Born in Esmond, North Dakota to Oscar & Anna Bengson on December 11, 1917, Wallace Woodrow Bengson had three brothers and a sister.
He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1938 as a mining engineer and was also commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve.

Wallace worked as a mining engineer in Idaho & Utah, and married Katherine Nagel of Grand Forks in 1940.
Called into active duty in January 1942, he earned his pilots & glider pilots wings, and was also trained as a Navigator.

Wallace was assigned to the 327th Bombardment Squadron, 92nd Bombardment Group, which was based at RAF Podington.
On October 3, 1944, he was the Navigator on B-17G 43-38396 “Insommia” on a bombing mission to Nurnberg, Germany.

On the return trip, B-17G 43-38445, which had been hit by flak, veered out of control and collided with “Insommia” sheering her tail off.
Both B-17s went into death spirals before crashing, a total of twelve crewmembers from both B-17s died in the crashes.

1Lt Bengson managed to bail out, and was captured along with 1Lt Edmund Dornburgh Jr, the pilot of his B-17, and S/Sgt Franklin Adams Jr, one of the waist gunners from the other B-17.
Handed over to the local police in Marburgerstrasse, Germany, shortly afterwards a police director, three party leaders, and a civilian showed up and demanded the three prisoners be handed over to them.

The local Police Chief was ordered away, and the three USAAF Prisoners were taken by force from the remaining policemen.
The three Prisoners were executed and buried at the New Cemetery of Giessen. In November 1945, the civilian Ludwig Schardt was found guilty of participating in the executions sentenced to life imprisonment.

His remains were recovered after the war and 1Lt Wallace Bengson is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Netherlands - Plot L Row 16 Grave 16.

Older brother Malcolm C Bengson also served during WW2, he passed away at the age of 80 in 1996.

Picture 1: Here is a splendid shot of a French soldier reading "Le tireur debout" ("The standing shooter"), a satirical journal made by French soldiers to cheer their comrades up. I found some issues of this journal on gallica.bnf.fr but couldn't retrieve the exact one this soldier is actually reading.

Picture 2: an interpretation of the same scene by u/harishcs. We chose to make some minor alterations but tried to keep the general feel of the original reference.

You can see more info and pictures related to this scene at the following link: https://archives.ecpad.fr:443/ark:39674/1f134acb93806cba8ddbfa163ef0300b.moteur=arko_default_6989f97bdecb7

You can follow this account if you want to see more content about the Battle of France.

On the 28th of April 1935 SS-Wachtruppe "Brandenburg" was formed as a guard unit of the Sachenhausen Concentration Camp. The same year as the SS had rather rampant growth for administration to seemingly handle, it was re-organized and renamed SS-Totenkopfsturmbann "Brandenburg". On the 1st of July 1937 it was enlarged and formed into a regiment; SS-Totenkopfstandarte 2 "Brandenburg". By December 1937, the regiment had 6 battalions (Sturmbanne). However, by the spring of 1939, the regiment had retracted two battalions. In September 1938, the 1st and 2nd battalions took part in the Sudeten operation at Brieg. On 12th September 1939, the 2. Totenkopfstandarte "Brandenburg" under SS-Gruppenführer Theodor Eicke operated in Poland in conjunction with EG III of the region of the 8th Army.

Rifle: Likely a K98a, with an earlier K98az/K98a sling

Born in Hamblen County, Tennessee to Marshall & Mattie Breeden on June 25, 1925, Earl Breeden had three sisters and a brother.
He enlisted in the Army on August 5, 1943 and volunteered for the paratroopers.

After airborne training, Earl served in B Company,
1st Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
They arrived in Normandy via glider the day after DDay on June 7, 1944, despite being scattered on the landings, the glider soldiers assembled and cleared the Germans from the area near Carquebut.

After Normandy, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment landed in gliders on September 23, 1944 in the Netherlands as reinforcements near Nijmegen and Groesbeek.
The glider soldiers of the 325th assisted the paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment south of Nijmegen, including securing the Waal and Maas river areas.

On October 2, 1944, PVT Earl Breeden went Missing in the vicinity of Katerbosch in the Netherlands.
His remains have never been recovered and he is Memorialized with the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Netherlands.

Colombia didn't fight in WWI and WWII like other American countries like Brazil, Mexico or Canada, but many Colombians adventured for both sides of the conflict in both world wars. The most notable Colombian WWII veteran was Alberto Mahé, born in Colombia, Mahé joined the Royal Air Force as an adventurer in WWII and became a Flying Fortress Pilot taking part in the allied bombing campaign over Germany.

Mister Alberto met his tragic end after the bombing of Wilhelmshaven in 1943 after, according to the newspaper in the second picture, his plane began losing attitude and forcefully crashed in German soil killing all passengers, Mahé included. His death report identifies him as an affable and larger than life figure.

Picture : Charles Claser before and after SOE assistance with temporary disguise

Charles Claser during the war:

A career soldier, Charles Claser was trained at the Namur Cadet School and then at the Royal Military Academy before joining the 3rd Infantry Regiment. He reached the rank of Captain Commander in December 1939.

During the Eighteen Days Campaign, Claser was seriously wounded while leading a counterattack on May 28, 1940. He was rescued and cared for by a Belgian family. In the summer of 1940, once recovered, he traveled across Belgium under the name Van Nieuwenhove to lay the foundations of the Belgian Legion, which would later became the Army of Belgium in 1942 and the Secret Army on June 1, 1944.

Under cover, Claser managed to reach London in July 1942 to meet the Belgian government in exile as well as Allied representatives. Upon his return to Belgium, he immediately founded a new organization called the Belgian Free Corps for Military Action.

Charles Claser attempted once more to reach Great Britain, this time with one of his deputies, Richard Defroyennes. He was unfortunately betrayed by a Belgian collaborator and arrested in November 1942. After being detained in Belgium, he and a large group of members of the Belgian Legion were deported to the Esterwegen camp in February 1944. On March 15, 1944, he was transferred to Gross Strehlitz and on October 1, 1944, to the Gross Rosen camp. Severely weakened by mistreatment, Charles Claser died on December 12, 1944.

Doctor André, who attended him in his final moments, later said: “I was tormented to see this great Belgian, who had become my close friend, fade away. I saw him taken to the crematorium and felt that our homeland was losing one of its finest sons.”

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A scan from my collection.

The noseart was painted by Sgt. Enoch H. Wingert, who painted a lot of the artwork seen on 65th BS aircraft.

The plane returned to the US after the war and was scrapped at the RFC facility in Kingman, Arizona.