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8-1 7 FLYING FORTRESS HaSq,346th,347th,348th,416th 395 COMBAT MISSIONS � AFRICA - EUROPE 943 1945 • THE 99th Bomb Group Historical Society Newsletter 11 Vol. 8 Q d·/ e_ n'-'r /"V/.,KiJts'r.,v Dall Issue. Nov 1 No. 6 J Cf ,J 1988 1988-1989 SOCIETY OFFICERS, HUEGLIN PRESIDENT - JOE KENNEY VICE-PRESIDENT - FRED HISTORIAN - GEORGE F. COEN TREASURER - WALTER BUTLER F, COEN SECRETARY - DICK DEMPSEY EDITOR - GEORGE THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

GPEETINGS:

We are only four and one-half nonths from our next Reunion at McAllen, Texas on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of February, 1989. The tine is nnving faster than any one of us would like. In speaking with out Reunion Chairman Jeff Waguespack, he tells me that the McAllen Charrber of OJrrmerce will mail the preliminaries along with regist­ ration and all other uertinent infonnation on the 99th Bomb Grouo Relll1ion. You should have received that information bv this time. In any event we need to make our reservations very soon. Look forward to another wonderful 99th Banb Group Re­ union. I am in correspondance with Milton Radovsky, 10710 Lockridge Dr., Silver Springs, MD 20901. _Milton was a Uavigator in a B-24 Banber of the 461st Banh Group, 15th Air Force and he was shot dCMn over Linz, Austria on the 25th of July, 1944 -when we all hit_ the Hennann C':r0ering Tank Wurks at Linz. He is writing a book regarding that particular mission and vX>uld be most appreciative of hearing from those of us who flew that ''rrean" one. I was on that one and I know there were at least 299 nnre of us that had that experience in our Group. In any event it -would certainly help him in his most extensive research and canpilation of that one. He'd like to hear fra:n the Ground Crews as well giving accotmt of what they did in getting ready for it and what they had in. battle· damage to rB9adi.r -when we returned. 2 3

Richard Fabiniak, one of our 99th men, attended the Merrorial Dedication of the Swiss In regard to the Eight Air Force, which was overdressed, overpaid, oversexed, �nd over Internees Association at Wright Patterson Air Force Base on Septerrber 9th. He infor­ in dear old 8JtA.1.bi., there were a number of indications that an imbalance �as obvious. I med us that there is no side walk leadi.."t"J.g to rn.rr 99th Banh f';r01..m Merrorial and that it often heard reference to the F.B.1.--Forgotten Bastards of Italy, and I partially remember e appeared that the grass was not trampled chm indicating that no-one was going up to the pamphlet issued in Naples before shipping Stateside that stated, "You too can b a e a view our Merrorial. He believes we need to have that sidevalk comoleted leading up to gentleman even though you were at Anzio or in �h Fifth Wing." In late 1944,_ we hosted our Merrorial and I rrrust agree with that. 'This is something we will take up at our squadron of Eighth A.F crews on a shuttle bombing R.O.N. By chance or by choice, they were Board of Directors meeting at ncAllen, Texas to correct this problan. We thank Vic put up in tents in a very muddy section of our area. It was nice to hear the outraged Fabiniak for his observation and concern. That concern is ours as well. remarks of classmates who forme�ly extolled the advantages of barracks life in England as e that ex sts between Again, let's get our reservations in to Jeff so that this Reunion vn.11 run srroothly opposed to our bivouac in Italy. Th re was always the usual rivalry � e I knew, it was never and help us to have those vital reservations in time for that Confederate Air Force units. Howev r, it was intense, good-natured, and as far as program at Harlingen. I believe this is popular and for that reason we need to be malicious. certain that we do have a place to stay. Look forward to this one. It has long been my opinion that a nation can never afford a war because it decimates its most valuable asset--its youth. Most specifically, its movers and doers. We have left ._'-"-_:-r-_ e e e e �..1:.e.;.y1,1;,�..,,... our best p opl� in for ign graves and had they survived, th y most c rtainly would be _ ee �aking a n ded _impact on today's manners and morals, to say nothing of our politics. This LETTERS is why I contribute what little I can and I know that you will commemorate old friends past and presen�, in your history of the Fifteenth Air Force. Thank you, and if I can b; Captain Robert G. Mack of further s ervice, please do not hesitate to call on me. 888 St. Andrews Drive Respect fully, Destin, Florida 32541 Bob Mack Dear Professor Marcus, ADDENDUM: Thank you for your letter and the monograph. Needless to say, both are well o Interpreters scanned the fighter frequencies and picked up information as to where appreciated. lf you do not desire the return of the monograph, I will send it on to our they were being directed. historian, Mr. G eorge Coen. Your comments in regard to a busy schedule fall on receptive o The Fifth Wing reference applies to the one wing of B-17s--the other four wings were eyes because 1 am a student at Pensacola Junior College and 1 often observe Professor Duke "Boxcars"--the German euphemism for B-24. operating at full pace. o I am opposed to wars whereby our young people die for political expediency--but I The e nclosed booklet, available at any convenient bookstore, is quite interesting and surely am not a pacifist in this world gone mad. it may offer a small insight into the categorizaton of missions. I don't think that the establishment of mission units was the sole providence of the theatre commander. There are j�fi�ll®fi�ll@lli�J@J too many factors to consider, the least of which would be the attitude and influence of e e e another theatre command r operating the same type of equipment, alb it not th same type of 84-34 86th StrPPt mission. e e The Fift enth Air Force flew a majority of long-rang missions--a practice that �oodhev�n, N.Y. 11421 started in Africa and continued until the end of the war. We learned early on to conserve July 14, both fuel and oxygen. The three cockpit members, Henry Lewandowski, Paul Noak and I were 1988 the only ones who used oxygen until we cleared 10,000-14,000 f eet. There were a number of o,.er Jul�ss times that we ran out of fuel in specific tanks and lost the corresponding engine($) in sight of the airfield or in the traffic pattern. Oddly enough, fuel was not a problem on I was in th� 348th of thP 99th aft�r you pionppr9 the X missions because we did not have the demands of formation flying to contend with. hed med� The overall average of a crew of my circa was 35-40 sorties as opposed to 50 missions. th� job PftSi�r and I want to expr�ss my This would appear to be about 100 hours more than a crew flying 25 missions, which was the congreduletions to you average for the Eight Air Force. I e e e would think that the xt nt of targ t defense and for 8 Job •�11 don"• Not having att"nd�d pr�vious length of time to reach the primary objective and return were important factors in r�-unions I determining double oil single credit for missions. 1 am sure that George Coen can offer a c�n't makp comparisons but can say that more positive comment on this. you did en outstanding Ted Arthurs, who is a neighbor and a retired Command Sergeant Major of the 4th job. Along with thP. help of your frip Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade, is fond of saying that things could be worse. He spent nds you provid�d 8 p�r- a year in a rucksack outfit in the Vietnam Jungle at a time when he could have fit f�ct atmosph�r� for thp comfortably behind a desk at headquarters. He and I both believe that if you are exposed me�ting. I might also add that th� pPforte to combat long enough_, you will ultimately achieve zero attrition. e ln Vietnam, th cap was put forth by all th@ offic�re one year for troopers and six months for officers. The shorter tour was to expose more of the Historical Soci�ty is grpetly officers to combat experience. This is a factor with missions. The survivors are valuable epprpciat"d by all m�mb"rs. to the future of the Air Force itself. There is also the old adage that I will try not to Pl ,-as,. acc�pt my "Hip - Hip �orrey" mangle, which states that one can never plumb the depths of man's endurance if he has hope. in th"�splrlt When I flew element lead, I carried interpreters who were Holland or German Jews whose in which it is givnn. families had been exterminated by the Nazis. The young men had no cap that i knew of and Looking e e e back - th�re erP. e f�• thoughts th ir hop most probably was to destroy the madmen who had devastated their liv s. I would •hi c h mey b" IIDrth conaidPring say there was a d efinite psychological curve related to mission requirements. A common joke was that when you got to 47 missions, you started to take Atabrine tablets again for futur" rP.•Unions. because you knew that the light at the end of the tunnel was not another train. I should 1. - Would it bn ".o.ssibl•. point out that a good number of crews did volunteer for a tour of duty in another theatre � " to PUbli e h a liet of th� ett�nd�ps 1 of operations after they had returned to the States. 4 5 2. - As th� turnov�r on Combat Crews wee• continuing proc.ss. Dear George 29 July 1988 Wo.uld it be possible to in.dicett11 on .future "Rosbr Lbts•• th"' datee or e"rvice in•. thp various equedrons '1 Poesibly Enclosed list is my computer's "second whack" at the aircraft list. e solicitation in th� N�wel"'tt"'r would produe� th"' additional I came up with a few discrepancies that only you or the members can information frOffl th"' m"'mberehip. I'm sure it would entail resolve: " lnt or extra work, }\11t em also. eure thf!! 1nforlll9tion would eprv" as e m·emory jogger end of extr"me inhr111•t to 11oet of a. Newsletter (NL) Sep 85, p.6, picture of plane. 712 is readable us survivor•. but it looks like the other nrs. may be readable from original photo. 3. - A possible income .911Jn.....retor for ruture r11-unions. A group Can you make them out? picture or th@ ettendene of @ech Squadron llltlUld be of grpet intP-rest to the g�nerel m�mbershi�. I suspect that et a b. NL Nov 86, p. 24. A/C from 346 BS crashed on takeoff reported r"asonabl9- fee copies would 90 like hot-cakes. by James R LaCuran. Ser. nr. of A/C?

In any cas� thnfort l.audt!rdale re-union wes a r�elly delightfull c. NL Mar 85, p. 20. Report of Mission 128 (according to Mission List this should be mission 129) states one aircraft lost from the forward to many of Group on 10 Jan 44. _;�� // / m !fr!J-0 thPffl• Sincerely, 1 S'et.-, d. NL May 86 letter states the A/C the crew flew on 25 Jun 43 Tony Robinson - 348th '44&45 was n�med Our Favorite Bitch (229468). Your May 88 list gives the name Vicki. Which is correct? c/p e. 232071, Turnip Termite, must have been renamed after I left Jo11. Kpnney the Group in the summer of 1944 to Nine Wolves and Poppa. I don't Walter Butl..,r blame the crew that did it because that sure was an ugly termite. Harvt11y Jp.n!'inge 8426 Lopez Drive It even fogged my film when I took a picture of it. Al Schro111ti'�r Tampa, Florida 33615 Cp,orge Coen f. Al Henke letter in NL Jul 86, p. 24 states A/C 244 was named Dick Ch.,npeey 17 May 1988 Widow Maker and flown by the Wilson crew. In NL Mar 87, p. 24, he states the Bruce Borman crew flew 244 (believe this is 23244) Dear George, and Regarding the listing of tail number and names in the Newsletter of May 1988, Tail it's name was Smiley. Something wrong here! number 25948 had the nickname of Thunderbolt given by the ground crew. However, the plane g. In your May 88 list you have Ramblin Raider 229413 and Ramblin crew commander was Howard C. Ca�er. It was a B-17F that traded to the 97th Born Group for a B-17 sometime in November of 1943. It was shot down on 19 December 1943 but was being Raider 229606 MIA at Foggia. I deleted 606 since that was supposed to flown by a Lt Dawson of the 97th. be an 8th AF plane. It might help if you checked my article that was published in the Newsletter in November of 1984. That's about it for now. Too bad we didn't have the record keeping Your listing also shows 25832 being downed over Augsburg on 19 December 1943. There that the 8th AF did. The Group I flew with there has the complete were no planes downed over Augsburg ttrnt date--we could not get through to that target or picture of every mission -- full plane ser. nr., complete crew list, to Munich, so we bombed Innsbruck. My crew was shot down in 832 on that date over that take off and landing times, position in formation and over target, etc. target. Actually, the crew was Carver's crew but he was still iri""a hospital in Africa and Maybe that is one reason the 8th AF has had more books and articles 1 was flying his crew that day. The airplane was assigned to Ju l.ie Horowitz but he was written about it than the 15th. Was counting the MIA's for the 99th off to Capri with his crew--one of the first of our crews to go to rest camp. None of the and they seem kind of low. The Group I flew with in England flew only crew listed in the May 1988 Newsletter as being on board 25832 were members of my crew that 300 missions and lost 176 planes. The 100 BG (in our Wing) flew 306 date--19 Dec 1943. I think I named all of them in the article published in November of with 219 losses. And the 95 BG lost 196 planes in flying 320 missions. 1984. B�t that's the way things were. May airplane was getting a complete overhaul--new engines--the works, but as far as I know, it had not yet been officially assigned to me. The plane had belonged to Major Max .__.keep counting Davis who had finished his tour and was en route home. The 832 I was flying had 110 missions on it and the last one on 19 Dec 43 made 111. Dick Drain, 416th BS �� it must have""been an original with the 97th when they first arrived in England. Box 664 Hope this helps in correcting the listing. Westcliffe CO 81252 As ever Cy Stidd Dear Cy; 10sep88 Here at HQ we are answering mail from last December, and you expect service within 60 days! Remember, Cy, Romeo wasn't bilked in a day! All of these things willbe talcen care of WTRIO (When the Rush Is over). S eriously, , we are overwhelmedA at the moment and have been unable to give proper attention to the plane list here. But we are now working with Dick Drain andwe do think that he will introduce a note of sanity into the plane 1 ist". best george 7

Dear Walter; I have been reading (2nd time) a good book, "Those Who Fall" by John Muirhead, a day to day account of a pilot in the 301st Bomb Group. The Dear Mr. Butler; d 99th is mentioned also. I would like to recommend it. d clipping in the Union Bulletin where you are trying to fin I rea a R.J.Willis crew m embers of the 99th·Bomb Squadron. d There were two that worked for my_Father in their off time an who d became friends of our family. We wrote to them till they were reporte LL.Hawkins missing in action. I have often wondered if they returned home. Their 29 Birch Ave. e names were: Joe Janon of New York and Bob Larsen of Minn. Don't rem mber Bacton, Stowmarket for sure the towns they came from. I have some letters here that were Suffollc 1Pl4 4NT returned tous by the Air Force. Tel. Bacton781561 d e d them to me and if you know If you have their ad resses please s n Dear Mr. Coen, them, tell themto write to me. . I'm writing to ask your permission to reprint Colonel (now e d Hunt. They have since My parents' names wer Willis an Kathryn M/General)Upthegrove' s outgtand i ng 194 3 tal le in the March 1989 issue passed away. of "Framlingham Times: please. (As in the May 1988 issue of the 99th d anme is Thellisa. My brother was My name is E ith and my sister's BG H. Society Newsletter). Billy, since passed away also. Thank you in anticipation� �ip�gfelvL Ian Hawkins_ God Bless you' Thank you Edith Hunt Pfiffner 1210 Ruth Avenue, Walla Walla WA 99362 P.S. There were 57,027 R.A.F. Bomber Command casualties (i.e. K.I.A.) during WWII and it remains a national scandal that R.A.F. Bomber Command Dear Edith; e d ed d Bob, personnel w re not awarde a 1934-1945 campaign m al. While we do not have any pertinent information about Joe an e e e ember them. sur ly on of our read rs will rem Dear Ian; God Bless! e_ 3e-o� We are delighted to give permission to reprint General Upthegrove's J� speech. It may interest you to know that th e Upthegroves were at our Bill Redding July 1988 reunionin Florida, where we 99ers attempted to thank 'Our Colonel' 183 Clearview Dr. for the training �hich enabled so many of us to survive to become great­ George, Midlothian TX 76065 grandfathers. e e e Greetings e It may also b of inter st that many of our young r generation from T xas. I hope d you ha a fine reunion in d are pressing for a return to medieval warfare in the name of humanity. George, I had written you Flori a. e earlier last year about d d ed e e e d e Th A/c # I gave you was my a 's aircraft. The suppos b n fits of alternate m tho s of killing ar not obvious not totally corre� t · I d e right. The serial# �a the last three d igits to us ex-infantrym n. was 42 32041. I rec� ived this Doe from MACR 6518. d d HONOR, VICTORY, s anyone have a picture for this I look forwar to rea ing your book COURAGE, serial# in your collection. Pounds. published by the95thI, Bomb Group Association, 18.95 thanks salem aleicum Bill Redding e Dear Bill; Dear George; 22s p88 Sept. 8.9.10 the Swiss Internees had their third reunion. We had over 100 in attendance, a good turn-out for 286 members. I was we will e . s arch the files WTRio,· but meanwhile, able to att�nd only one hour, for the memorial dedication. George, out there in perhaps somebody the blue has a snapshot. when I was in Dayton at the Memorial Park, the first nlace I went to geo w�s our memorial. It looked sick out there in the gr�ss, which was wet Dear Walter: wit� dew, and the grass was not tramped down, from people going to look at it. It is the only memorial without a sidewalk leading to it. I I am trying to locate the remaini'ng e . crew m mbers o f a B-17 stationed ent to the office and asked why there was no sidewalk. They told me in North Africa. The aircraft was named SAD � SACK. it was up to our Bomb Group to put it in, and it was the only one without My brother Don was Radio Operator and flew 50 m i ssions during his tour. a sidewalk. I received an interesting letter from Robert Moser, who was I would appreciate your help if possible. thanks flying on our wing that Feb.27 mission over Augsburg. Their B-17 was Mike Shrein P.O.BOX 3 Bensalem, PA 19020 blown up over the target, all were PWs and the pilot, Cornelius Shields Dear Mike; was killed on that mission. I have the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report), d d d d an he requested for me to sen him a copy of it. It ha 31 pages. If we ha a f ew more clues we e e might b able to shorten th search A 99er - Vic Fab. There were four B-17 Groups in �orth Africa from e e April to Dec mb r. Dear Fab; Our plane record� are incomplete, but Dick Drain is gathering e th. d at and m�y h�ve an idea. Also, e e � the information will probably com Thank you for the copies of the MACR. As w approach the publication i s1ow Y· T�is will go to Ped Magness of d e � the 97th, but I o not know of a 99BG History we will try to assemble all of th MACRS. weth er we still have contacts e e for th 301st and th 2nd Bomb Group. Good luck to the Internees. I will pass on your comments about the Memorial. We barefoot GOOD LUCK e de g orge types would never notice the lack of si walks. best

6 6 l \ 8 Mass• Tu,..� 9,Tan-y-Buarth, Bethel, CAERNARFON, LL55 1UW. U.K.

Tel. 248 670632. May 3 1988.

