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m14nm

I hope you guys don't mind, this is going to be a long post. I hope that you find it interesting enough to read.

While going through some papers, I found some information on my fathers last bombing mission that my sister sent me a while ago. Just thought I'd post it so others could see what these men went through on a "bad" day. He was the top turret gunner/engineer on a B17. He was shot down and captured March 2nd. 1945. Age, 19. His name is Henry Ray Anthony. He passed away in 1984 at the age of 58. He hated the name Henry and everyone called him Ray. And believe me, he would be pissed if he knew I posted this for others to see. He's the fourth name on page 3 and the second paragraph on page 6 says a lot about their courage. The aircraft's name was the Leading Lady.




















My dad. (just a kid)

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B17 He's in the front row, center.

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Both Neil Duell, the chin gunner, and my dad landed on the German air field in very high winds. Dad got drug through barbed wire and was cut up pretty bad. Both had a tough time with the Gestapo.

And yes, Obama apologized for this mission.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas to all.
Cliff

Whatsinaname181

Nothing more humbling than men who fought and were part of The Greatest Generation. Except Jesus, but as far as man as man is concerned- they have set the gold standard. Good post.

TexIndian

Great read, Cliff. It was especially interesting to me since my dad was also in the Air Force in WW II. Unlike most, he was not attached to the 8th Air Corps out of England, but was based in Italy (186th, I think?) back when the Allies controlled only the southern tip.

He flew a B-24. Not as glamorous as the 17s, but they actually carried more bomb load farther and faster. I've got a few old snapshots from those days.



After his 25th mission. And no, the movies don't have it right. They did not get to come home after 25. His log book shows 43 missions.


Being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. I don't think he was even 21 yet.

LoB

Thanks Cliff. Great read.

My Uncle, Jack (John) Lake, was a sailor on the USS Luce, DD522 when she was sunk by 4 Kamikaze planes May 4, 1945 off the coast of Okinawa.

My FIL was a rifleman with the 6th Marine Division in 1945. He fought on Okinawa, including the fight for Sugar Loaf hill.

Neither of these men ever talked about their experience.

bigbang

m14nm, good, that your dad didn`t end here. It was in a little town at the Zuider Sea near Amsterdam
Wolf

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Butzbach

No matter how many times I am reminded the huge casualty ratio for our Air Force over Europe in WW II still horrifies me.

angelonm

4 of my wifes uncles all fought in the War. 3 made it back. When i started dating my wife many years ago I do recall any time at a family gathering they and a few others would sit around and talk. Nothing specific, mainly who had it tougher. Pacific or Europe.
Her Uncle Frank was lucky in that nature called and his foxhole buddies kicked him out to do his business. He said he crawled away and "The Japs" - His words- started dropping mortars. When he crawled back no one was left. He is the last one left and up to this day they are the "Goddam Japs"
When i got my first Garand and Carbine.they would fight over the Garand. I remember they said "you could throw that Carbine away". "You cant kill anything with that."
When the WW2 memorial opened in Washington DC we were going to drive down. He was not up to the trip so i took hundreds of pictures.
These men were truely something else. It is possible that we will never see another generation like it. I salute them all.

bd111

Dad was a Captain, highly-decorated, 52 missions across 358th, 359th, 360th of the 303rd, 8th USAAC, Molesworh. Never bragged but took tremendous pride in his service. Dresden was one of his disappointments.

Butzbach

My Godfather flew with the Flying Tigers in China. I think he wound up a one-star general. He sent my mom a silk flying scarf during the war. Talk about brave. Going against Zeros in a P-40 - Yikes!

m14nm

Here is an interesting one:

On page 6 they speak of a mid-air collision the day before this mission. I sure most of you have heard of this particular one. It's in the second paragraph of this letter from the chin gunner(Neil Duell) to my father.

Swamp Rat

Over the years I was privileged to meet WWII vets. Anytime there is a gathering I go and make sure to thank them and let them know I am grateful for their sacrifice. As the years go by there are going to be fewer opportunities to do so.

