SHAEF
ETOUSA
USSTAF
8TH AIR FORCE
FIRST AIR DIVISION
(FIRST COMBAT BOMBARDMENT WING)
381ST BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)
WAR DIARY – APRIL 1945
Microfilm Roll: B0370, Frames 1836 – 1842
Transcribed by Scott Burris
We started April with a stand down. Easter Sunday was a heavy, dark gray day with rain squalls throughout the morning.
All over the base talk of the final victory accelerated. Officers and men were becoming interested in possibilities of transfer to units of the Allied Military Government. And there was speculation regarding whether or not the next detail draw for the Infantry would be required to go. An order was published directing all squadrons to pick up all firearms belonging to personnel of the base.
There was a briefing on the Second, and the intended target was an installation in Denmark. Bad weather forced a recall, however, while our formation was over the North Sea.
The crews were brief twice on Tuesday, April 3. The first operation was Kaltenkirchen, Germany, as its objective. The second was intended for Deldering, Denmark. Neither mission took off, however. Both were scrubbed.
We finally got operation on April 4. Our target was Hoya, Germany, and the objective was a landing strip. It was Mission No. 283 for the Group. Our 37 aircraft were commanded by Lt. Col. Shackley. The attack on Hoya was made after 10/10 clouds prevented the formation from hitting the airfield at Reinsehlen. Accurate and meager-to-moderate flak was encountered immediately after bombs-away, and some of the aircraft took a pasting. The bombing, performed visually despite an 8/10 undercast, was well done, the explosives falling on the runways in good patter.
There were two casualties:
F/O R. A Thomas, 532nd co-pilot, was severely wounded at the target and died in the airplane on the way home. T/Sgt. Jack C. Poole, a 533rd gunner, was slightly wounded.
The I&E (Information and Education) program, hitherto rather lightly considered, took on a new lease on life. Meeting and preparations speeded up. The base was being searched for men who had teaching experience.
Meanwhile, the betting concentrated on whether or not we would complete 300 missions.
We were up again Thursday, April 5, and our target was an ordnance depot at Grafenwohr. Maj. Bordner, in command of our 37 aircraft contingent, described the operation as a milk run. The target was 8/10 covered and the run was made by instruments with the low squadron, led by Capt. Scarborough, taking over for the bombing because the lead’s equipment had gone out an hour before the target area was reached. Results were unobserved. There was no flak and the Luftwaffe was still absent. There were no losses or casualties.
Raymond D. Jolicoeur, sub-depot commander, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel April 6 and “bought the bar” at the officers’ club that evening.
There was no operation April 6, the only event of importance was a request from higher headquarters for pictures of M/Sgt. John E. Fitzgerald, 535th crew chief, credited with 155 consecutive non-abortive missions. The request confirms claims made here that Fitzgerald is the ranking crew chief in the Theater.
Mission No. 385 was accomplished April 7 and the target was the jet-propelled fighter base at Kohlenbissen. Capt. Cronin, former Group Operations Officer, who took over command of the 535th Squadron when Maj. Taylor was moved to assistant group operations officers, led our formation of 37 aircraft. Flying weather was good all the way, but the ground was obscured by a 9/10 undercast at the target. The lead bombardier managed to pick up the objective despite the clouds and the ground haze, and the bombing was preformed visually with good results – the part of the lead squadron, at any rate. Only two flak guns fired at our formation throughout the trek, and, although enemy planes were reported in the vicinity, none were seen. There were no casualties.
The mission marked the 100th operation of the Fortress “Passaic Warrior”, christened last July by Congressman Gordon C?nfield.
The transfer of Capt. Cronin brought a shuffling all around. Col. Hall and Col. Shackley still occupy the commander and deputy spots, respectively. Maj. Sandman is now Group operations officer. Capt. MacNeill is 532nd commander (although not on paper); Capt Watson heads the 533rd; and Capt. Cronin the 535th. Maj. Winter is still CO of the 534th.
There was a mission Sunday and the target was the marshalling yard at S?endahl. Maj. Krieger led our force of 37 aircraft. The bombing was accomplished visually through an 8/10 undercast with only fair results. The formation was tracked for 90 seconds by meager but accurate flak on the bombing run. The anti-aircraft fire cost us a ship and its crew. Missing in action are:
2nd Lt. HE. Adelmeyer, pilot; 2nd Lt. J. N. Frampton, F/O N. E. Melvin, S/Sgt E. J. Dybicz, T/Sgt J.H. Hayden, T/Sgt. R. L. Daily, Sgt. R. E. Cobb, and Sgt. E. P. Houser.
The aircraft was seen going down over the target with two engines afire. Three ‘chutes were reported.
There was another casualty: Sgt. J. V. McCarthy, engineer on Larson’s crew, received a severe flak wound to the right thigh.
