Gotts, Howard F.
Army Sergeant

Howard F. Gotts, age 23, from Seneca, New York, Ontario county.

Parents: F. N. Gotts

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, August 1, 1943
Death details: On June 24, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Howard F. Gotts, missing from World War II. Sergeant Gotts entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from New York and served in the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy). On August 1, 1943, SGT Gotts was the radio operator aboard a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-24015, nicknamed “Wing Dinger”) when it departed Benghazi, Libya, to take part in Operation TIDAL WAVE, an attack on German oil refineries in Ploiesti, Romania. Over the target, “Wing Dinger” was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Two crew members bailed out and survived, but SGT Gotts and six other crew members were killed in the incident. Many who were killed on this mission were buried in a cemetery at Bolovan, Romania, and two crew members from “Wing Dinger” were identified from among remains recovered from this cemetery following the war. SGT Gotts’ remains were also eventually recovered from this cemetery but because they could not be identified at the time, SGT Gotts was instead interred as an “unknown” in the Ardennes American Cemetery. In 2017, DPAA personnel exhumed and analyzed this set of “unknowns” and using advanced forensic technology, successfully identified them as belonging to SGT Gotts.
Cemetery: Sand Hill in Seneca

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency