B-17S, Fighters and Flak

By T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson EdS

I have interviewed more than 400 veterans to preserve our history. My seven books record true accounts of life in the Greatest Generation. We flew on oxygen at 25,000 feet and 40 below zero to face enemy fighters and flak! I often wondered if I would ever see my twentieth birthday. Our escort fighters protected us from enemy fighters, but only God could protect us as we flew into the black flak (exploding anti-aircraft 88 mm shells) filling the sky over the target. I am proud to have saved 300 or more short stories of fellow World War ll veterans in seven books and four recordings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665542531

T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson EdS

The author holds three Indiana University degrees and is retired from 37 years as an elementary teacher, Principal and Assistant to the Superintendent. Fifty year Mason, Rotary Paul Harris Award, Presbyterian Elder. Hutch uses the short story format and self-drawn sketches to encourage readers from twelve to ninety-six. His goal is to honor those who served to save our Country’s freedom and to educate the present generations. T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson is a WW II Eighth Air Corps veteran of twenty missions as a teenage B-17 Radio Operator/ gunner. The ninety- seven year-old educator has published six WW II short story books to record and preserve 300 stories of WW II history of B-17 and B-24 air crews, fighter pilots and POWs. Stories gathered in the past twenty years from TV interviews, memoirs and diaries of veterans. The majority of WW II vets are gone, but their WW II memories are saved. He also wrote “On Leatherwood Creek” which describes his boyhood prior to WW II and “Hutch’s Rainbow Bridge, Ninety-three Years of Pets” continues with family stories of all the pets in his life and escapades after retirement to his dream home on a farm.

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© 2021 James Hutchinson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  10/27/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-4254-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-4253-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedicated to family members; Susie, Mike and Lisa whose typing

and technical assistance made this seventh book a reality!

Special thanks to the designer of the cover

Romain Vattier of Cherbourg, France,

CONTENTS

Section 1

Pact of Steel 1940 ---Axis Formed May 1939

Young Patriots Join Canada’s RAF

CRAF Flight/Sgt. Francis Wayne Gennette

2nd Lt. John C. Red Morgan

My Turn --- Uncle Sam’s Scholarship

Basic Training to England

Section 2

The Angry Sky

Early Warriors

Gunner’s Notes

Escort Fighters

Flak – A Deadly Foe

German Fighters – A Constant Threat

Our Little Friends

Bailing Out - Hit the Silk

Stalag Luft POW Camps

Black March of Stalag Luft IV

Sgt. Benjamin Porter Fields’ Diary

Section 3

Lt. Colonel Danny M. Crist

2nd Lt. William D. Mehegan, Bombardier

A Time To Remember

2nd Lt. Walter E. Truemper

Sgt. John Kyler B-17 Ball turret Gunner

T/ Sgt. Forrest Lee Vosler

T/Sgt. Conrad J. Gemmecke

S/Sgt. Frank McKinley – Two Bombers Down

T/Sgt Frank McKinley’s Mission

Section 4

Lt. Alden Rigby’s Winter War

The New P-51

The Bulge December 24, 1944

Airfield Y-29, in Belgium

The Battle of Y-29, January 1, 1945

Battle of Y-29

Sweat!

Lt. Alden Rigby Completes Tour

Section 5

RAF EYE, 2nd Lt. William D. Templeton Crew

Coke Stove and Bunk Biscuits

B-17 Specifications

Our Big Day #1

Mission Briefing

Into the Wild Blue

Bomb Group Assembly

Templeton Crew to Berlin

Mission # 2A Lutzkendorf --- Aborted

Our B-17G Fire-power

Hutch # 2 Hannover

Hutch # 3 Stuttgart Dec. 16

Section 6

Battle of the Bulge

PFC Thomas L. Sanders --- US Infantry

S/Sgt, Curtis F. Shoup --- Medal of Honor

490th Christmas Eve - # 4 Frankfort ME- 262

Promoted to Squadron Lead Crew

Combat Box Formation for ‘Mickey’

Radio Operator/Gunner

Bad Kreuznach --- #5 Jan. 2, 1945

Air Medal Mission --- Aschaffenburg #6

London Pass

Derben Oil Depot # 7 Jan 14

Wild Ride

Augsburg Jan 15

Sterkade-Rein # 9

Hoenbudburg # 10 January 28, 1945,

Scrubbed Missions

Flak --- Close Call

Section 7

Crew Chief

Waist Gunner’s Diary

Frankfort --- Chewed-out

Tough Targets

Ansbach --- Second Air Medal Mission

Lt. Schoenfeld – Mid –air Collision

Hutch # 12-B    Ulm    Mar. 1

Plauen --- Me 262 Jet Fighters

Hutch #15    Hannover March 28

490th Mission To Unterschlauersbach

Parchim --- Meeting the ME 109

Shot Down -- Schoenfeld Crew

Parchim --- Meeting the 109

# 17 Roudnice April 17

Hutch # 18 Nauen, April 20

Section 8

VE Day in Europe

Ralph Alexander’s Story

Templeton Crew

My Scholarship- the G.I. Bill

WW II Act of Human Kindness

SS (Schutzstaffel) Atrocity

Purple Hearts --- Six Hit -- Nine Dead

Honor the 490th Bomb Group

Mighty Eighth Statistics

Section 9

Master Sergeant Robert Lindsey Barger **

WW II Boy in Berlin

Petty Officer John Weber

The Cliff Barnes Story

Ellis Red Ritter - Infantryman

Coxswain John Freeman

Bibliography

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson is a WW II Eighth Air Corps veteran of twenty missions as a teenage B-17 Radio Operator/gunner.The ninety- six year-old educator has published seven WW II short story books to record and preserve 300 stories of WW II history of B-17 and B-24 air crews, fighter pilots and POWs. Stories gathered in the past twenty years from TV interviews, memoirs and diaries of veterans.

There will never be another air war like World War II. Within living memory, men left the earth in 1,000 plane formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that should never be forgotten! I hope my short stories give readers a glimpse of history as I lived it in World War II.

Hutch uses the short story format to honor those who served to save our freedom and to educate the present generations.

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HONORS

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2018 -- The author received Indiana’s highest honor, Sagamore of the Wabash, from Governor Eric Holcomb and has been honored by city, state and national officials for his military service, books and preserving history of WW II and the Greatest Generation. The honorary award a personal tribute usually given to those who rendered distinguished service to the state or to the governor. Among those who have received Sagamores have been astronauts, presidents, ambassadors, artists, musicians, politicians, and citizens who have contributed greatly to Hoosier heritage.

2006 Thank-you letter from Queen Elizabeth’s secretary for copy of Through These Eyes

2008 - Honored by Lt. Governor Becky Skillman

2008 - Indiana General Assembly Concurrent Resolution 50 submitted by Senator Brent Steele approved by Rep. Eric Koch and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman.

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2008 – State Senator, Brent Steele quote:

My Resolution, which not only honored his valuable service to the United States during World War II, but also honored him as a unique Hoosier author. It was my privilege to have the State of Indiana honor Lee Hutchinson by Special Resolution. Through his down-home insight about life in Indiana, interspersed with his candor and sense of humor, Lee has done something I have always wanted to do – write books about how our generation grew up.

Respectfully, Brent Steele Indiana State Senator,

Note – Sen. Steele also placed copies of B-17 Memories, Memphis Belle to Victory and Boys in the B-17 in the Research Library of the United States Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio 2008- Indiana State Senator, Eric Koch I was pleased to honor James Lee Hutchinson on the Floor of the Indiana House of Representatives upon the publication of his book, Through These Eyes. His fifth book On Leatherwood Creek represents his latest contribution to the preservation of history for future generations. I look forward to reading his next book, On Leatherwood Creek"

2015 – Congressman Todd Young of Indiana’s Ninth district, presents Congressional Veterans Commendation which he read into the Congressional Record

2015 - Mayor Shawna Girgis and keynote speaker Governor Mike Pence honored me as Grand Marshal of the 2015 Bedford Heritage Parade.

July 4, 2015 – Thanks to Governor Mike Pence, for the Indiana Medallion and riding in my Grand Marshal parade.

2018 - Lawrence County Bicentennial and Old Lincoln School-Dutchtown Historical Marker dinner.

