211757 Veto Iavecchia United States Army Air Force 2nd Air Division 389th Bomb Group from:Mayfair, PA Veto Iavecchia enrolled in Army Air Forces flight school during World War II and was qualified as a bambardier in the 389th Bomb Group, Second Air Division, Eighth Air Force.
He was stationed in England and participated in two missions on D-Day. On a 20th June 1944, bombing run to destroy the synthetic-fuel supplies in Politz, Germany, his B-24 bomber, "Mistah Chick", with 11 aboard, was hit by enemy fire.
The flak disabled the plane's hydraulics and caused fuel to leak. Unable to return to England, and uncertain how long the fuel would hold out, the crew voted to try and make it across the Baltic Sea to neutral Sweden.
The crew jettisoned everything, including the machine guns, through the bomb bay doors. The plane made it across the Baltic, and, with the landing gear inoperable, the pilot landed on a dirt field. The crewman suffered only minor injuries.
The Swedish Government interned the crew. Unaware of what had happened, the War Department sent telegrams to the men's families saying the crew was "missing in action and last seen over Politz, Germany".
Five weeks later, the families learned that the crew of the "Mistah Chick" had been located; five months after that, the crewmen were freed.
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