Arlington Cemetery

It was a cool clear afternoon in early May as I trekked camera and tripod in hand through the thousands of graves at Arlington Cemetery searching for two particular headstones. The first was relatively recent, that of Brigadier General William J. Meng. Then Major Meng flew 50 combat missions as Commander of the 670th Bomb Squadron of the 416th Bomb Group. He joined the group at Lake Charles, LA and was one of the few pilots who had flown the A-20 previously—having flown 250 missions (800 combat hours) in the Panama Canal Zone flying anti-submarine patrol. He led the second mission over Normandy on D-Day, earning a DFC and Purple Heart in that attack. During and after the war, he served in several assignments as air inspector or inspector general and commanded a SAC strategic reconnaissance wing. During his career he flew the A-20, A-26, B-17, B-29, B-50, RB-45, RB-47, KC-97, KC-135, B-52 and B-58 with more than 5,600 hours of flying time. He served in Korea and Vietnam as well. General Meng died on Feb 1, 2001 and is buried in Section 54, site 5213 at Arlington.

The second headstone that I sought was that of 1Lt. George Hubert Steed. Lt. Steed was flying A-26 tail number 41-39222 on the 416th Bomb Group's mission #200 to Nutterden-Crannenberg, Holland. On the return, Lt. Steed's A/C ran out of gas and crashed near Montgeron, France. Lt. Steed was killed in the crash and was buried near the crash site. In 1946 his body was exhumed and reinterred at Arlington Cemetery in Section 12, site 4630. A private memorial, maintained by a French citizen marks the crash site today. Sgt. Transhina, Steed's gunner was badly injured in the crash, but recovered and survived until 1994.

The cool breeze and wealth of large hardwoods for shade made my visit to Arlington a very relaxing and memorable event. There were several burials scheduled throughout the afternoon and a horse drawn funeral procession passed nearby during my search. I could hear the crisp yet lonely sound of a bugle playing taps off in the distance as I stood by the grave of George Steed. That always is a poignant moment. There may be other 416th members buried here, but the cemetery records are not digitized and cannot be searched by unit. All searches are manual by name and date of burial. Therefore, unless one knows of a burial in advance, there is no practical way to find burials from any particular military organization. I also was able to locate the bronze memorial plaque dedicated to the 416th, which sits along the walkway not far from the tomb of the unknown soldier. As a postscript to this visit, I learned last week while talking with Roy Burns, a veteran who has attended the past two reunions, that Roy was the armorer for Lt. Steed's aircraft.