Oberpfaffenhofen’s airfield was the target Monday, April 9, and our contingent of 37 aircraft was commanded by 1st Lt. Seeley. We had a good day. Flying weather was perfect and it was CAVU at the target. The bombardiers picked up the objective from miles away and our bombs smashed the east-west runway. There was meager and inaccurate flak at Munich and there was no other opposition. There were no losses and no casualties.
Back at the station, baseball practice was called for the Station team.
Oranieburg, the ordnance depot, just north of Berlin, was our target on Tuesday, April 10, and our 37 aircraft formation was led by Capt. MacNeill. Maj. Harry T Hance (sp?), Division assistant adjutant general, flew with the formation. It was his first and only mission.
The Luftwaffe was up for once. Our crews reported 40 to 50 Jerries in the target area, some of them “jetties”. Nevertheless, we were not attacked. Escorting Mustangs, engaged in dogfights with the enemy aircraft, kept them away from the Fortresses, although a couple of straggling bombs from other formations were reported under attack a couple of times. The closest we came to an attack was just off the bomb run when an Me262 came barreling through the formation. He didn’t fire but our gunners blazed away at him and reported later he was too fast to hit.
The bombing, accomplished under CAV conditions, was excellent. All three squadrons dropped their eggs on the target. There were no losses or casualties.
Gordon M. Johnson, of the 533rd, was promoted to captain April 9.
We received 34 Air Medals in GO 27?, 1 April; 50 more in GO 277, 2 April; 41 in GO 280, 3 April; 60 in GO 283, 4 April; 23 in GO 289, 6 April; 1 Air Medal in GO 295, 9 April; 47 Clusters in GO 286, 9 April, and nine more Clusters in GO 298, 10 April.
There were three DFC’s for us in GO 294, 9 April. The recipients were Capt. Charles O. Todd, Jr. 1st Lt. Thomas P. Stypula and 1st Lt. Jack R. Thornton. All had completed tours of combat duty.
The oil storage depot at Freiham, southwest of Munich, was the target Wednesday, April 11. It was Mission No. 389 for us and the commander of our contingent of 37 aircraft was Capt. Johnson, promoted three days before. Bad weather encountered over France cleared to beautiful weather over Germany. Our target, clearly visible from miles away, was still smoking from previous bombings and our explosives fell in the thick of the smoke. The Luftwaffe, which had taken a pounding the day before, was not in evidence and the excellent Mustang escort had no interference to run. Flak at the target was meager to moderate and accurate. The lead squadron, cutting off the target correctly, escaped the roughest part of the flak, but the low caught it. A near burst in the tail of the “Dee Marie” severely sounded Sgt. R. E. Forsyth, tail gunner, and his escape from death was regarded as miraculous. He suffered hand, arm and leg wound[s].
On the return journey, two 535th squadron aircraft collided over Wilhemshaven. The Fort flying Lt. Greenspan and Capt. Garret knocked the entire right horizontal stabilizer from the Fort piloted by Lt. Brashear. Brashear brought his ship out of a flat spin 10,000 feet below the level at which the impact occurred, and nursed it safely home. There were no injuries.
A mission with Beureuth as its intended objective was scrubbed April 12.
News of President Roosevelt’s death knocked the Group flat. Social functions were suspended.
Friday the Thirteenth was a mission day for us and the target was the marshalling yard at Neumunster. Weather was good and Capt. Eager, lead bombardier, was able to identify his target from 20 miles away. Strike photos show a pattern of bombs right on the MPI. There was flak at the target but it burst behind us (we were informed the 398th lost its lead plane.) For us there were no losses or casualties.
We had a stand down Saturday, April 14.
“Any Minute Now” the London papers announced Sunday, April 15, as our formation of 37 aircraft, led by Maj. Sandman, took off for Soulac-sur-Mer, near Bordeaux, in France, to attack one of the last remaining pockets of German resistance there. The target was a group of gun emplacements and we led the Wing. Weather was perfect and so was the bombing, performed from 15,000 feet. Pictures show only one bomb landing outside the pattern. The job was carried out just head of a bombardment of the se???r by the French fleet.
At the control tower, at 1630 hours, a memorial service was held for Pres. Roosevelt.
We went to Begensburg the next day, completing Mission No. 292, with Capt. Tyson in command of our 37 aircraft. Our target was a railroad bridge and although the weather was good, the bombs fell short. The formation turned off just short of the tracking flak after the bomb run. There were no enemy aircraft in sight.
About noon today, a P-51 Mustang, believed to be carrying 1st Lt. Joe D. Nelson, former 533rd Squadron pilot, buzzed the tower and crashed into a field off the Little Yeldham road. The pilot was killed and his body so badly burned as to preclude immediate identification.