2018 - Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb presents the Sagamore of Wabash award to author

Google Hutch’s Free WW II film for more photos and info

1. Tales from the Greatest Generation with James Lee Hutchinson by Smithville Media

2. Flying Fortress: Wings Over Europe

3. "Hutch-B-17 Flak and Fighters on Vimeo

4. Arming the B-17 Bombers

SECTION 1

Pact of Steel 1940 ---Axis

Formed May 1939

Germany, Italy and Japan were planning to rule the world and the US had not yet entered the war, but many young Americans were so eager fly that they who joined the RCAF (Royal Air Force) Eagle squadrons of U.S. volunteers to fly British planes as gunners or pilots against the Germans. Once the U.S. entered the war and the Eighth Air Force was stationed in England, these Royal Air Force Eagle squadrons of American pilots and crew members transferred to U.S. groups.

Young Patriots Join Canada’s RAF

The Battle of Britain was going badly in the early 1940 and 9,000 young Americans decided to volunteer as airmen. I have two interesting stories. Francis Wayne Gennette, of my hometown, was turned down by the US Air Corps and John Red Morgan of Texas was classified as 4-F because he had a broken-neck as a teenager. Each reject decided to join the Canadian Royal Air Force and were welcomed into the CRAF pilot-training program. A year later both were in England, flying bombing missions in RCAF uniforms. Perhaps They Met on the Path to Glory

Flight Sergeant Gennette became tail-gunner on medium bomber and died in combat over Holland soon after the USA flew its first mission in August 1942.Flight Officer John C. Morgan was flying heavy bombers. He transferred to the US Army Air Forces as a B-17 co-pilot in May 1943, and was assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group --- Squadron 326 at Alconbury.

CRAF Flight/Sgt. Francis Wayne Gennette

Material by Amanda Lyons

Records by Frank Leek of Holland

The long lost WW II story of Francis Wayne (Junior) Gennette remained a secret for seventy-nine years until niece Amanda Robinson Lyons decided to learn more about her Uncle and have him honored. My search for Canadian records provide nothing on the early hometown WW II Hero. However, a Facebook friend, Frank Leek, of the Netherlands (Holland) provided me with official files from his country’s WW II Memorial Burial Records. This info included: enlistment papers, death certificate, burial records, type of plane, details on the mission and a list of the plane’s crew members. Historians in Holland have marked the crash site of every Allied plane and they decorate graves of those who died for their freedom. More than 9,000 Americans volunteered to fly for Canada before the United States entered WW II.

Francis Wayne Gennette was one of the first Lawrence County heroes to die in WW II combat and actually a victim of the Great Depression prior to World War II. Wayne was born in New York April 23, 1918. His Dad, was assigned to ‘sea duty’ so he sent his wife and baby to live with his parents in Texas. In less than three weeks, she left baby Wayne to live with the Grandparents and was never seen again. Young Wayne became ‘Junior’ and stayed with his Grandparents.

Wayne’s Grandfather, a stone carver, later moved his family to Bedford from Texas in search of work. They lived on west’ 13th street and ‘Junior’ grew up playing in the streets and neighborhoods of Bedford’s west-side. He attended Bedford schools, was an average student, but did not graduate. Perhaps, he quit school to find a job to help pay family expenses. Times were hard and the unemployment rate around twenty-five percent I suspect he worked odd jobs and part- time at several businesses, no doubt he checked out federal jobs programs like the CCC’s, (Civilian Conservation Corps and the WPA).

Meanwhile, ‘Junior’ found no jobs that paid well and the poverty of the Depression killed all hope of better days to come. Many young men became hobos, riding trains across the country searching for work. ‘Junior’ took a different path. He decided to join the Army, but he wanted to fly, and our Air Force was still a branch of the Army. The only way he could be sure he might fly was to join the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF.) So at the age of twenty - three, he went to Windsor, Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on June 6, 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor and three years before D-Day. (an amazing coincidence of dates). Wayne’s enlistment papers verify him as an American citizen from Bedford, Indiana. The Royal Canadian Air Force welcomed all young Americans who came north to fight for freedom in the war in England. More than nine thousand Americans joined the RCAF to get into the war early. Most young men dreamed of being a fighter pilot, but bombers needed air crews for various positions and in six months or less Flight/Sgt. Gennette was a tail-gunner flying night bombing missions early in 1942. I view him as a Patriot who saw the opportunity to fight oppression and it was a job!