Dear George, Thank you for taking the time to talk to me about the 99th B.G. and Tortorella Airfield when I telephoned you.I was very pleased to receive the newsletter, which I think you are doing a great job on. As promised I am enclosing two copies of the map of the area to the east of Foggia which I believe is where Tortorella Airfield was situated. The area I have edged in green on one of the maps was the site of the Regia Aeronautica/Luftwaffe airfield known as Foggia #2,and as I think many 15th A.F. airfields were built on these existing sites, this may be the exact location of Tortorella. If you can put me in contact with anyone who served at Tortorella and can recall any details of the airfield I would be most grateful. The sort of information I need is the position of the runway, taxiways, aircraft dispersal/parking areas, control tower, bivouac areas or any thing connected with the time it was home for the 99th B.G. I am hoping to compile an accurate record of the airfields used by the 15th A.F. in Italy as a lot of work has been done over here on the bases of the 8th A.F. but nothing appears to have been done on the bases of the 15th. As you know there is nothing left of the airfields i·n Italy, unlike the more permanent structure of the airfields in this country,so by corresponding with ex- 15th A.F. personnel appears to be the only way of gaining any information on this subject. The scale of the map incidentally is 1:100,000 so 1 mile =% inch. PRESS RELEASE S THE SATURDAY EVENING POST August 5, 1944 Best regards, YANKEES ON THE STEPPES � BY EDMUND STEVENS frv Moscow by Wireless Craig R Pugh. ;- The young fighters of our Eastern Bomber Command are not only plastering Nazis from Soviet bases but are also Dear Craig; Thank you for the It was good to talk to you on the phone. winning Russian hearts, setting a pattern 11 pr1n· tit in the Newsletter of the map of Foggia. I sha send for postwar understanding. two Copl·es some of our G entle Readers will along with your letter and probably I was never in you need. As a card-carrying African, the information george Italy, so I cannot help, 10 11

Had anyone publicly prophesied a y ear ago that American bombers would presently be e s s e op rating from ba e in th Soviet Union, he would have e ncountered skepticism verging on e An American Army interpreter who, come what might, had to keep a clear tongu in his complete _incredulity. The obstacles, physical and otherwise, seemed overwhelming. Yet s s trick of dumping his vodka under the table. Noting that today, amid the vastness ?f the Russian Steppe, silvery Forts of our Army Air Forces head, ma tered the leight-of-hand s s h e e ndless toasts to Roosevelt, e e s s the American chief of taff wa having a ard time with th Eastern_ Command ar taking off r_ gular ly on mi sion into enemy territory. This e s e s friendship, he let his superior in on his littl ecr t, accomplished fact 1s the greatest evidence y-et produced of improving relations between the Stalin and la ting Soviet-American s s s s s r e next banquet, the chief bungled and was caught U.S.A. and the U.S. S.R., and a tribute to the men of both countries whose imagination and but with di a trou re ult . Fo at th h e ss s watched him with an eagle foresight made it possible. red-handed trying to dump his vodka. T ereaft r, the Ru ian eye, and always made sure he drank it • . Set down in the midst of a Nazi-devastated area liberated by the Red army, I saw a s s e All e es s s s The retreating Germans left the u ual havoc and de truction in their wak . Unit d Stat Army camp which i as familiar looking a an American ba eball diamond. s s s and most of the living quarter were Everything from mess �its and tinned meat to seventeen-ton gasoline trucks is s trictly G.I. airfield hangar are a mass of ruin and rubble, e e s s required, e s e e e s e e e either burned or blown up. Cons qu ntly, much improvi ation and make hift were Th per onn l, offic rs and nli ted m n, hail from practically v ry one of the h e e se e s, with their traditional hospitality, did t eir forty-eight states. _They all admit that Russia is about the last place in the world they specially at th out t. But th Russian s s s e h in one of the few e e e s e s best to make the American comfortable. The fir t American w re oused ev r expect d to land 1n and th y are till rubbing th ir eye and wondering how they got e s e s e ss s had carefully demin d the here. buildings that had e cap d complete de truction. Th Ru ian area a s s oon as they retook it from the Germans, but one day a Red-army sentry discovered a s e e e h e Mo t of them lik it fin and fe l quite at ome. To begin with, the s urrounding susp1c1ous wire. Sappers were summoned, and they proceeded to trace the wire. Imm diately landscape, with its �ndless fields of waving wheat, lush pastures and leafy forests,might after, the Americans were asked to vacate their quarters while the sappers gingerly removed e s well b �mewhere 1n the Midwest. Such country is a feast for eyes s tarved for the sight several tons of cleverly hidden high explosive. of vegetation after dreary months on the African desert or on the barren, sun-scorched e e e to complete harmony and understanding was the language difficulty, h1l�s of Southern Italy. The people, too, look clean and h ealthy, quite unlike North Th chi f barri r s s s e this by providing a sprinkling African Arabs or poverty-stricken Southern Italians. Also, everyone is friendly and and the Army per onnel department did it be t to mitigat e s e ss h Polish, Czech or some other hosp e s e e e s e of m n with om knowledge of Ru ian or, failing t at, of itabl , a�d de p �t the _langu�g difficulty, it didn' t tak �he G.I. long to mak e s e that would give them a head start in making themselves und r tood. friends bot� with Russ�an soldiers with whom they work and with the people of the near-by kindr d Slavic tongue e ese e e in Odessa, Jarov, when he is off duty as town, especially the girls, whose looks, they say, compare favorably with home standards. On of th is Lt Alb rt Jarov, of S attle. Born operations-control officer, is busy thinking up ways to revisit his native city. Jarov's e . The idea for an American bomber base in Russia was first proposed by Gen. Hap Arnold assistant is Lt David Morriss, of Washington, D.C., who studied Russian at the Georg town se e e e him lf, but two oth r m n, an Am rican and a Russian deserve the main credit for the Foreign Service School. His last station was in New Guinea. actual setting up of the bases and for the spirit of friendship and understanding that has e s of Russian do their best by means of sign prev�1led t�ere throughout between the two nations. They are Brig Gen Alfred Kessler, the But ven tho e who don't know a word h s e ss, a s when an American mechanic American chief of staff, and Maj Gen Alexei Perminov of the Red air force commander of all language, althoug they don;t alway get th ir point acro e s e s s ss h e e s tried to ask his Russian helper for his cigarette light r, and the latter ran and got a Rus ian p r onnel at the ba e. Ke ler is t e rugg d outdoor typ , forty�five year old. s e e e when some perfectly harmless Engli h H� 1s a New Jerseyi�e by �irth, a Californian by adoption, and a West Pointer. The day the blowtorch. Som tim s minor difficulti s occur s ss e ssian general first bombers flew in, MaJ Gen Robert Walsh, freshly arrived from South America, assumed expression sound like a fighting word in Ru ian. At on point, a Ru e s s ess tables command, but Kessler has remained on. complained to the American chief of staff that th Ru sian girl waiting on m wanted to quit, asserting that the Americans had insulted them. Matters were �,,,_,,,__ From gene�als to priv e e s ss s e s e s e e e s a �tes, th Am rican and Ru ian work d id by id pr paring satisfactorily explained when it was found that the Americans had mer ly been a king for quarters, clearing runways, installing equipment and making ready to receive planes and second helping of peaches, which in Russian sounded suspiciously like a request for combat personnel. Early in the game, the Americans discovered that the direct rather than something quite different. the devious, method was best in dealing with their Russian associates. If you wanted e s of the language difficulty, as did a something or didn't like s omething, you got on better if you came right out and said so Occasionally some practical jok r take advantage e e sian soldiers to address the American senor openly, without hinting and beating around the bush. certain G.l. who want d to teach th Rus officers as "jerk". But there's one Russian word all Americans were taught right off the e Thus, in the early days before the bulk of personnel and shipments of Army rations had bat, and that is "Stai," which means "Halt." When a Russian sentry, including thos arrived, the Americans ate with the Russians, who provided food and ran the mess. The guarding camp, shouts "Stai," he really means it seriously. Americans have been taught to ss s s e e e e s s e s e e e Ru. ians oon di. cov r . d the Am rican liking for nic juicy teak . But at th ame tim ' answer "Americanski soldat," which immediately identifies him, sp cially when it is s1�ce some Americans failed to do full justice to the large helpings of boiled cabbage, e pronounced with an unmistakable American acc nt. which was the only available green vegetable at that time of the year, the Russians � dozen roun�-faced ss s e s e e s . Ru ian girl in bulging G.I. coveralls help conclud d that American were ntir ly carnivorou . r out on K . p The o penrn the at o� cans e s h e e e s e s and dumping. the cont nt into huge pails, a�d So, for a w il , with clock-like monotony, th Am rican got nothing but juicy st ak �1��}n � f e / \ then :\: � u on_ h c ow 1ne • There's e he e s es s nothing fragil about t m , and once wh en t _ three times daily. Though this diet palled on th palate, the American h itated to ay G. s e e e o � wer stagg r1ng _unc rtainly with the weight of a mighty s ; e h s ee s were finally prompted to � e oup p ail one of the g1r s anything, for f ar of hurting t e Ru sians' f ling ,.until they mo ion d them to set it e e s down, and th n lifted it easily and carried e do so by sheer desperation. The Russian answer was, "Why didn't you t ll us in the fir t it �naid d. s In tead of trying to memorize e s · · place?" th girl ' R u� 1an names, the boys in the cookhous provided e e have them. with Am rican. nicknames · S h uc moni � s in their stay in Russia, the Americans were introduced to the vodka treatment. . ers a Fatty, Tubby, Blondie and Freckles Early are. gr ap h1ca11 Y de scr1p e e e s 0 s t1v ; on of th girl is called "New York" he ere was a party or banquet they found they were e xpected to drink toa t after s e for a p t r W never th c fr K v. g r s tak al� this badi�age toast, bottoms up, tossing off whole tunblerfuls of the liquid dynamite, and that anyone !���:b �� � t°� :��� :: � with puz:1e � ;��� n :ti;:; t�g o � tr i :y / th : e he s e e s e e s s s r e mer1cans. Besid s t ir wages, they ge ee who flinched from the ordeal wa y d a kanc . Th y di covered variou device fo s uare dail m o 0 · t thr a h h e e e e s such as s wallowing chunks of butter to protect the stomach h !::: � ri v d on 1t, though th y reducing the dire ff ct , c mpl ;in t �t !��� i�:n \;d i� ��o :�e \ �� : ;t��� · � d e d h y t eir sour ca e s lining. black bread. bbag , soup and 12 13

The people on the field had a surprise when Lt Gen Ira Eaker, commander of Allied Air American and Russian mechanics who work together are trying hard to learn one Forces in the Me diterranean, stepped off the lead plane. His first act was to pin the another's language . Oft�n they plac� bets as to who can make the fastest progress, but, in Legion of Merit on Maj Gen Perminov, handing him a citation signed personally by President general, the G_.I.s admi th_e Russians are better . All Russians carry around little � Roosevelt. note�ooks in which they Jot d�wn Eng�ish w�rds and phrases spelled phonetically with Russia� characters, to�ether with their Russian equivalents. As a rule, the crews trained As each crew came off the field, it reported to I ntel ligence, and then headed for the to s�rvice bo�bers consist of three Russians under the direction of one American. The chow line and rest at camp. But despite the long flight, few were in the mood for repose. Russians a�signed �o this work are picked mechanics and the Americans are amazed at the Having come all this distance, the men wanted to see things. Although previously there had ease an d swiftness with which they catch on. been some talk of the town being off-limits until the planes took off on their return n . This Russi�n _aptitude e�plains why, wh�n bombers came in for the first time, they were flight, in less than no time most of the combat crews were headed for tow . They were quickly a�d �fficient�y se�viced . The Russians, for their part, are pleasantly astonished accorded a heroes' welcome. at �he _w ill mg way in. whic_h our boys show them an ything they want to know without any For the next couple of days the Americans were in evidence everywhere. Like all hesitation . After wo�king_with our men on our machines and equipment all d ay, the Russian American troops, they were inveterate souvenir hunters, an d every one of them was bent on mechanics attend special night classes �onducted by their own engineering instructions, and getting some memento to take back with him as evidence of his trip to Russia. anyone who fails to measure up to the high standard of aptitude is promptly transferred elsewhere. Thus, besid �s serving a strategic p�rpose, the bases function �s training In forty-eight hours they had conquered the town and learned more about the Russian schools for the Russians in the structure and operation of American equipment. people and got closer to them than many foreigners do in a year. Said Maj John S. Cunningham, of Milton, Massachusetts, "These people go around holding their heads up, and Contact bet�een Americans and Russians at the base isn 't confined to working hours. make every effort to look presentable. This is more like the States than anything I've Almost every evening there's some form of entertainment. During intermissions a Russian seen since I left home." translates the program announcements into halting English,and if there hap;ens to be a comedy act,_ there are brave attempts to explain the jokes. Everyone - laughs ' whether he Though all the boys made out pretty well, the biggest success was probably scored by gets the point or not. Lt William Dacko, of Roslindale, Massachusetts. The son of Russian parents, he learned to speak and write the language at a private school run by an Orthodox priest in Boston. This _ Shows are usually followed by dances, and since there are only three American nurses was his first opportunity to use it on Russian soil. On his first visit to town, he met a in camp and n � Wacs, most o'. t�e G.I.s d ate Russian girls and teach them to jive or cut a girl named Valka, who took Dacko an d his budd y to her house and introduced them to her rug to the time of a hybrid Jazz orchestra. Singing is also a popular pastime . All this sister and family, and fed them a substantial meal of borsch and potatoes with sour cream. social activity is permeated with the warmest spirit of camaraderie ' d espite the obstacle of language. Unfinished Business I met a group of five inseparable companions--Joe from New York Shorty from The next d ay being Sunday, Valka took Dacko to church. Dacko was enjoying himself so ' d n d Pittsburgh, and Nikolai, Kostya, an d Misha from Leningrad, Moscow, and Rostov, thoroughly that he was rather ow cast at the prospect of an early eparture, especially as Valka promised him her photograph the next time he came to see her. After two days of respect�vely. For �he most part, they just sat around and grinned. When I saw them the being grounded by weather, most of the fliers were eager to get airborne, but many, like two Amer�cans were initiating their Russian side-kicks into the mysteries of chewing gum, Dacko had unfinished business in town, so it was with mixed emotions that they assembled �nd �ry�ng to get over the pant that you weren 't supposed to swallow it. This American for briefing on the evening of the third d ay. The news that they would be returning to institution has al!eady become pop lar in the neighborhood,and only the restricted supply � Russian bases and not flying on back to Italy after the next mission was received with preve�ts �he habit from taking firm root . Another American institution that is gaining a following is baseball. general satisfaction. n Cullen and the four An air of excited expectancy reminiscent of the night before Christmas pervaded the The most carefree members of the Easter Command are Col Paul They talk casually base on the eve of the scheduled arrival of the first bombers. High-ranking United States other pilots who fly P-38s on photographic missions over target areas. n d the Eastern Command Army and Red Army officers were on hand for the occasion as well as large groups of of running over to Capri for the week e d. When they transferre to Anglo-Americans and Soviet press correspondents. Amb. Avereli Harriman and his daughter bases, part of their group remained behind . Kathy arrived that afternoon. Among the latter was Lt George Myers,s twenty-one, of Flor a, Illinois, and Indianapolis. The day before the bombers took off for Russia, he was sent out on a N�xt morning the weather was distinctly thick, and rumor circulated to the effect that d photographic-reconnaissance mission with other members of his group. d t�e flight �ad been called o�f� We hung aroun the signal tower at the edge of the Somewhere aroun the airport, waiting for some definite word. Presently it was announced that the planes were crest of the Carpathians he lost contact with his mates. After cruising about, he spotted d d d on their way and that rad io contact had been established . Thereafter, regular reports some planes in the distance an flew towar them to investigate. They prove to be five German Focke-Wulf 190s. they chased him, but he outdistanced them . apprised us of their progress. Ass the time for their arrival appro ached, medical personnel appeared on t�e scene, wi�h stretchers and ambulances, but happily, as the planes Lost in the Sky landed in swift succession, not a single flare was fired to indicate casualties. By that time, as he was running low on gas, he decided to head for Russian instead of The sole man on the entire mission to require medical attention, we later found out, trying to get back to Italy. On the ground below he could see gun flashes, which he took was a �ombardier of a plane that had landed at another base. He was Lt John John son, of to indicate the front. Draffin,_ Kentucky, who had _to have his appendix out . He had felt pain the previous day, d n but like many o hers, o hearing they were slated to fly to Russia, he determined to go Seeing_ a good-sized city with an airport, he ma e for it, but before landi g he buzzed _ � � d along. In similar spir t, when one of the planes developed engine trouble shortly after the airport just to make sure it was insi e the Russian lines. As he raced low over the � field, ack-ack and small-arms fire opened up on him. It was distinctly unhealthy, so he �ts tak�-off f om an Italian base, the crew radioed back to the field to have a spare plane � gathered d d in readine s, in order that they could land and immediately transfer to it an catch up with altitude an flew on. Checking his map, he discovere the hot place was Jassy, � d d nd the formation, so as not to miss out. For the most part, the men of these combat crews and . eci ed rightly it was still in German ha s. were veterans. Many had more than fifty missions chalked up to their credit which would no�mally entit�e them to leave, but they had stayed on in order to take part i� this first flight to Russian. 14 15 War Diary Presently he saw water which looked like the Black Sea . He headed inland and , seeing another city with an airport, circles and landed . This proved to be a city on the lower Dnieper . The Russian airport authorities were puzzled by the irregularity of it all , as two �age s of . this �upefb account of one man's service Myers had neither passport nor other means of identification beyond his uniform and dog we had read only this month 's newsletter. we set it aside for copying for inclusion 1n tag . They were also perp lexed that neither pilot nor plane carried any arms whatever. when which answers However , they soo_n sized up the situation, and the colonel took we are indebted to our own George Frame for thi s account P�otographic planes don't. , and from his recollections him home , where he gave him sup per and lodgings and introduced him to his wife and a lot of que stions. George has almost total recall daughter, who welcomed him as a hero . Next morning he was flown up to an American base. I can almost see Africa . Having no foreknowledge of the Eastern Command 's existence, he was astonished to find We thank you, George . American bombers parked all over the field, and still more surprised a few minutes later when , in the midst of a typical American camp , he ran into four members of his group . The summer of 1936, an old man near our farm in eastern New Mexico From commanding officers down, the men of the Eastern Command are keenly conscious of h�d an old Curtis Robin airplane and he would let me fly with him. Often their unique responsibilities--of the fact that they are here not merely to do usual times he would land in our cow pasture, and we would take off from routine jobs required of Air Force ground crews everywhere . They know they are a selected there. I was really excited about flying. I must have been about 15 or bunch with a diplomatic mission to perform ; that it is up to them to prove , both the the 16 years old. Th is old guy would let me handle the controls sometime s people here and the folks back home that Americans and Russians can get along and work which consisted of two large wheels on the flight controls. Not long together harmoniously at close quarters , and to show our Eastern ally that the American after that an older friend of mine joined the U.S. Air Corps and was people want to be friends with them . The progress made so far is up to the best assigned to a bomber group at Kelley or March Field . At the time I expectations, and augurs well for the future of Soviet-American relations, both now and think he wa s flying the Boeing B-18'. I was eager to join the U.S.Air after the war. As one G.I. put it, "For all our differences, we and the Russkis are very Co:ps, but I wasn't old enough , nor was I out of high school. This much like each other." friend would write to me and tell me about the U.S. Air Corps and all of the excitment ••••it sounded exc iting to me at the time , etc. When World War II started in 1939, and when Hitler invaded Poland and drove across France, I would keep up with all of the events as I had FORMER LOCAL MAN LANDS BIG a short wav� radio which would bring in all of the action. Many time s I BOMBER ON A "WHEEL AND HALF" could get Hitler 's speeches direct from Germany . Many of his speeche s WITH THE 15TH ARMY AIR FORCE--A blown tire on take-off from an Italian base were way �nto the night , but I would stay up to hear them. At the time failed to keep one B-17 AAF Flying Fortress pilot from flying his 50th mission and coming I had an. idea that the United States would not be able to stay out of back to make a wobbly but perfect landing on a "wheel and a half." the war in Europe ••••sooner or later · we 'd be in it regardless. It was on January 29 that 2nd Lt George W. A. Brandt, Jr., a 24-year-old former RCAF pilot of Oceanside , Cal. (708 N. Pacific St. ) thundered his Fortress, "Queenie," down the Life Maga�ine , which came out eve�y week would show the Battle of runway. The target was the railroad yards at Fabriano, Italy. Brandt was shooting for the Britton. It would show the RAF vs �e rmany 's Luftwaffe . The magazine half-century mark. would feature actual gun camera shots of the RAF when they would down a "I was about two-thirds down the runway when the right tire blew out," he said . German plane. Also , I kept informed about the Flying Tigers in "Luckily I had flying speed, and yanked the plane into the air. China . "Once up , I tried retracting the wheels, but the blown tire was at such an angle that the wheel wouldn't go into the [nacelle?]. I sweated around with the darn thing awhile, My folks were not to keen on me joining the U.S. Air Corp . After I trying dives and climbs until it finally went up into retracted position. finish�d high school I joined the service at Clovis, New Me xico. It was "I could have landed then, 1 suppose, but I wanted No. 50. Anyway, by this time the al"' Clovis where Cannon Air Force Base is today, is where the old Barn­ other planes had assembled in formation so I joined them and we headed for the target." St ormer would come an put on air shows. I remember one of the old pilots After a successful mission, Brandt circled his field until the runway was clear of by the name of Tex Rankin. He had his name painted upside down on his other planes. Anxious watchers gathered on the ground. The pilot elected to come in on o�d World War I Jenney. As he would would make a low pass over the his wheels rather than bang up the plane by "belly-flopping." field he would flip over so eveFyone could read his name . The old air I to ld the crew to gather in the radio room and prepare for a crash landing," Brandt shows were really exciting. There were a lot of women pilots also . I continued , "and had the engineer release the emergency hatches so we could get out in a recal� once when a woman pilot crossed the field at 200 mile s per hour hurry after landing. The I made a normal approach, using full landing flaps and as little and picked up a red flag with the wing tip not more than 10 fe et from throttle as possible." the ground . "Queenie" skimmed in and balanced delicately on its good left wheel and tail wheel until it lost speed . Then the 25 ton monster settled on the useless tire, lurched, but At Portales, New Mexico with a group of other young me n, I took the bus never wavered from a straight line. to �he Santa Fe �nduc�ion Center. On the way we stopped at Vaughn, Ne w "I kep t it straight with the two right engines and a touch of left brake," Brandt Mexi?o• At the time , in the bus station at Vaughn there were slot said . "I cut the switches. We were stop ped on the runway ." machines to play. I had about $ 10 .00 left in my pocket, so � got some The quiet, stocky pilot learned his flying with the RCAF in Canada in 1941 and first quarters and star�ed playing the machine . I must have put in two or saw service in the U.S. Air Forces as a flying sergeant in 1942 . With a commission and a thre quarters with no luck. About that time some guy� at the bus Fortress he first flew in combat in the Mediterranean Aug . 6, 1943 , with an attack on stat7ion started playing the slot ma chine , finally they gave up , so I said Messina, Sicily. Before flying No. 50, he ranged over Italy, France, Greece ' Germany ' to myself n _ what the heck", so I played one quarter ••••nothing happened, Austria and the Balkans. then I put in my last qua�ter, and behold I stuck it rich. $ 35.00 Born in Pas�dena , Brandt was graduated in 1938 from Laguna Beach, Cal, high school came rolling out . I was rich, because in 1942 thirty five dollars was �her� he was preside�t o � the senior class and was voted the school's outstanding trackman a lot of money for a young kid. This really made the other guys playing .in his last year. His wife, Ladean Brandt, lives in Baton Rouge, La. the machine mad and started cussing everyone. 16 When we reached Santa Fe , New Mexico all of us guys stayed at the After a few weeks at Sheppard , I wae given orders to ship out. Destination La Fonda Hotel while we were proce�sed at the Indu�ion Center and waiting left unknown at the time , as all military personnel were kept in the dark to be :shjlpJ!>ed out to the army camp at Fort Bliss:, Texas. When we as to which train they would be on, etc. As we ' le ft the base the train Santa Fe , we were placed on a Greyhound bus to Albuquerque . From there A in headed north through Amarillo , Texas and into Colorado . The �ext morning we went by train to El Paso , Texas. At the rmy Reception Center we would stop at Pueblo , Colorado ahd stay there most of the day waiting El Paso, we were given all kinds of vaccination for: Yellow Fever, the for more troops to join us. While ih Pueblo , many of the local town Plauge , Typhus, Chloria , etc. All together there must have been about people would come down to the train, and a lot of the girls would stand six or seven shots. around and talk to the GI 's. Late ih the afternoon we pulled out and headed rtorth again. Our next stop was Salt Lake City , Utah. Our stay in The Yellow Fever shot would be the one which would cause us the mo st Salt Lake would be for about two days. I remember the base well as the trouble, according to our drill instructor. I remember the morning when wind would blow and cause a grey looking dust all over the plac� . It we were to get the shots. It must have been about July Jrd, as I went wasn 't much of a base to be stationed at . While there I remember that a into the service June JO, 1942. We were marched over to the medics and S 1 lined up outside in the hot July sun . In El Paso the July sun can reach group of flying �aff Sergeant Pilots landed·there in T-6 s. These guys 110 degrees without any trouble. The sun didn't hurt me as I wa s from were really hot pilots, and they were on their way to joining a fighter New Me xico and use to the heat , but those poor GI 's from the east g�oup in California . In about two days we pulled out of Salt Lake really suffered. I was standing in front of an older man who had been in Air Corp base and headed north again. This time we went through Idaho the army before , and he told me , when you go in for the Yellow Fever and into Wa shi�g�on state . Our destination was Walla Walla, Washington. shot, to come out and sit down over in the shade of the building and hold Here we would Join a B-17 Heavy Bomber Group which had just be formed your head down between you knees and you will be O.K. We had noticed a out of Idaho. Walla Walla was sure diffe rent theµSheppard Field . It wa s lot of tough gµys were saying " nothing to it". As they would walk a lot greener, but it sure rained a lot. I wa s assigned to the 347th S<;idn. , of the 99th. The group was getting training on the B:�17 ' s. The away from the medics, they would go about ten feet and faint dead away. aircrews would get flight training while ground personnel would get I took heed to the older man and was O.K. We must have been given all further training on the service and repair of the B-17's. of the shots at the same time , because eve:n-yone wa s really .ill for about most of the morning . That afternoon we went on a five mile hike up the Whil� at Walla Walla we would be issued jungle equipment of all kinds. mountain. If you have every been to El Paso you will notice there are We didn't understand why we would be getting this kind of equipment few trees on their mountain. as the base sure wa sn't in the jungles. We had all kinds of rumors going around at the ba se . Some said we were to be shipped out to the At El Paso we were given our first uniforms. In the army there are only South Pacific, etc. Some even said they knew we were to go to New two sizes •••••large or small. It was at Fort Bliss where I first had my Guinea somewhere . Training continued, then one day we were ordered to taste of Army Chow. I thought to myself, surely this can't be food. It turn in all of the jungle equipment and make ready for departure the was there where I had my first taste of SO s •• next day. Destination unknow again for most of us. When we boarded the troop train, which consisted of about JO coaches pulled by one of the Durin1 g World War II all of soldiers were pooled together, " young or old t. This wa s especially true for Army Reception Centers such as largest at eam engines I had ever seen, I noticed that we were heading Fort Bliss . Often time s you would see some poor GI that had been drafted east •••� .for two days we went east acro.ss the northern plain states and sent to some base, and later his family would show up , only to find of Wyoming , Nebras�a and Montana . The train really picked up speed when out that he had been shipped out,, perhaps all the way across the we reached the plain states. When we would go through some of the small United States. What made it even worse , his wife or children didn't towns we would just about blow them off as speeds would be around have any place to stay, nor did they have any money. You see most people 80 miles per hour . I couldn't understand why the hurry. On the third were just coming out of the great depression and no one seem to have day we pulled into Sioux City, Iowa . At Sioux City Air Base our group money or a place to live . would �et fu�the1; training. Then one d_ay we were given orders to pack up again. This time we were headed north on the train. The further we went After I was shipped out of Fort Bliss, I was assigned to Sheppard north the deeper the snow was getting . Soon we were into South Dakota Field Texas. At Sheppard we would go through all kinds of training and and headed for Watentown, South Dakota . As we pulled into Watertown 1 the drill instructions. The army use to like to repeat every thing. At Fort wind wa s blowing and a heavy snow storm was on. When we got off the train Bliss I had drill instruction, but I got to repeat it again at we loaded onto trucks and went out to the airport . The base had just Sheppard. At Sheppard we had a parade ground we called » shady nook". The b�e� opened, and we were the first GI's to be stationed there . Our only problem. There were no trees less than five miles away. Sheppard livin9 quarters were �othing more than tar paper shacks. It wa s really wa s really a hot place that summer of 1942. No aircondition in the cold in Waterto�n during the winter of 1942, as the temp would reach barracks or nothing. The drinking water was like hot water and we had to 40 below zero with deep snow every where . The ground was frozen solid take salt tablets to keep from heat exhaustion. At evening review of the and when Y?U walked ?n it , it was like walking on broken glass. Snow flag, sometimes we would have 20 or JO GI 's faint from heat exhaustion. would be piled up aginst the tar paper shacks we were living in and it When these GI's would faint we would just let then lay there until was like being at the North Pole . after retreat and then the medics would come along and do something for them. Most of our time wa s spent at the canteen on the base at Watertown . And when we were not doing this we would go over the fence and walk into At Sheppard there were 12 me ss halls and nearly every Friday night Watertown at night . We were suppose to get a pass but seldom did. I when we had fish, at least one of the me ss halls would have food remember on� time t�at a bunc� of us guys decided one night to run to the bath house in our b�rthday suits . • The bath house was about two city poisoning . I never atA: the fish . One of the things about the me ss halls. blocks from our living. quarters in the tar paper shacks. That night it You had to eat everything you took on the tray, whether you liked it or not , must have been 30 below zero when we all made a run for the bath house .

17 17 11a

Our Gutts were just about frost bitten ••••After we had taken a shower we made another run back to the living quarters in the tar paper shacks. The 11e.x.L illOI'l1illg we recu.:hed Tinker r'i!;;llu , Oklahoma . As Lhe train come to I remember that my feet sure did hurt for a long time . a stop we were told to debark. Later that morning we were assigned living quarters. In just a little while we were told to assemble outside Christmas 1942 was spent on the base at Watertown, South Dakota. The our quarters. Lt . Scarborough advised that we were to be given two people in the community really treated the servicemen great . At one time three day passe s, and that we could either go into Oklahoma City and they gave a banquet for all on the base ••••there must have been five spend the leave or go home , that is if you didn't live more that 300 hundred people to come out for the event , inclusive of all on base -·and miles from the base . That wasn't much of a deal, since most of the local town folk. We would have basketball game s with the local high troops lived in the east such as New York, Penna ., N.J. etc. By then school players, etc. We would be invited out on the farms to hunt most of the GI's give a dam ••••they just went . All of us took our three pheasant. The winter's in South Dakota were always full of game birds day pa sses and went into Oklahoma City to try and get a train or bus , of all sorts, rabbits, etc. Not far from the base was a large lake which was nearly impossible as you had to wait about two days to even which was frozen over about 36 inches thick, as it stayed about 40 get a ticket home . When I saw that it1 wa s nearly impo ssible to get out on below zero all that winter. On the lake , the local farmers were cutting a train or bus , I said to myself, I m not waiting around here . I simply ice to be stored for the summer. The ice was cut by large hand saws walked out the front door to the train station and walked acro ss the and the farmers would use horses to drag the ice into the long wooden street to a street car line . In just a minute a street car came along. On sheds along the lake . Each cube of ice would be covered with straw and the front of the street car it said something about going we st , I can't then another layer of ice put into place until the ice shed was remember. When the car stopped I asked the driver if it went close to filled. To me that wa s interesting since I had never seen such down in Hi-Way 66 , and he said yes. New Mexico. When the street car reached the end of the line it wa s just across the I remember while we were still in Sioux City, that we lost a B-17 street from the old 66 Hi-Way. I walked0 acro ss the road and wa ited for during a night training mission. "In the Air Corps " we had a phrase about five minutes. o I said to myself , I can be in New Mexico in a very that went something like this. " They bought the farm" . This meant that few hours, I'll just thumb a ride with someone , since I had done this when a plane erased all all lives lost ••••th ey had " bought the farm". many times. In just about five minutes a Shamrock Fue l Truck stopped and Well that night when the crew on that B-17 bought the farm, it was asked if I wanted a ride and where wa s I heading. I told him New Mexico , snowing and the visibility was le ss than a mile. As the plane approached so he told me to get in as he wa s going to Amarillo, Texas. I rode all the runway, the snow really started coming down. The pilot , I'm sure the way to Amarillo and he let me out at the Amarillo Greyhound Bus couldn't see the runway. He either overshot the field or lost the runway, Station. I took the bus all the way to New Mexico and I wa s home before resulting in crashing into a small hill with a loud explosion and a ball my passes even started. of fire . I remember that night , and hearing the plane pass over our living quarters very low ••••then all of a sudden the ground shook After my leave wa s just about over , I took the bus back to Tinker with a flash of light and explosion. Field . While at Tinker we just about did nothing. We did however get the usual marching and shots the army had for . us. Then in about a week Most of January 1942 would be spent in Watertown, South Dakota doing just we heard rumors that we were to be shipped out for someplace in the about nothing. Other units of the 99th were scattered all over South east. Finally we were placed on another troop train and headed east . For Dakota. One at Mitchell, some at Rapid City, etc. One of our jobs were four days the train continued going east. We went through cities such as to pack supplies for an overseas assignment . We knew that we were bound St. Louis, Mo ., Cincinnati, Ohio , Wheeling, W. Virginia, Pittsburgh, Pa ., for overseas ••••but where was the que stion? and finally to Trenton, N.J. Finally on the fifth day out of Tinker Fie ld , we pulled to the outskirts of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The We had a GI in our unit that wasn't nothing but a trouble ma ker. I army camp wa s just a litte way from down town and it wa s know as Camp remember one time at Watertown when this guy went into town and Kilmer. It wa sn 't much of a base , as it was in the swamps and thick started throwing full whisky bottles in a drug store . In Watertown that with trees. I longed for the wide open spaces of New Mexico. winter all drug stores carried whiskey bottle s out on shelve s much like soap , etc. Finally the cops came and put this guy in jail back at the At Camp Kilmer, we still didn't have much to do other than wait . The army base . The guy had been nothing but a trouble maker from the day he wa s always had a phrase " hurry-up and wait". Again we had to take infantry assigned to the 99th. The squadron would regret lat�r that he wasn 't traing over again. We would run, climp ropes and obstackles. One booted out of the air corp right then and there •••• morning we all climbed into trucks and drove to Fort Dix, New Jersey. At Fort Dix we went out to the firing range . I remember that we had some new About the 15th of February word came that we would be soon leaving GI 's that had never fired a gun before and were scared . to-death of them. Watertown. Destination unknown to most of us ••••• The day we boarded This never was a fear because on our ranch I had used all kinds of guns the train to leave Watertown, the whole town just about turned out to to hunt with . I was well acquainted with rifles. say goodby to us. The departure was suppose to be a military secret but I think about all in South Dakota had knowledge of it ••• At Kilmer we had no idea as to why we were there in the first place . Rumors were that we would ship over seas from this base soon, and the For the next couple of days and night s we continued to head southo Then rope training wa s for getting off a ship if it were sunk a se�. While one day we went past the federal pen at Leavenworth, Kansas. I knew right there we would hear that many ships were being sunk by the German U-Boats then that we were bound for some place either in Texas or Oklahoma . just off the coast of New York •. Rumors were that we were to go to Tinker Field, Oklahoma .

19 19 20 21 1 While at Kilmer, the base was under constant alert, as GI s were being shipped out every day. Kilmer, during World War II was the s·hipping In just a few minutes 1 heard my natne called out and I went up the gang point for all going overseas, and you didn't dare mention, even walk with my bags. As I went onto the ship, a thousand things crossed causally what outfit that was scheduled to go . We were grilled nearly every my mind •••••would I ever see the United States,again • . At that moment ••••• day to keep out mouth shut. We use to see signs saying , " the slip •••••••••I really :realized that I wa s about to enter into World War II of the lip will sink a ship". I often wondered if the Germans knew more and this was for real. about it than we did. on board the ship , there were perhaps an estimated 8,000 . Gis. The t�oops Our B-17 Group was alerted several times to be shipped out , but at the were from all kinds of uni t·s. Some were from the tank units, U.S. Air Corps, last minute the alert would be cancelled. "It was kinda like the man on infantry. we even had a black unit . In those time s the black troops were death row". We always had our bags packed and ready to go at the seperated from the white troops. I �emember that all of the black troops moments notice. were placed in the hole of the ship up forward and no white troops were allowed in that area. Nearly every night all along the east coast there were black-out alerts. Often time s we would hear the air raid sirens making a loud wailing Most of our unit was quartered below deck in the mid-�ecti�n. � thought sound . It made chill bumps down the back of your ne ck. Once I was in to my self l'm not going down into the hole of the ship, I 11 Just stay town when the alarm wa s sounded at night , every thing went black and a somewhere 'on top deck. So a bunch of us just dropped our bags down near wierd feeling would come over you. What made it even worse in the winter the mid se ction and made ready for the journey. I really don't think anyone of 1943 was the damp and low clouds that hung over the New Jersey cared just as long as we were on the ship. countryside ma king it more spookey, etc. About two or three days before we left Kilmer, we had been assembled I think the entire time I was at Kilmer a lot of us didn't eat at the together and told not to buy a bunch of goodies to take alon on the me ss hall . Moot of us ate at the canteen. I remember that we had a ship as the Red Cross would be giving out all sorts of goodie9 s once we Ft . Lt ., who would put on a Pfc jacket so he could eat with us. I can't were ' on-board. Somehow I didn't believe the guy , so I went to the PX think of his name . Most of our group was assigned to this Lt ., and he ( Post Exchange ) and bought me two boxes of butterf�nger �andy bars. would take us out to drill, only we didn't do much drilling. After we which I stowed in my bags. I said to myself, these Just mig�t come in would go over hill we would all fall out and shoot the bull for the handy, as you never know if the Navy had any food worth eating. I would aloted time we were suppose to be drilling. This Lt ., was a pilot on a later be thankful that I had gone to the PX for the purchase of the B-17 and I think he wa s left at Sioux City when he joined our sqdrn.,. He candy. was a Yale grad ., but he was really interesting. After we were shipped to North Africa this Lt ., was a pilot for General Doolittle at various Even today seme forty five years later., every time I see a butterfinger times. I think the guy wa s a star football player at Yale ••••• I'm remined of the two boxes I took along during World War II. At Kilmer there wa s no way you could make a phone call anywhere without When we finally went on board the " Edmond B·. Alexander tt it must have been going through the ba se telephone exchange . about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Just as soon a� we put do"."n our ba s we started watching the longshoremen load the ship 's �ole with supplie9 s. At Kilmer there were troops that had very little training . I remember one This was really interesting to me , a kid from New Mexico, who had never been time when we talked to a �I that was in a tank outfit o He said that he on a ship larger than a row boat. You see we didn't have to much water had only been in the army about a month and was being shipped overseas. in New Mexico. Another time we talked to some GI's that had been shipped out but their boat wa s sunk not far: from New York and were back at Kilmer at the time . The Edmond B. Alexander was aQout 800 foot in length and about 200 ft ., across at the middle . It was the biggest thing I had ever seen • . Aboard the It wasn 't long after Easter Sunday when we were alerted to get ready to ship were thousands of Gis and several hundred longshoremen making the go . I can't think of the exact date. I remember that it wa s early in ship ready to sail the next day. Most of the supplies were in wooden crate s.­ the morning perhaps about 4:00 when we boarded a troop train which had so we really couldn't tell what was in them. �owever , we c?uld see that come into Kilmer to get us. I do remember that it wasn't much of a day some of the crates ••••••••••con tained some kind of explosi�es. I as it was misty rain, low clouds all around . In a little while the train remember some of the Gis standing close to me as we looked into the hole , pulled out of Kilmer slowly and we were on our way to the New York saying, I sure hope those crates doesn't have bombs in them. harbor. After about two or three hours, the troop train went aboard a ferry boat, which carried us up the Hudson River to a ship that was tied Just as I figured, all that afternoon prior to our s�iling the n:xt up at pier # J. I remember seeing this number on the pier. We were told morning we didn't see a single Red Cross worker handing out goodies that to get ready to get off the train and stand by with our bags. It waan 't we were promised. I said to myself, it 's a good thing that I brought but a few minutes when the office in charge11 , said , when I call your name along the candy bars. you are to take your bags and go up the gang walk" of the ship. Just as darkness was descending , we were advised that soon we could go As I stood waiting for my name to be called out , I noticed along0 the hull to chow •••••we would soon really find out what it would be 1;ke to eat at of the ship its name . I read out , " The Edmond B. Alexander • We later a ship 's galley. There were long line s of Gis. trying to �et in to eat ••• learned the ship had been a German World War I steamship, and had been ••••ever ything was in a state of total confusion. It reminded me of when down in South America for all those years. When World War II came along I was on the farm trying to slop the hogs, as food was nothing mo�e our government needed ships very badly so they took it over . It had been than Navy beans ••••bread and coffee. "Iwas really glad at that instant brought to the Brookly Navy Yards and outfitted again for service . We that I had brought along the butterfinger candy bars" also learned this was its maiden voyage since repair and out fitting. 22 23

