Former Prisoners of War Buried In The New Orleans Area

Martin Burstein graduated from Columbus Airfield north of Columbus, MS in January, 1944 as a 2nd LT in the Army Air Corps.

Robert E. Graves Jr registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. He enlisted in the Army on February 20, 1941 at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, MS and he eventually joined the Army Air Corps.

1st LT Graves was a navigator on two of the famed B-17 Flying Fortress: "Raggedy Ann" and "Homesick Angel".

On August 15, 1944 the "Homesick Angel" was on a mission when it was struck by enemy flak and crash landed.

1st LT Graves was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War. He was taken to Stalag 7A Moosburg Bavaria 48-12 (work camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011, work camp 3368 Munich 48-11) and remained there until he was liberated at the conclusion of World War II.

 1st LT Graves is buried in St Bernard Memorial Garden cemetery in Chalmette, LA. 

Click Here For His Location In The Cemetery

PVT John William Kirwin was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during the Korean War. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on August 16, 1950 and died while a prisoner on October 20, 1950.

Click Here For His Location In The Cemetery
 

TSGT Salvador Scanio was an engineer on a B-17G in the 840 Heavy Bombing Squadron, 483 Bombing Group during World War II.

His aircraft departed Sterparone, Italy on December 25, 1944 to bomb the Brux Refinery in Czechoslovakia. The aircraft was damaged by enemy anti-aircraft fire and he bailed out of the aircraft approximately 10 miles west of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. He was captured and taken as a prisoner of war to Nurnberg, Germany. He became seriously ill with rheumatic fever and was in such bad shape he could not walk.

When he was freed from Nurnberg at the end of the war, he was sent to France to recover. Once he had recovered at the San Antonio Air Base he was released from the Army in October or November, 1945.

Click Here For His Location In The Cemetery

Staff Sergeant Kenneth L Stumpf enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 20, 1942. On May 10, 1943 he was the assistant radio operator in a B-24D Liberator in the 513 Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) 376th Bombardment Group of the 12th Air Force.

They took off from Berka 2 airfield in Benghazi, Libya on a bombing mission on the Eleusis airdrome 18 km northwest of Athens, Greece.

After completing  the bombing, they were attacked by 7 enemy aircraft that attacked in pairs. At about 14:30, an overshot of a rocket fired by Uffz Rudolf Moycis in a BF 109G-6 hit the aircraft in the left wing when they were near the town of Poendeoria, Greece. The gas lines caught fire and the aircrafts oxygen, electrical systems, and controls were shot out. Later the aircraft was seen to explode and break up in mid-air.

Two of the crew were Killed In Action, two were taken prisoners of war, and 7 evaded capture.

S/SGT Stumpf was taken as a Prisoner of War and taken to Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria. He was later moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser where he remained until he was liberated at the conclusion of World War II.

S/SGT Stumpf is buried in St Bernard Memorial Garden cemetery in Chalmette, LA.

Click Here For His Location In The Cemetery

2nd LT Warren E Arieux was a bombardier on B-24J bombers in the 567 SQ, 389 Bombing Group Heavy, of the 8th AF. On February 24, 1944 he was on a bombing mission when he had to bail out of his aircraft. Only 3 parachutes were seen from the crew of 10.

LT Arieux was taken as a prisoner of war in Barth, Germany from February, 1944 until June, 1945.

LT Arieux is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Slidell, LA.

PFC Reuben R Baitchman was a member of the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment during World War II.

He was taken as a Japanese Prisoner of War and died in captivity in the Philippines on October 15, 1942.

PFC Baitchman was about 33 years of age at the time of his death and he is memorialized in the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.

PFC Donald Joseph Schanzbach attended Alcee Fortier High School in New Orleans, LA before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment during World War II. He was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese during the Fall of the Philippines in 1942. He died as a Prisoner of War in the Hotel POW Camp, Mukden, Manchuria 42-123.

PFC Schanzbach was 21 years of age at the time of his death. He was originally interred in the POW Camp and was later repatriated to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, HI.