Category Archives: WWII

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 4

May 31, 2023 7:00 AM / 3 Comments on George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 4

George Marshall Hawkins Jr., photo shared by Everett Diemer and Danielle Yost Cross on Ancestry

New information from a new search on Ancestry.com, and new information from military records have provided me with some new and updated information regarding George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., original navigator of the James Joseph Brodie crew of the 545th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Army Air Forces in WWII.

To view my original post and other information about George Hawkins, please see the links at the end of this post.

Continued from George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 3

Return to the Zone of the Interior (ZOI)

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., newly liberated prisoner of war, was evacuated from the ETO (European Theater of Operations) to the ZOI on 23 April 1945. He was flown back to the United States, arriving on his home soil on 24 April 1945, and was taken that day to Mitchell Field Station Hospital.

George had spent his days as a POW in a hospital setting from the time of the mid-air collision of 28 September 1944, and he would spend many more months in treatment, recuperation, and rehabilitation in the States.

Post-war Hospitalization

Various military medical records, including a 28 September 1946 Disposition Board Proceedings for Officers, recorded George Hawkins hospitalization and medical procedures history. I have placed these medical record entries in a timeline to show George’s arduous journey to regain his physical health from his mid-air collision injuries.

George arrived at Mitchell Field Station Hospital on 24 April 1945 and evidently spent about four days there, but his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) contains no record of any physical examination or treatment.

On 28 April 1945, George arrived at Halloran General Hospital, Staten Island, New York. Halloran General Hospital in New York was the largest Army hospital in the U.S. at the time and was known for orthopedic and reconstructive surgery. A physical examination on admission was recorded as “negative except for limitation of motion of the ankle and knee, left.”

On 8 August 1945, George had an arthrodesis procedure, fusion of the left ankle, and a plaster of Paris cast applied. Records state his “convalescence was uneventful and he was placed on physiotherapy consisting of exercises.”

In one of fellow-POW Frank Furiga’s post-war recordings, he described meeting up with George Hawkins at Halloran General Hospital in August 1945.

Now this man stayed with me at this hospital [at Meiningen] until we were liberated on April 5 of 1945 by the 11th Armored Division of the Third Army Corps. I went to the States via a military hospital at Burford, England. That August, I happened to have a date with a nurse at the Halloran General Hospital on Long Island, New York.

When I had gone to the patient floor to meet the nurse, the director of nursing told me about another patient who had been a prisoner of war in Germany. She mentioned his name and I said that the name Hawkins sounded familiar. He happened to be on this same floor. So we went to the room and it happened to be the same Lieutenant Hawkins from Reserve-Lazaret 9C (b) at Meiningen, Germany. We had a wonderful reunion. He had had some surgery and was progressing nicely. I have not seen or heard from him since.

On 3 October 1945, George’s boot cast with wedging was removed and he was x-rayed. A new boot cast was applied.

On 9 October 1945, a commendation for a promotion for George Hawkins from 1st Lieutenant to Captain was initiated. At the time, he was a patient at Halloran General Hospital, Staten Island, New York. The reason for the promotion was that “it is presumed that the subject officer would have been promoted to a higher grade, but for his capture.”

On 23 October 1945, George Hawkins was promoted to Captain.

On 1 February 1946, George had a tumor the size of “half a small lemon” of the left breast excised. The pathological report showed non-malignant chronic mastitis in the breast.

On 28 February 1946, George was a patient at the Army Air Force Convalescent Center in Miami, Florida.

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr’s National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) POW record indicates his Latest Report Date as 4 April 1946. I am not sure exactly what this date signifies other than that perhaps up until that date, George was still classified as a prisoner of war.

On 9 April 1946, George Marshall Hawkins was suspended from flying status indefinitely following information received from the Flight Surgeon, AAF Regional & Convalescent Hospital, Coral Gables, Florida, in a letter dated 6 March 1946. The reason was fractures, multiple, of left fibula and tibia involving left ankle and knee, incurred in mid-air collision, 28 September 1944, over Magdeburg, Germany.

On 1 May 1946, George was a patient at Halloran General Hospital.

On 20 June 1946, George had a quadriplasty [quadriceplasty] of the knee (a surgical procedure required to release the quadriceps muscle in order to improve the range of knee flexion). Records note “convalescence was uneventful and he was again placed on physiotherapy.”

On 12 August 1946, x-rays showed a “marked narrowing of the joint space of the left knee and roughening of the patella. X-ray showed the graft of the ankle to be well fused. He still has marked limitation of motion of the knee. He was seen by the Chief of Orthopedics who recommended his appearance before a disposition board.”

In a 9 October 1946 letter, a doctor who examined George Hawkins suggested he have a knee fusion. George, however, wanted to preserve any motion of the knee, which at current was only ten degrees. The doctor suggested George be “discharged from the Army with his proper physical disability rating and then at his own discretion he can consult an orthopedic surgeon under provisions made by the Veterans Administration. He can determine at that time whether he wants to have surgery done or not.”

In an 11 October 1946 “Proceedings of Army Retiring Board for Officers,” Captain George M. Hawkins, Jr. was determined to be permanently incapacitated for active service. The cause of his permanent incapacitation was,

Deformity of left leg, moderate, chronic, manifested by rage of motion of knee 175 degrees to 176 degrees, and ankylosis, bony, complete, ankle, secondary to dislocation, simple, incomplete, anterior tibia at knee and dislocation, simple, incomplete, tarsus, left, accidentally incurred 28 September 1944 in accidental collision of two planes, one in which officer was a navigator over Magdeburg, Germany.

Oddly and incorrectly, an entry on the form noted that his disability was,

Not combat incurred or result of explosion of instrumentality of war in LOD (line of duty).

As part of the proceedings, Hawkins was asked if he desired to be relieved from active service. His response was that he desired further hospitalization to see if his knee could be freed. When asked if he was not qualified for active service, would he want to remain in the Army on active duty in a limited service capacity. He responded that he desired to be separated.

The board determined that no further treatment, hospitalization, or convalescence in that hospital, a specialized general hospital, or any other medical facility was indicated at the time, or that any further surgical procedure would improve his condition, or that his condition would improve in time. It was determined that he had a permanent incapacity and he would not improve. He had only a ten degree of motion of the left knee. He could not do a knee bend. He had difficulty walking down steps.

George was asked if he had any questions and he again requested further hospitalization and surgery to see if something could be done about his knee. The response was that he had seen numerous orthopedic surgeons and their opinion was that no further surgery would benefit his knee and that he had been advised not to have any further surgery.

George was also asked to tell the board the nature and cause of his disability as he understood it. He responded,

I had a mid-air collision in Germany. I sustained a fracture and dislocation of the left ankle and left knee joint on 28 September 1944. Now I have a fracture, fused left ankle, and an ankylosed left knee.

In the part of the proceedings where a medical officer was questioned as a witness, they did state that “the officer’s disability was incurred in combat with an enemy of the United States and did result from an explosion of an instrumentality of war in line of duty.”

Had the error in recording that his injury was “Not combat incurred or result of explosion of instrumentality of war in LOD (line of duty)” complicated George’s Veterans’ Benefits? I do not know, but in a much later letter dated 14 April 1953, the military’s Disability Separation Branch wrote to the Commanding General of the Air Force Finance Center to clarify/correct that,

The disability for which Captain Hawkins’ retirement was based was incurred in combat with an enemy of the United States and was the result of an explosion of an instrumentality of war in line of duty.

On 14 October 1946, George was a patient at Halloran General Hospital, 9960th TSU – SGO, Staten Island, New York. Special Orders 250, noted for Capt. George M. Hawkins, Jr., that he was granted 30 days of sick leave effective 15 October 1946.

On 12 November 1946, George Hawkins wrote a letter requesting information about a promotion regarding Sec. VIII, WD Circular 215 (1946). He stated that he received a POW promotion since his return to the Zone of the Interior (the United States) and asked if the POW promotion made him ineligible for a promotion under the new 18-months hospitalization ruling. He noted that as of the date of his letter, he was still hospitalized. He had been hospitalized in the States since his return in April 1945.

On 14 November 1946, George was a patient at Halloran General Hospital, 9960th TSU – SGO, Staten Island, New York. Special Orders 276, noted for Capt. George M. Hawkins, Jr., that he was granted 15 days of sick leave.

On 20 November 1946, George was a patient at Halloran General Hospital, 9960th TSU – SGO, Staten Island, New York. Special Orders 281, noted for Capt. George M. Hawkins, Jr., stated (in part),

Following officers are granted leave of absence as indicated effective 21 November 1946. DP each officer is relieved from further observation and treatment and from attached unassigned Det Pnts this hospital and are transferred attached unassigned Sep Det this station for separation processing … on which date they will revert to inactive status by reason of physical disability.

In the special order, George Hawkins’ Period of Leave was 60 days to terminate 19 January 1947 to return to his home of record at 52 Burchard St., Fords, New Jersey.

George had been hospitalized stateside for 635 days at the point the Army Air Forces discharged him on 19 January 1947.

Release from WWII Military Service

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.’s Separation Qualification Record notes his Date of Separation as 18 January 1946, however, his Military Record and Report of Separation/Certificate of Service notes his Date of Relief from Active Duty as 19 January 1947. Both note the Halloran GH SI NY (Halloran General Hospital in New York ) as his Place of Separation.

Honorable Discharge and Military Record and Report of Separation

George Hawkins’ separation record listed his Military History of,

His Grade was Captain
His Date of Entry into Active Service was 17 July 1941
His Date of Entry on Active Duty was 8 April 1944 (date of Navigator School graduation)
His Date of Separation was 18 January 1946 on his Separation Qualification Record
His Date of Relief from Active Duty (Discharge Date) was 19 January 1947
His Place of Separation was Halloran GH SI NY.
Military Occupational Specialty and No. – Navigator 1034
Battles and Campaigns – Central Europe GO 48. WD 45. Southern France GO 33 WD 45. Northern France GO 103, WD 45. Rhineland GO 118 WD 45.
Decorations and Citations – American Theater Ribbon, World War II Victory Ribbon, Purple Heart, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, European Theater Ribbon and 4 Battle Stars. Additionally, Good conduct medal and Asiatic-Pacific from other sources.
Wounds Received in Action – Over Magdeburg, Germany, 28 September 1944
Service Schools Attended – Pilot Training School. Navigation School.
Reason and Authority for Separation – Physical Reclassification Cir 313
Service Outside Continental U.S. and Return – listed below…
Total Length of Continental Service – 1 year, 11 months, and 16 days
Total Length of Foreign Service – 0 years, 9 months, and 24 days
Remarks – On terminal leave taken from 21 November 1946 to 19 January 1947.

Service Outside Continental U.S. and Return

This record includes only George’s commissioned service, not his enlisted service, and reports George’s commissioned foreign service in the ETO (European Theater of Operations) as from 30 June 1944 to 24 April 1945.

Departure from U.S.
- Date of Departure 30 Jun 44
- Destination ETO
- Date of Arrival 5 Jul 44
Departure from ETO
- Date of Departure 23 April 45
- Destination USA
- Date of Arrival 24 April 45

George Hawkins’ Separation Record noted his Military Occupational Assignments,

6 months, 2nd Lt, Navigator (1034)
12 months, 1st Lt, Navigator (1034)
13 months, Captain, Navigator (1034)

The Summary of his Military Occupations noted,

NAVIGATOR – Served overseas with the 384th Bomb Group, 545th Squadron in the ETO. Performed 19 missions over France and Germany. Was wounded in action over Germany on 28 Sep 1944 and awarded the Purple Heart. Thru efficiency in combat was awarded the air medal with 2 oak leaf clusters. Navigated B-17, performed the duties assigned as “lead navigator.”

George Hawkins’ Military Education (combined with more detail from other documentation) noted,

From 20 September 1938 to 6 June 1940, R.O.T.C. (University of Georgia), Rank Cpl
Pre-flight (Pilot), SAAAB (Santa Ana Army Air Base), Santa Ana, California, 2 1/4 months, 6 February 1943 to 20 May 1943, Aviation Cadet
Primary (Pilot), Thunderbird Field, Glendale/Phoenix, Arizona, 2 1/2 months, from 21 May 1943 to 26 July 1943, Aviation Cadet
Basic (Pilot), Minter Field, California, 2 1/2 months, from 28 July 1943 to 30 September 1943, Aviation Cadet
Adv. S.E. (Pilot), Luke Field, Arizona, not successfully completed, 1 October 1943 to 12 November 1943, Aviation Cadet
Adv. Navigation, Hondo, Texas, 4 1/2 months, completed, from 5 December 1943 to 8 April 1944 (graduation)
B-17 Combat Crew, AAF Sta. 172, Ardmore, Oklahoma, 10 days, completed 23 June 1944

Civilian Education noted,

Highest grade completed – 3 Yrs College
Degrees or diploma – None
Year left school – 1941
Name and address of last school attended – University of Ga., Athens, Ga.
Major courses of study – Journalism

Civilian Occupations noted,

STUDENT, COLLEGE – Studies interrupted, induction in Armed Forces.

Additional Information noted,

Awarded the ETO ribbon with 4 bronze stars, Asiatic-Pacific Theatre ribbon, Purple Heart, Air Medal with 2 clusters, Good Conduct Medal, American Theatre ribbon and the Victory ribbon.

Return to Civilian Life

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. returned to college after the war and graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. degree in Journalism, date unknown.

On 31 May 1950, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. married Helen J. Surran Braverman (born 1 March 1916) in Miami, Dade County, Florida. Helen was previously married in 1935 to Samuel Harold Braverman. Helen and Samuel had two children, a daughter Bonnie and son Peter. They divorced in 1947.

Two Federal census records in 1950 record George and Helen both living in Dade County, Florida just months before their marriage.

The 1950 Federal census records that Helen, Bonnie L. (age 10), and Peter Jon (age 6) lived with Helen’s parents Harry and Myrtle Surran in Miami, Dade County, Florida. Helen was thirty-four years old, was born in New Jersey, was divorced, and worked as a doctor’s assistant.

The 1950 Federal census records that Marshall G. Hawkins lived with his aunt, Esther E. Dioguardi, and cousin, Gail L. Dioguardi, in Dade County, Florida. Marshall (George) was thirty-one years old, was born in New York, and was single. His employment was noted as manager of a private club. His Aunt Esther was a medical secretary working in a doctor’s office.

George’s Aunt Esther Dioguardi was the sister of his mother, Mildred Sonnenthal Hawkins, both of them daughters of William and Clara Sonnenthal. Possibly, George and Helen met through his Aunt Esther if Helen and Esther worked in the same doctor’s office, but no I find no evidence to my theory.

George Hawkins’ military retirement paperwork notes on 7 June 1950 that he was entitled to receive retirement pay as a Captain and his percent of disability was stated as 40%.

When George and Helen married, George became step-father to Helen’s two children from her previous marriage, daughter Bonnie Lee and son Peter. The family grew on 19 June 1952 with the birth of George and Helen Hawkins’ daughter, Teri Jo.

George and Helen Hawkins and their family moved at some point, date unknown, to Colonia, New Jersey, and then in 1958 or 1959, moved to Brevard County, Florida where George Hawkins became a publications manager for NASA at Kennedy Space Center.

George’s parents also made a move to Florida, at least by the time George and Helen moved back to the state, and in September 1959, George Marshall Hawkins, Sr. died in Dade County, Florida.

George had a long career at NASA and subsequently served as Chief, Publications Branch at NASA Kennedy Space Center until his retirement in 1974.

Around 1982 or 1983, George Hawkins’ mother, Mildred Hawkins, sold her home of twenty-five years in Coral Gables, a suburb of Miami, and moved to Cocoa Beach to be closer to her son and his family.

In the 1980’s, George Hawkins wrote a series of letters to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Starting with a letter of 24 January 1983, George applied for “any medals due me as a result of my military service during World War II.” Not receiving a response, he wrote several more times including on 13 March and 22 April of 1985. He specifically wanted to know, “Does the attached Army Discharge indicate that I am qualified for the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal … having Foreign Service in Hawaii, T.H. from February 27, 1942 to February 2, 1943? If qualified, I request the campaign medal.”

George’s OMPF does not contain any response to his inquiry and I am unaware whether George Hawkins ever received his Asiatic-Pacific Theater ribbon/medal or not. Various military records in his Official Military Personnel File note the qualification/authorization, such as “Authority granted to purchase & wear ribbons for Asiatic-Pacific theater.” I sincerely hope George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. did receive his campaign medal as it seems clear he was entitled to wear it.

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. visited with Frank Dominic Furiga in the 1980’s. Frank’s son, Paul Furiga, shared this photo of their visit.

Left to Right: George Hawkins and Frank Furiga
Photo courtesy of Paul Furiga, son of Frank Furiga

Brodie crew tail gunner Wilfred Frank Miller and his wife June visited with Wilfred’s two surviving Brodie crewmates in the 1980’s, radio operator Bill Taylor and navigator George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. Wilfred’s youngest son Patrick, shared this photo of Wilfred and George’s visit.

Left to right, Brodie crew mates George Marshall Hawkins, Jr (navigator) and Wilfred Frank Miller (tail gunner)
Photo courtesy of Patrick Miller, Wilfred Miller’s youngest son

George and Helen Hawkins remained in Cocoa Beach, Florida for the remainder of their lives, as did George’s mother. George Hawkins’ mother Mildred died in 1993. George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. died on 4 January 1998 in Cocoa Beach, Brevard County, Florida at the age of seventy-nine. He is buried in Florida Memorial Gardens, Rockledge, Brevard County, Florida. George’s wife, Helen, died on 9 May 2008.

Notes

Thank you to Patrick Miller and Paul Furiga for sharing their fathers’ stories and photos.

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. Update – Part 2

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 3

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.

Previous post, George M. Hawkins, Jr. – September 28, 1944

Previous post, Frank Furiga, Mid-Air Collision Witness

Previous post, September 28, 1944 – Wallace Storey

Previous post, George Hawkins’ Account of the Buslee-Brodie Mid-air Collision

Previous post, MISSION 201

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 1

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 2

George Hawkins’ Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

George Hawkins’ Enlistment Record in the online National Archives

George Hawkins’ POW Record in the online National Archives

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 3

May 24, 2023 7:00 AM / Leave a comment

George Marshall Hawkins Jr., photo shared by Everett Diemer and Danielle Yost Cross on Ancestry

To view my original post and other information about George Hawkins, please see the links at the end of this post.

Continued from George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 2

George Hawkins Missing in Action

With George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. considered MIA, the War Department correspondence began with his next-of-kin. The letters were very similar to those sent to the Farrar family and to the Henson family, which I recently published in part.

On 9 October 1944, 384th Bomb Group Protestant Chaplain Dayle R. Schnelle wrote to Mr. George M. Hawkins (George Hawkins’ father) at 52 Buchard St., Fords, New Jersey. Dayle Schnelle wrote the same letter to George Edwin Farrar’s mother, and likely to the families of all of the boys lost on both the Buslee and Brodie crews’ B-17s on 28 September 1944. The Catholic chaplain may have taken care of the letters to any of the Catholic members of the crew.

Chaplain Schnelle expressed the “deepest and heart-felt concern” regarding George Hawkins’ son, who was reported missing in action. He offered hope that his son had escaped or was being held prisoner of war and told him not to consider his son as dead.

On 12 October 1944 a Casualty Message Telegram was created and dispatched on 13 October 1944 to Mr. George M. Hawkins, Sr. (George Hawkins’ father) to his address in Fords, New Jersey. The telegram stated,

The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your son Second Lieutenant George M. Hawkins, Jr. has been reported Missing in Action since Twenty Eight September over Germany If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified

On 16 October 1944, Major General J.A. Ulio, the Adjutant General, followed up George Hawkins’ Missing in Action telegram with a letter. Similar letters to other next-of-kin family members of both the Buslee and Brodie crews were written between 15 and 17 October. Major General Ulio confirmed that George was missing in action and wrote that he would pass along additional information when it was received or within at least three months.

On 22 November 1944, Major E.A. Bradunas wrote to George Hawkins’ father, stating similar information that was imparted to the Henson family, but not until 8 December,

Further information has been received indicating that Lieutenant Hawkins was a crew member of a B-17 (Flying Fortress) bomber which departed from England on a combat mission to Magdeburg, Germany, on September 28^th. Full details are not available, but the report indicates that during this mission at about 12:10 p.m., in the target area, our planes were subjected to enemy antiaircraft fire and your son’s bomber sustained damage. Subsequently, the disabled craft dropped out of formation, fell into a spin and disappeared into the clouds. Inasmuch as further observation of this aircraft was impracticable, the crew members of accompanying planes were unable to furnish any other details relative to its loss.

George Hawkins Prisoner of War

It would take months past the mid-air collision before the War Department and George’s family would know he was alive and a prisoner of war. In the meantime, for George, as the Nazi interrogators would say, the war was over. George Hawkins summarized the mid-air collision, his injuries, and immediate aftermath in an undated post-war “Statement or Report of Interview with Recovered Personnel,”

Leaving the target area near Magdeburg, Germany, 28 September 1944, our ship was struck by another B-17 in our formation. I was pinned in the ship, but managed to break loose and parachuted to the ground. I received injuries to the knee, ankle, left leg and ribs at the time of the crash. I landed safely. The military freed me from civilians fifteen minutes later, during which time I was beaten. I was taken to a small house in Erxleben, Germany. There, wooden splints were applied to my left leg. The next day, I started to Magdeburg for hospitalization.

