LT H.Mark Altvater

Hubert Mark “Mark” Altvater was born October 23, 1921 in Winfield, Kansas. When he was 14 his family moved to Greensboro, which became his hometown. He was a junior at the University of Michigan when the U.S. entered the war; after finishing that semester he enlisted in the Army Air Forces.

Mark entered aviation cadet training (examinations taken April 28, 1942), completed primary/basic/advanced flight training at fields including Maxwell and Turner, and graduated as a pilot in mid-1943. He trained on the B-26 Marauder and was assigned to the 386th Bomb Group, 554th Bomb Squadron (medium bomber), operating from England and later on the Continent with Ninth Air Force. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. and later promoted to 1st Lt. and served as a co-pilot/first pilot.

He flew B-26 Marauder combat missions over northwest Europe in World War II. On a return flight from a successful bombing mission of a German fuel dump at Foret d'Andainne, France, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he and other surviving crewmembers bailed out and were captured by Germans forces. Mark was interned with other captured airmen at Luftwaffe POW camps; primary records indicate he was held at Stalag Luft I (Barth) for roughly nine to ten months.

He was liberated by advancing Allied/Russian forces in 1945 and returned to U.S. military control; he was separated from active service in September 1945.

Mark died in 2001 at age 79. He is buried at the First Lutheran Church Memorial Garden in Greensboro.