Each night as it., wa s auout:. to get d1::trk our gro UIJ of G.l. s woulJ s1.,and along the rail of the ship and talk about what we would do if the The " Edmond B •. Alexander " was tied up at pier # 3, just across from ship would be attached at night , and how we would get off of the ship. downtown Manhattan, and early the next morning rI was awaken from sleep, Nearly every night we would be joined by a Fst . Lt ., by the name of by loud voices on the pier. I immediately went to the rail to see what Comma ndo Burt, that 's what we called him. He wa s one of the Lts.·, wJlo· would was going on, and when I looked over the side of the ship, you could see wanted us to climb ropes, etc., back a Kilmer. I wish that I could men removing the huge ropes that �ere holding the ship to the dock. In remember this guys name , but I have forgotten it . ihis Fst . Lt ., had been just a few minutes I could hear the tug boats starting to push the ship a shoe salesman prior to coming into the service. out from the dock into the Hudson River ••••we were on our way to sea . Just as the tug boats pushed the ship out , the morning sun was just On the seventh day we were in huge ocean swells, sometimes you could starting to come up and its rays of sunlight were making long streaks only see a few hundred yards on each side of the ship. One minute the of light through the sky-scrapers of downtown Manhattan. The whole ship would be down in the bottom of the swell and the next on top. The morning sky wan an orange ball, and you could smell the early morning ship would go up and down and side to side, and this made a lot of us smells of the waterfront . In just a little while the ship wa s out in the sea sick. Each time the shi�bow would go down it would plow into the middle of the Hudson River and you could feel the ship 's engine starting waves and ocean spray would come crashing down on the ship 's bow,. It wa s to turn the screws in the aft section. As we looked over the side you like riding on a gi�nt roller coaster •••••then all of a sudden the could also see the churning of the water caused by the ship 's large sea went dead calm • •••you could see for 30 miles. It reminded me of the screw�. About that time , it seems that ••••• every GI on the ship rushed great plains of we st Texas. to the rail to see the departure and to say goody to the United States. As· I stood by the rail I noticed that evenything was real quite, not a It wa sn't long after that, in the middle of the night when we heard a single GI wa s making a sound ••••••I' m sure that each had thoughts going loud explosion in the aft of the ship, and then all of a sudden the through his mind •••• ship stopped dead.• We could tell that something was bad wrong, however, we didn't get an alarm to put on our life jackets or nothing. Finally At first the ship moved slowly down the Hudson River , past the Statue of someone 5aid that we were having engine trouble . When the sun came up Liberty and through the narrow channel of Staten Island , on past the next morning you could not see a single ship in our convoy ••••we had Brooklyn, then out into the Atlantic Ocean. It took us most of the day dropped out of the convoy during the night . All that day the Edmond to get out to sea . The ship sailed along the coast for a long time , then B. Alexander wa s dead in the water. Then finally late in the afternoon it started going further and furthe r away from the shore. I remember that of the eight day we started to move on our own power. Hut instead of we then took a southern direction and sailed this position for about going 22 knots we just limp et along at about 5 knots. Later we found two day. Frequently , we would see B�25s making low passes over the out the ma in engine had exploded during the night and just quit ••••the ship as they were flying coastal wa tch for us, as Germany U-Boats mechanics of the merchant marine repaired the engine to where we could �t were active in the waters just off the coast of New York. During the first least move . couple of days, the Navy gun creWis would test fire their guns. The first time the gun crews went into action, just about every one was a little I remember when we were stopped in the water you could see for at least scared as we didn't have any idea what was coming off. 30 miles in any direction. The ship would just drift with the ocean current . One minute we would be straight and the next the ship would The Edmond B. Alexander's Navy gun crews had several 6 inch cannons on the slowly turn around . Everyone was just a little scared, how.ever there were aft and forward decks, and had 20 ITUT1 guns along the side and top decks no one that became panic 'd ••••we just accepted it and trusted that all plus a bunch of 50 calibe� machine guns scattered along and at various would be O.K. I remember that Commando Burt said that if we get out of points on the ship . The navy gun crews would have alerts all through this alive it will be an act of God or a Miracle. We were just lucky the day and night and would make a mad dash to their guns each time the because if a German U-Boat had come upon us, it could have sunk the ship's siren would be sounded . ship without any trouble . A sub could have sent us to the bottom without any trouble at all. The fourth day at sea we joined a very large convoy of ships. Just to the port of our ship, wa s the battleship " Tex.as". I remember that as far as When you a�e on the ocean in dead calm conditions your mind plays tricks the eye could see •••nothing but ships. It wa s a sight that I shall on you. You think you can see land ••••towns ••••farms and all kind of always remember, and right in the middle was the Edmond B. Ale�nder. things. Not long after we joined the convoy, we took up a more eastern direction. The ship would run a n zig zag" course most of the day, and As our ship limp 't along at 5 knots, we learned that we would put into I'm sure it also ran the same course at night . Each ev�ning just before port at Gibralter where we could get the engine repaired. About a day sunset you could see flying fish all along the side of the Edmond B. before we reached Gibralter, our ship was approached late one evening Alexander. Sometime s you could see the fins of sharks and other kinds of just before sundown, by a low flying seaplane coming out of the north . fish in the ocean. At night you could look over the side of the ship This really shook up evenyone, especially the navy guy's manning the and see the foam of the sea against the ship making a white guns. This was the first time we noticed the navy gun cre�s man all of phosphorescence light. During the early journey the sea was relative their guns. In just a few minutes the seaplane started using it s aalm and the nights would be totally dark, on the distant convoy of ships blinker lights, and then it made a low passtt along side of the ship. As it you could see the dark shadow or outline of the naarest ships • ••• there were passed we could see on the airplane side , U .s. Navy". It was a Navy no ship running navigation lights. It was a total black out so the patrol bomber looking for the Edmond B. Alexander. Later we learned that German sub s could not see us. we were about 500 miles off the coast of Spain, just south of the Azores-, right in the middle of Hitlers' sub operations. 24 25 '!'he night before we reached Gibralter, l remember seeing lights along some shore, or at least I thought I wa s seeing lights. We later After we got off the ship, we assembled along side with our bags. 'vJe learned that we were north of the Maderis Isl�nds. The light s were sure were told to leave our bags near a bunch of trucks which were parked a welcome sight . It wa sn't long after that wh en we started seeing not far away as they would be hauling our bags to the next ba se. After other lights. I think this was either Spain or Portugal, as the next putting down'our bags, we all assembled in line s of eight to ten people morning about 6 o'clock we entererd into the " Straights of Gibralter", abreast and started ma rching off the dock. We must have marched about and soon docked at the Gibralter saaport . a mile ••••as we were ma rching I remember that Tommy Shannon, who had been in the field artillery, started singing, "when the casons roll After about a day at Gibralter, our ship 's engine was repaired, and on" and he wanted everyone to sing along with him. Tommy Sh�nnon then, late in the afternoon we headed out to sea again. This time we would be killed in combat not long after that ••• After marching for a were in the Mediterranean ••••at the time we had no idea where we would while we were loaded into trucks ahd taken to our next base which was be going, However, I noticed that we were not far off from shoreline at the Oran airport . Here our quarters would be " pup-tents" and this just to the south ••••thi s wa s North Africa. As we pulled out of would be the kind of living quarters we would have for about the next Gibralter the ship would first turn one direction and then go another six to eight months. as we were passing through a mine field . I know it was a mine field because you could see something that looked like wooden box.e s in the It was at Oran when we would have our first air raid by the German o

. . . dusk a.J.l of us walked ..down a e�erung . Jus before As we were going ea st int o Tunisia we would meet the 40 & 8 tr ins While at 'l'unis' late in the i k this must have been where a o a pe air mo ie thin hauling the �ermany and It lian POWs. These tro ps would ask us for hill a nd attent n o r:i : A a fl attend the l the t s ll o us would food and cigaretts but we were not allowed to give them any. I think drive in theaters got i � s flying jacket and a the ting ��&ir sheep skin they wanted the cigaretts so if they passed a g soline dum p they movie you could see guys t� aro�nd t�e a d a o a to sit on, and all would gather could throw the m tche s an cigaretts in to st rt a fire . M st of the some kind of c�s�in t do behind the h7lls Just to o a a the sun o go wn o German troops were well dressed but the po r Itali ns were just bout screen, waiting for a wa it until ab ut a a a movie me s we would h ve to in rags. You could always tell when you went p st G'erm n PCM camp , it the we st of the base . Someti still have an orange glow was always c lean a nd well kept . We couldn't say this for the Italian a the we ste:n skys wou ld . 8 o'clock bec use e la ins of Texas and New camp s. like you see in he l times to them, much � ,gro�� the movie wou d start . Som� Finally about 8:30 or o up and s�ine a Mexico. ;s the moon would come The road to our next ba se in Tunisi went along a paved highway and o the movie to well it was we c uldn't see ld just be like day light •••• you could see where some of the fighting had taken place a s we would go rican desert wou o so bright and the Af e ab ut 10 O'clock pass burned out tanks, trucks and often time s you would see where ce I an even s t oda Along and really an experien ? : de�;rt would start to get cold, both German and American had died in battle as grave s were all along nding the movie t�e Afri a •••some while atte ���ir sheep skin flying _j ckets the road. The highway took us through some grape vineyards, and sometime � would see the guys putting on movie o Fre quently o o o o you k eep warm during the these vineyards w uld g f r miles al ng the highway ••••••this was ld take along a GI blanket to o o midnight ••• French wine c untry of N rth Africa. I remember one time that we stopped ��� movie would la st until about along the road and all of us jumped out of the truck and ran into o group . a Eur pe. �he d a d ap o in It ly and in southern the vineyar s to get gr pes. We were suppose to wash the gr es The 99th continued t bomb aircraft . factories in d a a o o a a aples, Foggie and the and not rink w ter from ny well. This may acc unt f r m ny of us o hit pl ces like N a o ons under its. a w uld 99th had b ut 100 missi getting the Gis back at S tif. southern Austria . By then the belt. days on a a a After about four the road we fin lly re ched our next base a o all landed l te in the n n roup had ·ust b ut which wa s some twenty miles south of Tunis. The airfield wa sn 't nothi g I remember o e time , our our runway lights a a a 'ore d k ir later but more than the desert scr ped out for l nding strip. About a month evening••••it wa s just be airplane • I knew. it a a a all of a su�Jen we heard this o ay before we got there the Americ n and Afric Corp of the Germ ny army were still on, when articular sound of its n. Anyw had fought it out over the ba se, as there were still some equipment n B-1 s as �hey av a n n. wa sn't o e of our 7 � : i�es were out of sy chronizatio around the base . Not far from our tent we came across a coupl� of had a sound like t e n a this airplane l� one of the guys that 's planes that had been shot down . We heard later that some of the Gis a a sn't one o us. I dam. I knew th t w � h�· f� lane dropped the brightest o a a a at ime tis pa o n . had come acr ss a de d German officer. He w s later buried not far German, nd about th � o in tr uble , but i a th n � ht we were n oo n from the spot after officials checked his identific tion. flare I h ad even se� o.Right � �� �� of us starti g s� ti g t:sh AA unit u the west g just a second , a Bri hells from the gun were goin The base at Tunis wa s kinda like in a, flat mesa with small hills plane with their 90MM u s.J Th the at the � � a f�a� from that gun hitting all around . The country side was much like you will find in New Mexico. ove us and we coul e a o le about off just ab d � n looking for fox h The days would be hot and the nights cool. The Africian desert can the guys aroun us s arti g on the round ••••all n d ns to make a bomb run a p la ard really be pretty, and I felt like I wa s b ck in New Mexico. I can �hat.time . � think the a him off . Later we he a o o o ����t�h !: �n�� ch sed remember th t the m on w uld shine s bright at night, as this wa s in landing stri�, but the o us� o p ane down t the east of the middle of August . However, about 4 o'clock in the morning you wDuld that a RAF Fighter s h t the l reach for cover as it would really get cold. . just after la inci·ct en t when one morning a long after the p ne � a s down on the It w sn't w g a ding some irplane At first when we moved to the Tunis ba se all o f our tents were in d when some of ou guys along aylight � u �erman soldiers ·came walking p o l n about � i3:�e oo o p com any street until one day General Doolittle flew ver in a B-25 flight ir:te , whE:r p red and t k t . grou a o n d ia� �; t�ey were ca tu and word c me down pretty quick that all tents would be n t more than on the flight li e. Imm� � were hiding in the �ills o to find o t these guys 200 feet from each othen·. He said that he didn •t want to give the headquarters. C me ad n d surrender . I thir:ik o hungry n wa te to �e rmans an opportunity t w.ipe us out all at o nce. We moved out tent a this time and became u Germa n tried to ll n guys would co ld speak to the top o f a small hill over looking the runway. We use to stand o on Hunsb erger , o e of our . G rd o n't understand him to well outside in the morning and watch the B-17s take off. From our tent talk to them, but they c u ld you had an excellent view of a ll of the tent aireas and the entire an Para -troopers a d that German or Itali field . I remember that late in the evening just before sundown you me s we would be lerte a would all be Many ti o that h ppened we d n a p ar ur base . When a s, could go outside the tent an hear just about everyone talki g as the h d been dro ped ne a ct o d guard . t the airplane o guns n w u l stand sound in the African desert at about dusk would travel all around us. ued Thomp s n mach'_ine a an unit· s. iss d f the Germ n or Itali a a pet o never di see any o . . I remember that some guy bout a half mile from our tent wa s trum h wever , we . d a o p a p oo n shining player an ne rly every evening this guy w uld r ctice his trum et o ght at ni ht from the m o d d o a n de sert would be � �r1 � could see just as it w ul get usk, it sure did s und pretty. I never did kno� The Africi a wings s that no one a get under the irp an o one o f us what the guys name w s=. that we would wou!. d stand guard. S metimes we could see anyone as.we 1 s while . t�e oth�r us •••• ma i land ing gear of the 7 n In the African desert the early morning and late a fternoon were the ould sit in front of the r:i o irve· any a ctivity goi g w ar. Thi� w ay we could bse best part o f the day. Until you have lived in it you cannot appreciate guy wou ld si ·t ir:1· the re o seei· ng us. an t ni·g ht without any ne it . Its much like ma ny parts o f New Mexico , it had a certain on around the airpl e a kind of an enchantment . 30 31

My military occupation specialty wa s that o.f a radio, electrical and communications {mos 754), and I was assigned about three or four B-17s the planes flying, often time s our mechanics would have four or five to ma ke sure that all equipment was operationalJ When I wa sn't working on 17s in a circle , taking parts from ohe to make another go. the radio gear, I would often time s help out with some of the mechanical work. Frequently the crew chief and 1 would do engine run-ups. I was trying Tunis was a very pretty city as it had the European look in many to learn eveny thing I could about the 17s. respects. There were parks, wide cit streets, etc. Not far from the city was the " Me diterranean Ocean" and i f was so blue and pretty. When I At Tunis I wa s assigned to such aircraft as Cotton Eyed Joe •••Axis Ass Ache, would get some time off I would go into Tunis and take a small train •••• Old Ma n Mose •••• just to name a few. As a communication specialist and go up to a place called n Cape Bone". Here I could go swiming in the I would keep all the transmitters tuhed ••••do repair on the communication ocean. It was a lot of fun as I had hever been in water like an ocean, and throughout the aircraft and make sure all the antenna 's were still on the it was a change from being out in the African desert . airplanes. It wa s at " Cape Bbne " where the AfriKru Corp., of the Germany army I remember one time that our sqdn., got a young lieutenant who had tried to escape back to Italy . It was here where thousands of Germany 's flown P-38s and wanted to tranfer over into B-17s. This Lt ., needed to be best were killed. Also, it was over " Cape Bone" where the German check out in the 17s before he starting flying missions, so one day I airforce wa s destroyed. From all accounts there were as many as a hundred. was down on the flight line , the pilot who· wa s going to check out this planes shot down in the sea just off " Cape Bone" as the Germans tried to guy wa s a Capt ., anyway this Capt ., and the Lt ., wanted to know if I reinforce their troopso would like to go along while they shot landings and takeoff, so I said sure. That day I said ••.• it would be nice to check out some of the radio There 's a book titled , Rommel's Last Stand, and it tells a�l about the equipment in the air. We had made about four or five take-off and landings, air battle over " Cape Bone" and just off the coast of Tunis. when this Capt., said to the Lt • .,"how about shooting one more landing"o .. As we went around and lined up with the runway, I noticed this Lt ., wa s At " Cape Bone " the 99th had a rest camp for GI 's to go to, and I spent touching down about midway down the runway. First I thought he wa s going about a week there during the month of August 1943 . to stop , when all of a sudden he pushed the throttles forward and wa s. ma king another take off, only this time we didn't have much runway. The 17 When the Germans were defeated in North Africa, especiall� around Tu�is had used up all the runway and we were running in the grass at the end of and Bizerte, they left tons of equipment . Much of the equipme�t consisted the runway, when all of a sudden he yanked it off the ground . We just of German VW, the military type , guns, motorcycles, etc . I think about dam near hit the deep gully at the end of the east runway. Anyway, this tt everyone had a German motorcycle to play around with. I remember there Capt., said , " hey that wa s dam close. were quite a few guys on the flight line that had one ••••••they were a lot of fun to ride. Another time I went for a ride with Capt ., Bankhead, and I didn't realize he was going to altitude or I would have put on some flight gear. The Just before the inva sion of Sicily , as we would sit out at night upon our airplane had had an engine change and he wa s going to slow time the hill where the tent wa s, we could watch as German plane s tried to bomb engine . On that test hop there were about four or five guys. That day I the inva sion fleet at Bizerte . Many a night we watch as the German p.lanes wa s flying at the waist position, and as the plane went to altitude it were being shot down. About all you could tell when they were do�ned was got colder and colder . It must have been about 40 below �ero at •••••••••• a long trail of fire . It wa s much like watching a; star fall at night . 30 , 000 feet. I never wa s so cold in all of my life , as the wa ist position Bizerte was about JO miles from our base at Tunis •••••• •••••••in the old E model ••••• had no window, and the frost was building up on the 50 calibre ma chine and around the windows. In just a little Our squadron armament ( the Gis loading the amunination and bombs on the while one of the guys flying waist with me , who was in armament , "said planes) really worked endless during the summer of 43 . These guys worked would you like to test fire your 50 ".So both of us test fired the 50s. It all kinds of hours. What made it really difficult wa s the constant . sounded like two jack hammers in a telephone both. changing of bomb loads. Just about time they had loaded the planes i;n th frags or 500 pounders, word would come down from Group Headquarters to After about an hour 's test hop, Capt ., Bankhead put the 17 in a steep hard change the bomb load. This would really cause havoc with moral, as they left turn, pulling about all the Gs the 17 could stand . I looked up at the throught Group wa s playing games with them. airspeed indicator and we were reaching pretty close to the red line . We did this for about two or three turns then the airplane leveled off and When the bomb load wa s changed, this meant that armament had to spend by then we were just east of the runway, just over the old Roman ruins another three ··or four hours unloading and reloading the l?s. This really that lay just to the east of the base. took its toll on moral. Speaking of the old Roman ruins. From all indications the ruins had at one It wa s just before I went into the hospital with h�patitis �hat " Tiny time been an aqueduct from Tunis to some place out in the desert . It wa s Allen" wa s murdered. The GI which we had trouble with back in Watertown, estimated the aqueduct must have been at least 2000 years. old. Once we flew South Dakota , by the name of Saunders was the guy that killed Tiny. You along it for about 60 miles into the desert . will recall that someone in our sqdn., wa s determined to take Saunders with us overseas regardless of what he did back in the states ••••Well During the month of August 1943 our group was active on missons nearly this guy finally killed a per son. He should have been shot long before every day. I think from the records that wa s our best month. Our ground he killed Tiny. personnel worked many long hours keeping the 17s in the air. If we didn't have spare parts we would just cannibalize one of the airplanes. Many The night Saunders killed Tiny, he and Tiny got into some kind of a hassle time s I have s�en the mechanics work all night long . When we had to keep over loading bombs on one of the airplanQa. 33 32