As he stated above, George Hawkins was taken prisoner shortly after landing in his parachute in Germany. George was severely injured in the 28 September 1944 mid-air collision. His main injuries were multiple fractures of his left leg, specifically of the left fibula and tibia, involving the left ankle and knee, and two or three broken ribs.

Post-war military medical records state that in the 28 September 1944 mid-air collision, in medical terms, George Hawkins sustained an FSC, digital third, fibula, left, and a dislocation of the tibia at the knee joint. As part of his treatment, George’s left leg was placed in a cast.

POW Hospitalization

George Hawkins’ National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) POW record notes that he was held prisoner at Obermassfeld Hospital #1249 (Serves Stalag 9-C [IX-C]), Obermassfeld Thuringia, Germany 50-10. However, in his post-war undated “Statement or Report of Interview with Recovered Personnel,” George Hawkins noted that for the six months he was absent from United States Military Control, he was taken Prisoner of War, with the places and times he was imprisoned as,

Hospital at Magdeburg, Germany for 3 1/2 months
Hospital at Obermassfeld, Germany for 1 week
Hospital at Meiningen, Germany for 2 3/4 months

Magdeburg – 29 September 1944 to 12 January 1945

George Hawkins was held POW at a hospital in Magdeburg, Germany for 3 1/2 months, from 29 September 1944 to 12 January 1945. During this time, on 20 October 1944, the US Army Air Forces promoted George to 1st Lieutenant.

The hospital may have been Kahlenbergstift, located in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt Germany DE. It was a General Hospital used as a Military Hospital during World War II. Kahlenbergstift Hospital opened in 1896. The decaying hospital was renovated in 2011, but has since closed and has been demolished.

In George’s previously mentioned letter in Part 2 to Frank Furiga, his “account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany,” George continued with information about his hospitalization and internment following his capture by the Germans after the mid-air collision.

Magdeburg

I remained here in the city for the remainder of the year [1944] … in the prison ward at the hospital while undergoing surgery and in the balcony of an old theatre where they housed several hundred injured from many nations. On October 6th they attempted to set my broken leg but an air raid interrupted their efforts and I came out of the anesthetic in the basement air raid shelter … the leg still not set. They finally got the job done on the 12th … and that deserves a little comment.

A Colonel, the chief of Surgery, at the hospital returned from leave the day before my second attempt at leg repair … he had just buried his wife and children who had been killed in an air raid. He needed to get back to work following his tragic experience and he found me. He decided he would perform the operation himself and did so … without anesthesia. I filed charges against him with the War Crimes Commission at a later date but nothing ever came of it. Magdeburg is still in the Russian zone. But, needless to say, POW time from that point on was a piece of cake.

In late November, I was returned to the hospital with a knee infection. The plaster cast was removed and they found a real mess. The leg would probably have to come off. But a young captain took charge and did a beautiful job. I’ve never been able to bend my knee since then but the leg is still there.

Military medical records in George’s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) state that on 22 November 1944, he had an incisional drainage, abscess of the knee.

George noted in his post-war undated “Statement or Report of Interview with Recovered Personnel,” that while a prisoner of war, he,

Performed no duties, with one exception, as I was an ambulatory case in Magdeburg, I communicated with the British Man of Confidence at the local Stalag in regards to Red Cross parcel distribution. Advised British Medical Aid Man in Charge in clothing distribution.

On 6 November 1944, George wrote his father a letter conveying that he was in a German Prison Camp (Stalag XIA) and was is in the hospital being cared for by a French doctor and he was wearing a cast, which would be removed in a week. George also wrote two postcards to his father, dated 13 and 20 November.

George’s father did not receive the letter or postcards until 18 January 1945. A Battle Casualty Report confirms George Hawkins as a POW in Stalag 11A. Possibly, the hospital at Magdeburg was under the administration of Stalag XIA.

On 12 January 1945, George Hawkins began his transfer to the next hospital with an interrogation stop near Frankfort, Germany, travelling for two days.

Dulag Luft and Hohemark – 14 January to 17 January 1945

George arrived at the Frankfort railroad station on 14 January 1945. He spent the night at the railroad station, then was transported to Dulag Luft on 15 January, and to Hohemark Hospital on 16 January.

Dulag Luft was what the POWs called the German “ der Luftwaffe” or “Transit Camp of the Luftwaffe.” It was known as the greatest interrogation center in all of Europe and was located at Oberursel, about eight miles northwest of Frankfurt.

In George’s previously mentioned letter in Part 2 to Frank Furiga, his “account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany,” George continued with information about his hospitalization and internment.

DULOG LUFT & HALL MARK [DULAG LUFT AND HOHEMARK]

I departed from Magdeburg on January 12th and arrived in Frankfort two days later. I spent the night at the railroad station in a dungeon-like room about forty feet under ground and rode in a trolley car and a truck to Dulog Luft. A very short interrogation then up to Hall Mark the following day. I remember my interrogator who once worked for Western Electric and took bus 18 out of Newark each morning on his way to work. I had to admit that I didn’t know very much about Newark, New Jersey. I guess he just wanted to be friendly … right? One day later and we were on a hospital train to Obermassfeld.

In post-war documents, George also wrote of riding on a bus as one mode of his POW transportation between places in addition to the train rides and this mention of a trolley car and truck.

The Luftwaffe had taken over the Oberursel installation as a transit camp / interrogation center in December 1939. To meet the need for treatment for POWs who would need medical attention, camp authorities requisitioned part of Hohemark Hospital, one mile west of the interrogation center. The hospital ward for POWs was on one floor and was comprised of several rooms with sixty-five beds.

On 17 January 1945, George Hawkins was on a hospital train to Obermassfeld.

Stalag IX-C (9C), Obermassfeld (Reserve-Lazaret IX C (a)) – 18 January to 25 January 1945

According to a Wikipedia article about Stalag IX C and its associated hospitals, this POW camp was for Allied soldiers during WWII, rather than airmen. A large hospital, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (a), and a smaller hospital, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (b), were under Stalag IX C administration.

Obermassfeld Hospital #1249 served Stalag IX C (9-C) and was located in Obermassfeld (Obermaßfeld), Thuringia, Germany. Obermassfeld was the larger hospital under the administration of Stalag IX C, known as Reserve-Lazaret IX C(a). It was in a three-story stone building that was previously a Strength Through Joy hostel and was operated by British, Canadian, and New Zealand medical staff.

George Hawkins arrived at Obermassfeld on 18 January 1945 and spent one week there as a POW / patient.

In George’s previously mentioned letter in Part 2 to Frank Furiga, his “account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany,” George continued with information about his hospitalization and internment.

OBERMASSFELD

Arrived here on the 18th of January. The British doctors took xrays and I finally got a full understanding of my physical condition … for the first time. Here I met a number of people who I’m sure you knew also … Irving Metzger (no fingers) and T.S. McGee from Mississippi … the chaplain. McGee, George Brandon and I came out together … we toured Paris together. One week later, on January 25th, I was moved over to Meiningen.

Note: the Paris comments are regarding George’s stay in Paris following his liberation.

After receiving his son’s letter and postcards (written in November 1944) on 18 January 1945, George Hawkins’ father wrote to the Army Air Forces the next day, 19 January, informing them that he had heard from his son and telling them where George stated he was being held prisoner, German Prison Camp (Stalag XIA). Of course, by this date, George was no longer at Stalag XIA. He was at Obermassfeld, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (a), of Stalag IX-C, and soon to be moved again.

George Hawkins was moved from the larger hospital at Obermassfeld, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (a), to the smaller hospital at Meiningen, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (b), on 25 January 1945. Obermassfeld and Meiningen were about 5 miles apart and about 150 miles from the area of the mid-air collision near Magdeburg.

Stalag IX-C (9C), Meiningen (Reserve-Lazaret IX C (b)) – 25 January to 10 April 1945

On 30 January 1945, Major E.A. Bradunas replied to George’s father’s letter. Major Bradunas stated that the military had not received a report that would “indicate that your son is in a German Prison Camp,” but that “we rejoice with you that you have received word directly from your son.”

It was the smaller hospital in Meiningen, Reserve-Lazaret IX C (b), where George Hawkins would spend the remainder of his captivity, another 2 3/4 months, during World War II. George had arrived on 25 January 1945 and years later, Frank Furiga, who was already a POW / patient at Meiningen, recorded his memory of meeting up with George Hawkins as POWs.

One evening, January 25th to be exact, we were sitting around at our ward tables playing cards, etc. There was a commotion as a new bunch of patients arrived. I looked at one man in particular and gasped. Here was George Hawkins from the 384th Bomb Group, a Navigator. The last time I saw him was when I was still riding in the tail of the Lead Planes. It was September 28th and we went to Magdeburg. It was a tough mission. George was the Navigator on the [Brodie-Vevle] crew and they collided coming off the target with the [Buslee-Albrecht] crew.

In George’s previously mentioned letter in Part 2 to Frank Furiga, his “account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany,” George also shared his memories from their time spent at Meiningen,

MEININGEN

Here we joined forces, Frank … so there is little I can tell you that you don’t already know. I do have a few dates [from 1945] noted so I will jot them down and see if they ring any bells:

February 23, Bombing by USAF

March 2, Bombing by RAF

March 24, US fighter planes overhead

March 26, Group of ambulatory POWs moved out of camp to the East, away from approaching allied troops. Group included Marty Horwitz and William Griffin.

March 30, Shelling

April 1, Guards gone. We have taken over the camp

April 2, Obermassfeld liberated

April 4, German guards returned by order of local commander

April 5, LIBERATED by 11th Armored

April 10, Departed camp

Liberation and Repatriation

On 8 May 1998, Frank Furiga shared his memories of the liberation and evacuation of the POW Hospital at Meiningen, Germany in a recording, which his son Paul shared with me. (Note: Frank’s dates and days of the week don’t properly align with the 1945 calendar, but I am publishing his story as he told it. In 1945, Easter was Sunday, 1 April.)

We had Easter services and there was a certain tenseness among all of us. We were all asked to come downstairs in the early evening and the Germans told us that they were turning the hospital over to us. Only the Chefarzt [physician in charge] was staying. He told us that we would have to protect ourselves against the civilians just in case some had ideas of vengeance. He asked we go back to our wards and await further developments. Some of the men had gone out and “liberated” guns from the local folks, how I don’t know.

On Monday, April 3rd, we learned that Obermassfeld had been liberated. That night there were a lot of heavy guns firing in the near distance. The German area commander had ordered our guards back to the hospital.

On Tuesday, the 4th, we were told that an observer had been placed in the top of the hospital tower to watch for the advancing Americans. A siren would sound and we were to go to the wine cellars.