The first American heavy bomber mission was not launched from England until August 17, 1942. Twelve B-17s of the 8th Air Force’s 97th Heavy Bombardment Group raided the Sotteville-lès-Rouen railroad yards, while six more made a diversionary strike. We could send out only eighteen bombers, but Hitler had no idea how quickly the Mighty Eighth Air Force would grow into thousands of fighters and bombers.

RCAF Data:

Flight Sgt. Francis Wayne Gennette Serial #R/98366,

Bomb Group 91— Sqd 20 at the Elsham Air Base, England.

Position: Tail-gunner on Vickers-Wellington two motor bomber.

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No doubt Tail-gunner, Wayne Gennette flew many night bombing missions to targets in Occupied France and Germany. Sadly, his bomber was shot down by a German Me-100 fighter while returning from a mission over the heavily guarded area of Dusseldorf and Cologne, Germany. The plane crashed in Holland (Netherlands) near the town of Elesendorp. The first year the USA was in the war.

All members of the five man crew were listed as killed in action, (KIA) November 9, 1942 (near Veterans Day. Flight/Sgt. Francis Wayne Gennette, of my Indiana home town was shot down approximately three months after the United States Air force B-17 bombers flew their first mission. He was buried with honor in the Groesbeek Canadian War cemetery in Gelderland, Holland, grave site is 16 F 2 and his epitaph is Greater love hath no man than this.

Flight/Sgt. Francis Wayne ‘Junior’ Gennette of Indiana was one of the first of our county’s warriors to fly and in World War II and he died that we might live in freedom!!!

Today, Dutch people decorate his grave in gratitude for his sacrifice. His name is listed on the Book of Remembrance in The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada.

Never Honored

The United States did not take kindly to Americans joining Canadian forces before Pearl Harbor. Even though we were not in te war, they warned those who defected that they might lose their U.S. citizenship. Canadian records show 9,000 Americans joined and fought in Canadian uniforms. They had odds of only one ine four of surviving and 884 died. These men had never been honored by the USA until Virginia honored their state’s16 dead heroes at the Virginia War Memorial in October 25, 2013.

Francis Wayne Gennette, probably first local man to die in WW II, has never been honored by his home community. Seventy - one years ago, 1951, the County Gold Star Mothers organization dedicated a Memorial Plaque to the memory of their sons who died in World War II. It stands today on the Courthouse Memorial Plaza: To honor all County men who gave their life that we might live. The names of 124 young heroes are listed --- Gennette’s name is not, because he died in a Canadian uniform. This local hero died in combat, for freedom almost eighty years ago. Note: Military Information provided by Frank Leek with records from Holland (Netherlands) and Canada.

2nd Lt. John C. Red Morgan

Medal of Honor

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2nd Lt. John C. Red Morgan was the only airman to become a Prisoner of War after being awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic action while a B-17 co-pilot on a mission to Hannover, Germany on July 28,1943 .

John Red Morgan of Texas was classified as 4-F because he had a broken-neck as a teenager. He decided to join the Royal Canadian Air Force and was welcomed into the RCAF pilot-training program. A year later, he was in England, flying bombing missions in CRAF uniforms. Flight Sergeant Gennette became tail-gunner on medium bomber and died in combat over Holland shortly after the USA flew its first mission in August 1942.

Flight Officer John C. Morgan was flying heavy bombers. He transferred to the US Army Air Forces as a B-17 co-pilot in May 1943, and was assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group --- Squadron 326 at Alconbury. By mid-July,1943, former CRAF Flight Officer John Morgan had received the Distinguished Flying Cross for safely flying home a B-17 bomber that had been damaged in a raid over France. On July 28, 1943 little more than a week later, John was the co-pilot on another B-17, one of 600 in an Eighth Air Corps formation, on a mission to destroy the railroad yards in Hannover, Germany.

