| ALBERT DAVIS AND EMMETT EVANS,
HAVING COMPLETED TOURS WERE REPLACED ON THE 8 OCT 43 BREMEN MISSION
BY DERRELL PIEL (ROG OF CREW #26) AND ELDER DICKERSON THE REGULAR WG
OF CREW #25. BOTH PIEL
AND DICKERSON (ON HIS 25TH MISSION) WERE KILLED BY FLAK. JARVIS'S
PLACE IN THE BALL TURRET WAS TAKEN BY S/SGT REED A. HUFFORD WHO
BECAME A POW. MICHAIL ROTZ, HAVING BEEN HOSPITALIZED FROM INJURIES
SUSTAINED IN A JEEP/TRUCK ACCIDENT WAS REPLACED BY S/SGT AARON A.
DAVID, WHO WAS KILLED.< THERE IS CONFUSION AS TO WHETHER DAVID WAS BLOWN OUT OF THE
AIRCRAFT WITHOUT A CHUTE OR HIS CHUTE FAILED TO OPEN
THIS CREW LED THE 100TH ON THE MISSION TO BREMEN AND
CAPT LVIN L. BARKER. 351ST OPERATIONS OFFICER, FLEW IN THE
RIGHT SEAT. MARSHALL LEE THE REGULAR CO-PILOT FLEW AS BTG TO ISSUE
REPORTS TO MURPHY AND BARKER. LEE WAS APPARENTLY KILLED AFTER
LEAVING THE BALL TURRET IN HOPES OF RENDERING AID TO THE TWO PILOTS,
BOTH OF WHOM WERE ALSO KILLED.
SOON AFTER BOMB RELEASE THE PICCADILLY LILY WAS
HIT BY FLAK NEAR THE NAVIGATORS STATION CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO
THE FLIGHT DECK AREA AS WELL. THIS SHELL OR OTHERS STARTED A FIRE IN THE #3 ENGINE AND
DESTROYED THE SHIPS OXYGEN SYSTEM. WITNESSES INDICATE THE LILY
ENTERED A NEAR VERTICAL NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE AND EXPLODED WITH ONLY
FOUR CHUTES OBSERVED.
ON 15 OCT 43 AT THE POST CEMETERY, WESERMUENDE,
GERMANY, THE REMAINS OF MURPHY, BARKER, LEE, PIEL AND DICKERSON WERE
INTERRED IN GRAVES #103 THROUGH 3107.
THE PICCADILLY LILY WAS IMMORTALIZED BY SY BARLETT
AND BEIRNE LAY'S "TWELVE O' CLOCK HIGH." WITHOUT A DOUBT SHE IS THE
MOST REMEMBERED BOMBER
OF WWII.
THE FOLLOWING IS THE 351ST'S S-2 REPORT, ACTUALLY
MORE OF A TRIBUTE ON THE LOSS OF THEIR BELOVED "OL'MURPH"
(copied verbatim with no spelling corrections)
THE SECOND CREW LOST OVER BREMEN WAS THAT OF
CAPTAIN THOMAS E. MURPHY. KILLED IN ACTION WERE CAPTAIN MURPHY, CAPTAIN A.L. BARKER,
THE SQUADRON OPERATIONS OFFICER, LT M.F. LEE, T/SGT DARRELL C. PEIL
AND S/SGT ELDER DICKERSON, T/SGT J.J. PHELAN AND SGT REED S. HUFFORD.
S/SGT ARRON A. DAVID WAS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR AND IS LISTED A MISSING
AS OF THIS REPORT.
IN THE TURBLENT, INCESSANT IN THE AIR, HEROES ARE
MADE IN ONE SHRILL MOMENT, MADE LEDGENDARY BY SOME FACT OF
SELF-SACRIFICE, BY A LATENT ABILITY TO RISE TO SOME EXTRAORDINARY
EMERGENCY AT 20,000 FEET. THEN AGAIN, SOME ARE THERE WHO DO THIER WORK IN CALM
PERFECTION, TO WHOM THE FLEETING CHANCE MOMENT OF SUDDEN GLORY NEVER
COMES.
CAPTAIN THOMAS E. MURPHY, THEN LT, FLEW HIS FIRST
MISSION ON JUNE 6TH, 1943. HIS AUSTER, COOL AIR OF DIGNITY MADE AN IMMEDIATE IMPRESSION. HE WAS QUIET, A GOOD FELLOW
WITH A READY SMILE. MEN MET HIM AND LIKED HIM AND THE MEN WHO FLEW
WITH HIM SWORE BY HIM.
ON OCTOBER 8TH, 1943, WHEN A BURST OF FLACK ENDED
HIS CAREER AT THE TWENTY-FOUR MISSION MARK, IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE
THAT "OL MURPH" WAS THROUGH, THAT NEVER AGAIN WOULD HE GIVE HIS SHIP
THAT METICULOUS ALL-EMBRACING PRE-FLIGHT IN HIS PASSION FOR
PERFECTION. NEVER AGAIN
WOULD HIS QUIET VOICE INSTILL CONFIDENCE IN NERVE-WRACKED MEN.
AND YET THE STORY OF HIS ABILITY GOES ON. EVEN
NOW, WALKING DOWN THE LINE, ANY CREW CHIEF YOU STOP WILL INVARIABLY
NAME THE QUIET PILOT FROM WALTHAM, MASS, AS THE FINEST PILOT EVER TO
TAKEOFF WITH A 351ST SHIP. COL TURNER CONSIDERED HIM THE MOST DEPENDABLE "TOP MAN" HE
EVER HAD. THE AIRMAN
WORKING FOR CAPTIAN MURPHY FORM M/SGT HERRMAN DOWN LAVISH EVERY
SUPERLATIVE IN THE BOOK UPON HIM.
FOR THE AUGUST 17TH RAID ON REGENSBURG HE RECIEVED
THE DFC, BUT NO ONE RAID OR DECORATION COULD POSSIBLY SUM UP OR
ATTEST TO HIS SKILL AND DEVOTION TO HIS CREW. FIVE CHUTES WERE SEEN TO
FLOAT AWAY FROM THE STICKENED PICCADILLY LILY, BUT NO SUBSEQUENT
WORD HAS EVER BEEN RECIEVED FROM CAPTAIN MURPHY. HE WAS ALWAYS QUIET. NEVER
LIKED TO MAKE A FUSS, NEVER LOST HIS TEMPER AND NO ONE EVER HEARD
HIM CURSE. HE WAS PILOT THROUGH AND THROUGH, THE VERY BEST. THE 351ST SHALL MISS HIM.
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