Early on the morning of Wednesday the 5th, just after breakfast the siren sounded. We all went down to the wine cellars in an orderly group. Someone said they could see German civilians running for the air raid shelter. There was some mortar and machine gun fire but not cannons.

Around 2:30, someone shouted that American tanks were heading towards the hospital. We all ran upstairs and into the courtyard. I had just arrived to see a lead American tank come through the fence and stop. A major jumped down and he was immediately grabbed and hugged by our men. We learned that this was the 11th Armored Division of Patton’s 3rd Army.

Soldiers eventually came into the hospital proper and inventoried our food supply. They brought in lots of K-rations, a welcome change after our prisoner fare. A day later, the 26th Infantry Division came to the area. They brought in a large supply of potatoes much better than we had. They also “liberated” the brewery bringing many types of alcoholic beverages. There was a lot of celebrating going on and soon senior officers called a halt to that and the beverages were put under control.

It was such a relief to go to bed that night and know that the German Army in our area had been put down. Within a few days, the 26th Infantry Division had to move on and we had the 71st Infantry Division move into the area. We had a chance to visit with them and they were much interested in our stories. We now also had some fresh white bread brought in. It was a welcome change over the “ Soldaten Brot” which had been made with sawdust for storage purposes and we ate every day. The men of the 71st brought in lots of sabers and swords liberated. Also some of the men got some very fine German cameras, watches and other trivia.

On Sunday, the 9th we were told that we would be moving out via ambulances the next day. We were loaded early in the morning and were driven to a U.S. Army Field Hospital near Nidda, close to Frankfurt. We had a steak dinner that evening with all of the fixings. The white bread tasted like cake after what we had eaten before.

Here we would be loaded aboard C-47ʼs and flown to American Hospitals in England.

Here is where Frank Furiga and George Hawkins parted ways. Frank was flown to England while George was flown to Paris. Frank’s account continues here, with George’s path described next. Frank said,

I was in two hospitals in England because the first one we got to closed the very next day. The 2nd one was at Burford. They gave us good care,the nurses were superb and the doctors were understanding. I was there 3 weeks. I called my brother Michael with the Medical Corps down near Reading and he came to visit me the next day. I didnʼt have a penny to my name and he had to loan me money.

A group of us were sent up to a Prestwick, Scotland hospital to await a flight home. We flew through Iceland and New foundland via a C- 54 to Mitchell Field, Long Island. They told me since I was a POW, they would fly me to any hospital in the U.S.A. I asked for Deshon General at Butler, Pennsylvania.

They flew me to Pittsburgh and via an ambulance, I arrived at Deshon. By then it was May 16th. I was given a 30 day leave immediately to visit with my mother and two sisters. I went to Pawling, New York then and finally to Greensboro, North Carolina for discharge.

In a future post, I will cover Frank’s own story of how he became a POW in Germany.

In George’s previously mentioned letter in Part 2 to Frank Furiga, his “account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany,” George continued with information about his post-liberation movements,

POST MEININGEN

The ambulance convoy out of Meiningen took us to Hanau (94th Medical), then 58th Field hospital (?) and then it was a C47 to Paris (48th General) on April 12th … then back to the U.S. on April 23rd.

In his letter to Frank Furiga, George Marshall Hawkins noted his Liberation Date as 5 April 1945. He was liberated by the 11th Armored Division of Patton’s 3rd Army at Stalag IX-C (9C), Meiningen (Reserve-Lazaret IX C (b)). The larger hospital of Stalag IX-C at Obermassfeld (Reserve-Lazaret IX C (a)) was also liberated by the U.S. 11th Armored Division.

George departed Meiningen on 10 April 1945 by ambulance convoy. George’s first stop was the 94th Medical at Hanau, Germany, then to the 58th Field Hospital in Germany on 11 April 1945. He was then moved by C47 to the 48th General Hospital in Paris on 12 April.

On 18 April 1945, George received his transfer orders to the ZOI – Zone of Interior (United States of America). He was evacuated to the ZOI on 23 April 1945. He was repatriated on 24 April 1945 when he arrived back in the United States and was taken that day to Mitchell Field Station Hospital.

To be continued…

Notes

Thank you to Paul Furiga for sharing his father’s stories.

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. Update – Part 2

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.

Previous post, George M. Hawkins, Jr. – September 28, 1944

Previous post, Frank Furiga, Mid-Air Collision Witness

Previous post, September 28, 1944 – Wallace Storey

Previous post, George Hawkins’ Account of the Buslee-Brodie Mid-air Collision

Previous post, MISSION 201

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 1

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 2

Previous post, George Hawkins’ Account of his Internment and Hospitalization

Previous post, German Hospitals Holding POWs in WWII

Merkki article, The Interrogators, Dulag Luft

American Prisoners of War in Germany, Hohemark Hospital, Section of Dulag Luft

Wikipedia article Stalag IX-C

George Hawkins’ Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

George Hawkins’ Enlistment Record in the online National Archives

George Hawkins’ POW Record in the online National Archives

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 2

May 17, 2023 7:00 AM / 2 Comments on George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 2

George Marshall Hawkins Jr., photo shared by Everett Diemer and Danielle Yost Cross on Ancestry

To view my original post and other information about George Hawkins, please see the links at the end of this post.

Continued from George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

Combat Duty with the 384th Bomb Group

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.’s 384th Bomb Group Individual Sortie record indicates that his duty was Navigator, one month’s pay was $247.50, and his home address was Mr. George M. Hawkins, 52 Burchard St., Fords, N.J.

George was credited with nineteen missions with the 384th Bomb Group, for which he earned an Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters. His first mission was on 7 August 1944 and his last was on 28 September 1944.

Morning Reports of the 384th Bombardment Group and other military documents indicate the following for George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.

On 26 JULY 1944, 2nd Lt. George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. was assigned to the 545th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), per AAF Station 106 Special Orders #148 dated 26 July 1944 as a Navigator with the MOS (military occupational specialty) of 1034, of the James Joseph Brodie crew.
On 28 SEPTEMBER 1944, on Mission 201 to Magdeburg, Germany (Target was Industry, Steelworks), George Marshall Hawkins went from duty to MIA (Missing in Action). He was subsequently declared POW (Prisoner of War).

Mid-air Collision

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. was aboard B-17 42-31222 Lazy Daisy with the Brodie crew on 28 September 1944 when their B-17 collided over Magdeburg, Germany with the Buslee crew’s B-17 43-37822. George was one of only three men aboard Lazy Daisy to survive and became a prisoner of war.

Hawkins wrote what he knew of the accident after he returned home from the war in 1945. His account, as follows, is included in the Missing Air Crew Report, MACR9366:

Following “Bombs away” at our target over Magdeburg, Germany, our B17-G and another ship in our formation collided. At the time of the accident our plane was in good condition with nothing more than light flak damage. As far as I know, all men on board were uninjured.

At the time of the collision, the front section of our nose was carried away, and with it, the nose gunner, S/Sgt Byron L. Atkins. The plane seemed to be flying straight and level for a very few seconds and then fell off into a spin. I managed to break out of the right side of the nose just behind the right nose gun.

Floating downward I saw an opened but empty chute. Leading me to believe that Atkins’ chute was pulled open at the time of the accident or by him later. However, because of the position of the chute I think the chute must have been opened following a free fall of a few thousand feet and then, because of damage or faulty hook-up, failed to save its occupant.

Following my own free fall, our ship was circling above me. It was then in a flat spin, burning. It passed me and disappeared into the clouds below. When I next saw the ship it was on the ground. While floating downward, I saw one other chute below me.

I landed a mile or so from the town of Erxleben, Germany…west of Magdeburg. The plane landed within two or three miles of me. Many civilians and the military there saw the incident.

The following evening I met two members of the crew…the waist gunner, Sgt. Liniger, and the tail gunner, Sgt. Miller. Sgt. Liniger said he was attempting to escape through the waist door when an explosion threw him from the ship. At that time Sgt. Miller said the tail assembly left the ship and he later chuted from the tail section.

To the best of my knowledge, All other five members of the crew were at their positions on the plane and failed to leave the ship. All were uninjured up till the time of the collision.

A 384th Bomb Group bombardier, Frank Furiga, was flying as an observer in the tail gunner position of B-17 43‑38542, the Low Group lead on the mission. He witnessed the mid-air collision and wrote about it, saying,

I was horrified to see the plane of our very good friends, John Buslee and David Albrecht collide with the Brodie-Vevle plane and they immediately went into death spirals and I could see no parachutes.

Frank later noted that Brodie’s B-17 collided with Buslee’s in one telling, saying,

As we dropped our bombs and made a tight right turn off the target, I saw a Fortress suddenly slacking its speed and then drop like a rock and smash into the plane of Lieutenant Buslee. The entwined fortresses went into a dance of death.

But in another telling, in 1979, Frank Furiga wrote a letter to Quentin Bland in which he described the mid-air collision this way,

George was a Navigator in the Jim Brodie-Vevle plane and a plane piloted by John Buslee and David Albrecht dropped down and into them colliding in midair and both planes went down. I was riding that day as Tail Observer and I can close my eyes and still visualize it since it was such an impact on my mind. For the longest time, we thought no one had gotten out until I met Hawkins at Meiningen, Germany.

George Hawkins and Frank Furiga were held prisoner of war together at the same POW hospital and maintained a friendship after the war. Some time after Christmas 1983, George Hawkins wrote the following in a letter to Frank Furiga, “an account of my 1944-45 visit to Germany.”

September 28, 1944

Following ‘Bombs away’ and while making a shallow formation turn to starboard, our lead ship suddenly racked up into a tight right turn … so abrupt that my pilot(s) were forced to increase the bank of the turn and pull up over the lead ship to avoid a collision. Ship #3 (flying the lead ship’s left wing) increased its bank and, riding high in turn, probably went to ‘full throttle’ in an attempt to catch up to the lead ship. Unfortunately, we were also high, in a tight turn, and playing catch up.

Standing at my position, I watched as #3 came right down our flight path and we had impact … their pilot compartment coming right up into our ship’s belly. I’m sure they had the lead ship in sight but never saw us at all. We must have been just above the co-pilot’s view through his starboard window. As soon as I spotted them coming in I hit the mike button and yelled to Brodie and Vevle to pull up, but as I talked the nose cabin deck buckled up under me, and I was pinned to the starboard side of the ship just forward of the inboard engine. On impact, our togglier and the Plexiglas nose disappeared.

I fought to free myself but to no avail … the wreckage and the air pouring into the opening in the nose made any movement impossible. Shortly thereafter the ship fell off into a spin and we started down. I can only assume that my body weight increased due to the centrifugal force build up … and this coupled with the structural damage suffered by the nose section led to a rupture of the air frame … and I was sucked out of the ship and was able to make use of my chute. I landed at Erxleben, a small town northwest of Magdeburg.