a os and wa s ord n o e a n e em er s eleased from the 65th St tion H pital, Acc i g t th ccou t s we h da T' y was ng s s On D c b 12th I wa r ear ed ur walki pa t this guy ' e ase a n on arrival it w as l n o tent t ni ght , S a n e s e n n urned n orted ba ck to th b t Tu is. Up � u d r' said : � y ;f y�� As Ti y t to see who c alled tra sp o a eport ed to o s name au de , s s o ua o ad already departed for F ggi , Italy. I r ut hi , S n r h t hi' m w · th a Germa n rifle . sq dr n, the 347th h a a u 1 e and wounded over to It ly, nd I ca ght a unit which was flying th sick a s o g a . I often wonder wh t e e x n a er a n e a group flying C-47 goihg t Fo gi S und ' � wa s s � ndi g right next to me in a. rid with a a a e e ou d I not r eported th t d y. :h� ���e ri��� �= �c��� f��� h� �ad did n?thing more than shoot a curr would h v happen d sh l o e a o n n d g . Lat r th t m r i the ili Y polic came ou o e a s n e � i![ ! t t th b e a d e a d e had an ole army colon l who t ook Saunder ' s to ja il Yn Tun e no on a e a e ar a Be fore I l eft th hospit l that ay, w es t g ft : �h t w h� d th t e d a s e the troops, regardl s n e s ed o es a e an �s �.J. o ome into our w ard nearly vert ay nd in p ct Sau d r' tri t c p d w 11e d bY the m ilitary police . w uld c r n ma e s to h; e er ou e e ge ng out of bed o ot . His in obj ct wa wh th y f lt lik tti a ou a d o n e ad a big thing b t th t About a ll an sa a u a ders s e ee if you we re wearing og tags r ot . H h I c y bo t S un i th t h should have never b een s u e ar n d ags. en o er e � an a a s ade a s ue out o f it if yo wer not we i g og t tak v s as with the 99th H esh o ul d ave been booted out of the service d lw y m i s long before we went e s as ov r e : a n u want to get over The morning I l eft , this colonel s id, "so if yo n e er e ne or beer as u s e a s ad etter not take a dri k, wh th it b wi It w at T ni where I conta cted u H t·t s e o aun e e h p titi you h b o er se 1 i· ( y ll w j dic ). Th 99th n e a o ne east a y ear , th wi it will had a lot us e a a on!P� . me e e e or whatever i th lcoh l li for at l of in th hospit l t i . W w r told that w e had o a nearly a y ear on a ed me . o ou right ba ck in the h spit l". It was c t ct so kind f b u r v s here wa s mu u d e do e kill y u put y e er s :�� : n't ch co l b n e en d a an o er and then it made m v y ick, so I about but hospitaliz� us �o� a �!� w s before I v ha c f be , decided the co lonel k new b e st . a a u be e na en se ed u d a ���;� !�� ; ;i �ly w t to e the m ics, I wo l be so a ou ea u ra in squall th t !�� �� � e ime e a r e r ide to Foggi was thr gh a r l ro gh k y s h e � I wo u�d go to chow I'd be so hungry , Th i plan a made eryone u e ed rodu e some e a urbulence . Th e s torm just bout ev b t wh n I look ;t the foo� u a me o u and p c d viol nt ir t s n e � mply k� want to g o t s a n a o d t owed glider i th vomit o The ro em n m � m �e sick. The pilot wa you g C pt., wh ha only p bl I cout� �� ;� i y if I could hav e I would air a en e e e o a e e e e u ' � n o and he told me th t wh th y w r t wing the h v f lt b tt r. Abo t the end of th w' e s I had o n e invasio f Sicily, a e a roa e f�� . l st twe �y-fiv e a s a ed firing upon them s th y pp ch d pound s , down f rom about 160 t o u ;i e n s a glider s to Sicily, th U.S. N vy t rt abo t • na 1lY I w nt o ick c ll er e s o do n e sa id , " about and e m s sa ur . . e an a um er of C-47s a nd glid s wer h t w . H th edic id u o 'r g to he � s ital". In ust a e shor d n b es a e m e � � � . j littl s e oose an e or the deck to c p fro th while they drove me 'to {he � ���f s a s e m e u then h e cut hi glid r l d div d f 65 h ion o i om 40 il s so th of t e a se e os a k e t th b . Th h pit l wa sn 't far from eth oman a queduct which I gun-fir mentioned b efore .· r e a e and I e a e e c oa st of Italy the weather b ok littl As w appro ch d th e o e os e o e esuvius out sid f Napl,e:s, In th h pital they took all f oo d f m me an a e me n u noticed that w e would fly dir ctly v r Mt . V ro , d g v othing b t us e a . n ea cloud e ean u e e med re m e se era e e assed over Mt . V esuvi w r n i to a h vy " but t r b j ic " Th ic the � v l t e st s, but the o ne I Italy. Aft r w p na a o reme e m s � o a us a little while the vig t r mb r o t wa s th; blood te s: • veE ry i me t hey would ta e o d formation all the way t Foggi . In j t k bl o it o o and about that time the would make me so s ick • tI h'ink the problem wa s e m d s n JPOint ed t o the pilot, and '! sa,id d wn d wn", th ir e ic did 't know u n and ma e a ou three or four how to draw blood. co-pilot put the C-47 in a h ard right t r d b t s u a o e o g a a irport. J60s a nd w e broke out o f the cloud j st b v the F g i u a da In abo t y the medics gave me o k'in d O f xa e e a m a a s 0 �� ��v , and t� r y lw y o m e e guy knows had some kind of salt�. s au � :: a e e sa or a s e e e a g J60s I thought t ys lf, I hop this Thi c se t h v . nd vomit f bout A w w r m kin the a a d d n a e me o d me . as e e ere a o o ountains in It ly, n I id 't day. Th dic$ t l the wer tryi to rid my body of infe ction where we are at th r w l t f m r ox em a � ! �� . _ en o t ic ch ic ls which I mi ht h ve. i s i s when I was told that I want t o " buy the farm" right th . ad e n n h liv r i fectio . e s ee n e e sogg ground a s the t nt I wa night I would get t o sl p o th w t y That and en e s e e o soggy For the next m n e m d d a s ned n a e a ed. The a ir-field t t ar a w r ne o th I didn't ·t t o y folks as I i n't want them to s ig did 't h v b o a o ad r n e s a were po ssible t o g b ck t worry. If I h of w itte ;�! addre ss �ould have shown a hospital me ss of mud. "Right th n I wi hed th t it address, and besides I w as' to sick to w rite t o anyone . North Africa in the land o f sunshine" a e e u d e for g o a e arr a u ea e a ne e rossed my mind th t h r wo l I b Accordi� t " Bibl " wh ich I c ied ll tho gh Wo rld War II , I m ade Whe n I r ch d Foggi , it v r c r a no a e se earne o enjoy the count y t tion that I w ent i nto the hospital on November 12, 1943 and was the ne xt 22 months, but a s tim pas d I l d t e n a expe cted t o leave December 12 , 1943 • side and did get a chance t o trav l i It ly. a e ou e r e o mon e o nued to oper t t of Th fi st m al which I h ad wa s on Thank s g · vi · g D ay, 194 r e r the next twenty-tw ths th 99th c nti � . � ••••• w ll Du ing n en o a s ria , rememb er that d a e en o a n on n� n n a u eve11y o e ar e s be s uch as: Li z B z l pl nt , Au t y, v t d y a d Th a sgivi g . I thi k bo t F ggia. Th t g t would re r o n n e e s s n n e s s ks) Ploe sti oil fine y, fly t thi g i th m s hall wa eat en that d ay, as many of the Gi s were o Regensburg , P rufe i g ( M s er chmitt wor all w a a a o arget s in food for the first time . us ,rget s around Vienn , Austri , ls hit t R sia, hit ta undre s o o er a om e e onte Cassino "and h d f th Yugoslavi , b b th " Abb y of M a s e remem e r o nu our ses be came less nd les . Th I b r that we had a red headed nur se i n our a and e s as u target s •••• as the a ir wa c nti ed los . w rd , sh wa to gh u d sted of 395 . as nails on the G!s , total number of mi ssions which the 99th wo l fly consi 34 35 Once there were about JO of us flew Up to Rome in a B-17 and none had The most talked about turgets were Polesti, flying to Russia and the parachutes •. On the way up to Rome we ran into sqme pretty heavy clouds bombing of Monte Cassino . Monte Cassino was the one that I remember the and a lot of air turbulence. At the time I thought to myself, if the most. The Germans were holding up the 5th Army there and something had to airplane had trouble we wouldn 't have much of a chance because we were be done as there were a lot of ground pounding Gis getting killed trying over a rugged part of Italy's mountains, but luck wa s with us that day. to take the hill. It took nearly an Act of Congress to get to bomb it . The problem wa s, that , " Abbey" at Monte Cassino was a Catholic Mona stery and After staying in Rome for about a week I decided that it would be nice to the crerman a.irmy wa s using it to direct gun fire on our troops at the base take the train back to Foggia and see what some of the country look liked. of the m?untain. Finally, our government had to get the. approval of Rome On the way back we passed through a 1ot of tunnels just east of Naples to bomb it. It had to be destroyed ••••••and so at 9:28 of the morning and the country side wa s real pretty• The train engine was driven by some of February 15 , 1944 , a flight of 142 B-17s Flying Fortresses unloaded Gis and they would really take us fast around the many curves throughout 287 tons of explosives bomb s right on the monastery, which resulted in the mountains. As we would go around the curves on the railroad the complete destruction of the " Abbey". After that our 5th Army wa s able to Italians riding the train would really get excited. I think they were go forward again. Moreover , it took a total of 3 months to get the final afraid of the American engineers driving the train. I'll admit I think approval of Rome at the cost of some 9,000 lives. the engineers were taking us a little to fast � since from Naple s to Foggia was about 90 miles and we made the trip in about an hour and When our airplanes were not flying we got the chance to go to the beach twenty minuteso at a little seaport town just east of the base. The beach along the Italian coast was really nice, and we had a lot of fun swiming , etc. This From the time I left the United States ( we refered to it as the States) little beach town wa sn 't bombed during World War II • Howevel!'·, Foggia during the Second World War, for a total of about 29 months, until I wa s really knock to hell. There wasn't hardly a building that didn't have returned, the 99th personnel lived in tents. In North Africa we lived in damage. " Pup Tents" and when we reached Italy we lived in " five man :squad tents" I remember when we were still at Tunis our group hit Foggia and caught an It was in Italy where we really put to work the good ole n American ammunition train in the railyard junction. This just about leveled the Ingenuity". Our tents were very comfortable, as we had wooden floors entire town. It was estimated that penhaps 200 ,000 people lived in Foggia taken from the railroad junction depot I spoke about before , electric at the time of the first bombing and I have heard reports that at leas t lights, a brick walk, gasoline stove and the works. For heat we obtained 10 percent were killed. a fifty-five gallon barrel of 130 octane aviation fuel , and through a connection of pipe to the barrel we ran the pipe under our floor to a It wasn't long after the 99th moved to Foggia when a bunch of us guys �tove we made . The stove wa s made from cutting a fifty five gallon barrel went down by the railroad junction. You could see the effects of the in half, and running a st eel pipe we borrowed from an Italian railroad, up ammunition train explosion, as whole sections of the town wa s completely through the top of the &quad tent . The stove not only provided heat in the de strayed. While at the junction an old Italian man, " said that winter, but it served to cook our spam or whatever we had to eat . adjacent to the railroad wa s a theater..", and the day it wa s bombed there were about tw.o hundred children at the movie, and when the bombs hit, it For fuel in the stove the 130 octane aviation gasoline would really heat up leveled the theater killing all of the people inside. the tent and make an excellent heat source of food . n All around Foggia you co ld find pieces of guns, trains, buildings, etc., New Year 's Day 1944 wa s really a Blowout ". It had been raining for about � tt a week, and the weather people advised that for us to expect some real from the e·ffects- of bombing and destruction ••••• War is a terrible wa ste" bad weather, and sugge sted that we check our tents. So we went outside the The " poverty" was something no one could really believe, especially tent a really drove the corner stakes of the tent down, and tighten and around Foggia . As an example : when we would go to chow and have le ft over s secured the ropes holding the tent •••••••it wa s a good thing as in about we would dump them into fifty-five gallon barre ls, and as soon as we a couple of hours the wind off the Swi ss Alps really came down our side of dumped them left overs into the barrels, these poor Italians would fight Italy. The wind wa s clocked at 90 miles per hour ••••••many of the tents over the slop in the barrels. I think a lot of these poor Italians were were blown away but ours stayed put . starving to death. I always felt sorry for them and would often time s take extra food for them as I would go out to the barrels. Frequen�ly Late in the spring of 44, I wa s hitch hiking to Bari, Italy a city about there were other Gis doing the same . 100 miles south of Foggia . That day there were a lot of Gis hitch hiking and pretty soon an ambulance came along . I noticed this ambulance would I think Benito Mussolina and Hitler just about raped the country around stop for other guys, since they were scattered along the highway. As the Foggia. After they left the Italian Communist moved in and took over, and �mbulance would stop for these guys I noticed that they wouldn't get even today is a communist stronghold . in. I couldn't understand what the problem wa s •••••finall y it stopped for me , and the driver said , " get in". As I started to sit down in the back At one time we had an old Italian barber and he use to tell us that he I noticed they had a corpse laying on the floortt all wrapped in a GI couldn't buy bread in their stores unless he had a communist card. blanket. About that time the driver said , he want hurt you he 's dead" The 99th had a rest camp in Rome , and frequently we could go there for The driver said, " the body wa s a young officer" who had been killed on about a week about eveny six months. That wa s a real treat as Rome was a a recent mission and they were taking him for burial at Bari. very pret�y city. It wa s much like cities in the United States as they had all kinds of parks, etc. I think pel'l'haps I visited Rome two or three It was a custom when anyone wa s killed to wrap the body in a GI blanket times. and place it in a wooden box for burial, and sometime just a blanket was wrapped around the body, 36 37

When I wa s an II Honor Guard " at Tommy Shannon's funeral he wa s wrapped in All four engines went bowling along their seperate ways as the wlane a blanket and the body placed in a simple pine box for burial. settled onto the open field just beyond the railroad embankment in a cloud of dust . It wa s our custom in the farm community where I come from in New Mexico to place the body in a wooden box for burial, so it wasn't strange for When the pilot wa s questioned, n he said" he didn't have full control me to see this in the army. Also in our community all people were expected as the " gust locks" were still on, that 's why he chopped power to to attend funerals when someone died, so seeing the dead wasn't unusal ••• reduce pressure on the control surface in the tail section ( rudder and ••••••this wa s just part of life . elevator ) • The summer of 44 , a bunch of our squadron wa s watching a group of B-24s The gust locks were a. handle between the pilots near the floor. Its take off and get into formation, when all of a sudden we saw one of purpose wa s to lock the rudden and elevator when the airplane was on the the planes go into a no se dive and catch fire . It wa sn't but a few seconds ground so wind couldn't flop around the control surface· s. This little when it hit the ground in a ball of fire . The plane fell just a few. pilot error could have kill the crew •••••they were just lucky. miles from our base at Foggia , and immediately after that one went in� we saw five others do the same thing ••••we couldn't believe what we were The airplane 's bombs or ga soline didn't explode or burn, it just tore the seeing. underside of the airplane and landing gear off, plus ripping out the ball turret ••• It was learned the next day that some GI wa s placing bombs on the landing gear, and when the B-24s would take off and get about 500 to 1000 The 99th wa s the first group to use a parachute to stop an airplane feet the bomb would explode sending the planes crashing to ground. during landing . Immediately the CID wa s called to the base and an investigation begun. The particular 17 had its brake lines shot out and couldn't stop . The !Pilot Come to find out some guy wa s getting paid a thousand dollars for each k�ew he had a problem, so one of the gunneT s who had been a parachute plane destroyed. He was caught trying to sabotage another plane th� next rigger suggested that he drop a chute out the tail gunners e:scape hatch day. Immediately the guy wa s tried, and we heard he was executed right on as the plane touched down on the runway. the spot . Later we heard the German SS: was behind the sabotage operation. The gunne-r rigged a static line to the radio gun mounting, and as the airplane touch down, the gunner popped the chute out the escape hatch. Another time a I»-24, landed at our base with a ·critical wounded pilot •••••this wa s the first time a chute was used to stop an aircraft who had been hit by flak in the back and butt. • This poor guy wa s during a lRnding. screaming and crying with pain. Our medics. finally got this Capt ., out but we later learned that he died from loss of blood and shock. Note : Recently I saw the picture of the chute landing in a publication, and I told one of the 99th former members that I actually saw this happen at Once I wa s setting in a B-17 by the runway listening to the take off Foggia about the middle of 44. communications when all of a sudden another plane ran into the one just in front of him. He really cut up the tail section of the forward B:,..17 , but Another time we had a gunner about 100 yards from one of the 347th no one wa s hurt. airplanes discharge about 10 rounds of 50 cal'. , amo into a 17 while it wa s being preflighted •••• Another time our airplane s were lined up along side the runway, much like you see at airports today, wa iting for their time to move onto the Al� gunners were to�d not to charge their guns while on the ground . Well runway , and the dust wa s so bad the planes could hardly see, when all of a this young gunner did ••••••the rounds of amo went right between the crew sudden this 17 lost a tire and come crashing into the line of 17s lined chief's leggs and hit an oxygen bottle, setting the 17 on fire. The along the runway. That time we were" NOT "lucky as a couple of pilots crew chief jumped out and the 17 burned right to the ground . All 2700 were killed. gallons of 130 octane fuel went up like a flash . The plane had a full load of 500 pounders, but they just fell out of their racks as the plane Near the end of summer 44 one of the 99th squadrons had a 17 that was burned. about to take off on a mission with full fuel and bombs. Went the plane reached about three quarters runway he cut the power, then all of a sudden Everyone e.Jt'.!pected the bombs to go off but they didn't ••••••everyone wa s he gave full throttle again. By then the 17 wa s just at about stalling just lucky. spee� ••••he wa s just mushing along just above the ground . W�ile at Fogg�a, the �uys in ?ur tent made a dark room to develope At the end of the runway about four or five hundred yards wa s a railroad pictures. In Just a little while we were developing pictures for just about bed just about 10 foot above the level of the runway. As this 17 was trying everyone in the squadron. Our only problem was that we couldn't get to take off the ball turret and the tail section hit the railroad bed regular photo paper. Capt., Bruce B. Church , our communications officer and- the plane started making a crash landing . When it hit the g3:ound . said, n he could get paper for us" out of group, so he furni shed all the all four engines �rops dug into the ground and tore loose from its mountings paper. Later I became friendly with an old Italian man at the little beach town I spoke about before. This old guy developed most of my pictures, and they have lasted over 40 years, so they must have been good. 38 39 Mail call was a big event in every 0Is life while being ov erseas. Nearly every day I would receive one or two letters from my wife In about a week some of us were told we soon would be rotated back to the Margaret , and she would receive one from me because we wrote each other States to form another group for B-29s. The selection process depended on regardle ss of whether we received arty mail or not . how long you had been ov.erseas and group campaigns. You needed a 100 points to rotate back to the States, and I had 115 points. Once in a while I would receive a package from her. Often time s she would send cookies or a package of Campbell soup ••••••this wa s a change On or about 15 July 1945 I was advised that I would be leav ing the 99th from army chow. To receive a package it would be necessary for me to Bomb Group, 34 7th Sqdn., and to be assigned to another 17 outfit going send a letter reque st . With the reque st she would take it to the back to the States. This Group wa s the 301st and I wa s to be assigned to post office where it would be verification stamped. Sometime s the post the 353 Sqdn. office would let her use the same reque st over and over. I hated to leave all my friends in the 99th but here wa s a chance to V-Mail letter s were the thing during World War II. V-Mail wa s a form of rotate back to the States. microfilm. The purpose of V-Mail was to save space on ships or �lanes. I doubted that many time s it would ever go by plane like today. It wa s the next day, 16 July 1945 when Gordon H. Hunsberger and I would be re-assigned . There were others but I can't think of any of their name s. Food in Italy wa s a lot better than in North Africa. Seldom did we have to eat the C-Rations anymore . However, we still had a lot of spam The group we were going to were stationed on the west side of Foggia and SOS . Generally we would take the spam back to our tent and put it about 20 miles. The 301st had been stationed in England and when the together with egg� and some local vegatables and cook on our stove build up in Africa they were sent there . After we had been with this group which I wrote about •. for about two weeks, one morning we loaded into trucks and were off to Naple s to catch a boat home . While in Italy we had a lot of Ma laria as the area was infested with mosquitos which carried the malaria,. To combat this the medics had us to When we reached Naple s we were quartered in a former hotel used by the take once a day a little yellow pill called Atabrine . Th is pill had a General Staff of some Na zi General while the Germans were in Italy. The bitter bitter taste and often time s I would hide it in the food which I building wa s really fa ncy. It had black marble floors everywhere and large would eat. The Atabrine made your skin turn yellow. You could alway tell rooms ••••thi s would be the first time in 29 months that we would have a new GI to the unit because his skin wasn't yellow yet. quarter s in a building , other than a tent . I might add it was really nice to be out of tents. The war in Europe was winding down somewhat and our planes didn't fly as much , and we really didn't have to much to do . Often time s then German POWs were used to do all the KP duties and to serve us food , etc. we would go to the beach and go sailing with the Italian fishermen, etc. Or , you might hitch hike down the coast of Italy to Bari. At this location there must have been about 60 German POWs, and Gordon Hunsberger use to say to these guys, tt A Dollar A Day" will ma ke you The best way to travel in Italy during the Second World War wa s to happy. Gordon could speak German and often times he would try to talk to hitch a ride with someone . Frequently about then we would hitch a ride and them. I doubted the POWs had any idea what he wa s talking about , especially go to Rome on some of the B-17s. when he mentioned about the dollar a day phrase . Once I wa s hitch hiking to the beach when two black Gis picked me up in After we had been at Naples for about a week or so , one day we were a truck. In the back were two one thousand pound black bombs and I was bused to a ship at the docks of Naples. The docks and harbor still had riding with them. The truck driver would go around curve a real fast and signs of bombing which the 99th did some two year prior. I think the 99th these bombs would smack together. real hard . This kinda shook me up as I hit Naples many times. remembered the bomb dump that went up in North Africa . There wa s a large ocean liner keeled over on its side in the harbor, and In the spring of 1945 we really began to hear rumors that soon we would at the fore deck of the ship, n The United States Line '' • This wa s to be the be pulling out of Italy. It seemed like a dream that we would ever leave ship which we would return to the States on. Italy, you see by then we had been overseas about 29 months. I remember that about a we ek before we were to go aboard the ship at In just a month or so the war in Europe was about over. I remember well the Na ple s, we had a GI that had a dog with him. This guy had brought the dog night it wa s announced that Germay had surrendered. I don't think a GI overseas with him as a ma scot when the dog wa s just a pup . He had stowed went to bed that night , as we took a�iation gasoline and started a big the pup in his bags and carried it onboard the Edmond B. Alexander some fire and played around the flame all night . Some guys got drunk on 29 months before as we departed New York. Italian vino while other cooked just about every thing in the mess hall. 1 I can't think of the guy ·s name , but its possible he wa s in the armament For the next couple of weeks about all the 99th did wa s play soldier. The group . big wigs thought we should learn how to march again. Also , we had to qualify on the rifle range and learn all over again how to shoot a, 45. He had raised the dog from a pup to full grown, and he wa sn't about to leave the dog over seas, as he had really been attached to the dog . Other than playing soldier about all we did wa s go to the beach and play baseball with the WACS in Foggia. 41 40 For about a week prior to going on board the ship at Naples, this guy would put the full grown dog into his barrack's bag and carry the dog around ••••••he wa s training the dog not to tmake a sound . I think the dog had an idea what was about to come off ••••• It took the tug boats about an hour to dock the ship, as a lot of us watched. After the ship had do cked, perhaps an hour or so, the gang The dog wa s a German Shepard and was over two years old, and it must have walk wa s lowered and we got our bags to go ashore. weighed in at about JO pounds. The GI with the dog, put the dog into his barrack's bag and simply walked After a few days of carrying the dog around , the dog would jump for joy down the gang walk with the rest of us. to get into the barrack's bag wit hout making a sound ••••••he was ready to go anywhere with the guy ••• As I walked down the gang walk, I thought of all that had happ.ened during my venture overseas, and my mind had thoughts of all the soldiers and airmen that were lost during the sec�nd world war . Of all who had The day we were to go aboard the ship, this guy put the dog into the 11 ••••••• barrack's bag , while some other Gis divided up his clothing and put them died in Italy and elsewhere. "I said to myself Thank God for in their bags. watching ov er all, you 're back on good American soil. tt As we went aboard the ship late in the afternoon, this GI with the dog On shore there were no Bands or Welcome Groups" to meet us. I think simply walked up the gang walk past the sentry posted at the ship, along maybe the Red Cross had coffee and cookies, and that 's about all. with the rest of us ••••••the dog didn't ma ke a sound . When we got onboard the ship , some me rchant marine took the dog to his quarter 's and hid it In just a little while we were loaded into trucks and hauled to a nearby for the trip back to the states. camp . At the base I remember it wa s sure hot and sticky that August day 1945 , but I didn't care as I was home even if it w.as in Virginia ••••• tt ••••••I could hitch hike from here if necessary •••••• As we �ere going on the boat first some guys on the dock said , you guys are going to the hole" Later it wa s the guys giving us a hard time that went into the hole. Our qu arters were on the II Promenade Deck" About the first thing that we did .after arriving at the base wa s to assemble out in front of our quarters and listen to some " public After about two hours, just as it wa s about sunset we set sail for home relation guy" tell us how the war was won. After that we broke ranks and with all navigation burning ••••••it sure wa s a strange feeling to be started filling out some forms, advising where we would like to be headed home after so many months overseas. shipped for furlow . As we steamed for home we would pass other ships at sea with all lights Finally after 36 months I would be given an official furlow ••••••sure I had bright ••••••••on shore we could see cities that were fully lit up . a lot of pa sses but not a furlow in all my military career. The next thing which I did was to go to the PX and buy me a half gallon of At la st we . realized �he war wa s over in Europe ••••••soon we went through the " Straight� of Gibralter " and all of their lights were on •••••it was ice cream and walk down the company street eating the ice -cream. a strange feeling and a sight to see. The forms which I filled out allowed me to be shipped to San Antonio, After the fifth day at sea we ran into an ocean storm that really tossed Texas as this was the nearest base to my home in New Mexico. I selected our ship ab�ut • ••Our ship wa s like a feather being blown about here and Fort Sam Huston as the base I would like to go to .. '' I thought to my self" there . When we hit the storm I wa s sleeping and I felt like I wa s standing if I get to Texas I can find my way home •- on my head at times. In a few days we were all placed on troop trains which were headed for In just a little while , as soon as it became daylight , I looked out the Texas. At various towns we would drop off Gi s •••• port hole, and sure nough we were just about standing the ship on it s end. We had entered 7into a summer storm with an estimated wind of about About half way to Te�s our troop train stopped for about a day. We stopped 50 knots blowing right across our bow. in the middle of no where , and I said, " why are we stopping here". Then late in the afternoon a train engine came along and took us into The storm lashed us for three days and nights and many were sea sick The Fort Sam. waves would come crashing down on the deck each time the ship pitched arid buck into the sea. Frequently you could look out at the sea and· it would At Fort Sam we were given our furlow. ' s and money to go home on••••• I think have very large rolling waves, much like you would see in the north sea maybe fifty dollars. during winter time . These wave s would be fanned by the gale �ausing white caps on the tops. Finally the storm calm down after about the fourth day Upon getting military leave, I walked out to the front gate and there and we had a pleasant voyage thereafter. were some people who made their living during WW II by taking military personnel from city to city using their cars. It wa s called " car pooling". Rumors were that we would dock in New York, while others said it would be To go to Lubbock, Texas it cost me about $ 10 .00 ••••• Newrort News, Virginia . Finally early one morning just as the sun was coming up , we pulled into a harbor. The morning reminded me much of the The group of Gis I went with drove all night from San Ant�nio to morning we left New York harbor some 29 months before . Lubbock, Texas, we reached Lubbock early in the morning ••••••from there I hitch hiked onto Clovis, New Me xico . As we pulled into the harbor, I noticed that its possible to read the signs along the road on shore . "I said to my self" this is in english and we are about to dock in Newport News, Virginia . 42 43

