Anna Marie Ramirez, her husband, Alfred Doroteo Ramirez, Sr., and their first son, Manuel, immigrated from Mexico in 1916. The following year, Alfred Doroteo Ramirez was born on September 28 in Valedon, New Mexico where the family made its home. In 1921, brother Ruben arrived.

During the intervening years before their daughter’s birth, Alfred moved his wife and sons to Texas. He found employment in the state’s copper mining industry, an occupation that was both hazardous and unhealthy. Raquel arrived in 1923 and likely enjoyed the attention and protection of her older brothers.

His work in the Texas copper industry proved fatal to Ramirez, Sr. who died in 1933 from lung disease. Anna, left widowed, moved to New York City with Manuel, 20, Alfredo, 16, Ruben, 12 and Raquel, 10. She worked in the city’s garment industry, an arduous occupation deviled by low wages, capricious employers and brutally long hours. The focus of decades-long abuses, its workers unions rose to challenge gross inequities.

In August 1933, as the Great Depression’s strangle tightened, two garment unions called for a general strike by its national membership. The plight of workers, like Anna, was aided with the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal initiatives. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a national minimum wage and maximum work week standards.

After his education, Alfred, 23, worked at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. He registered with the United States Selective Service on National Registration Day, on which 16 million young Americans were added to draft-ready rolls. Global geopolitical conditions were raw with Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939. Hitler’s Wehrmacht gained literal control of Europe within a year, leaving only England and Russia free from Nazi occupation.

In ceremonies in the Bronx, NY, Alfred married Ruth Barneset on November 5, 1941. Their happiness and that of millions of Americans would soon be altered by a tipping point in world history, centered on a tropical naval base that lay 5,000 miles from New York.

Despite its stated neutrality and staunch isolationism, America entered World War II on December 8, 1941, after Japan’s surprise attack at Pearl Harbor that left 2,300 military and civilian casualties. Battles waged on land, at sea and in the air across international fronts before Ramirez entered the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) on November 17, 1943 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. During his career, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant. 2LT Ramirez was assigned to the 15th Troop Carrier Squadron, 61st Troop Carrier Group. Other confirmable information about 2LT Ramirez’s military records was unavailable to this researcher.

Working in Post-War Europe:

On May 8, 1945, V-E Day marked the end of World War II. Germany surrendered, signing documents at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) in Reims. America’s fighting men were returning home while the four major world powers grappled with stabilizing and rebuilding war-torn Europe. Reconstruction was complicated by competing ambitions for the future.

Post-war conditions in Europe were chaotic. With millions of war dead and its homeless millions adrift, Europe’s economic and infrastructure conditions were battered. Food, fuel and housing shortages, lack of infrastructure, displaced citizens and economic uncertainties created a monumental recovery undertaking unlike any experienced in modern times.

Established shortly after World War II, the European Air Transport Service (EATS) transported cargo and personnel for Western Allies’ forces within Europe. Initially, EATS controlled the former IX Troop Carrier Command squadrons after the war and operated both cargo and personnel transport routes in non-Communist controlled areas to support the American, British and French occupation forces with units in Greece (Athens Airport) and Italy.

Lost Above the World:

Scheduled for a flight from Naples, Italy to Bovingdon, England, an eight-man crew was assigned to the European Air Transport Command, 61st Troop Carrier Group, 15th Troop Carrier Squadron. Established shortly after World War II, the European Air Transport Service (EATS) transported cargo and personnel for Western Allies’ forces within Europe. The 15th Transport Squadron was constituted on November 20, 1940, activated on December 4, 1940 and inactivated on July 31,1945.

On November 1, 1946, 0054 LT, Command Pilots Colonel Fair and Colonel Upham departed from Naples-Capodichino Airport, in their B-17 Flying Fortress, #43-39338 bound for RAF Bovingdon, England with an overflight of Bastia, Istres, Lyon and Paris. Their final destination was Wiesbaden, Germany. Pre-flight weather information was not favorable for their planned route. After deliberations, Fair and Upham determined that they would make the flight. One routine radio message was transmitted a few minutes after take-off. No other messages were received. Aboard the flight were:

Command Pilot Colonel Ford Larimore Fair, #O-17029

Command Pilot Colonel Hudson Hutton Upham, #O-19467

Co-Pilot Major Lawrence Lofton Cobb, #O-24736

Navigator, 2LT Alfred Doroteo Ramirez, #O-2082524

Engineer, Master Sergeant John Edward Gilbert, #6990531

Assistant Engineer, Staff Sergeant William Allex Hilton, #38515193

Radio Operator, Staff Sergeant Zoltan Joseph Dobovich, #33835227

Assistant Radio Operator, Technical Sergeant William Seldon Cassell, #34896920

When the heavy bomber failed to arrive at its final destination, the U.S. military and allied resources conducted search-and-recovery (SAR) operations but eventually suspended the search 18 days later. No trace of the aircraft or crew was found during the initial SAR.

The crew was lost when their aircraft went down on Aiguille des Glaciers, one of the rugged peaks in the French Alps. The glacier is near Mont Blanc, the highest point in Europe and close to the French-Italian border. It was believed that the crew encountered deteriorating weather conditions with thunderstorm activity, turbulence and severe icing which may have contributed to the accident.

On July 25, 1947, the 99th French Alpine Infantry Battalion operating in the French-Italian Alps near Estellette Glacier, found the wreckage on the glacier’s slope at an altitude of more than 15,000 feet about five miles southwest of the Mont-Blanc. The crash site was just below the glacial crest. No individual identifications could be made at that time.

The crew’s remains were returned to the United States for a full military burial on October 10, 1947 in a single grave at Arlington National Cemetery. They rest in Section 15A, Site 1-NH in Arlington, Virginia.

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? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen serviceperson’s name and read his/her story. Stories Behind the Stars Contributing Author: Pamela C. Baker,

drbaker50@charter.net.

References:

“3 AAF Planes Overdue: Army Reports 23 Men Missing in Pacific, Europe, West Indies,” 1946, The New York Times, New York, New York, November 8, Page 2.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/sweatshops/history-1880-1940

Ancestryinstitutions.org. 1920 United States Federal Census.

Ancestryinstitutions.org. 1930 United States Federal Census.

“Army Lists 8 on Board Missing B17” 1947, Stars and Stripes, Vol. 2, Number 309, November 7.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49352862/alfred-d-ramirez

https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/184528?page=1#sr-38339738

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/91372355/alfred-d-ramirez

Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents. Family Stories, Collection of Epitaphist, February 20, 2020.

U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962.

U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites, c.a. 1775-2019.

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.

Alfred D Ramirez