WWII Plane Crash Holds Memories

In October 1944 the A-26 was a new airplane. The Douglas Invader first flew in July 1942 and had reached combat only that summer, over the Pacific on June 23, 1944 and in Europe that September. Watertown's field was a cold-weather bomber base, an auxiliary to Sioux Falls, where B-17 and B-24 crews, the 702nd Bomb Squadron of the 445th Bomb Group among them, finished their training before going overseas. The bronze was cast fifty years after the crash, and it names fifteen people who watched it happen.

What the plaque says

WWII Plane Crash Holds Memories On October 25th, 1944 at 3:50 p.m. an A26-B two engine medium bomber from the Watertown Army airbase crashed and burned in a field on the northwest quarter of section 12 of Butler Township, which is two miles south and one mile west of this site. The crash resulted in the death of the pilot, 1st Lt. Raymond Devere Schott of Youngs- town, Ohio and severe burn injuries to the crew chief Ssgt. Donald R. Aspers of Pontiac, Michigan. May this monument always be a reminder of their sacrifice. Donated by the friends and relatives of crash site eyewitnesses; Cliff and Lyle Buhler, Ed Wein, Frank Bohn, Harry and Nick Bury, Henry Berger, Herman and Dave Carlson, Henry and Herb Reiprich, Otto Dueschle, Elmer Berg, Joe Rydberg, and Fred Haase.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Sisseton Historic State Park — 22 mi
  A stone fort on the Coteau des Prairies built to watch the Dakota after 1862, renamed for the Sisseton who scouted for it, restored by the WPA and saved again by a boy who grew up loving it.
• Joseph N. Nicollet Tower and Interpretive Center — 30 mi
  A tower on the edge of the Coteau des Prairies honoring the French mapmaker who drew this country in 1838 and 1839 and kept the Dakota names on the map.

More markers nearby

• Sigurd Anderson — steps away
• The Fight at Webster — steps away
• Edgar S. McFadden — steps away
• Webster — steps away