Ackerboden - Penieder Alm

Towards the end of World War II two american fighter jets were shot down over Brixen and crashed on the mountain called Plose. One of them crashed near the “Peniederalm” above the Ackerboden. Emil Prader, Penider from St. Leonhard wanted to commemorate the soldiers and put up a sign at his alpine pasture referring to them. A colonnel of the German army from Marquardtstein found out the names of the whole crew and additional information. The fighter plane was a bomber type B 24 F. His identification number was 446652 and he was part of the 19th bomber troup of the 301st bombergroup. He was stationed in Lucera in the south of Italy. The US- soldiers were attacking the railway bridge close to Albeins and the city of Innsbruck. Flying over the alps the pilots followed the trainline Innsbruck- Brenner- Bozen. Accordingly the route was guarded by German anti-aircraft-artillery and therefor very dangerous for the GIs. After Mr. Prader had found out who the 10 fallen soldiers were, he put up a sign to commemorate them at his alpine pasture. That should have been the end of the story. It appeared though that the last winter of World War II, there were two fighter planes that crashed over the Plose. The discovered names belonged to a fighter plane, which was shot down on dicember 29th 1944 at the Rutzenberg which belonged to the Oberziffler farm. The one at the Penieder pasture was a B17 aircraft (Fortress) and was shot down two months later, on february 28th 1945. The fallen soldiers didn’t appear on any records. Neither on the records of the community nor on the once of the church. Eyewitnesses knew that there were no survivors, since the aircraft exploded in midair. Where as the bomber from the Rutzenberg was just hit badly, and some of the soldiers were able to rescue themselves, leaving the airplane on time with a parachute. It was known that three of these soldiers were still alive in 1997. Finally they discovered also the names of the soldiers who died at the Ackerboden/ Peniederalm. The fallen soldiers were burried there the following April. In 1946, the US military exhumed the soldiers and buried them at the military cemetery in Mirandola in the plains of the river Po. From the crew of the bomber B24, which was shot down at the Rutzenberg and crashed in the garden of the Oberziffler farm, in 1997 three soldiers who had survived were still alive: the pilot, Lyles C. Pearson, the navigator Arthur G. Frechette and one of the MG- shooters, Charles T. Lyon. Letters that were found were stating that two of them were eager to come to Italy. Charles T. Lyon would have liked to meet the family, who had taken him in after the crash and had taken care of him for the first days. Once everything was clear about who had died in which crash, on august 16th 1998 a commemorative plaque was innaugurated at the Penniederalm. For the festivities 15 relatives of the American soldiers came to honour their relatives. May this geocache at the Penniederalm help to keep alive the memories of the young American soldiers, who were fighting for our freedom far away from their homeland and who lost their young lives at the Plose.

The Peniederalm is not farmed, but in summer Emil Prader is often encountered on his pasture. Should this just be the case, so you do not be deterred from looking for the cache of it. It was hidden with his consent and knowledge. At worst, you can also ask him where it is.

Notes:

From the parking lot - PK1 – (elev.. 1450m) along the forestry avay or toboggan run at a moderate slope you achieved after 2.8 km (about 50 min.) Ackerboden. Here turn right from waypoint RF-1 – (elev. 1760 m) to keep towards Peniederalm. Continue slightly uphill for 750 meters along a forest without trail marker the Spisser-Alm (refreshments available) to the Peniederalm. Even feasible in winter, with toboggan/snowshoe.