One added note: I flew all my missions using a chest chute. I wore the harness and hung the chute pack on the fire wall near my station. A day or two prior to the Magdeburg flight I had myself fitted for a back pack … one that fitted so tightly and was very uncomfortable to wear during a long flight. Well, I had it on that day. I have never been able to remember why I made the change, but I will always be thankful that I did.

It does not sound as if George Hawkins was aware that their B-17 almost collided with the Gross-Storey B-17 43‑38548 before making contact with the Buslee-Albrecht Fortress. Wallace Storey said,

We found ourselves on a crossing course with another Group and just after “bombs away” the lead ship made a sharp descending right turn. Our high element, being on the inside of this steep turn, had to move quickly by reducing power while climbing slightly. Glancing to my right, I saw that “Lazy Daisy” [the Brodie-Vevle B-17] was sliding toward me. I pulled back on the control column to climb out of her path while keeping my eye on the #2 ship of the lead element, Lt. Buslee in #337 [43-37822], on whose wing our element was flying. I yelled to Gross to watch for him to come out on the other side and, sure enough, he slid under us and right into Buslee in the lead element.

I watched the two planes as they collided. It cut #337 [43-37822] in half and the wings on #222 [42-31222] folded up and both planes fell in a fireball.

Read Wallace Storey’s full account of the mid-air collision in post September 28, 1944 – Wallace Storey.

Another airman, Ronald H. Froebel, flying as an observer in the tail gunner position of B-17 44‑8007 Screaming Eagle, the Wing Lead on the mission, wrote,

Two ships in the high group, Brodie & Buslee, which were involved in the collision appeared to have been caught in prop wash on a turn to the left. It appeared that Brodie was thrown down and into Buslee one plane, immediately disintegrated and the [other] broke into at the ball turret and finally caught fire and broke up. I observed one chute.

Many more details of the incident, including eye-witness accounts, have been covered in these previous posts,

Regardless of the details of the mid-air collision, sadly two B-17s of the 384th Bomb Group were “knocked down,” as my dad would say. Four airmen, including George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., became prisoners of war and fourteen lost their lives.

To be continued…

Notes

Thank you to Paul Furiga for sharing his father’s stories and photos.

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.

George Hawkins’ Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

George Hawkins’ Enlistment Record in the online National Archives

MOS means Military Occupational Specialty

Previous post, Assigned Military Occupational Specialties of the Buslee and Brodie Crews

Previous post, Timeline for Brodie Crewmembers and Substitutes, 545th Bomb Squadron

Previous post, George M. Hawkins, Jr. – September 28, 1944

Previous post, Frank Furiga, Mid-Air Collision Witness

Previous post, September 28, 1944 – Wallace Storey

Previous post, George Hawkins’ Account of the Buslee-Brodie Mid-air Collision

Previous post, MISSION 201

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 1

Previous post, What Happened in the Skies Over Magdeburg? Part 2

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

May 10, 2023 7:00 AM / 3 Comments on George Marshall Hawkins, Jr., Update – Part 1

George Marshall Hawkins Jr., photo shared by Everett Diemer and Danielle Yost Cross on Ancestry

To view my original post and other information about George Hawkins, please see the links at the end of this post.

Hawkins Family

George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. was the son of George Marshall Hawkins, Sr. (1893 – 1959) and Mildred S. Sonnenthal (1898 – 1993). George Jr. was born on 26 November 1918 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. George Jr. was the Hawkins’ only child.

George, Sr. was born on 16 June 1893 in La Plata, Maryland. His parents were also Maryland natives. Mildred was born on 16 December 1898 in Queens, New York. According to the 1900 Federal census and other records, Mildred’s father, William Sonnenthal, was born in Vienna (noted as in Hungary in some years, Austria in others) and immigrated to America in 1890. Alternate resources, including his Naturalization Records, note his previous nationality as Austrian. Mildred’s mother, Clara Sonnenthal, was born in Germany and immigrated to America in 1892.

The 1920 Federal census (taken 19 January 1920) reports that George and Mildred Hawkins were married and lived at 89 Laurel Street in Ridgefield Park, Bergen County, New Jersey. George Sr. (who likely went by his middle name “Marshall” as recorded by the census) was twenty-five and Mildred was twenty-one. George Jr. (who is also recorded with the name Marshall rather than George) was thirteen months old.

The 1920 census record verifies that George Sr. was born in Maryland and his mother and father were also born in Maryland. It notes that Mildred was born in New York, her father was born in Vienna, Austria (rather than Hungary as the 1900 census recorded), and her mother was born in Hamburg, Germany. George Sr.’s occupation in 1920 was Chemist in the Medicine industry. The 1920 Federal census record for Mildred’s parents, William and Clara Sonnenthal, notes William’s birthplace as Hungary and Clara’s as Saxony Germany.

The 1930 Federal census reports that by 1930, the Hawkins family had moved to William Street in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey. George Jr. was now eleven years old and was still recorded as Marshall. In this year’s census record, Mildred recorded that both of her parents were born in Austria.

The 1940 Federal census reports that by 1935, the Hawkins family had moved to 52 Burchard Street in Raritan Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, and were still living in the same house in 1940. George Jr. was now twenty-one and in college. George Sr. was working as a foreman of a chemical factory (specifically Heyden Chemical Corporation in Fords, New Jersey in 1940 according to his WWII draft registration card).

Note: The Hawkins’ home address of 52 Burchard St. was sometimes written as in Raritan Township, New Jersey, and sometimes written as in Fords, New Jersey. An entry in Wikipedia suggests that, “The area as originally known as Fords Corner abuts neighboring Edison, part of which was once within Woodbridge Township, until an act of legislature in April of 1870 apportioned land to then called Raritan Township.” The location, as associated with either name of Raritan Township or Fords, is the same and is in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

Education and Civilian Employment prior to Military Service

George Hawkins graduated from Metuchen High School in Metuchen, New Jersey in June 1938. Metuchen did not offer any courses in military instruction. He lettered in high school sports and was also a member of the YMCA and Boy Scouts.

George Hawkins attended University of Georgia for three years, from 1938 to 1941, with a major in Journalism. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and participated in the sports of football, tennis, and volleyball. He also participated in R.O.T.C. at University of Georgia, with two years (20 September 1938 to 6 June 1940) of Cavalry basic and also Civil Pilot Training (completed basic flight training), attaining the rank of Corporal.

George Hawkins left University of Georgia in 1941 for military service in WWII.

Entry into WWII Military Service

Draft Registration

On 16 October 1940, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. registered for the WWII draft (on the same date that William Barnes, the Brodie crew bombardier, registered). The registrar was noted as “Dem. Sch. Clarke, Georgia” but was stamped with the New Jersey local board stamp of Local Board No. 2 for Middlesex County, Raritan Township, Municipal Building Lindeneau, R.D. 19, New Brunswick, New Jersey. This indicates to me that George actually registered while he was attending University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, although the “Local Board having jurisdiction of the registrant” was of his home address in New Jersey.

George listed his place of residence as 52 Burchard St., Raratan Township, Middlesex, New Jersey, but crossed it out and entered a “New Address” of 398 South Milledge Ave., Athens, GA. George’s Employer’s Name was University of Georgia, Student and place of employment was Athens, Clarke County, Georgia. He was 21 years old and born on 26 November 1918 in New York, New York.

George Marshall Hawkins (George Jr’s father) of 52 Burchard St., Raratan Township, Middlesex, New Jersey was the person who would always know his address.

George Hawkins, Jr. described himself as 5′ 10″ tall, 160 pounds, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion. He noted no “other obvious physical characteristic that will aid in identification.”

Order to Report for Induction

George Hawkins received an order to report for induction on 7 July 1941, having been selected for training and service in the Army. He was instructed to report to the Municipal Building, Raritan Township, Plainfield & Woodbridge Avenues at 7:00 A.M. on 17 July 1941.

Enlistment/Induction

On 17 July 1941, George Hawkins enlisted in the Army at Trenton, New Jersey. George’s enlistment record notes his residence as Middlesex County, New Jersey, and that he was born in New York in 1918. His Army Serial Number at the time of enlistment was 32159744. At the time of his enlistment, George Hawkins had completed 3 years of college and was single, having no one dependent on him for support. Note: Officers were reassigned with a new serial number when they were commissioned and George’s later become O-719944.

George Hawkins was inducted into the Army on 17 July 1941 at Trenton, New Jersey, almost five months before the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Initial Military Assignments

After his induction into the Army, George was sent to Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and was attached to Company B, 1229 R.C. Ft. Dix, New Jersey, from 17 July 1941 to 24 July 1941. He was appointed Private upon his induction on 17 July 1941.

On 25 July 1941, he was assigned to Battery L, 96th Coast Artillery A.A., Camp Davis, North Carolina. On 20 October 1941, George was appointed Private First Class (PFC).

On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

A couple of months following the attack, George Hawkins was transferred to Hawaii to serve with the Army. On 27 February 1942, George Hawkins left the U.S. for Hawaii, arriving on 10 March 1942. He began his foreign service with the 96th Coast Artillery at Hilo Army Air Base. Upon his arrival on 10 March, George was stationed at Hilo Airport with duty as a Central Control Operator. The assignment with Battery L of the 96th Coast Artillery continued until 4 January 1943.

On 9 September 1942, while serving in Hilo, T.H. (Territory of Hawaii), George Marshall Hawkins, Jr. applied to the Commanding General of the 7th Air Force at Hickham Field, Oahu, T.H. for enlistment in the Army Air Corps and immediate appointment as an Aviation Cadet for Air Crew training (Flying duty). He noted his current address as Battery L, 96th CA (AA), Hilo, Hawaii, T.H.

George was appointed as Aviation Cadet on 4 January 1943.

From 4 January 1943 to 6 February 1943, George’s assignment was as an Aviation Cadet stationed at HQ & HQ SQ 2st AF, Cadet Detachment, Hickam Field T.H. (Territory of Hawaii).

Military Training

On 25 January 1943, George left the territory of Hawaii and arrived back in the U.S. on 2 February 1943 for Aviation Cadet training “Project R.” George’s time in Hawaii was considered foreign service as, at the time, Hawaii was a territory and not yet a state.

George Hawkins attended and passed AAF Preflight School (Pilot) at SAAAB (Santa Ana Army Air Base), Santa Ana, California. He attended the 2 1/4 month course as an Aviation Cadet from 6 February to 20 May 1943.

George attended and passed AAF Primary (Pilot) school at Thunderbird Field, Glendale/Phoenix, Arizona. He attended the 2 1/2 month course as an Aviation Cadet from 21 May to 26 July 1943.

George attended and passed AAF Basic (Pilot) school at Minter Field, California. He attended the 2 1/2 month course as an Aviation Cadet from 28 July to 30 September 1943.

On 25 September 1943, George’s score for firing a 45 caliber pistol was 79.6% which categorized him as a “sharpshooter.”

George attended Adv. S.E. (Pilot) school at Luke Field, Arizona, which I also see noted as the 305th Seft. Gp. He attended the course as an Aviation Cadet from 1 October to 12 November 1943, but did not successfully complete it. George was eliminated from Pilot training and sent to a reclassification center.

George returned to SAAAB (Santa Ana Army Air Base), SAAAB Cadet Detachment Santa Ana, California for Reclassification on 12 November 1943. He remained there until 5 December 1943, was reclassified as a Navigator, and transferred to Navigator school.

George attended and passed AAF Advanced Navigation school in Hondo, Texas. He attended the 4 1/2 month course from 5 December 1943 until his graduation on 8 April 1944. He was honorably discharged as an enlisted man as of 7 April 1944 to accept commission in the Armed Forces as a 2nd Lieutenant upon his 8 April 1944 Navigation School graduation. His total time as an enlisted many was from 17 July 1941 to 7 April 1944, and thereafter starting 8 April 1944 until his discharge, was a commissioned officer.

From 13 April to 26 April 1944, George was assigned to AAF Lincoln, Nebraska, Processing and Assignment. On 20 April 1944, he was attached to ACCD 222d OCTS.

George was assigned to B-17 Combat Crew training, AAF Sta. 172, Ardmore, Oklahoma, for 10 days, which he completed on 23 June 1944. He was assigned to the James Joseph Brodie crew as Navigator and they went to England and were assigned to the 384th Bomb Group stationed in Grafton Underwood.

To be continued…

Notes

Previous post, George Marshall Hawkins, Jr.

George Hawkins’ Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

George Hawkins’ Enlistment Record in the online National Archives

MOS means Military Occupational Specialty

Previous post, Assigned Military Occupational Specialties of the Buslee and Brodie Crews

Wikipedia entry Fords, New Jersey

William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 3

May 3, 2023 7:00 AM / Leave a comment

New information from a new search on Ancestry.com, and new information from military records have provided me with some new and updated information regarding William Alvin Henson II, the navigator flying with the John Oliver Buslee crew of the 544th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Army Air Forces in WWII on 28 September 1944.

To view my original post and other information about William Alvin Henson II, please see the links at the end of this post.

Continuation of William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 2

William Alvin Henson II

Continued Post-war War Department Correspondence

On 6 May 1946, Brigadier General Leon W. Johnson wrote to Harriet Henson. His letter referenced US Missing Air Crew Report 9753 (MACR9753) and German report KU 3029. He wrote,

I am writing to you in reference to your husband who gave his life in the service of his Country during the European conflict.

In an effort to furnish the next of kin with all available details concerning casualties among our personnel, the Army Air Forces recently completed the translation of several volumes of captured German records.

In regard to First Lieutenant William A. Henson II, these records indicate that he was killed on 28 September 1944, when his B-17 (Fortress) bomber was shot down near Ost Ingersleben, Germany. The geographical location of this village is 52° 13′ North Latitude, 11° 10′ East Longitude, about twenty miles northwest of Magdeburg. These records also state that your husband was interred on 30 September 1944, in the cemetery of Ost Ingersleben.

The Quartermaster General in his capacity as Chief, American Graves Registration Service, is charged with the responsibility of notifying the legal next of kin concerning grave locations of members of the military forces who are killed or die outside the continental limits of the United States. If the report of your husband’s burial has not been confirmed and you have not been notified by the Quartermaster General, that official will furnish you definite information immediately upon receipt of the official report of interment from the Commanding General of the Theater concerned.

May the knowledge of your husband’s valuable contribution to our cause sustain you in your bereavement.

This letter was likely not the first correspondence the Henson family received regarding Bill Henson’s overseas place of burial. A letter from Robert “Bobby” Stearns’ mother indicates her family was informed on 19 December 1945 by the Quartermaster General that,

Bobby is buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery at Margraten, Holland in Plot “L” Row 12, Grave 299 – this is the same location as Lt. Henson’s grave – his is 297.

Bobby Stearns was the bombardier who was flying in the nose of the Buslee B-17 on 28 September 1944 with navigator Bill Henson, and lost his life in the same mid-air collision.

I cannot explain why General Johnson did not include Bill Henson’s burial location at Margraten in his letter to Harriet Henson regarding Bill Henson’s place of interment unless the purpose of his letter was solely to impart more detailed information about the location of the crash site and original cemetery of burial.

Note that at the time of General Johnson’s letter, in May 1946, no mention is made about a process or timeline for returning remains home to relatives. Also note that at the time, World War II was referred to as the “European conflict” and that the reason for Bill Henson’s B-17 going down on 28 September 1944 was that it was “shot down” rather than the actual cause of the mid-air collision with another B-17 of his group.

Return Home for Burial

After William Alvin Henson II was killed in the 28 September 1944 mid-air collision over Magdeburg, Germany, he was first buried on 30 September 1944 in the cemetery at Ost Ingersleben, Germany near where his B-17 crashed. He was later reburied at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Margraten, Holland in Plot “L” Row 12, Grave 297. The Henson family brought him home for final reburial several years after the end of the war with the return of many of America’s World War II dead.

William Alvin “Bill” Henson II now rests in Eastview Cemetery, Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia. Also, a small memorial to Lt. William A. Henson II and other armed forces members of Rockdale County, Georgia lost in World War II is located near the flagpole near the steps leading to the front entrance of the American Legion Post 77 on Legion Road in Conyers, Georgia.

William Alvin Henson II Memorial, Conyers, Georgia

Flashback – Family Before the War

I have one important Henson family fact that I neglected to mention in Part 1.

On 14 June 1942, Bill Henson’s sister, Doris Elizabeth Henson, married Clarence Roland Vaughn, Jr. Clarence Vaughn was house majority leader of the State of Georgia during the Carl Sanders, Jimmy Carter, and George Busbee governorships. He was also a judge and a war hero in his own right. Doris and Clarence lived in Conyers, Georgia all their lives. David Powell, Bill Henson’s grandson, shared this information with me and also told me that Doris could not mention her brother Bill without crying and leaving the room.

After the War

In July 1946, Bill Henson’s parents, William and Gertrude Henson, along with Bill’s sister Jeanne and a Henson relative named Minnie visited John Oliver “Jay” Buslee’s parents, John and Olga Buslee in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. At the time, George Edwin Farrar (my dad), was working for Mr. Buslee and living at their home in Chicago.

I imagine there were two main reasons for the Hensons’ visit. One, to visit with the family of one of their son’s former crewmates who lost his life in the same mid-air collision as their son. And, two, to visit with my father, the only survivor on the Buslee crew’s aircraft in that tragic air accident.

During the Hensons’ visit to the Buslees and my father in Chicago, they visited the College Inn on 6 July 1946.

The College Inn in Chicago, Illinois on July 6, 1946
Left to right: Ed Farrar, Minnie Henson, Janice Buslee Kielhofer, Gene Kielhofer, Jeanne Henson
Photo courtesy of John Dale Kielhofer, Jay Buslee’s nephew

They also visited Barney’s Market Club on 10 July 1946.

At Barney’s Market Club on July 10, 1946
Left side of table: John Buslee (Jay’s father), Janice Buslee Kielhofer (Jay’s sister), Gene Kielhofer (Janice’s husband), Gertrude Henson (William II’s mother)
Right side of table: Bill Henson (William II’s father), Minnie Henson (a Henson relative), Jeanne Henson (William II’s sister), Ed Farrar (my father), Olga Buslee (Jay’s mother)
Photo courtesy of John Dale Kielhofer, Jay Buslee’s nephew

In May 1947, Bill Henson’s sister Jeanne married Richard Blum Herzog. David Powell, Bill Henson’s grandson, notes that Jeanne lived in the Buckhead area of Atlanta all her life.

On 10 May 1948, Harriet Whisnant Henson remarried. She married David Rogers, who was a Major in the U.S. Army in World War II. David Rogers adopted Bill and Harriet Henson’s daughter Harriet and was a wonderful father to her.

The 1950 Federal Census reported William and Gertrude Henson as residing on a farm in Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia. William Henson’s occupation was as proprietor of a retail furniture store.

On 14 August 1956, Bill Henson’s father, William Alpha Henson, died in Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia. He is buried in Eastview Cemetery, Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia, Plot: Section 13, Lot 14.

On 6 January 1994, Bill Henson’s mother, Gertrude Lena-Milda Sproessig Henson Mitchell, died at the age of 96. She is buried in Eastview Cemetery, Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia, Plot: Section 13, Lot 14.

Long After the War

Even though Bill Henson lost his life on 28 September 1944 in World War II, his legacy lives on through his daughter, Harriet Rogers Powell, and her son, David Powell. David is Bill Henson’s grandson.

A look at the bigger picture shows that even though my father, George Edwin Farrar, was the sole survivor aboard the Buslee crew’s B-17 in the 28 September 1944 mid-air collision, my sister Nancy and I are not the only descendants of the airmen aboard. William Alvin Henson II’s legacy continues also, as does David Franklin Albrecht’s. David Albrecht’s wife Patricia also gave birth to a daughter after David was killed in the collision.

In October 2014, David Powell ran across my previous The Arrowhead Club articles about his grandfather. He and I corresponded and then his mother and I corresponded. Both shared Henson family stories with me and told me about the connection between the Whisnants and the Farrars in Summerville, Georgia. One bit of family information that David shared was that Bill Henson’s nickname for Harriet Whisnant was “Whiz.”

In Summerville, the Whisnant family and the Farrar family lived next door to each other. The “Farrar” relative of the Farrar family was Baker William Farrar. Baker was the brother of Carroll Johnson Farrar, Sr. Carroll Farrar was George Edwin Farrar’s father (and my grandfather), meaning Baker Farrar was Ed’s uncle, and my great-uncle.

The bottom line is that Bill Henson’s wife, Harriet Whisnant Henson, grew up next door to members of my dad’s and my family, the Baker Farrar family.

In August 2015, I returned to the Atlanta area for a family reunion on my father’s side of the family, all descendants of my grandparents. The Carroll Johnson Sr and Raleigh Mae Farrar family was a large family of nine children and some of us, with twenty-five first cousins, had never met before the reunion. The Farrar family reunion was quite the memorable event, but I had also arranged another meeting for that trip back to Georgia.

On 18 August 2015, I met Bill Henson’s wife, Harriet Whisnant Henson Rogers, and their daughter, Harriet Rogers Powell. Daughter Harriet and I rendezvoused north of Atlanta and drove together to Rome, Georgia for me to meet her mother. We had time on the drive to get to know each other and by the time we arrived at her mother’s assisted living facility in Rome, felt like we had known each other all of our lives.

By the time I met her, Harriet Whisnant Henson Rogers was in her 90’s and had dementia. However, she was still in very good shape regardless of losing some of her memories. The three of us had lunch at a restaurant and talked about the past, although the dementia robbed Bill Henson’s wife of remembering much of her past.

Bill Henson’s daughter Harriet told me that my dad visited with her mother after the war and kept in touch with her for some time. I showed her mother wartime photos of Bill and my dad, but she did not recognize or remember either of them.

The most remarkable moment of our visit came when I asked if she remembered living next door to Baker William Farrar and his family. Her response was, “Why, of course, I remember them. I lived right next door to them.” If only someone could have captured the expression on my and her daughter’s faces. She didn’t remember her first husband and father of her daughter, but she sure remembered the family of my great-uncle William Baker Farrar.

On 18 August 2016, exactly one year from my meeting with Bill Henson’s daughter and wife, Harriet Whisnant Henson Rogers died at the age of 92. Her memorial service in Rome, Georgia was on 3 September 2016, which would have been my father’s 95th birthday, and was exactly 72 years past the 3 September 1944 WWII mission on which William Alvin Henson II and George Edwin Farrar first flew together with the Buslee B-17 crew. If Henson and Farrar knew of their connection on that or the later two missions on which they served together, I do not know. Harriet is buried in Sunset Hills Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia.

Notes/Links

Thank you to Harriet Henson Powell (Harriet Henson’s daughter) and her son David Powell for sharing family information.

Previous post, Lt. William Henson Killed in Action

William Henson’s Enlistment Record in the online National Archives (in the Reserve Corps records)

William Alvin Henson’s Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

Previous post, The Stearns Family Looks for Answers

Previous post, George Edwin Farrar, Update – Part 5

William Alvin Henson II’s Find a Grave memorial

William Alpha Henson’s Find a Grave memorial

Gertrude Henson’s Find a Grave memorial

Harriet Whisnant Henson Rogers’ Find a Grave memorial

William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 2

April 26, 2023 7:00 AM / 4 Comments on William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 2

To view my original post and other information about William Alvin Henson II, please see the links at the end of this post.

Continuation of William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 1

William Alvin Henson II

Casualty of War

William Alvin “Bill” Henson II, original Sammons crew bombardier, but participating on the 28 September 1944 mission to Magdeburg, Germany as navigator of the Buslee crew, died on that date, at the age of 21.

The place of Bill Henson’s death, Ost Ingersleben near Magdeburg, Germany, is not much over 100 miles northwest of Nünchritz, Germany, the location of his grandfather’s birth. Bill’s mother Gertrude’s father, Max Alwin Sproessig, was born in Nünchritz in 1866. Max and Gertrude and the rest of the Sproessig family left Germany in 1906 to start a new life in America.

In 1906, Max Sproessig probably thought his family was safe in America. He couldn’t know that Germany would become his new home’s, and world’s, enemy in the future, and that his grandson would have to fly bombing missions over Germany to fight that enemy thirty-eight years after Max arrived on American soil.

Max died in 1935, and didn’t live to see America become involved in WWII, or see his grandson enlist in the military, or see him go to war. In Max’s lifetime, his family was safe in America. Max’s story may be somewhat unique, but I’m sure many American immigrants faced the same nightmare, having to send their sons to war to a place that they felt they had safely escaped.

A Chronology

Bill Henson’s family received telegrams and letters from, and wrote letters to, the United States War Department in the months following his loss in the 28 September 1944 mid-air collision over Magdeburg. Although the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri suffered a catastrophic fire in 1973, almost two hundred of Bill Henson’s military documents survived, while some likely burned, in the fire at that facility. A few of his existing documents were partially burned and show the singed edges indicating that the fire did reach his records.

These documents and letters from Bill Henson’s NPRC personnel record chronicle the release of information, or lack thereof, to his family at home. Among the following letters and documents from Bill Henson’s personnel record, I have inserted some additional family information and wartime news in the timeline where appropriate.

On 9 October 1944, 384th Bomb Group Protestant Chaplain Dayle R. Schnelle wrote to Mrs. W.A. Henson (Bill Henson’s mother) at 172 Milstead Avenue in Conyers, Georgia. Dayle Schnelle wrote the same letter to George Edwin Farrar’s mother, and likely to the families of all of the boys lost on both the Buslee and Brodie crews’ B-17s on 28 September 1944. The Catholic chaplain may have taken care of the letters to any of the Catholic members of the crew.

Chaplain Schnelle expressed the “deepest and heart-felt concern” regarding Gertrude Henson’s son, who was reported missing in action. He offered hope that her son had escaped or was being held prisoner of war and told her not to consider her son as dead.

Chaplain Schnelled ended his letter with,

May I assure you that I believe that our God still answers prayers. I promise that I shall continue to remember him before God as I know that you are also doing. I firmly believe that the hand of God still guides the destiny of His children. May your faith in the ultimate triumph of God’s will give you courage, strength, and grace to meet the burden of this hour of uncertainty.

On 12 October 1944 a Casualty Message Telegram was created and dispatched on 13 October 1944 to Mrs. Harriet W. Henson (Bill Henson’s wife) in Summerville, Georgia. The telegram stated,

The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your Husband First Lieutenant William A Henson II has been reported Missing in Action since Twenty Eight September over Germany If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified

The Farrar family’s Missing in Action telegram was received on 14 October 1944, making it likely that Harriet Henson also received hers on the same date.

On 15 October 1944, Major General J.A. Ulio, the Adjutant General, followed up Bill Henson’s Missing in Action telegram with a letter. The Farrar’s follow-up letter was dated 17 October.

Major General Ulio wrote that he would pass along additional information when it was received or within at least three months. He also stated,

The term “missing in action” is used only to indicate that the whereabouts or status of an individual is not immediately known. It is not intended to convey the impression that the case is closed. I wish to emphasize that every effort is exerted continuously to clear up the status of our personnel. Under war conditions this is a difficult task as you must readily realize. Experience has shown that many persons reported missing in action are subsequently reported as prisoners of war, but as this information is furnished by countries with which we are at war, the War Department is helpless to expedite such reports.

On 7 November 1944, Bill Henson’s wife Harriet wrote to Major General Ulio. She wrote,

Thank you for your letter and for the little assistance you were able to give. I realize that under the conditions it is hard to get any more information about the status of my husband.

I feel I would like to write to the families of the boys that he was flying with when he was shot down. I do not know who these boys are or their home addresses, and wondered if you can give them to me, or tell me how I can get them.

I will appreciate it, if, as soon as you hear any more about my husband, to please let me know, as I know you will. Also if you can give me any of this information.

On 15 November 1944, Brigadier General Edward F. Witsell responded to Harriet Henson’s letter of 7 November. He responded,

It is regretted that no information has been received in this office regarding your husband other than the initial message stating that he has been missing in action since 28 September 1944 over Germany. Let me assure you, however, that all means practicable are being utilized by our commanders in the theaters of operations to determine the whereabouts of our military personnel who are reported missing in action and when further information is received, concerning Lieutenant Henson, it will be conveyed to you promptly.

I am requesting the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces to furnish you the names of the crew members associated with your husband on 28 September 1944, and the names and addresses of their emergency addressees, if this information is available and if security regulations permit.

You have my sympathy in your anxiety for your husband and I earnestly hope that a favorable report, concerning him, will soon be received.

On 20 November 1944, Major E.A. Bradunas followed up the letter of 15 November with,

The Missing Air Crew Report which would furnish the details relative to the disappearance of your husband, and the names of the other crew members serving with him when he was reported missing in action on September 28, 1944, has not been received. Consequently, at the present time, we are unable to comply with your request for information. However, as soon as this report is received this headquarters will communicate with you promptly.

You have our sympathy during this period of uncertainty.

On 8 December 1944, Major E.A. Bradunas wrote the following to Harriet Henson,

Further information has been received indicating that Lieutenant Henson was a crew member of a B-17 (Flying Fortress) bomber which departed from England on a combat mission to Magdeburg, Germany, on September 28^th. The report indicates that during this mission at about 12:10 p.m. in the vicinity of the target, your husband’s bomber sustained damage from enemy antiaircraft fire. Shortly afterwards the disabled craft was observed to fall to the earth, and inasmuch as the crew members of accompanying planes were unable to obtain any further details regarding its loss, the above facts constitute all the information presently available.

Due to necessity for military security, it is regretted that the names of those who were in the plane and the names and addresses of their next of kin may not be furnished at the present time.

Please be assured that a continuing search by land, sea, and air is being made to discover the whereabouts of our missing personnel. As our armies advance over enemy occupied territory, special troops are assigned to this task, and all agencies of the government in every country are constantly sending in details which aid us in bringing additional information to you.

Buslee crew waist gunner George Edwin Farrar’s mother received a similar letter dated the same day.

On 9 December 1944, Harriet Henson gave birth to her and Bill Henson’s daughter. Harriet named their new baby Harriet. Harriet took baby Harriet home from the hospital to Bill’s parents’, William and Gertrude Henson’s, Atlanta home on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

On 23 December 1944, just two weeks after baby Harriet’s birth, Harriet Henson received the news that Bill wouldn’t be coming home and she would be raising their daughter alone. The Adjutant General sent a telegram to Mrs. Harriet Henson in Summerville, Georgia,

Report now received from the German Government through the International Red Cross states your husband First Lieutenant William A Henson II who was previously reported missing in action was killed in action on Twenty Eight September over Germany The Secretary of War extends his deep sympathy Letter follows

On 28 December 1944, Major General J.A. Ulio, The Adjutant General, followed up the latest telegram with a letter.

This letter is being written to confirm the recent telegram in which you were regretfully informed of the death of your husband, First Lieutenant William A. Henson II, 0761431, Air Corps, who was previously reported missing in action since 28 September 1944 over Germany.

The report received from the German Government through the International Red Cross contained only the fact that he died on 28 September 1944. Since it gives the date of his death as the same date he was previously reported missing in action, it has been officially recorded on the records of the War Department that he was killed in action on that date. I wish that there were more information available to give you, but unfortunately reports of this nature do not contain any details or particulars.

I realize the great suspense you have endured and now, the finality to those hopes which you have cherished for his safety. Although little at this time may be said or done to alleviate your grief, it is my fervent hope that later the knowledge that he gave his life gloriously for his country may be of sustaining comfort to you.

I extend to you my deep sympathy.

On 8 January 1945, the Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces, H.H. “Hap” Arnold, wrote a letter to Harriet Henson. He wrote,

With deepest regret I have learned that your husband, First Lieutenant William Alvin Henson II, missing since September 28, 1944, has been reported as having died in action on that date in the European Area.