Before getting militHry leave at Fort Sam, I tried to phone my wife who was livihg with my folks in Shiprock, New Mexico, but they didn't "HERE 'TIS" have a telephone , so I sent a telegram for her �o meet me in Clovis. ITALY 11 Feb 45 Published Weekly by the Special Service Section, Hg 99th Bomb Group (H). Vol II - 6 I sent the telegram on faith that my wife wa s with my folks, since TAIL GUNNER BAILS OUT FOR FUN she had no idea that I was on my way back to New Mexico, and I hadn't heard from her in over a month. Nothing more than Jump in' Jive or a yen to ''s ee what it felt like" prompted Sgt Joseph M. Wilhour, 347th tail gunner, to bail out of his aircraft recently. I had a sister living in Clovis and when reaching there she told me Wilhour , while his aircraft was in preparation for landing, after a mission to that my mother and wife Margaret were on their way to Clovis from Regensburg a few days ago, took a quick look at the planes behind him, chose a spot on the Shiprock. Somehow my mother had received the telegram and called my ground, and jump ed--landing not on his own base, but at another fortress field. sister in Clovis. "Frankly, I was disappointed," he said, commenting on his expected thrill. "But, I do know now what it feels like. I picked out a spot and pulled on the shrouds until i landed While waiting for my mothe:r and Margret to get to Clovis, I took the where I wanted to." bus to Portales, New Mexico and visited with some people that I knew His superiors weren't too pleased with the exp erience, however; and the gunner himself there . It must have been in the afternoon when I returned to Clovis is now reposing in the hosp ital with an injured ankle, sustained upon landing. and meet my mother and Margaret. THURSDAY 'S MOVIES DESCRIBED It had been nearly JO months since I had been with Margaret and my If you have yet to attend a Thursday night G.I. movie program , you are missing folks· •••• something exceptionally entertaining and worthwhile. G.I. movies are a complete bill of fare of sp ecial short subjects designed to entertain and inform. They are made up of After about two or three days, my mother , Marga ret and I drove back to cartoons, travelogs, song shorts , sports shorts, and, surprisingly enough, recent news 3hiprock. That was the longest ride I have ever made as my mother reels. Normally, accompanying these are Combat Bulletins and "The Army-Navy Screen couldn 't drive over 40 miles per hour in their old Dodge autom obile, since Magazine. " she was afraid she would have a tire blow-out . Attending the Thursday night shows is a simple way of keeping up to date on world events--p ictorial information sp iced with laughs. Give them a try, and you'll be back for During World War II gasoline and tires were rationed and you had to be seconds. careful with your car. INFORMATION FILES RESHOWN Margaret and I stayed about two weeks at Shiprock before we left to see For the benefit of men who did not have an op portunity to see the series of he r fo lks in Hot spring , New Mexico. It was while in Shiprock, getting a information files dealing with the background of the War, special arrangements have been hair cut , when I heard over the radio, the U.S. Air Corp had dropped an made for their re-showing. Beginning Thursday night, February, immediately following Atomic Bomb on Japan •••••that ended the war with Japan. the G.I. Movies, "Prelude to War," first in the series ofsix, will be shown. They are not fictional movies, not designed to entertain--but are factual and documentary historical I remember that no one had any idea what an Atomic Bomb was in the first records of the causes and events leading up to our participation in the war , shown in place and couldn't understand how one bom b could end the war. o•• superb pictorial realism . Much captured enemy film is included in each picture. Start Thursday night and plan to see the entire series in turn. It will give you a lasting Margaret and I took the bus to Albuquerque and then on to Hot Sprin gs. It perspective on the War. wasn 't long after that until my military leave wa s about over , and I 99TH SCORES HIGH AGAIN IN BOMBING had to report back to Fort Sam. by Capt Paul Franklin, Gp Op erations Officer When I returned to Fort Sam, the U.S. Air Corp hadn 't made up its mind whether I would go to Smokey Hill, Ka nsas to join a B-29 outfit o ln the late fall and early winter of 1944, the 99th was exp eriencing a new low in bombing accuracy . It seemed as if something always went wrong about the time we were on a After about a week, the military told me that since you have over 100 bombing run. Missions were SNAFU and the men themselves became disinterested. Even the point s and served so long overseas I could get out of the service if bombardiers were reluctant to examine their mediocre bomb-strike photos. I wanted to. I was informed that it would take about a week to process my Early in January, a change began to take place. What is was, or what caused it, none discharge . seems to know. Perhaps it is similar to the sprint a "miler" puts on when the finishing tap e is in sight; perhaps it was our fairly large turnover in personnel; it could even be There wa sn't any military duty, so most of the time was spent in towno due to our changed policy on training and tactics. At any rate, early in January one At the time San Antonio had about 100 ,000 Gls in town each night ••••eveny squadron , bombing visually, got a "shack" in North Italy--the score 75�o. Next the group thing was nothing but military for the entire week. went to Yugoslavia and did one of the best bombing jobs the "Diamondbacks" ever attempted. They attacked in six separate task forces, and only a negligible number of bombs fell On the morning of 6 September 1945 I was given an " Honorable Discharge" outside the 1000 ' circle. The bomb concentration was so great on our aiming point that all from the Air Corp •••••this ended my army career in the United States the bombs could not be plotted . Thus, our score was only 64%. Then came the day when Army Air Corp •••••o Major Schroeder and his team bored through almost solid weather to find a hole through 7hanf which to hit a high-p riority oil refinery in Austria. Another direct hit, and congratulations from Generals Twining, Born, and Lawrence. 44 45

These were the highlights of the 99th for January. The results when reduced to dry Hq figures and graphs still make an exciting story, for they show that this outfit is capable of being about the hottest thing in the Italian sky. From the very bottom of the cellar to Good weather has set in, the club is nearing completion and Cpl Joyce Dale has the top of the heap in thirty days! Not an accomp lishment to be sneered at! returned ••••Oh yes, we had a gas mask drill. Starting Tuesday we shall resume our daily volleyball games from 10:00 to 11:30. Balls and gloves are also available at Sp . Serv. for "FRAGS" those of you who want to get the kinks out of your arms ••••Swinging doors, comfortable arm chairs, wall seats and bar stools are some of the innovations planned for the new club. 346th Under the direction of Sgt Charley Karchnyak (typewriters fixed, camera's built, cartoons Saturday's jam session wound up a howling success. Carlson and Company blew, banged, drawn, interiors decorated and what have you) we shall soon have a club that even ---- and blasted out the most wonderful, musical noises. Russ Williams almost threw a thyroid will condescend to go to. • • • a brief stay in Rome, Cpl Joyce Dale returned to the gland jitterbugging. Dick Stallmeyer, �oe Gilmarlin and Art Porter operated their own 99th. Upon arrival, he was presented with the Good Conduct Medal. private bar after Adams shut up for the night ••••Pancho has gotten to the stage where he sends in requests to the Foggia radio station. By the way, do you know that Pancho's first CHAPLAIN'S CORNER name is Trinidad? Cute ain't it? ••••When Nate Wolinetz goes to town, he really gets Arabian horses are trained to respond instantly to the sound of a certain whistle. that fruit salad on. He wears his Unit Citation, Good Conduct, African Campaign, and The final test in the training program is one in which the horses are placed in a Typewriter Ribbons. On him, it looks good •••• Curt Gradsicki, capable manager of the high-walled corral within sight and smell of fresh water. They are given neither water nor Rattlers quintet, astounded one and all when he threatened to get a hair-cut. 'Tis rumored food for days. On the last day, their legs and shoulders are sore from the repeated Curt posed as the "after" in the Kreal Hair Tonic ads ••••Joe Cantley, he of the chin efforts to batter their way out . hirsute, is the Tortorella rep resentative of the Boston Department Store that sells mess Then, the gate is opened and the horses make a head-long dash for the water. Just as kits. Joe claims business is very good with Jim Priestly already making a $.35 down they almost reach it, the whistle is sounded . This is the final test to their response to payment on one ••••Sol Zito has come out in favor of a strip-tease Olymp ic as suggested rigid discipline. Only those thoroughbreds who return without drinking are considered good by the "Balkan Bombshell.'' Sol claims Margie Hart would win hands down--he should know, as for breeding purposes. he 's a former program salesman of the "Star Burlesque in Brooklyn. You and I had some moral training at home, now we are being tested to see whether we 347th have moral character and are fit for life. The temp tation is all around us, and the This is being written at 5:30 a.m., believe it or not . Gotta get it in before "Here "still, small voice" whispers in our souls. How do you respond? Tis" goes to press. Now what have I got to write about? Oh yes, Bronze Stars. The foundation of all worth-while living is to be found in your faith; develop your Congratulations to M/Sgts Redd, Miller, and Wildes; T/Sgts Stickel and Price; and S.Sgt conscience and your will-power by worship and self-discipline. Be worthy of your parents Peterson. We know how hard you worked to get it ••••Mustn 't forget S/Sgt Vachata and your training. Be worthy of your future hopes. Going to church will help you--try it celebrating his second anniversary overseas on his kisser ••••Also must remember to warn next Sunday. all B-17s to stay out of Cpl Joe Schoof's way when he 's behind the wheel of a jeep. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish services are advertised on your Bulletin Board. Keep Gasoline fumes intoxicate him and he's dangerous ••••That 's all my fatigued brain can yourself morally fit. GO TO CHURCH think of right now, see you again soon . Ho hum, where 's the sack? Chaplain Harold Whitlock 348th CHURCH SCHEDULE This column 's a fooler if it goes like I plan it. It'll look like it 's prose but it 's Catholic: Sunday Mass verse-you can scan it ! So be patient a while with a war-weary clerk, with a deadline to 0900,, 1600, 1830 meet and a mountain of work ••••The infantry scare has the boys going crazy. Should they Wed. & Friday--1830 work a bit harder or try being lazy? ••••The Eyeties run round like screwballs from Goontown. But they're the backbones of McMillan's Boontown •••• New houses, new offices, Protestant: Sunday the P.I. has wings. And we hear that ere long there will be brick latrines ! ••••We 've 0800-347; 0845-0rd. uncovered the secret of Stoyor's physique. He goes to noon chow every day in the week ••• 0930-348; 1015-416 • From reliable sources, we quote without question--the Alexander's in port with room for 1830-Hq • one squadron . So farewell, all you guys, when we 're home we will send you, a postcard to INQUIRING REPORTER read while policing the area. "What does the word 'morale' mean to you?" 416th M/SGT "ARTIE'' SHAW: Morale is something I'd have lots of if my girl was here . After an exhaustive impartial investigation as to the diminished food rations at the SQuadron Mess, a Board of Inquiry has fixed the blame on those two celebrated chow-hounds, S/SGT ELMER GILL: Morale is like rotation--there is no such word. Sgt Warren Cox and Sgt Frank Jones. Cut down on your vitamins boys ••••One of our SGT CHARLES FRISSELL: To me, morale is what goes up when I read about the Russian Army and In fantry OCS ap plicants has already acquired the rank of Major whithout the benefit of their terrific thrust towards Berlin. appropriate orders. Boy is his face red ••••Congratulat ions to M/Sgt Traco and S/Sgts Briggs and Steltznor on their recent award of the Bronze Star ••••On ly the Arm. boys know PVT DICK CATALANE : My morale, I guess that 's what it is, is always high when I get plenty and they won 't tell, why they call their handsome co-worker Jeffrey Massour, "Mattress of sack time. Cover ."•••• Cpl Sunny Mer ling is all smiles these days. He has finally been awarded the SGT KRALIK : (Pointing to a picture of New York's skyline ) Being there, not here. Good Conduct Medal which he richly deserves ••••'T is B long story regarding the delay in gaining recognition, but the "Nozzie" as he is known to his intimates, had a peculiar flair SGT BRODER: Winning nine hundred chops this pay day spelled MORALE. for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time ••••Two days after payday the winers have SGT JOE RUSSIN: A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou. banked their dough or sent it home and the losers whine and fret and then sit back and wait for next payday to try their luck. 47 46 NEWS FROM HOME MOVIE SCHEDULE JEFFERSON CITY, MO: The meals are so good at the Missouri State pen that 1500 convicts MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY have petitioned the warden to let them stay as KPs after serving their terms. "CANTERVILLE GHOST" with CHARLES LAUGHTON & MARGARET O'BRIEN ST. LOUIS, MO: A printing company has hired a draft-proof office boy . He is John B. New, 1800-347th, 416th & Hq. 82-year-old veteran of the Spanish American war. 1930-346th, 348th & Ord. FT. MEADE, MD: A GI arrived at the Separation Center and went AWOL while waiting a WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY discharge from the army. "SHOW BUSINESS" with NEW YORK, N. Y. : Irked when the bartender refused her request . for a drink, Kate O' Conner EDDIE CANTOR, GEORGE MURPHY slammed a barstool through the mirror swept all the cocktail glasses to the floor and 1800-346th, 348th, & Ord . threw a bottle of rye at the bartender. �'Don't you know how to treat a lady?" she screamed 1930-347th, 416th & Hq . en route to the jug. THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY SAN DIEGO, CAL: Petros Protopapadakis has ap�lied at the Federal Court here to a change of "G.I. MOVIES" extra attraction name . His new name : Petros FDR Protopapadakis. TO "PRELUDE WAR" first in the "WHY WE FIGHT" series. LINCOLN, NEB: The ominous number 13 has been attached to a bill in the Neb. legislature. 1800-0ne showing only It deals with cemeteries. SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY "CHINA" with �' LETTERS ALLAN LADD & LORRE TA YOUNG GEORGE COEN: 30 AUG 88 1800-347th, 416th & Hq. 1930-346th, 348th & Ord . YOU INVITE ME TO MAKE INPUTS FOR POSSIBLE USE IN 99 BOMB GROUP LETTERS. I WAS NOT IN THE 99TH. BUT AI1 NOW AN ASS MEMBER. NOTICE : SECOND SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED UP TO 1930 YOU ALL HAVE A MILLION· STORI ES. BUT NOT MUCH ABOUT THE "LITTLE BETTER LATE THAN NEVER FRIENDS" LIKE ME THAT TRIED TO HELP. I READ ALL YOUR NEWS LETTERS, AND SO KNOL.J A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS . I THOUGHT Tampa, Fla (CNB)--A 22-year-old veteran, who, under the GI Bill of Rights, may receive THAT YOU MIGHT BE A BIT INTERESTED IN SOME ---ONE--PROBLEM THAT $50 a month subsistance while resuming his studies, has enrolled in the 6th grade of a US SINGLE ENGINE PILOTS (I COULD NOT QUALIFY FOR MORE THAN ONE public school here. ENGINE ) HAD . Sports for Sports WHEN I AND OTHER LITTLE FRIENDS WERE PURSUING A BAD LITTLE Basketball: Last Wednesday night, the 346th Rattlers soundly whipped the Bombers 37 to 27 GERM.AN FIGHTER PLANE, AND WHEN WE WERE CLOSING IN TOO FAST, WE and thereby took sole possession of first place in the National Division. High scorer of NEEDED TO SLOW DOWN , SO AS TO HIT HIM A BIT MORE WITH 50 the game was Alabama's own Ed Spaar who accounted for 15 points in spite of being guarded CALIBRES. I COULD NOT FIND A SWITCH THAT SAYS "REVERSE GEAR" by the best man on the Bombers. Wellborn, Wood, Tidmarsh, Sobelewski and Nowzcgyk played I COULD NOT FIND A SWITCH THAT SAYS "SPEED BRAKES. 11 ALL THAT I their normal steady game. Monday night the Rattlers go against the "Quanta Costa Quintet.'' COULD DO WAS TO CUT POWER. NOT ENOUGH. I WOULD STILL RUN BY This oddly named five have yet to lose a game in thirteen contests so you can be sure it's HIM AND LET HIM, POSSIBLY SHOOT DOWN A BIG FRIEND. going to be quite a brawl. THIS WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM. NOT AS SERI OUS AS A B-17 WITH Ping Pong: The second and last ping pong tournament got off to a fine start Friday evening FIGHTERS ON ITS TAIL. with the 346th bowing to the 347th, 2 games to 5; the 348th taking the 416th, 5 games to 2, and Hq. defeating Ord ., 8 games to 1. Capt Popella, Lt M/Sgt Huska and Cpl Kadar THERE ARE TWO INTERESTING ASPECTS OF THIS FOR ME. THE gave ample proof that the 346th was not going to be a pushover this tournament. Lt Oberman FIRST IS THAT AFTER PUZZLING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM FOR HOURS ON THE and Sgt Joe Russin answered a last minute call to arms and came through gloriously for good GROUND AND WITH OTHER PILOTS, WE NEVER SOLVED IT. AND THAT I old alma mater, Hq. Det. It was a fine birthday present for Red Rubinton, the Captain of SUDDENLY REALIZED HOW TO DO IT IN THE AI R, JUST AFTER PASSING UP the team who is in the hospital. We're looking forward to some top-notch games this A GERMAN FIGHTER THAT I HAD NOT HIT ENOUGH. Friday--seeing you. THE OTHER IS THAT I CAN NOT REMEMBER ANY BOOK OR PUBLICATION THAT DISCUSSES THIS PROBLEM. I EXPECT THAT !"'. ANY Sideligh ts: Abe Lyman now knows better than to fool with that character among characters, FIGHTER PILOTS KNEW ALL ABOUT THIS---BUT NO ONE THAT I HAVE READ Mo Goldman, the blushing, bashful Boston boy. Mo, with the aid of his secret weapon V 164, AB OUT , OR TALKED TO DISCUSSES THIS .. I EXPECT THAT SOME OF THE took Abe 4 out of 6 games in ping pong and collected ten bucks to make the defeat even more TOP GERMAN FIGHTER PILOTS WOULD SAY---OF COURSE??? humiliating. THE SOLUTION TO THIS NEED FOR AIR BRAKES WAS TO DO A The Special Service Gym in town is now available to the 99th on certain days, from VI OLENT BARRELL ROLL. IT WORKED. PULLING BACK THE STICK 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. The 346th and 347th can take advantage of the basketball, volleyball, INDUCES DRAG--WHICH I WANTED. AND LIFT, WHICH I DID NOT WANT . weight-lifting and boxing facilities in the gym every Friday. Wednesday is set aside for BUT THE UNWANTED LIFT IS COMPENSATED FOR BY THE BARRELL ROLL the 348th and the 416th. For further details see the Sp. Serv. Officer in your squadron. WHICH LETS UP AND DOWN LIFT CANCEL. They are: 346th-Lt George Wellborn; 347th-Capt Bruce Church; 348th-Lt Hubert Doan ; and 416th-Lt Harold Blum ••••Le t's get out there once a week and get the kinks out of those HAVING THUS BRILLIANTLY SOLVED THIS PROBLEM., GERMAN FLAK muscles--2 :30 to 4:00 p.m. SHOT ME DOWN A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER. SO IT GOES.