A new set-up came into effect on the Station, April 16 with the activation of the 432nd Air Service Group. Col. Reed was named commanding officer of the new organization which is composed of the 858th Air Engineering Squadron and the 682nd Air Material Squadron, as well as the 432nd Headquarters and Base Service Squadron.
The new organization took over all of the old ground units except the 881st Chemical Company detachment. Lt. Col. Jolicoueur became executive officer and headquarters CO. Major Olas D. Miller was named CO of the 682nd, and Capt. Mitchell M. Hall, Jr., was made CO of the 858th. Maj. Greenlee became ground executive of the Bomb Group in place of Col. Reed.
With Maj. Bordner in the lead ship, 37 of our aircraft attacked engine sheds at the Dresden marshalling yards for Mission No. 293 Tuesday, April 17. We led the entire Eighth Air Force for the mission. High clouds made flying difficult but visibility downward was all right at the target and the bombing was done visually. Results were not too good. The pattern looked a little short of the objective. Flak was meager and tracking but only the high squadron caught it and there were no casualties, nor was there much damage. Enemy aircraft were reported in the target area, and they were said to have attacked the groups immediately behind us, but we experienced no difficulties.
There was a stand down Wednesday, April 18.
The briefed target for Thursday, April 19 (our Mission No. 294) was the marshalling yard at Elsterwerda, near Leipzig. Our 37 aircraft were commanded by Capt. Seeley, who was promoted the day before. The weather was good, less than 2/10 on the target. But a stiff cross wind of more than the 30 degree drift the bombardiers can kill, hampered the bombing. The high and low squadrons bombed at Elsterwerda with poor results. Seeley took the lead group over the target three times without success because the bombardier just couldn’t get synchronized. The latter finally lined up on Falkenburg, the last time over, and bombed the marshalling yard there. Seeley caused some consternation back at base by erroneously sending in a 104 strike message. It should read 4-1.
Mission No. 296 on Friday, April 20, had as its target the marshalling yard at Brandenburg. Because of the fiasco of the day before, every ranking flying man on the base, with the exception of Lt. Col. Shackley and Capt. Cronin, was ordered out on the mission, which was led by Capt. Ewing S. Watson. Even Col. Hall flew, although he went in the unarmed Little Rockette as an observer.
Flak was meager but accurate, one burst touching off the flares in Capt. Watson’s aircraft. The weather was good and so was the bombing. There were no losses and no casualties.
Back at the base, Capt. Gerald Platz, group armament officer, was transferred to higher headquarters. Capt. Elbert Husted, III, was appointed in his place.
Promotions during the second ten days of April included the elevation of Thomas S. Garreth, III, 535th pilot, to captain. Similar elevations were granted to Harvey G. Tidwell, second tour bombardier, and Lloyd Smith, of the 535th.
We picked up 29 Air Medals in GO 302, 11 April; 28 more in GO 306, 12 April; 61 more Clusters in GO 308, 13 April; five more in GO 317, 15 April; 65 Clusters in GO 324, 16 April; nine Air Medals in GO 322, 15 April; six Clusters in GO 325, 17 April; 40 Clusters in GO 328, 18 April; and two Air Medals in GO 326, 18 April.
Capt. Mitchell M. Hall, Jr. sub-depot engineering officer and now 858th Air Engineering squadron CO, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in connection with military operations against the enemy in GO 309, 1? April.
With Lt. Col. Shackley in the lead ship, 37 of our aircraft participated in the attack on the marshalling yards at Munich on Saturday, April 21. It was Mission No. 296. As a mission was completely uneventful. All over Germany the weather was bad, a 10/10 undercast prevailing. There was no flak and there were, of course, no fighters. The bombing was done by instruments and the results were unobserved.
With an eye on the 300th mission, Col. Hall. Called combat wing and asked that this Group be given an “A ?ead” the fourth operation hence. He was assured every effort would be made to do so.
Sunday, April 22, the Station was favored with a treat. Alfred Lunt and Lynne F??tanne, two of the world’s greatest stage stars, brought to the Station theater their London comedy hit, “Love in Idleness” with the entire London cast. The show was done without scenery or costumes, and with only the props that could be scrounged on the base. It held its audience spellbound. The men said it was the best show ever given on the base. ???????, general manager for H.M. Tennant, London producers, who was responsible for sending the show here, was with the party.
Just before Lunts returned to London, they helped pay honor to the bomber “Passaic Warrior” which had completed its 100th mission. Mary Alice Collins, former stage star and current BBC announcer, did a radio script on the occasion.
There was no mission on April 23, but the Group sustained one of its greatest losses nevertheless.
Carrying holidaymakers bound for three-day passes in Ireland, a Fortress piloted by Capt Charles Ackerman, 534th operations officer, crashed on the Isle of Man, hitting just below the peak of a 2,000 foot hill. Everybody aboard was killed. Scarcely a man on the station was not affected by the tragedy, for every man on the station had a friend aboard. There was also a number of men on the Station who had fought hard to get aboard the trip, and these men were very hard it.
The list of dead follows:
532nd Squadron --- M/Sgt. Edward Z. Gelman, T/Sgt. William E. Geist, S/Sgt. Wayne K. Manes, Cpl. Merle L. Ramsowr.
533rd Squadron --- T/Sgt. Joseph W. Sullivan, T/Sgt. Joseph L. Grey, Cpl. Edward G. Bailey.
534th Squadron --- Capt. Charles E. Ackerman, Jr., F/O Edwin A. Hutcheson, Jr. 1st lt. Martin Matyas, 1st Lt. John P. Fedak, T/Sgt. Wesley M. Hagen, and T/Sgt. David H. Lindon.
535th Squdron --- Cpl. Herbert C. Gupton, Jr., Pfc. Angelo Quagliariello, S/Sgt. Alfred M. Mata, and Sgt. Jose M. Martinez.
HQ 381st --- 1st Lt. Wayne W. Hart.
534th Squadron – Sgt. Michael J. Kakos, Jr. Sgt. Irvin R. Hargraves, Cpl. Earl S. Ammerman, and Cpl. Leslie H. Maxwell.
432nd HQ --- Pvt. Andrew R. Barbour and S/Sgt. Ralph L. Gibbs.
848th Mat Sq --- 1st Lt. Lawrence E. McGhehey, Sgt. William c. Ullmann and T/4 Andy Piter, Jr.
682nd Mat Sq --- 1st Lt. James M Hinkle (station quartermaster) and Cpl. Harry Super.
881st Chem Co --- T/5 Walter A. McCullough and Cpl. Thomas P. Flaherty.
Tuesday, April 24, Col Hall, Capt. Shackley and a group from the Station flew to the Isle of Man to pick up the bodies and view the scene of the wreck. It was a day of mourning on the station.
Wednesday, April 25, the Group flew a mission to Bilsen, with Maj. Bordner in the lead ship. Mission No. 297, it turned out to the Group’s final combat operation. As a bombing expedition it was a washout, for all but two of aircraft brought their explosives back to base. Although the flying weather was good, it was 10/10 over the target and the leaders refused to take a chance for fear that the bombs might fall on friends.
The trip was no picnic. Maj. Bornder was quoted as saying “I’ll brain the next guy who tells me the war is over”. The flak was intense and accurate, and, although our aircraft escaped the worst of it, returning crews reported they saw several B-17s from other Groups going down over the target.
We had only one casualty, S/Sgt. B. C. Brock, Lt. Marshall’s waist gunner, was wounded, moderately severely.
Back at the base the papers carried the news of the opening of the ‘Frisco conference. And speculation was rife regarding the possibility that the Americans and English linked up with the Russians in Germany.
Believers in the theory of symmetry drew quite a bit of support from the fact that Pilsen was our last mission. For, the day after our operations began, June 22, 1943, there was accident on the line which cost us 23 dead. The accident on the Isle of Man, which cost us 31, occurred just before our final mission.
The “Tomahawk Warrior,” well-known 535th Fortress, caught fire coming in for a landing on Thursday, April 26. Lt. Albert J. Cotea and his skeleton crew got safely out of the aircraft at the end of the runway near the 534th site. The bomb load went off after the fire burned for a while and blew a hole 40 ft by 30 feet by 18 inches in the concrete. Utilities men worked all night patching it up. We were still thinking there would be more missions.
The men who died in the Isle of Man accident were buried April 27 at the Cambridge cemetery,. It was the larget funeral seen here. Seventeen truckloads of men from the Station attended.
The surrender of Gen. Dietmar, Germany Army and General Staff news commentator, was announced the same day.
Newspapers of April 28 announced the link-up with the Russians as occurring at the Elbe River, near Torgau, April 25. And thoughts of going home began to be aired at the base.
The death of Mussolini at the hands of an Italian mob was announced in the April 30th papers.
Other events of the month included the promotion of Kenneth L. Hillier, weather officer, to Captain on April 30th; the promotion to Major of Ewing S. Watson, 533rd commander; the promotion to Captain of Charles E. Eager, bombardier; and the announcement of a clothing check for all personnel, which gave further points to the thoughts of going home.
We were awarded four Air Medals in GO 341, 23 April.
Capt. Robert J. Gotthardt, pilot, reported shot down and MIA in march, was posthumously awarded the DFC in GO 351, 25 April.
There were 51 Air Medal Clusters for us in GO 356, 26 April, with the name of Conway S. Hall, Station commander, leading the list.
DFCs were awarded (GO 355, 26 Apr) to 1st Lt. Peter Kowalski, 533rd, and to 1st Lt. Pearlman R. Perry.
THE END