An Indiana County man is among 18 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during Operation Tidal Wave, which is regarded as the costliest Allied air raid, proportionally, of World War II.

According to the nonprofit Stories Behind The Stars organization, the U.S. aerial bombardment of nine oil refineries around Ploesti, Romania, cost the lives of 310 out of 1,751 American airmen and 53 out of 178 B-24 Liberator bombers.

Volunteers in the Stories Behind The Stars organization also said more than 100 additional crew members were captured, and 55 additional aircraft were damaged.

Among the 18 killed was Robert Paul Kaufman, who was born to Wilmer E. and Ruth (Beck) Kaufman on July 22, 1921, in Indiana.

His father was employed as a roller helper in a steel mill in Indiana. Wilmer and Ruth also had another son and daughter, but neither of them survived.

Wilmer Kaufman then died in the Veterans Hospital in Aspinwall at the age of 29 when his son was 7 years old.

Robert Kaufman and his widowed mother moved in with her sister in Pittsburgh until returning to Indiana to live with his paternal uncle and aunt. Kaufman graduated from Indiana High School in 1939.

On Nov. 11, 1941 Robert Kaufman married Stella Ann Zeke in Homer City.

According to Stories Behind The Stars, the marriage lasted only four months as Stella Kaufman contracted a blood infection and died in April 1942.

On Aug. 22, 1942, Kaufman enlisted in the Army Air Force.

He received his basic and advanced training at Tyndall Field, Fla., and his radio training at Salt Lake City, Utah. Kaufman then completed training to become a ball turret gunner on the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber.

He was assigned to the 566th Bombardment Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force as a technical sergeant on the crew of the Sand Witch.

Operation Tidal Wave began when 178 B-24 Liberators from the 98th and 376th Bomb Groups in North Africa and the 44th, 93rd, and 389th Bomb Groups in England took off from airstrips in Benghazi, Libya, for the 1,200 miles flight to Hitlers gas station. Because of the missions extreme danger, it was flown only by volunteers.

Romania was one of the worlds largest crude oil refiners, eventually supplying the Third Reich with almost 60 percent of its needs. As a result, Ploesti was more heavily defended than Berlin in 1943.

Hitler guarded the refineries with 300 flak guns, hundreds of machine guns, a deadly flak train, concealed emplacements, 120 German fighters and 200 Romanian Air Force fighters.

Of the original armada of Liberators, 165 reached Ploesti in the early afternoon of Aug. 1, 1943. There was no pre-mission reconnaissance flown. To avoid radar detection, the raid was conducted at low altitude with bombs to be dropped from 200 to 800 feet.

The attack lasted roughly 30 minutes and the enemy was ready and waiting.

Stories Behind The Stars said Kaufman was killed in action when he ejected from his B-24 Liberator Sand Witch that crashed from incoming enemy flak and exploded while returning from its mission at Ploesti.

The date of Operation Tidal Wave was later referred to as Black Sunday.

Stories Behind The Stars said those involved in the mission estimated that Ploestis refining capacity was reduced by 40 percent but capacity was restored within weeks, and there was no curtailment of overall product output.

The Allies considered Operation Tidal Wave a strategic failure. It was the last low altitude bombing raid by Allied heavy bombers during the war.

Five Medals of Honor were awarded to crew members of Operation Tidal Wave, the most for any single air action in history. Fifty-six Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded to mission airmen.

Kaufman was the posthumous recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

Kaufman was buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Ardennes, Belgium. He is memorialized at the Oakland Cemetery and Mausoleum of Indiana and is honored with his crew at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Neb.

Stories Behind the Stars memorials are accessible for free on the internet and via smart phone app at gravesites and cenotaphs. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to honoring all 421,000 fallen Americans from World War II, including 31,000 from Pennsylvania. To volunteer or to get more information, contact Kathy Harmon at kharmon@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit http://www.storiesbehindthestars.org.

Read this article:

Local man's sacrifice recalled 80 years after bombing of 'Hitler's gas ... - Indiana Gazette