2nd Lt. Morgan sat in the right seat of a B-17 as co-pilot for 1st Lt. Robert Campbell, a big man. It became one of the most remarkable missions of WW II. The Formation was hit early by a large group of Luftwaffe fighters over the North Sea before it reached the Dutch coast. Morgan’s intercom was shot out, the tail, waist, and ball-turret guns ceased firing, a bullet shattered the windshield on the co-pilot’s side, and struck pilot Lt. Campbell in the head. It split his skull, but he, remained semi-conscious and in a crazed condition as he fell forward to lock his arms around the plane’s control column.

Co-Pilot Morgan took control. He knew the fighters would shoot their bomber down if he dropped out of formation. WW II fighters were like wolves, they always went after the weakest in the herd. Flying with his right hand, Red dragged the pilot off the controls and held him back in the pilot’s seat with his left arm. The wounded pilot continued to fight him for the controls. Red knew how to win --- just pull off Campbell’s oxygen mask, which, at 26,000 feet, would have been fatal, but he couldn’t do that to his buddy. He decided to stay in formation as long as he could and hope one of the gunners in the back came forward or escort fighters came to the rescue.

Morgan managed stay in formation for two hours to drop his bombs, Enemy fighter attacked again and his engineer (top turret gunner) fell to the floor, one arm shot off at the shoulder The Navigator and Bombardier came up to help him get Lt. Campbell out of the pilot seat and help the engineer. The formation let down over the North Sea and Morgan made an emergency landing of the battered bomber at an RAF base near the English coast. Lt. Campbell died a few minutes after the landing.

Four Months Later December 17, 1943 --- Lt. Gen. Ira Eaker, Commander of the Eighth Air Force, presented 29-year-old, 1st Lt. John C. Morgan the Congressional Medal of Honor in recognition of his heroic act.

Lt. General Eaker, at the presentation also suggested that Red stop flying missions and also gave him the opportunity to be sent home after receiving the Medal, but John chose to stay with his unit. He decided that since the war was not over for the Allies, it wasn’t over for him. He volunteered for several more bombing missions, one of which was the first Berlin raid of March 6, 1944. That was the day Lt. Red Morgan’s war against Nazi Germany came to an end. His lead B-17 was shot down on the historic 1000 bomber raid on Berlin.

I was flying in the lead aircraft, John said. We had just reached the target area when we were hit by flak, which resulted in control damage and fuel tank fire. The aircraft tumbled out of control, and subsequently exploded.

Red was not wearing his chest-pack-type parachute, but had grabbed one by it’s strap to hook on his harness just before the explosion blew him out of the plane. He clamped it to his chest and frantically worked to snap the ‘chute on his harness rings while dropping 20,000 feet out of a sky full of wreckage and exploding flak. Falling like rock, he got it snapped on, pulled the rip-cord and It opened at just enough height to stop his fall and Allow him to float into Berlin. John had unintentionally accomplished one of the most spectacular free- falls in history.

John said he was captured about 10 seconds after landing in the middle of Hitler’s Berlin and spent the final fourteen months of the war in a POW camp. The guards at Stalag Luft 1 had a Medal of Honor guest until V-E Day.

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John Red Morgan dishes hot water from a field kitchen at Stalag Luft I POW camp.

During the Korean War, John took a leave of absence from his job to serve six months as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force and was recalled to active military duty in 1950 in the Korean war, serving until 1953 and retired as Lt. Colonel.

My Turn --- Uncle Sam’s Scholarship

Most of my friends in the class of 1943 enlisted as soon as they graduated, but I needed another semester, only six credits to get that diploma so I did not enlist, but Uncle Sam Wanted Me and I didn’t have to wait long to join them. I turned eighteen on the twelfth of June and got my draft letter the next day. My friends and neighbors had selected me to serve our country for room and board and fifty dollars a month. It was not a surprise they were taking all healthy teenage boys. I never did find out who those neighbors were, or if they had ever served our country! We were too young to vote or buy a beer, but not too young to fight –so teenagers went to WW II.

