Alvin George Bader was born 4 November 1921 in Heil, Grant county, North Dakota to Jacob and Lydia (Weller) Bader; he was the eldest of four children; dad worked in a machine shop. Alvin graduated from the Leipzig North Dakota High School. He registered for the draft on 16 February 1942 from Montana standing 5’7” tall, weighing 133 pounds with brown eyes and black hair; he was employed by J.H. Frisbie. Alvin married Lorraine Oldham on 31 January 1942 (they had one son) before he enlisted on 6 August 1942 indicating he had one year of college.

Technical Sergeant Alvin George Bader (service number 39609553) served with the 303 Bomb Group as they began bombardment of industries, marshalling yards, cities and other strategic objectives in Germany in January 1943. They also struck ball bearing plants, shipbuilding yards, synthetic rubber plants, aircraft engine factories, industrial areas, airdrome and marshalling yards. Sometimes the 303rd engaged in support and interdictory missions, attacking gun emplacements and bridges during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944; they bombed enemy troops to support the breakthrough at St Lo in July; struck airfields, oil depots and other targets during the Battle of the Bulge. It was during a raid against a synthetic oil factory at Sterkrade, Germany that the plane in which T/Sgt Alvin Bader was aboard was hit by flak in one engine. They left formation and were last seen while the plane was still under control; nine crew members bailed out while the plane was on autopilot but it appears T/Sgt Bader’s parachute failed to open; it was his 25th raid. He rests in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES: Find-a-Grave; FamilySearch.org; Ancestry.com; Wikipedia; The Independent Record 15 Jul 1945

Alvin G Bader