On the morning of Friday, July 16, 1943 a formation of B-24 bombers left Berka, Libya, on a mission to destroy the airport facilities at Bari, Italy. The planes belonged to the 513th Bomb Squadron of the 376th Heavy Bombardment Group of the United States Air Force.

On the return flight from their mission the group encountered Italian Royal Air Force and German fighters. The Fyrtle Myrtle was shot down. Only three of the airmen were able to exit the plane before it crashed. Two of them, Cyrus F. Johnson Jr. and Edward T. Dzierzynski, were later interned in Camp 59 at Servigliano.

Aircrew of the Fyrtle Myrtle

In 2012, the Salerno Air Finders, a group of volunteers from the Italian organization Salerno 1943, explored the crash site of the Fyrtle Myrtle and published a report of their findings on the Salerno 1943 website. That report is now one of 25 investigations included in a newly published volume by Matteo Pierro entitled Salerno 1943: Gli aviatori, le storie, i ritrovamenti dell’Operazione Avalanche (Salerno 1943: The aviators, the stories, the findings of Operation Avalanche).

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On August 4, Pietragalla Mayor Rocco Iacovera and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Ruffolo, representing the United States Embassy in Rome, unveiled a marble tablet honoring the seven airmen who died when the B-24 Bomber known as the Fyrtle Myrtle was shot down over Pietragalla in 1943.

Michele Potenza, who witnessed the crash of the Fyrtle Myrtle as a boy, speaks at the ceremony.

On July 16, 1943, a formation of three B-24 bombers left the Allied airbase in Berka, near Benghazi, Libya on a mission to damage or destroy the Axis airport at Bari. The fliers belonged to the 513th Bomb Squadron of the 376th Heavy Bombardment Group of the United States Air Force.

On their return, the first of the three planes, the Fyrtle Myrtle, was shot down over Pietragalla. The other two bombers were shot down soon after—near Altamura and Tricarico.

In 2012, the Salerno Air Finders, a group of volunteers from the Italian organization Salerno 1943, explored the crash site of the Fyrtle Myrtle and published a report of their findings on the Salerno 1943 website.

Then, last summer, a tablet was installed in Pietragallo comemmorating the men who lost their lives in the crash.

For the announcement of the ceremony, see “B-24 Bomber Crash Commemorated.”

The research and archaeological investigation into the crash of the Fyrtle Myrtle was first covered on this website through “B-24 Bomber Fyrtle Myrtle Discovered.”

Below is a transcript of the message Michele Potenza delivered at the ceremony.

It is presented in Italian, with translation of each section into English alternating throughout.

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