Rodney Dale Hines was born in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio. On August 23, 1922. Pomeroy is in a coalmining area, and everybody was working in these mines, also Rodney′s father. It was hard work. Father Roy was an operator at the coalmine, and mother Katherine looked after their three children. Rodney had one older sister, Marguerite, and one younger sister, Katherine.
For four years he studied at the Pomeroy Senior High School, and after this Rodney went to the Pure-Fuel-Coal Co. in Kenton. Later on going to the Curtiss Wright Plant in Columbus to work there as a foreman.
In 1942, on November 5, Rodney Hines was enlisted. He choose the Army Air Corps in Columbus and was trained to be an air gunner on the biggest bomber. The B-17, also known as Flying Fortress or Queen of the Sky.
On June 15, 1943 they left to England, Horham, and began bombing strategic objectives in Germany. Their targets were: harbors, industries, marshalling yards and cities.
His unit was the 336th Bomb Squad, 95th Bomb Group, assigned to the 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, part of the 8th Air Force. The code on the tail of their Douglas-Long Beach was a "square B", serial number: 23462, and had the name: "San Antonio Rose".
The crew of the "San Antonio Rose" were:
Morris R. Marks, pilot, George L. Amberg, pilot, T.Sg. Harold E. Cook, 2Lt. Delmar A. Decker, 2Lt. Frank W. Derenberg, Sgt. Cuyler, Barclay B.W. Glover, Charles D. Barnthson, S/Sgt Arden L Miner, and S.Sgt. Rodney D. Hines. Rodney was the Ball Turret gunner.
They were on their 5th mission , bombing Brunswick in Germany, the airplane-industry. They never reached this target. They were attacked by nine German fighter planes. One engine was shot out, and in fire the B-17 crashed in Zegveld, a Dutch town in the neighbourhood of Woerden. Date February 21, 1944, Time: 16.15 pm.
The letter with eyewitness declaration from Mr. Piet Holleman
Glover and Barnthson could escape the burning plane with their chutes, but were immediately captured by the Germans and taken prison. They stated POW till the end of the war.
Before they left the bomber, they attempted S.Sgt Hines with medical aid, only finding him already dead. The bodies of Hines, Cuyler and Amberg were brought by order of the Germans to the local undertaker. He buried them at "Rusthof", the Military Cemetery in Amersfoort. Cuyler and Hines weren′t identified and stayed MIA until October 5, 1945, when they were brought to the American Cemetery in Margraten. Five members of the crew were found after recovering the bomber after the war.
Rodney D. Hines was married to Grace Sowers, they had a son called Rodney jr.
He never knew his father.
The 95th Bomb Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for maintaining a tight defensive formation in spite of severe assault by enemy fighters and bombing the aircraft assembly plant at Regensburg on August 17, 1943.
Being awarded a second DUC for the performance of bombing marshalling yards at Munster on October 10, 1943.
Rodney received an Air medal and a Purple Heart.
I want to thank the following persons who helped me with my research:
Mrs. Fietje Quaedvlieg,
Thomas Reitz, librarian from Columbus, Ohio,
James Mutton, 95th Bomb Group Heritage Assosiation ( pictures of the "San Antonio Rose"),
Terry Wirrick,
And everyone who I maybe forgot
Airmedal-medals of the world
Purple heart - Rusty knight place
