My Dad’s (George Edwin Farrar) Story – Organization
I find that I am not posting anything because I feel the need for my posts to flow in a certain order. However, as my first project here is researching and writing my father’s history, I am stumbling across different bits of information that don’t necessarily all fit together in one nice neat little package. I am going to start posting the information as I come across it, and hopefully, like a jigsaw puzzle, it will all fit together nicely at the end.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
The Lead Banana
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Lead Banana
The B17-G aircraft with serial number 43-37822 was assigned to the 384th Bomb Group, 544th Squadron. Known as The Lead Banana, it completed 27 missions, returning safely to base on 26 of those missions. Its first mission, on July 20, 1944, was to an aircraft plant in Dessau, Germany. Its last mission, on September 28, 1944, was to a steelworks plant in Magdeburg, Germany. The crew was able to complete its assignment and drop its bombs over Magdeburg, but was involved in a mid-air collision coming off the target.
John Oliver Buslee, David Franklin Albrecht, William Alvin Henson, II, Robert Sumner Stearns, Sebastiano Joseph Peluso, Lenard Leroy Bryant, George Francis McMann, Jr., and Gerald Lee Andersen, all aboard the Lead Banana, did not survive the crash.
The only survivor, George Edwin Farrar (my dad), became a POW confined at Stalag Luft IV.
Most of these men had flown on The Lead Banana on previous missions, but for George Francis McMann, Jr., and Gerald Lee Andersen, September 28 was the first and last time they set foot on this plane.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
The Buslee Crew
The Buslee Crew
The Buslee Crew, Eighth Air Force, 384th Bomb Group, 544th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy)
Crew photo, back row, left to right:
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Lt. John Oliver Buslee, Pilot, from Park Ridge, Illinois
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Lt. David Franklin Albrecht, Co-Pilot, from Chico, California
- Lt. Chester A. Rybarczyk, Navigator, from Toledo, Ohio
- Lt. James B. Davis, Bombardier, from New Castle, Indiana
Crew photo, front row, left to right:
- Sgt. Erwin V. Foster, Ball Turret Gunner, from Elmira, New York
- Sgt. Sebastiano Joseph Peluso, Radio Operator/Gunner, from Brooklyn, New York
- Sgt. Lenard Leroy Bryant, Waist Gunner, from Lubbock, Texas
- Sgt. Clarence B. Seeley, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, from Halsey, Nebraska
- Sgt. Eugene D. Lucynski, Tail Gunner, from Detroit, Michigan
- Sgt. George Edwin Farrar, Waist Gunner, from Atlanta, Georgia, (my dad)
Notes:
- The Buslee crew departed the US on July 1, 1944. They were stationed with the 544th Bombardment Squadron of the 8th Air Force at the Grafton Underwood airfield.
- Original crew members were Pilot – John Oliver Buslee, Co-Pilot – David Franklin Albrecht, Navigator – Chester A. Rybarczyk, Bombardier – Marvin B. Fryden, Radio Operator/Gunner – Sebastiano Joseph Peluso, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner – Clarence B. Seeley, Ball Turret Gunner – Erwin V. Foster, Tail Gunner – Eugene D. Lucynski, Waist Gunner/Flexible Gunner – Lenard Leroy Bryant, Waist Gunner/Flexible Gunner – George Edwin Farrar.
- The original Buslee crew’s bombardier, Lt. Marvin B. Fryden, was killed on the crew’s second mission on August 5, 1944. The photo must have been taken after Lt. James B. Davis replaced Fryden on the crew.
- The crew must have trained together in the US as a crew of ten, but by the time they saw action, the B-17 crews were made up of only nine men. One Waist Gunner manned both waist gunner stations and was called a Flexible Gunner. As a result, this crew of ten never all served on the same mission together.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
September 28, 1944
George Edwin Farrar
September 28, 2013 is the 69th anniversary of the mid-air collision of the Lazy Daisy and the Lead Banana after coming off a target in Magdeburg, Germany during WWII. My dad, George Edwin Farrar, was the only survivor from the Lead Banana. Harry Allen Liniger, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., and Wilfred Frank Miller survived from the Lazy Daisy.
John Oliver Buslee, David Franklin Albrecht, William Alvin Henson, II, Robert Sumner Stearns, Sebastiano Joseph Peluso, Lenard Leroy Bryant, George Francis McMann, Jr., and Gerald Lee Andersen, all aboard the Lead Banana, did not survive the crash.
James Joseph Brodie, Lloyd Oliver Vevle, Byron Laverne Atkins, Donald William Dooley, Robert Doyle Crumpton, and Gordon Eugene Hetu, all aboard the Lazy Daisy, did not survive the crash.
I salute all these men for their bravery and heroism and the sacrifices they made to defend our freedom.
Sources: Lead Banana and Lazy Daisy.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
Ocala Star-Banner Ongoing Tale #2
I participated in the latest Ongoing Tale in Emory Schley’s Bits and Pieces column in the Ocala Star-Banner. Click the link to read the entire story:
I wrote four of the 100-word episodes, including the first and last 100 words.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
Ocala Star-Banner Ongoing Tale #1
Emory Schley of the Ocala Star-Banner newspaper challenged readers to submit 100 words each week to continue a story he created. My 100 word submission was selected to be the fourth installment of the tale. To read the ongoing tale in its entirety, follow this link to the newspaper’s website.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2013