August 4, 1943, I raised my right arm and repeated the soldier’s oath:

I James Lee Hutchinson do solemnly swear that I will defend and support the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States of America -------- so help me God"

My world changed completely after I boarded the Greyhound Bus to Fort Benjamin Harrison August 25, 1943. The olive drab Army uniform (jacket size 33) was my very first suit, as it was for millions of other teenagers in the Greatest Generation. I didn’t get to graduate from Bedford High in 1944 because my rich Uncle took me out of school and sent me to special training with a salary of $50 a month and the promise for rapid advancement. He kept his word, sent me to three different schools, took train rides around the country, and in a little over a year he paid for my ocean cruise to England. I became an Eighth Army Air Corps Tech Sergeant making $250 a month flying over Germany in a $250,000 plane to deliver packages! May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered and Mom went to my Bedford High Graduation, I was still in England at the time. They gave her my coveted diploma. The best part happened when we won the war. I came home rich Uncle Sam paid for my college education and set me on a career in public education. I would have never been able to attend college without the GI Bill. It was the law that launched the Greatest Generation!

Looking back to the day I received my draft notice the day after my eighteenth birthday. My emotional state is best expressed in a song from Paint Your Wagon by Lerner and Lowe.

Where am I goin’ --- I don’t know --- Where am I headin’?--- I ain’t certain -- All I know -- Is I am on my way!

Fort Benjamin Harrison --- August 24, 1943 --- Ft. Ben was the Army’s Indiana induction station to prepare men for the service. Our Army ‘Permanent Record’ began there when we traded our name for a serial number! I received two aluminum ‘dog tags’ on a chain, clothing and all required shots and vaccinations. The two dog tags had my name, serial number, blood type and religion. They said we must wear them twenty-four hours a day in case we were killed or captured – they would take one and leave the other on the body for identification. Of course that was cheerful news right off the bat.

The Army uniform, the very first suit in my life, had a jacket, two suntan shirts, pants, tie and a web belt with a brass buckle and two pair of high-top shoes. I would spend hours polishing the buckle and shoes before weekly inspections. Olive drab was color of the day for the rest of my clothing right down to the socks, underwear and leggings, and a soft cap. There no lounging pajamas. We got two sets of work clothes (fatigues) field jacket and duffle – bag, all were Olive Drab. They said we could send our ‘civies’ home, but I threw mine in a trash can. I figured I had made a good trade.

I was suddenly alone among strangers and no longer in a ‘safe place’ with people I knew and trusted. This was a new group of mostly teenagers in a new school called the Army Infantry, waiting to be assigned. Basically, I was just a kid with a serial number on my dog tags, in a barracks full of forty bewildered high school kids. My new rule was: Stay alert, beware, take care, follow orders and find some back-up.

Air Cadet – I’ll never forget the day God smiled on me and changed the direction of my short military career. We had been digging a ditch and the August sun was bearing down. The Corporal let us ‘take a break’ in the shade of one of Fort Ben’s big two story barracks. I began reading the Company Bulletin Board and there it was, the key to escape to the Army Air Corps! I only had to pass a test and volunteer to fly. Several of us joined the Air Cadet Program

Basic Training to England

Fortunately, I was in the Infantry for less than a month when they called for volunteers to join the Air Crops. Tests were easy and I became a Volunteer Flight Trainee for our Army Air Corps which needed bomber air crews to replace heavy losses. I was a member of the Air Cadet program and VFT is stamped on my Honorable Discharge.

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Amarillo USO Club--Kneeling L to R –Bill Irk from East Chicago, Indiana and Lloyd Carnahan from Laporte, author and Don Goodfellow.

I washed out of the Air Cadets, completed Basic Training and passed Radio Operator, in Sioux Falls, SD: Gunnery School in Yuma AZ and and Combat Crew training in Sioux City, IA in eight months just in time to win a Cruise to England on the Queen Mary.

The big ship delivered 15,000 of us to Greenoch, Scotland and the US Army Detachment there did a very fast job of processing our group and we were on a small British train traveling across the United Kingdom to our airbase.

Our Templeton Crew ---Pilot - Lt. Templeton - commander of plane -- Co- Pilot – Lt. Dale F. Rector - second in command, Navigator - Lt. Bruno P. Conterato – guide us to target, Bombardier – F/ O Walter L. Benedict - set the bombsight - hit the target –and