Lake County, Florida
United States Army Air Forces
Second Lieutenant
Via Cassia, Italy

2LT William L. Baetzmann was a pilot of a P-40 F in the 12th TAC, 27th Fighter group, 522nd Fighter squadron based from the Santa Maria Airfield in Italy.  The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk – 41-14505 – left on May 29, 1944 on a mission to bomb and strafe a bridge southwest of Rome.  The plane was last sighted at about 1500 (3pm,) 3 miles north of Poli, Italy, which is east of Rome.  He was on the mission where he was designated White 4 in the group of 4 airplanes.  When last seen before a cloud, he was reported to be in good condition, 6,000 ft altitude heading towards Anzio.  The airplane failed to return from the mission and it is unknown what happened.  

In a German report on Crashed American Aircraft, there is a report on May 29, 1944 of a Tomahawk with American markings crashing on fire about 1 km northeast of Artena.  (The airplane was actually a Warhawk because the British version of the plane was called a Tomahawk which used a .303 machine gun, instead of the 0.50 caliber machine gun used by the Americans.)  The aircraft was attacked near Casale dei Frati, caught fire and crashed at 1507 (3:07pm) near Artena.  No parachute was seen.  

American records noted that there was only one P-40 lost on that day in that area.  MACR #5147.     

Remains were buried near the wreckage, and were later moved to Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, Florence, Città Metropolitana di Firenze, Toscana, Italy.  The cemetery, with just over 4400 servicemen, is on a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean.