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The French village of Saone-et-Liore enjoyed the
peaceful interlude of a cold February afternoon, appreciating a day
that seemed far removed from the violence of the way that had
ravaged Europe for the past several years. As grassy fields swayed
in the stiff breeze, a shadow fell across the town causing those
below to gaze nervously over their heads. Usually only visible to
the townspeople by a glowing contrail far above, the familiar
outline of the giant warbird skipped easily over the rooftops and
swooped gracefully across a field to a gentle landing. As it rested
in eerie silence, the startled villagers rushed to render assistance
to what must surely be injured crewmen. They were astonished to find
the plane completely empty! The only clue to its incredible journey
lay in the numbers 338397, and the big Square D painted on its tail…
Fifty-two years later, in 1997, Grant Fuller,
Executive Vice President of the 100th Bomb Group Association,
received a letter from Serge Blandin, an air researcher and founder
of the Air-Britain Historians. Blandin explained he had traced a
plane, which landed near Lyon, to the 100th Bomb Group, 349th Bomb
Squadron, and asked for Grant’s assistance. Fuller immediately
contacted Jan Riddling, 100th BG Association Membership Chairman and
100th aircraft authority. Jan started to work on the project in
November of 1997.
After reviewing all the records at her disposal,
Riddling hit a brick wall. 100th records from 1945 are incomplete
and information on this particular aircraft was sketchy at best.
Riddling turned to her old friend and fellow researcher Mike Howell,
of the 390 Memorial Museum Foundation for assistance. (The 390th
Bomb Group, along with the 100th Bomb Group and the 95th Bomb Group,
comprised the 13th Combat Air Wing of the 3rd Air Division, 8th Air
Force, and share some records.) With the resources available, Howell
was able to plug the missing information and shed new light on the
long-standing mystery.
Aircraft 43-38397 was manned by the Lt. Jerome S.
Garrison crew of the 351st Squadron. This crew had not received a
permanent aircraft assignment. On February 6, 1945, they flew a
plane with the markings of the 349th Squadron. They crew comprised
Pilot Jerome S. Garrison, Co-Pilot Warren A.Storz, Navigator Fransis
J. Dolon, Bombardier George Yee, Top Turret Engineer Harold F.
Castaldo, Radio Gunner Steve J. Kowalski, Waist Gunner William H.
Andrews, Waist Gunner George F. Miller, and Tail Gunner Robert J.
MacKeigan.
Riddling checked the membership of the 100th Bomb
Group Association and found only George Miller as an active member.
She called him and inquired whether or not he had flown the Chemnitz
mission of 6 Feb 45. Miller confirmed that Chemnitz had been his
first mission and that he and his crew had bailed out over France.
He assumed his aircraft had crashed, and was quite surprised and
thrilled to learn that his plane had flown on and landed near Saone-et-Loire.
When I talked to George, he was able to provide some more
information on the "mystery" aircraft.
"We abandoned ship because we were out of fuel
after becoming hopelessly lost and wandering around all day after
leaving the target area. We had lost an engine while still over the
English Channel on the way to the target. Garrison elected to
continue on to the target by drifting back successively to the
groups behind us in the bomber stream rather than about this, our
very first mission. Shortly after bombs away we ran out of trailing
groups and had to start descending in order to keep the last group
in sight. Eventually, we entered the undercast where we became lost.
The weather was bad and the headwinds were very high. (Page 182 of
Century Bombers states that only half of the ships made it
back to the base due to these winds.)
"We were finally ordered to bail our, but we did
not have the slightest idea where we were. Fortunately for us, we
were in a liberated area of France. We were rounded up by French
civilians who treated us royally once they were convinced that we
were Americans. The entire crew got together the next morning and
was taken to Lyon by American MPs. We eventually returned to Thorpe
abbots to continue our tour of duty.
"I had always assumed that the ship had crashed
and been demolished, and first heard otherwise from Jan Riddling in
November, 1997,k more than a half century after the fact. It was her
good detective work in following up on Serge Blandin’s 6/12/97
letter, which made me aware of the ultimate fate of my ship. I think
it is a rather amazing story to have learned after all these years.
I have corresponded with Serge Blandin, who was hoping to try to
locate people in the village who may have helped us on that day."
William H. Andrews, Waist Gunner on the crew, was
also surprised to hear that his ship had survived, because he had
landed in a fairly rough terrain. "In fact, it was kind-of
snowing…kind of a bad day. After I’d gotten out I could see that I
was coming down in some kind of farm field surrounded by trees. How
that airplane made a perfect belly landing without being completely
demolished is beyond me. So many planes from the 8th ended up lost
that day because we had about a 150-knot crosswind.
"I was alone and didn’t see any of the rest of my
crew. I knew that everybody had gotten out. The pilot and flight
engineer were the last two to leave. Following procedures, I hid my
chute in a streambed and was heading up to the barn. The area was
hilly, and I came across a bunch of children at the top of a hill.
They came tome, and I was able to use some of my high school French
to talk to them. There was a GI truck down the road at a farmhouse,
so I went down there with the children. A man with the Free French
came out and took me prisoner until I could prove I was American.
They put me in the back of the jeep and took me to the police
station. Miller, Dolan, and several others, were there. MacKeigan
had hurt his leg and was in the hospital. It was a terrible way to
start our first mission. We were kept in Lyon for several day s
before being taken back to Thorpe Abbotts." |