One year I tried to get a Wake Island POW vet and a Marine Raider as guest of honors to the MC ball. The Raider I took shooting and he fired my M1 at the range. He thanked me and told me the last time he touched his M1 he had been picking Jap teeth out of the butt stock.

losok

That generation of soldiers is truly amazing, and without doubt deserves the title the greatest generation. Both my grandfathers served, one in France in the 44th infantry,324th Reg, Co F., and the other in Submarines in the pacific on the USS Saury.

My moms dad died in 1978, and I have been doing research on the sub he was on, he got his combat subs pin, and also his qualified submariners pin, along with many others, but according to my grandma, those are the ones he was most proud of.

My other grandfather was a sniper/scout in France. He was wounded on a scouting mission the night of 12-11-44 behind enemy lines. He was hit by machine gun fire and shrapnel from a tank round at about 0300 on the 12th. He was out to locate strong points for a mission jumping off on the 12th. He laid in the field wounded for 2 days. He lost his left arm above the wrist that night in the hit, and later above the elbow due to infection. Just the night before, he had saved his LT after he ran across a German patrol on his way back from his nightly walk about. He killed the entire patrol in a shell crater with his bayonet and rifle butt. He lived that night over and over again until he died, my grandma on that side would wake up with him on top of her striking her as if with a bayonet until she woke him up.

He told me once how he became a sniper over there, it will strike many as strange, but consider we had no formal training for that before the war. His unit was suffering casualties from snipers, so a Ranger came up to his CO and asked for the two best shots. Grandpa and one other were selected, given basic instruction on the 1903A4, issued the rifles, and presto instant snipers.

He loved that rifle, and described how frustrated he was with himself when at Strasburg while his company was attached to the French 2nd Armored he and the other sniper both missed two Germans trying to blow the bridge. Must have scared them off though as the bridge did not blow, and he and the French went across being the first into Germany, and holding the site two days I think before Ike caved to Patton and decided to go another route. Gen Devers and Patch never forgave him for that, could have ended the war in late 44, there was nothing in front of them at all for the whole way to heart of Germany.

Grandpa lived to the age of 74, and taught me how to shoot with only one arm, he hunted with an over and under 16 that he swung and hit with better than I ever could with two arms.

Grandpa never talked much about this until within one year of his death, it amazed me then and now, that I was the only one he ever talked to about it. We had many very deep discussions in his hospital room before he died, me sitting there in my uniform after getting off shift, and him getting a lifes worth of advice to me crammed into two weeks of visits. I miss them both, and only hope to be able to someday live up to being half the man they were. The last thing he ever said to me was promise me you wont be a hero, just be a good cop do your job, live to retire and be an old man. It still brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. He told me that day he was not going to get to to go home, it was his way of saying good bye. He asked me that day if he was going to hell for all the men he killed in Europe. He did not seem concerned about the ones in firefights or from saving his LT, but only the ones he killed as a sniper. He said over and over they did not even know I was there. I told him to think of all the men he saved by doing what he did, and that God put him there with his skill for a reason. It seemed to make him feel better, at least I hope it did. A nurse came in to work with him then, and he bragged me up to her and was back to his old self flirting with her in the room. I told him I needed to go, that I loved him and would be back the next day after work. He told me to go home get some sleep and be safe. He died the next morning as I was getting off the elevator on his floor.

m14nm

There are often called the greatest generation.

I truly believe that our combat troops today, are of the same caliber. When I see the horrific wounds that our men come home with today, I can't think otherwise. Our men and women see this, some see this while it's happening, and yet, they still volunteer or re-enlist.

God Bless Them All.

Pike

Thanks for posting up Cliff. Interesting material.

My Dad flew in B-17s for the Army Air Corps as well. He ran the RADAR, which at the time was a top-secret technology. In fact, his job if they ever got shot down was to ignite a thermite bomb that would destroy the RADAR set (which back then was about as big as a refrigerator, tubes and all) so that the Japanese and Germans could not learn how it worked.

Those B-17s were some amazing aircraft. I've seen pics of them shot to ribbons – no tail, half a wing shot off – and somehow they still made it home.

I wonder what it would take to unite the entire nation behind a single cause – as happened during WWII – today...

nSquid

Wolf:
My grandfather came from up on the Zuider Zee. I want to personally thank my distant cousins for watching over our war dead. Thank you!