visit lasted long enough to make him a benedict.
Gerke, who enlisted July 9, 1941, was married to Lavinia E. Farquhar, daughter of Mrs. Emma Farquhar, 6749 Park avenue, Pennsauken, last week in the chapel of Grace Episcopal Church, Merchantville. The ceremony climaxed a romance that began when both were attending Merchantville high school.
Gerke, after graduating from school in 1938, entered Drexel Institute. He was in his third year, studying mechanical engineering, when he joined the Air Corps. Receiving his basic training at Camden, S.C., he has passed his 60-hour solo flying test already and is aiming for 200 hours and his second lieutenancy.
Upon his furlough’s end, Gerke went to his new training school in Augusta, GA. He is the son of Henry J. Gerke, city fireman. His mother, Ida, died last October. The Gerke home is at 2131 Forty-seventh street, Pennsauken.
Wives Expect Missing Fliers at Yule Dinner
Camden Courier-Post —
Sure Pair Downed in Reich Will Keep So. Jersey Date
Wives of the pilot and navigator of a Flying Fortress, missing after a raid on Germany, expect their husbands to be home for Christmas dinner. Faith their husbands are alive and will “keep the date” made with them more than three months ago was expressed last night by Mrs. Lavinia F. Gerke, 21, and Mrs. Sarah Costa, 25, both of 141 East Park avenue, Merchantville.
The Fortress, nicknamed the “Missy G,” after Mrs. Gerke, failed to return from the flight, the War Department notified the two women Tuesday.
Live in Merchantville
Mrs. Gerke is the wife of Second Lieut. Wright E. Gerke, 24, pilot of the bomber. Mrs. Costa is the wife of Second Lieut. Joseph S. Costa, 27, navigator. They have been living together at the Merchantville address since the two men flew to England May 30, this year. The women were at the point of debarkation before the plane took off and made the date with their husbands to get together for an “old fashion” Christmas dinner this year.
Meanwhile, Gerke’s wife gave birth Aug. 4 to a daughter, Dona. Mrs. Gerke cabled her husband of the “blessed event” and he sent back a letter dated Aug. 7 asking for a “blow by blow description of his daughter, Dona.” The letter was received Aug. 17, five days after the raid.
Gerke enlisted in the Air Corps in July, 1941, as a mechanic. Before enlisting he was working as a shipping clerk at the Acme Staple Company. He was graduated from Merchantville High school in 1938 after attending Pennsauken township schools. He is the son of Henry Gerke, Sr., of 255 West Franklin avenue, Collingswood. Gerke trained at Savannah, Ga., Langley Field, Va., Bangor, Me., Boise, Ida., and Maxwell Field, Ala. At the latter field he received his wings as a pilot in April, 1942. The couple was married July 2, 1942. She was the former Lavinia Farquhar, of Merchantville.
Fliers Killed, Wives Pledge Air Corps Aid
Camden Courier-Post —
Army Sends Death Notices to 2 Friends at Same Time
Almost duplicate telegrams lay on dressing tables in a Merchantville apartment last night and two young widows, who became friends and began to share an apartment when their husbands joined the same Flying Fortress crew several months ago, spent their grief on twin beds in the same room.
War Department telegrams reported the deaths of 2nd Lt. Wright E. Gerke, 23, and 2nd Lt. Joseph S. Costa, 27, during an air raid Aug. 12 on Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Gerke was pilot of the Fortress “Missy G” named for his wife, and Costa was the plane’s navigator.
Mixed with the young widows’ grief was grim resolution to “carry on somehow” from where their husbands left off. Both intend to offer their services to the U. S. air forces, they told a reporter at their apartment, 141 East Park avenue.
Had Christmas Date
Both women, after hearing their husbands were missing in action, revealed a Christmas date they had made with the fliers before the plane took off last May. Both fliers had promised to return home and eat the traditional turkey “and all the fixin’s” at the Park avenue apartment.
Now that they are reported killed, Mrs. Gerke and Mrs. Costa said they are determined to follow their husbands’ footsteps and go into aviation “in some way.” Mrs. Costa said she has 120 hours to her credit in piloting light planes and will try to enter the Ferry Command. Mrs. Gerke expressed the desire to become a trainer for Link trainer planes. “If we find we can’t make the ferry command or the link trainer we are going to go to work building airplanes somewhere, somehow, to carry on for our husbands,” both women said.
Daughter Born
Meanwhile, Mrs. Gerke gave birth Aug. 4 to a daughter, Dona Lee Gerke. Mrs. Gerke cabled her husband of the “blessed event” and he sent back a letter dated Aug. 7. The letter was received Aug. 17. “I must consider her first in my plans now since she is all I have left of Wright,” Mrs. Gerke said, adding “However, I intend to make some field of aviation my career.”
Photos
Wright Ellis Gerke.
Grave of Wright Ellis Gerke, Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands.
Wright Gerke memorial, Pennsauken NJ.
305th Bomb Group, Heavy
B-17 of the 305th Bomber Group, Heavy.
Tributes to the 305th Bomber Group, Heavy.
305th Bomb Group — “Can Do”
Squadrons: 364th, 365th, 366th, and 422nd Bombardment Squadrons — Heavy
Assigned 8th AAF: September 1942
Combat Aircraft: B-17F, B-17G
Stations: Grafton Underwood (September–December 1942), Chelveston (December 1942–July 1945)
First Mission: 17 November 1942
Last Mission: 25 April 1945
Missions: 337
Total Sorties: 9,231
Total Bomb Tonnage: 22,363 tons
Aircraft MIA: 154
Group COs: Col. Curtis E. LeMay (June 1942–May 1943); Lt. Col. Donald K. Fargo (May–October 1943); Col. Ernest H. Lawson (November 1943–June 1944, KIA); Col. Anthony Q. Mustoe (June–October 1944); Col. Henry G. MacDonald (October 1944–April 1946)
Major Awards: Distinguished Unit Citations (11 January 1944 to all 1 BD units; 4 April 1943, Paris); Two Medals of Honor (1 LT. William R. Lawley Jr., 20 February 1944; 1 LT. Edward S. Michael, 11 April 1944)
Under Col. LeMay the Group pioneered many formations and bombing procedures that became Standard Operating Procedures in the 8th AAF. The 422nd Bomb Squadron undertook the first night attacks by the 8th AF. The Group suffered the heaviest losses of the 14th October 1943 Schweinfurt mission, and for this reason was given the Nazi flag found flying in the city when it was captured by U.S. troops.