WALT BECKHflM, ASS MEMBER OF 98TH. l '· .·, ,, ·, �'. f::t/ I //' . -- 49 48 Your edi tor has a set of these lovely items , consisting of two mugs w ith suitable accessor i es. The mug especially will appeal t o all COMMEMORATING YOUR DAYS IN THE AAF 99ers, because it i s desi gned to hold a can of beer in what appears t o WITH be a mug of tea, thus protecting the 99th's reput at ion as a completely tee-€otali ng outfit. Ser iously, the craftsmansh ip is superb, the items seem to be The 99th Bomb Group chip-res istant , and an old legend says that one who tipples fr om Thomas r r Imagine the pride of ownership in having a well made, tastefully decorated utility item which Tiles treasu es will never have a hangove . ct r recalls memories of the most eventful time in an airman's life. These lovely cer ami cs are manufa u ed by D. Thomas , an alumnus We offer for your consideration a selection of durable ceramic items which display your aircraft, of Ye Olde F irst Fighter Gr oup. geo. your GROUP NUMBER and your SQUADRON NUMBER. All pieces are both dishwasher and microwave safe. J w Our Past P resident Bernie Barr says: I have 99th Bomb Group caps postpaid for $10 for the first cap A great way to remember your group and squadron. The and $8 for all subsequent caps. mugs, top row, have YOUR aircraft on one side and your h ro c i group number on.the other. Mugs on bottom row show your 99t Bomb G up license plates are $5 ea h, postpa d. bsb aircraft on one side and your squadron number on the Bern i e's address i s reverse side. Get the Group or Squadron - or both - you'll Bernice Barr, 7413 Vi sta del Arroyo NE, Albuquerque NM 87109 use these handsome coffee rnugs with pride and pleasure.

NEWS , DUES & VI EWS �

The Popular "MEMORY MUG" The ditori . � al.staff is deeply grateful t t hich th o the hallowed raditions � bind is republi c t ogeth r t er. We a e herefore ded icating thi s issue of your newsletter t t t r o he crea o of Sadie Hawkin's Day , may it some day be i r ti an nte na onal holiday ! geo. �

The ceramic plaque is 6" x 8". Decorations We find that there are among us some persons who are not aware are fired on and into the satin off-white glaze. of this Society's humble begi nni ngs. Plaque is fitted with an easel for shelf or Th ri i r h i r table display or the hook can be used for wall e o g nal o ganizat ional meeting was eld n Octobe , 1980 hanging. The feature of this unusual memen­ at the Holi day Inn i n Amar illo , Texas and was at tended by 9 99ers , seven to is the brass strip with the name of the reci­ Commemorative Plaque & Stein of whom were ac compani ed by their w i ves. It happened that a bomb threat pient engraved for permanence. Plaque also The 22 oz stoneware white stein is decorated was telephoned i n t o the motel , and all of us were therefore forced to displays the Group history in 1/1/W ii as well with BOTH the Group and the Squadron c t h r i t i t t r as details of your aircraft. Truly a memento numbers. Your aircraft is tastefully displayed eva ua e t e p emises. The lad es wen shopp ng while he men ga he ed to pass from generation to generation!! on the side opposite the stein handle. in M i ke Yar ina' s trai ler. Si nce we were expec ting the Boatwrights t o fly over from Albuquerque , we i ntr oduced ourselves t o the Amarillo Poli ce who enc ircled the motel while i t was being searched for explosi ves. Thus , we reasoned , Lew and Margaret would be able t o locate us i n the trai ler. These attractive, protective white china coasters are offered When the ladies returned from the trip downtown, the Police in designs which, as an assortment, display your Group c i it th Number (2), Your Squadron number (2) and your aircraft (2). Offi er on duty asked Maud e Kenney "Are you w h e bombers? ", and They also double as individual ash trays. Maudi e indignantly replied "I should hope no t!" Mar garet and Lew were unable to get a ride t o the encircled motel. The rest of us were reuni ted , and we were able to re-enter the motel in time for our banquet.

------Compadres: Please send me the following commemorative Items: t r I would be app eciated i f those of you who have acquired Missing i r QUANTITY TOTAL A r C ew Reports (MACRs) , would send a Xe rox c opy t o us for the files. MEMORY MUG, GROUP ...... $ 7.50 __$ PLEASE PRINT: MEMORY MUG, SOON ...... $ 7.50 __$ $ COASTER SET, 6 PCS ...... $20.00 __ Address ------"Chr is" Christi anson calls fr om Huntsvi lle Alabama to tell that BEER STEIN .•...... $12.00 __ $ Clty ______State __ lip. ___ the 1990 reunion i s tentat ively set for April 18, 1990. The birds wi ll __ $ Phone ------·------i h t ti PERSONALIZED PLAQUE .... $15.00 __$ be sing ng and t e azaleas should be in bloom, and I'll ge to con nue Indicate Fill out vrder lorm completely. A /low 2-4 weeks i r r t h r t r Thanks, Chr i s' ___ $ Sqdn #: for delivery. Send check or money order in lull to: on and v sit my fi st-g ade eac e . See y'all he e. ADD SHIPPING, PER ORDER. . $ 2.'.iO THOMAS TILES, INC. P.O. BOX I0'.!45. SAllASOTA. FL 34278 geo.

INOICA TE NAME TO BE ENGRAVED TOTAL lndicare Stop by our plattt in Sarasota and do some "hangar flying:" ON PLAQUE: print clearly in block. letters: ORDER: $ r= --·------·---·-·------=·i Group #: 1659 Cattlemen Rd., Sarasota, FL 34232 • 813-377·0869 51 50 STOP THE PRESS of the Poltava trip from anybody Since the Novembe ( We would welcome any accounts We have received one more sheet from George Frame. has told us that at least one 23 for the next who survived that mission. Galaxy Tours on. was already pasted up, we are saving this page we have received no further informati issue the other 28 pages 99er signed up for the tour, but sue. We tried to remove enough punctuation from eful for Galaxy for reminding me that is so good. gfc I shall always be grat I to accomodate this new page, but it didn't work would not be considered first-rate in the us. North Africanhotels but the factual describe a hotel room in war-time Tunis, was tempted to that I non-printed TES so obscene, even by today's standards, QUO account was with my feet on a chair slept that night on a little bedside table it. I Mongibodo Boggio can perhaps in a vain effort to escape the bedbugs. August 1988 ENGINEERING TIMES remember that one ! -OVER THE HILL Bombed-Out This office has had no success in obtaining the complete lyrics Runways Can to "OVER THE HILL". So far we have only: • Get Quick • "When you're asked for an encore and say you are ill Resin Fix You're over the hill, buddy, over the hill New technology toward the de­ velop�en5 of an air transportable, fill. containerized prefabricated repair "When the mind has wishes the body can't kit for airfield runways utted by l s You're over the hill, buddy, over the hil bomb cr�ters is ?eing applied by the dum de dumty dum . Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory little pink pill, (NCEL), Port Hueneme, Calif. Mul­ "With a glass full of water and a timillion-dollar aircraft are useless We have unless take-off and landing facilities the last two verses from Ann Landers' column. are available. We got fill in the blanks. to get a response from Ann in order to As protected (hardened) aircraft not been able on long ago, a copyright shelters become more common at­ Emma Pritchart, our favorite singer, moved any such song in the records, tac� strategies have switched fr om search by a local singer has not located trying to destroy planes on the ago. gr the West Hotel burned down long �und to demolishi!lg. runways and and who did not train at tax1w ys with specialized airfield­ For the information of those among you � to the tune of the above song. cratenng munitions. The capability ux City, Emma sent the 99th off to war New resin-transfe r molding techniques from the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory Sio coming of "a long cold winter, to have a 60-foot-diameter crater She also sang another song mentioning the repaired in less than two hours make for better airport runwa)' repair kits. In the picture, a fiberglass-reinforcedpl astic Efforts to locate Emma at the panel IS moved znto place to cover a bomb crater. so you'd better take this fat gal now! " would thus be of paramount impor­ 1957 Sioux City Reunion proved fruitless. tance to Navy and Marine Corps time of the was a reporter pilots. affords quality control, NCEL is us­ injected under high pressure to form We are under the impression that Ann Landers One current technique calls for ing � r�cently developed automated a . durabl� composite capable of in Sioux City in 1942. hand construction of full-size fiber­ fab_ncatmg technique referred to as w1th�tandmg landings by the heavi­ glass-reinforced polyester (FRP) cra­ resm transfer molding (RTM). The est aircraft. ter covers at a repair site, using injection molding method never has Benefits of the RTM technique manual layup procedures. Alterna­ been tried for making items the size over hand layup procedures are the tv-ovi.-. tively, that fabrication process can be and geometry of the FRP panels. eli ination of protruding bushings performed elsewhere and FRP sec­ The new technique places precut (whichri: get caught by plane tail­ Les tions sawed into panels for shipment 7ft. x 18ft. fiberglass into a steel hooks), deterioration reduction and to pavement-repair sites. mol_d, with the bushings precisely il'!'1proved quality control (tolera'nces, Since neither fabrication method pos1t1oned. Polymer resin then is d1mens10ns, materials).

�e were waiting for Sad ie Hawk ins' Day; we'd promised that by this memorable occasion. the 56th (fighter Group) would have at least one hundred German fighters tallied. November 6th was the day of promise,and by the morning of the fifth we we still lacked the required number. I didn't make the mission, but the boys flew a Ramrod to Munster. Six enemy fighters went down, and George Hall of the 63rd received the honors - he flamed a Messerscmitt Me 210 for the Group's one hundredth kill. All of our people came home . . That night we celebrated in royal fashion, for tomorrow was a holiday. Sadie Hawkins Day, naturally. p, 164, THUNDERBOLT, BY Robert S. Johnson 53 52 VFW:SEPTEMBER 1988 51 Robert Hoover of the 346th sends us this account of a hard day J E S T M N U T E VFW .. at the office. The crew consisted of Paul A. Hazleton {P) , Harold P. A rels for peanut shells. Ican't survive! Moon (CP) , Lucian J. Miller (AMG) , Wilbur F. Mason (ROG) , Stephen J. Overstaffed and Overstuffed They met. One lion was pathetic­ But look at you, all fat and sleek Valovich (AG) , Robert A. Hoover (AROG) , Irving M. Marshalrnan (AANG) , 1\vo lions escaped fr om the Washing­ ally thin and emaciated. The other was well-fed and robust. The skinny Where did you hide?" Lawrence w. Seehusen (AAG) , R.B. Richert (N) , Norbert Vandenhuevel (B). GFC ton Zoo. They knew they couldn't "I hid at the Pentagon," said the stay together and agreedto separate. one spoke: "I'm going back to the Zoo," he said. "It's impossible out healthy one. "Every other day I eat a They decided to meet on a certain colonel. As long as I clean up the night, one month out, by the Lincoln here. I hide in the parkand hunt for TRAVERSE CITY RECOffO.EAGLE mess, nobody seems to notice." WEDHESOAY, ;JUNE 15, 1a88 Memorial. lunch scraps. At night .I fight squir- Local aieW s � From CROSSHAIRS, the newsletter ,, of BOMBARDIERS , INC. , page 9, we reprint the latest update on Lew "Ace Franke. . John w. Galt, San Angelo 43-9 (24j un43) checked in with updating information about "Ace" ; 43 years later, TC 11 Frankie, as we called him, was in officer pilot training at Goodfellow Field , San Angelo, TX during 1945-46. Some of us in this class were R.I. F. ed (Reduction in Force Cuts) in Jun/Jul 46. Frankie, however went on to graduate (at Lackland Field) with the class. As a r heroism side issue, the maj ority of this pilot class was composed of ex-bombardiers, man honored fo ex-navigators and POWs... In 1948 Frankie was a Lt . Col . and flew a C- Hazelton's oxygen mask was gone 124 into Reading Munc. Airport. About 1976 I saw Frankie again at Madison's and he drifted in and out of con· Horne in Charlottesville, VA. He was4 then in the real estate business sciousness -as his crew made emer­ and lived in Colonial Heights , VA. "The only reason we survived gency plans to land on a dirt airstrip in Zara, Yugoslavia. some 300 miles We thank was because the whole crew away on the other side of the Alps. The 99th will conduct a postcard search of the area. We also thank Bearded Bombardier Pete Bulkeley for calling together. "The only reason we survived was· BOMBARDIERS. worked gfc -Paul Hazelton because the whole crew worked to­ this item to our attention. gether," he said. "The radio man did a heck of a job finding the eme�· gency airstrip we went to. The. engi­ neer I taught to fly took over m my By KAREN NORTON seat. They should have given the Record.Eagle staffwri ter medal · to the group - they did. a from CROSSHAIRS for Sep 1988, p.29 fantastic job." AXIS SALLY DIES AT AGE 87 ... From the 385th BrnGp and 457th and Associated TRAVERSE CITY�-The U.S. Air pursue the matter and he en· Moonlanded the damaged aircraft Press we learn that Mildred Gillars, known as the infamous "Axis Sally ", Force waited 43 years to award the couraged them.to do so. and Hazelton was airlifted to a hos· Distinguished Flying Cross to Paul Hazelton was notified that he was pita! in Italy, wher� he began a on� died at her home in Columbus , OH on 25 Jun 1988. Born in Portland , Maine , Hazelton, but he says it was still again · being considered for the year stay in hospitals. He lost his she aspired to be an actress but wound up in 1934 teaching English to great to receive it. medal. and had other facial in­ Germans in Berlin. The Flying Cross is one of the right eye In 1941 she gained notoriety for her bit on a German "I was flabbergasted,"he said. "It juries. radio program. By 1943 she was the highest paid foreign broadcast perfor highest honors bestowed by the Air to me that it had been Force. was amazing His crew was greeted by Yugo­ mer in Germany. After becoming a traitor to America by her almost Jane in the rues all these years." slavian partisans who took them to a Hazelton. a Traverse City archi-. First Lt. Hazelton - a native of Fonda type radiowork, she was brought back to Amer ica in 1949 for trial. tect. received the medal last month Petoskey - was a B-17 pilot as localbar. She served 12 years at a federal prison in Alderson W.VA. In 1981 she at the U.S. Air Force Academy in World War II came to a close. His "They sang songs and treated moved Colorado Springs. He was awarded those guys like kings,·· Hazelton to Columbus OH and taught music at a kindergarten. the Flying Cross for "outstanding squadron - part of the 99th Born· said. "At one point the Yugoslavians heroism and selfless .devotion to bardment Group in the 15th Air asked them to sing (Jh.e American) Lord Haw-Haw perished shortly after the war at the end of a tluty" during a World War II bomlr Force Division - was flying its final national anthem btft'(the crew; rope. He was apprehended mission on April 25. Its job was to because his voice was so familiar to two Br itish mg mission over Linz, Austria, on didn't �tand what they wanted soldiers to whom he spoke in a park. April 25, 1945. destroy the railroad Yai:d at Linz. so they sang the Beer Barrel Polka gfc Hazelton - a 22·year�ld pilot at Hazelton's 10.man crew had been - the only song we were really good the time - was recommended for together eight months and had flown at. This is the story they tell me of the honor by his co-pilot, Harold 17 missions. Everything was prog­ e what they did that night.'' �ff prii:it th foUOt,Ji� list of knc,wn B-17 's w o -w t rldwi�e, and ish t Moon. But the war ended shortly ressing normally when the aircraft t e o thank he 398th &xnb Group for the The next day after making some lis . W have a few.more around e 1n o was suddenly hit with a bursting 0��= t� W<;>rld ur canpu ter files, t t e st was ade repairs, the· crew flew the aircraft - we e l.t bu h ir li in such fine after the recommendation � r �hat c:re v ry plea_s�d to reprint o o e s shell. minus cockpit windows - back to f r ur memb r . r ? the Air o o are blown out and Hazelton was Hazelton's crew still stays in touch �orce has secured m st f them for the Air F o e se was in such a hur� t� e o rce Bas Mu ums and Wright-Patterson "Everybody in the face. The plane was at 30,000 and last year had a reunion in Tra· AF� is .in charg f most of them. The few t got put aside, that are priva ely owned seemed to be t o o e come home, things feet and the crew pr,epared to bail verse City. Only five of the 10 are this t une th a e e e he nly n s at a� r canpl tely r stored. "Sentimental n e Hazelton said. Hazelton decided they should still alive. e Journey" a d "T xas Raiders" owned bv the out but Conf dera�e Ai: For�e are good e s Moon inquired about the aircraft. "We were xamples. Other are being restored and soo Last year stay with together as a crew for. ther:i wo:kin� w it shows n we will probably see military re ords and. hit we thought the months h ai: around the country. The C.A.F. en some personal � "When we got eight but when you go i ati n should be carrn ded for their vision and d1scovered -a � � m re� t?nng the t o the recommendation was _ plane was going down; but all of through something like that you de­ ;r � "Sentirnan al Journey" t undoubtebly the os t i o t s e w m t comple ely �estored B-17 file _ still waiting for action. we realized we still had velop friendships that go G:t for­ y ng r res _in t� orld today. s e in a Moon sudden It is o� it SlllTlll r tour for 1988 and will tour Air Force. officials contacted. control so we sat back down and ever.'' he said. 0ctober 3 to 9 �hich will put them up through them to back at their hane base a t Ha rlingen t and asked if he wanted started to fly,"he said. the es e e . , Texas . I will try o get r t of their Sl.llTlll r sch dule rnto Vapor t s 97 Trails in his i sue . W'oi,.... J3c7 RA Vop:,..- --r,-.,. 1/s 55 54

Surviving B-1 7's From Around The World � � .0-3097 ..17 D (90) ...... " 44·83684 ..17 0 IO (DL) "ll'lcedlllr Ultr" National Air & Space Muaeum, Sliver Sprlnga, MD Planes of Fame MuMum, Edward Maloney, P.O. Box 278, Corona del Mar, CA 92625 (714) 597·3722 •1-2.._ ..17 a (90) .....,.., Gho•t" Agolambo Swamp, P•pu•, New Guinea ...a3890 ..17 Q 15 (DL) "IIIH UbortJ aolle" Ken Flelda, P.O. Box 162, Pampa, TX 79086 Grl110m Air Force Base Museum Foundation, Peru, IN 46971 Lt. Col. James Gabriel 99th Bomb Group Historical Society •1·12191 ..17 E (90) (No Name) Michael Kellner, 331 Van Buren St., Chrystal Lake, IL 60014 4'443718 ,...17 H (1)L) (No Name) (815) 459-7315 Museu Aero1paclal, Rio de Janiero, Brazil Fifteenth Annual Reunion - McAllen, Tf;xas •1·24485 ..17 F 10 (90) ....omphl1 ...lo" 4'4-83728 ._17 Q 15 (DL) fNo Name) February 16, 17, 18, 19, 1989 Memphis Belle Memorial Assoc:latlon, Inc., c/o Harry Friedman, Auumed Musee de L'Alr, LeBourget (Paris) France 626 Shady Grove Rd. S., Memp"'•· TN 31819 (901) 525-0691 Headquarters Hotel - Sheraton Fairway Resort Inn ...a3735 .. 17 Q 90 (DL) "Marr Alie•" •2-3374 .. 17 F IO (90) (No Name) Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England ROOM RESERVATION REQUEST Edward F. Beale Museum, Beale Air Force Base , CA S/Sgt. Mark Barager 4'443785 .. 17 Q 15 (DL) (No Name)• Evergreen Air of Mt .. Inc:., Pinal Airpark, Merana, AZ 85653 ARRIVAL DATE: ------­ SINGLE $45 __ DOUBLE $45 •2-29782 .. 17 F 70 (90) '"lluaoum of Fllght" * Sandy Ellis (602) 682-4181 (Restoring for Del Smith.) ARRIVAL TIME: ------DEPARTURE DATE: ------Bob Richardson, Boeing Field, 9404 E. Marginal Way So., Seattle, WA 98108 ...a381• 9-17 Q 15 (DL) "Tanker 09" N1tion1I Air & Spece Museum, Dulles Airport, Washington, DC Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. If arrival is later than 6 p.m. one night's room rate in advance or a credit card number •2.3201• ..17 Q 31 (110) n Shoo Shoo aabr" with expiration date must accompany reservation . USAF Museum/Dover, DE 19901 Now ) ...a3883 ..17 Q 15 fDL) INo Name) USAF Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base, Eglin, FL LATE ARRIVAL (After 6:00 p.m.) GUARANTEED BY: American Express ___Visa ___ MasterCard ___ 1 '3-38835 ..17 Q 90 (90) '"V11'91n 1 Dollght" Howard Corns Card No: ------Ex� Da�: ___ _ Castle Air Museum, Castle Air Force Base, Merced, CA Capt. Greg Russell ...a38H .. 17 Q 15 (DL) (No Name) RAF Bomber Command Museum, Hendon (London) England NAME: 4'44313 .. 17 Q 50 (DL) "2nd Potchol" 11To:aa1 Aaldora" March Fleld Museum, March Air Force Base, CA Maj. ...a3872 •·17 G 15 * ADDRESS: ______CITY: ------STATE: _____ ZIP: ----- John Freltaa (Painted as No. 42-30092) Gulf Coast Wing. Confederate Air Force P.O. Box CAF, Harlingen, TX 78550 PHONE NUMBER: (Area Code) __ ------...a143 .. 17 Q 70 (YE) '"Clluckle"* BC Vintage Flying Machines, Dr. BIii Hospers, P.O. Box 18099, 414-83884 .. 17 Q 15 (DL) "Yank•• Doodle II" Fort Worth, TX 76180 (817) 282·3825 8th Air Force Museum, Barksdale Air Force Base, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * REGISTRATION • * * • • • • * * • • • • • • • • • • * * • Bossier, City, LA 71112 Buck Riggs "-8841 .. 11 G 85 (VEJ "Luckr Ladr" • Jean Salis, Carny, France ...a5511 9-17 Q 100 (DL) "alackhawk" t.lEMBER'SNAME: ------Texas Museum of MIiitary History Dyess Air Force Base. ­ 44-8889 .. 17 Q 85 (YE) (No Name) Abilene, TX Capt. Gates ADDRESS: ______CITY: ------STATE: ____ ZlP: _ ___ Musee De L'Alr, LeBourget (Paris) France _ _ ...a5718 ._17G 105 (YE) "Thunderbird" • PHONE NUMBER: (Area Coe.le) __ -----· - ...a3512 .. 17 Q 85 (DL) "Hoavon'a Above" Lone Star Museum, Hobby Airport, 8910 Randolph St., --- l.ac:kland Air Force Base History & Tradition Museum Houston, TX 77061 Tommy Garcia, (713) 645-7709 San Antonio, TX. Ma. Nora Patteson NAME OF SPOUSE OR GUES1: ------­ 414-85734 8-17 G 105 (YE) "Five Engine" 414-8351• ..17 G 85 (DL) ....ntlmontal Joumor" * New England Air Museum, Hertford, CT Tom Reilly. 500-No. MEMBER REGISTRATION FEE: $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 Arizona Wing (Mesa, AZ) Confederate Air Force Airport Blvd ., Kissimi, FL 32741 (305) 847-7477 $10.00 P.O. Box CAF, Harlingen, TX 78550 SPOUSE OR GUEST: Sl0.00 414-85738 .. 17 G 105 (YE) "Amvet" 1 O'i'c Discount on ,' ?i:servativnI . (A ctivilies Below) Received by Ja11. 15th 414-83525 .. 17 Q 85 (DL) '"Suzy Q" * American Veterans Memorial, Tulare, CA Weeks Air Museum, Tamiami Airport, 13908 SW 139 Ct., Gene Thomas, (209) 688-0660 after before Miami, FL 33186 (305) 232-0141 WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 44·85740 8-17 G 105 (YEI "Aluminum Overcast" * Border Buttermilk Greeting McAllen Chamber No Charge 414-835412 ..17 Q 85 IDL) (No Name) EAA Warbirds of America, P.O. Box 229, Hales Corner no charge Weeks Air Museum, Tamiami Airport, (Oshkosh) WI 53130 (414) 425-4860 HnJRSDAY,FEB. 16 (optional) 13908 SW 139 Ct., Miami, FL 33186 (305) 232-0141 (Hulk only.) ...a5778 9-17 Q 105 (YE) (No Name) Golf, McAllen Country Club Green Fee ___ ...a3141 .. 17 G 85 IDL) (No Name)• Aero Nostalgia, Richard Dartanian. 7030 So . C.E. Dixon. Stockton. Cart Sllvernill Museum, Chino, CA. CA 95206 Jim Rickets restoring for Mr. Oartanian. (209) 983-0235 I I :30 a.m. Ladies Style Show and LW1cheon GABil'S of Reynosa $)0.00 $9 .00 Dave Talllc:het, Specialty Restaurants Corp., u.1.�_6..0 2099 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92806 (417) 634-0300 ...a5784 .. 17 G 105 (YE) "hllr 8" • fl�� 00 p.m. Bus and shopping tour of Reynosa by Sanborn's $14.00 B-17 Preservation, Ltd., P.O. Box 34, Horley, Surrey, FR[�) .. \ Y, h: b. 17 (optional) ...a3551 .. 17 Q 85 (DL) '"King aoo" RH6 9RQ England Strategic Air Command, Omaha, NE Jack Allen, 2510 Clay St., 12:UO p.m. Lunch Meeting Sll.00 Bellevue, NE (Using No. 44-23474.) ...a11to .. 17 G 105 (YE) (No Name) ()(i:00 p.m. No Host Bar Art Lacey, MIiwaukie, Oregon. Sits atop a gas station. 07:00 p.m. Banquet $14.00 ...a3513 ..17 G 85 IDL) ..,.ucldy Duddr" * $_1.2...... 6.0 National Warplanes Museum, P.O. Box 159, Geneseo, NY 14454 ...ase21 9-17 G (YEI fNo Name) SATllRDA Y, Feb. 18 (optional) Pima Air Museum, P.O. Box 15097, Tucson, AZ (716) 243..()69() Austin Wadsworth I 0:00 a.m. Bus Ride to Confederate Air Force Show and Museum $8.00 $.-1.....2.0 ...a3575 .. 17 QH(DL) '"909" * ...ase28 9-17 G 11o (YE) "I'll .. Around" Admission lo CAF and Museum $6.00 $ 5 40 Collinga Foundation, Rlverhill Farm, Stow, MA 16775 390th Bomb Group Assoc:lation Pima Air Museum, P.O. Box 15097, SUNDAY, Feb. 19 (optional) (617) 562-9182 (Using No. 42-31909.) Tucson, AZ Gen. Robert Waltz 7:30 to 9:30 Breakfast Buffet $8.25 $ 7,43 414-83124. ..17Q 90 (DL) (NoName) ...asen ._11· o 110 (YE) "Yank•• Lady" USAF Museum, Dayton, OH Yankee Air Force, P.O. Box 1100, Ypsilanti, Mi 48197 TOTAL AMOUNT: PLEASE MAIL ENTIRE FORM TO: McAllen Convention & Visitors Bureau 4'443H3 ..17 Q 90 (DL) '"Short ... r" P.O. Box 790 McAllen, TX 78502 Hill Air Force Base Museum, Utah Larry Yonnotti, (801) 777-8623 Flying condition; All others static. * Ph: 512-682-2871 MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: 99th BG - McAllen Reunion THE 483RD BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H) 56 (by my count) I decided I should maybe check the HQ records 57 to make sure of the correct count. I very nearly had a heart at­ WILLIAM J. NEWTON 11089809 tack when the cierk toid me I had only 28 officially. After I re­ gained AND my.speech, I did some further checking and found the WILLIAM J. NEWTON 141 00334 missing missions had been credited to the other William J. Newton." Something of the feeling of officers for their men can be unders tood William J. Newton 11089809 has not been located There were 2 William J. Newtons in the 815th Squadron. and we do to General Freyberg by the divisional not know what crew he was from. Now suppose William from a passage in a letter written Both were on combat crews, one an engineer (E) and one a John­ the Cass ino battle ; ston Newton had gone down on number 44. That al, F I s Tuker, who was taken ill just be:fore radio operator (R). would have gener put William J. Newton (E) about sixteen missions ahead is being lokked after by yours elf. William Johnston Newton (R) of the Cinnamon sent the fol­ of his •I am ever so thankful my division crew! He must have been getting Air Medals every few days. uandered and that lowing information after an inquiry about who's who? With you there, I lmow that no single life will be sq P• 68 "How well I remember that there were two William J. New­ (Prepared by Jake Grimm, 483rd Archivist) those that are spent will be we ll spent. • tons in the 815th. Somewhere around my 43rd or 44th mission

3IR HAKIM, Ballant ine , Richard Hol!:ie s , 1971 On 12th June (1942 ) the Ge rmans announ ced that they had ''storme d ntine Books 3ir Hacheim" and went on to announc·e grimly that "the wh ite and coloured GE STAPO by Roger Manvell, :!3alla Frenchmen taken at Bir Hacheim, since they do not belong to a regular army •••wi ll be executed" . De Gaulle wcross quo ted Goethe : 'Years ago Goethe said of the instantly made a counterthreat . Sir Hartley Sha bet ayed The BBC warne d the Germans that "if the German were s some day fate "would strike them be cause they : so far to di honour Ge rman people that they do itself as to kill French soldiers taken prisoner when fightin s and did not want to be what they are . It is sad that g fon their themselve berserk c?untry, General De Gaulle announces that, to his profound regret, he wo uld not' lmow the charm of truth, detestable that mist smoke and the find hi::nself . that they ingenuously submit obliged to inflict the same fate on the Gerr:ian pris oners who immoderation are so dear to: them, pathetic s have fallen into the hands s to the ir lowest instincts, who �onfir� of his troops." This threat produced a change to any mad coundrel who appeals s of eart in Berlin, which 11 aches them to conceive nationalism a isolation , � reported, before the day was out , that 0n the them in their vic11 e s and te s1;0J� �t o! the members of the French forces who have been capture d in and brut ality. P • 153 s s figh�ing a� Bir Hacheim, no misunder tandin11 g is po sible . General de Gnulle ' s men will be tr eated as soldiers . p. 135 of people who were in one way �r another The SS attracted the kind they AIRBORNE, IJacDonald, Ballantine Books : 1970 normal society, from whatever level or class or na�ion misfits in ical motive , the might originate. i'he y were , wht) tever ·thair psycholo� . The next day (13 Nov. 191-1-2) amother battallion of the British 1st people, and the destroyers of the ir liberties. • This is enemies of the des�royed. at Parachute Brigade (jumped) at the Cross -roads settlement of Souk-el-Arba the final outcome of a police state, that the best must be ins ide Tunisia on the main road to Bizerte. Then, in a las t de sperate the hands of the worst. P• 159 effort to win the race for ·runi s ia, a third batt a1lion of the brigade un­ � de: �ohn Fros t (promoted to lieutenant-colonel) ,jumped in advance of a British armored thrust near the Depienne airfield, s outh of 'I'unis. From Panzer' Le ader by Heinz Guderian - Ballantine 3ooks this field, which intelligence had revealed had been abandoned, Fros t moved ?ve�land fifteen miles to sieze the airfield at Oudna, only ten miles from As an indication of the attitude of the Russian population, I funis . sho'.lld like to quo te a remark that was made to me 1 by an old Czarist ge neral That field, too, had been abandoned; but the next �orning, as Frost's whon I met in Orel at thi s time (191.µ.). He said;' If only you had come twenty men entrenched to defend the periphery, German dive-bombers roared in mach­ years ago , we should have we lcomed you with open ar ms . But now it's too late. ine guns spitting, while on the ground infantry counterattacked with the We were iust beginning to get on our fee t, and now you arr ive and throw us supI?ort of tanks . Meanwhile the attack by British ground tropps had faltered, back twe;;_ty years so that we will have to start fro:n the beginning al� O":_efi co:nine; to a halt a full fifty miles from the embattled paratroopers at again. How we are fighting for Russia and in that cause we are all unitea. Oudna. Colonel Frost had little alternative but to fight it out through • •• the most i�portant result of this conf�rence (Casablanca) wa s the day, then in darkne s s to sneak away and hope to cros s fifty miles of that the Axis Powers surrende� unconditio�ally. The effect the ins istence :- Ar::-ry was grE rucged mountainous terrain to safety. For four days and nights the para­ of this brutal f or"lula on the Ger :ian nation, end , above all on the s dogma of Casablanca troopers marched, seeking to elude the strafing of pers is tent Ge rman air­ great •••• For some time the architects of the de tructive craft, engaging in one fierce ground clash after another with German forces, boasted of what they had done . fending off hostile Arabs who, like vultures, trailed the column in eager 11 operational" he lost his temp e r. resolve to strip thos e left behind - dead and wounded alike - of equipment But if Hitler heard the word He believed that whenever his generals spoke of operations they meant with­ and clothing . In the end Prost and 180 men made it out , but 266 others were s obstinacy that ground lost. p. 101 dravmls • and consequently iii tler insi ted with fanatical must be'held, all ground, even when it was to our disadvantage to do so. CASSINO, by Dominic Graham Ballantine �oaks Of course one qu estion wil l always be asl:e d.: wh at would have happem had the assas sinati�n (of Hitler) succ eeded? Kobody can answer t�is . Only "The performance pf the 34th Division at Cassino must rank with one fact seems beyond dispute: at that time the great proportion of the �ernan the finest .feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war. people still believed in Adolf �itler ••• When at last they were releived by the 4th Indian Division fifty of those few who had held on to the last were too numbed with cold exhaus tion to ­ move . They could still man the ir positions but they could not move out My condition improve d slowly. The he avier enemy air-raids on Ber 11 s s at a con­ of them unaided. They were carried out on stretchers • • • lin, which began in Augu t- 194 3, did not, however, perr.1i t the re t th quoted in the above by Fred Madjdalany , p. 65 v8lescent requires . 58 59 APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP 1989 DUES- $15 More from PANZER LEADER , by Heinz Guderian - Ballantine Books. 1981-1988 NEWSLETTERS, $5 per yr. 81 82 83_84_85_86 87_88_Total__ _ The Great Powers had deliberately called out the partisans , who fought without regard for international law. • • p.306 fhe Allied air offens ive had brought ever-increasing de vastation to Ger�;1any during the last few ':lonths (written in ;,:arch, 1945). 'l'he armanent CITY______STATE___ ZIP__ _PHONE ______industry had suff ered heavily. The destruction of t�e syntheti�-oil nlant s was a particularly severe blow, since our fue l supplies were ma inly �ased on Mail to Walter Butler - 8608 Bellehaven Place NE, Albuquerque NM 87112 these installations . On January 13th the synthetic-oil plant at Politz, ne ar Make check payable to 99BGHS. Your address label shows the Stettin, was bombed. On the ne xt day the oil instal ations at I,�agdeburg, � , the date to which you are paid up. Derben Ehmen, and 3runs wi ck were bo:?1bed, togethe r vn th the Leuna works ana We do not stop the subscriptions of deceased members; we extend the fu;l plant nt I.1anri.1'1eim, and on the 15th the benzol works at � oc�u.'TI an� the subscription gratis for an extra year. But please remember to send Recklinghausen. Also on the 14th the Heide oil plant in. Schleswig-nolstein us* any change of address . * * * * was destroyed. According to Germen figures this cos� the �llies r�fty-s�ven aircraft, but at the s2me time the Germans lost two hundre a and tnirty-six. TAPS - The destruction of the greater part of our synthetic-fuel industry neant that Preston Underhill PRESTON UNDERHILL the German Con.'Tiand now had to make do wi th such supplies as ca.r.ie fro� the well� DENVER CITY (Special) - Ser­ I noticed this funeral announcement of Preston Underhill. at Zisterdorf in Austria, and from around Lake Balaton in 3.ungary. I'his fact vices for Preston Underhill, 63, of Preston was a good soldier and an Air Corps gunner partially explains :l itler' s otherwise inco'.":lprehensible decis ion to send the Denver City will be at 2 p.m. Friday in the 346th Bomb Squadron. He was one of the best :nas s of the freed in the Wes.t to Hungr.iry; he wanted to kee p control of the in First Baptist Church with the Rev. Bill Merritt, pastor, officiating. farmers in Yoakum County. renaining oil wells and refineries wh ich were of vital importance both to the Burial will be in Denver City Me­ My wife and I are going to his funeral arnored force and to the air force. p. 345 morial Park under the direction of - thought you could put this in the newsletter; I BrqwnfieldFuneral Home. am sure the combat crew who flew with Preston would I agree d to do so ( to prates t) on l,iarc..'-1 6th, since I wished at . He died at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday like to know about him. least to try to adeliorate the sufferings of the Ger:;1a n people by �eans of an m Lubbock's Methodist Hospital af. ter a brief illness. A member of the 346th Squadron Tech appe al to the chivalry of our adversaries. In the course of this appeal I Supply , Donald Speck , Denver City TX. referred to the Anglo-American air terror. I regret to say that this de sper­ He was born in Rotan and moved to Denver City in 1952. He married member of Lubbock Scottish Rite Dorothy Boyd . ate appeal of ·:nd.ne was without success. numanity and chivalry had both dis- Genevieve Dougherty on Jan. 11 and a member of First Baptist of Hurst and six appeared during these months . grandchildren. p. 346 1947, in Rotan. He was a veteran of Church. The body will World War If, a 32nd Degree Mason Survivors include his wife; two be at the church f�om 9 a.m. Friday until service If the war should be lost , then the nation , too , will be lost. with Denver Citv Lod�e No. 1278, a sons, Robert Fleming and Sid Under­ time. nsider hill, both of Denver City; a sister, That would be the nation's unalterable fate. There is no �eed to c� the basic requirements that a people needs in order to continue to live ntrary, it is bet er ourselves to destroy a primitive life. on the co � We got word at the reunion that Carl on will have proved itself weaker and the futu e --CARL -E. BLAKE such things ,for this nati 7 passed away June 12 , 1988. We have no further details. wwill belong exclusivelyto the stronger Eastern nation . Those who remain over are in any case inferior persons , since alive after the battlesare LAWRENCE w. SEEHUSEN Lawrence passed away last year. the best have fallen . (A J.o/f's C

99th Bomb Gp Historical Society NON-PROFIT Walter H. Butler · Treasurer ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE 8608 Bellehaven Pl. N.E. PAID PERMIT NO. 388 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87112 Albuquerque, N.M.

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Nov 1988

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John s. Finnegan 944 Tyler Dr. Santa Maria CA 93454 Simon Dorman 329 Sand Broom Dr. Noblesville IN 46860 Jesse Meerbaum 202 Waddell Dr. Hendersonville NC 28739 Rex Carnes 1920 Carr Dr. Longmont co 80501-1817 R.K.Campbell P.O.Box 67 Ducktown TN 37326 Frank H. Pearce 324 Ridgewood Road CorAL Gables FL 33133 Morton Magee 8 Butternut Circle Ormond Beach FL 32074 Marion Allen Alley P.O.Box 515 Grass Valley CA 95945

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152 Philip Capobianco 262 Hallack Ave , Mingo Junction OH 43938 352 Sherman Miller 129A 88th St. Sea Isle City NJ 08243 347 Thurston R.D , Rt. 7 Meadville PA 16335 416 864 Dean w. Shields P.O.Box 129 Jasper GA 30143 347 865 Andrew P. Marcantonio 237 w. Park Place Newark DE 19711 347 866 John J. (Jim) Koehne 517 Sherbrook Dr. High Point NC 27262 416 867 Richard w. Phelps 37 South Pollard Dr. Fulton NY 13069 416