My attention has been called to the fine reputation for self-reliance and aggressiveness which Lieutenant Henson enjoyed throughout his military career. In his eagerness to succeed in the Army Air Forces he seriously and energetically applied himself to the training courses, and realized his ambition when he graduated from the Bombardier School at Victorville, California, with a good record. Having an amiable disposition and other admirable traits he endeared himself to the officers and men in his command, and they are saddened by his untimely passing.

Your husband gave to the full measure of his ability for his Country’s cause. I hope the memory of this will help to lessen your grief, and I offer my heartfelt sympathy to you and other members of the family.

On 1 February 1945, Harriet Henson wrote a letter to Mrs. Olga Buslee, John Oliver “Jay” Buslee’s mother. Jay was the pilot of Bill Henson’s B-17 on 28 September 1944. The Buslees had learned on 28 January that their son had been killed on 28 September in the same mid-air collision that claimed the life of Bill Henson. Harriet wrote,

I am so sorry that I have to write this letter. I had prayed that I wouldn’t, because, to say the least, it isn’t very pleasant.

Mrs. Buslee, to say I am sorry is trite, but I really am sorry. To lose a son is different from losing a husband (presuming that we have), and since I have my little girl I feel that I can sympathize with you more, because I just don’t know what I would do if something happened to her.

It isn’t human nature to give up hope. So please don’t, I haven’t. I asked God to bring Bill back to me and I believe He will. Bill has to come back and see his little girl.

Give my best regards to Mr. Buslee and your daughter, and know that I am thinking about you. I feel so close to you even though I do not know you. Maybe when Jay and Bill get back, we can all get together and have a gay time.

On 1 March 1945, Major General Ulio wrote to Harriet Henson regarding her husband’s award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. He wrote,

I have the honor to inform you that, by direction of the President, the Distinguished Flying Cross has been posthumously awarded to your husband, First Lieutenant William A. Henson II, Air Corps. The citation is as follows:

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

“For extraordinary achievement while serving as Bombardier of a B-17 airplane on a number of combat bombardment missions over Germany and German occupied countries from 19 May 1944 to 28 September 1944.”

The decoration will be forwarded to the Commanding General, Fourth Service Command, Atlanta, Georgia, who will select an officer to make the presentation. The officer selected will communicate with you concerning your wishes in the matter.

May I again express my deepest sympathy to you in your bereavement.

On 7 May 1945, Germany surrendered to the western Allies at General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Headquarters in Reims, France. German Chief-of-Staff, General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender, to take effect the following day.

On 8 May 1945, V-E (Victory in Europe) Day was declared as German troops continued to surrender to the Allies throughout Europe.

On 24 July 1945, Bill Henson’s father, William Henson wrote to Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell of the United States Senate and to the Memorial Division of the War Department. Bill Henson’s personnel record at the NPRC does not contain a copy of his father’s letter, but it does contain responses. It does contain a form noting that William Henson’s correspondence was “relative to the burial of the remains of First Lieutenant William A. Henson II, who was killed in action on 28 September 1944 in Germany.”

On 27 July 1945, Senator Russell wrote to the Memorial Division of the War Department on behalf of William Henson. Bill Henson’s file does not contain a copy of this letter either.

On 8 August 1945, Major General Edward F. Witsell wrote replies to both Bill Henson’s father, William A. Henson, of Conyers, Georgia, and to the Honorable Richard B. Russell of the United States Senate.

In General Witsell’s reply to Mr. Henson, he wrote,

I fully appreciate your desire to be informed of the circumstances attending the death of your son and regret that no further information in this respect has reached the War Department since the official message, received from the German Government through the International Red Cross, which stated only that Lieutenant Henson, who was previously reported missing in action over Germany as of 28 September 1944, was killed in action on that date. Every effort is being made by our military authorities to secure further particulars in these cases about which the bereaved families are so vitally interested. To this end, captured enemy records are being carefully examined and verified; details are obtained from airmen who participated in the same engagement and who have since returned to military control, as well as from the interrogation of prisoners taken by our forces. You may be assured that any additional details concerning Lieutenant Henson’s death which may be forthcoming, will be transmitted promptly.

I understand your wish to be advised of the location of your son’s grave. Permit me to explain that The Quartermaster General, this city [Washington, D.C.], is concerned with matters pertaining to burial of the remains of our military personnel who die overseas. He has, therefore, been requested to make further direct reply to you in this respect.

My deepest sympathy is with you in your bereavement.

General Witsell’s reply to the Honorable Richard B. Russell of the United States Senate stated the same information as his letter to Mr. Henson.

On 14 August 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender, but surrender documents would not be signed until 2 September. Some consider the 14 August 1945 date to be V-J (Victory over Japan) Day, but others consider it to be 2 September 1945, when the surrender document was signed.

World War II had ended in both the European and Pacific theaters, but the bodies of America’s World War II dead remained on foreign soil, far away from grieving families. Their war continued.

More about William Alvin “Bill” Henson II in my next post…

Notes/Links

Thank you to John Dale Kielhofer, John Oliver “Jay” Buslee’s nephew, for sharing Harriet Henson’s letter to Olga Buslee with me.

Previous post, Lt. William Henson Killed in Action

William Henson’s Enlistment Record in the online National Archives (in the Reserve Corps records)

William Alvin Henson’s Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

Harriet Henson’s letter to John Oliver “Jay” Buslee’s mother

National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) 1973 Fire

Previous post, A Letter from the 384th BG Chaplain

William Alvin Henson II’s Find a Grave memorial

William Alvin Henson II, Update – Part 1

April 19, 2023 7:00 AM / Leave a comment

William Alvin Henson II

To view my original post and other information about William Alvin Henson II, please see the links at the end of this post.

Henson Family

William Alvin “Bill” Henson II was born 8 June 1923 in Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia to father William Alpha Henson (1896 – 1956) and mother Gertrude Sproessig Henson (1897 – 1991). In 1923 the family lived at 235 E. Georgia Avenue in Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia, in or near the Grant Park neighborhood.

Note: William Alpha Henson’s middle name is sometimes reported as Alvah or Alfred, but the spelling is confirmed as “Alpha” through both Bill Henson’s birth certificate and Aviation Cadet Personnel Qualification Questionnaire.

Bill’s father, William Alpha Henson, was born in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee on 28 January 1896. Since the younger William was a “II” rather than a “Jr.,” he apparently was named after another family William. His grandfather was Henry Hamilton Henson. His great-grandfather was named William Henson, possibly the William Alvin Henson for whom William II (Bill) was named. Bill noted on a military service form that his father’s ancestry was Scotch and Irish.

William Alpha Henson fought in WWI. His service number was 1862756. He was a PVT 1st Class and fought with Battery “B,” 317th Field Artillery. At the end of his military service, he returned to his home at 29 Rossville Avenue in Chattanooga, Tennessee on the ship U.S.S South Carolina, departing Brest, France on 27 May 1919.

Bill Henson’s mother, Gertrude Lena Sproessig, was born in Germany and immigrated to America in 1906 according to the 1930 census and her father’s, Max Alwin Sproessig’s, Petition for Naturalization. Her father listed her given name as Milda Lina Gertrude on his papers.

Max Sproessig’s naturalization papers note he was born in Nünchritz, Germany, which is a municipality in the district of Meißen (Meissen), in Saxony, Germany. He, his wife, and two daughters (including Gertrude) immigrated to America, departing Bremen, Germany on 5 April 1906 and arriving in Baltimore, Maryland on 17 April 1906 aboard the ship Gueissenau. The Sproessig family moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee after immigrating to America. The papers also note Max’s wife died in November 1911.

William Alpha Henson and Gertrude Lena Sproessig married on 23 February 1920 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bill was one of three children of William and Gertrude Henson. The Henson children were,

Doris Elizabeth Henson (Vaughn) (1921 – 2004)
William Alvin “Bill” Henson II (1923 – 1944)
Milda Jeanne Henson (Herzog) (1925 – 2017)

Gertrude Lena Sproessig Henson, born in Germany, became a naturalized citizen through her marriage to William Alpha Henson.

The 1930 Federal Census reports that the Henson family lived at 177 North Main Street in Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia. The household included father William A (age 34), mother Gertrude L (age 32), daughter Doris E (age 8), son William A (age 6), and daughter Milda J (age 5). William’s parents owned a furniture store and both worked in the store.

A “Physical Examination for Flying” military form noted that Bill Henson broke his left forearm in 1934. He would have been ten or eleven years old at the time.

The 1940 Federal Census reports that the Henson family lived on Milstead Avenue in Conyers, and had lived there since at least 1935. Bill’s parents still owned the furniture store in 1940. Bill’s military records (Aviation Cadet Personnel Qualification Questionnaire) confirm the Henson’s exact street address in the 1940’s as 172 Milstead Avenue.

On 14 June 1942, Bill Henson’s sister, Doris Elizabeth Henson, married Clarence Roland Vaughn, Jr. Clarence Vaughn was house majority leader of the State of Georgia during the Carl Sanders, Jimmy Carter, and George Busbee governorships. He was also a judge and a war hero in his own right. Doris and Clarence lived in Conyers, Georgia all their lives. David Powell, Bill Henson’s grandson, shared this information with me and also told me that Doris could not mention her brother Bill without crying and leaving the room.

The Hensons had two homes in 1944, a city home at 2398 Ponce de Leon Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia, and a country home/farm at 172 Milstead Avenue in Conyers, Georgia.

George Edwin Farrar’s parents (my grandparents), Raleigh Mae and Carroll Johnson Farrar, lived fairly close to the Henson’s Ponce de Leon address at 79 East Lake Terrace in the Kirkwood neighborhood of Atlanta.

Education and Civilian Employment Prior to Military Service

William Alvin Henson II graduated from Conyers High School on 10 June 1940. Following high school, he attended The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina for two years, where he majored in Business Administration and participated in R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). He also served for four months in the Georgia State Guard.

On military service forms, he noted he participated in the sports of baseball, tennis, equitation (horse riding or horsemanship), and basketball. His active hobbies were photography and rifle or pistol shooting.

Bill Henson’s civilian employment included working at his parents retail business, Henson Furniture Company, from June 1936 to January 1943, mostly during school vacations. He earned $192 per month selling furniture and collecting (payment) for merchandise.

Entry into World War II Military Service

Draft Registration

On 30 June 1942, exactly the same day 384th Bomb Group navigator Chester Anthony Rybarczyk registered for the WWII draft, William Alvin Henson II registered at Local Board No. 1 at the Rockdale County Courthouse in Conyers, Georgia. Bill Henson registered just two weeks after his sister Doris got married. Note: William Alvin Henson II replaced Chester Anthony Rybarczyk as navigator on the Buslee crew’s B-17 on the fateful mission of 28 September 1944.

Bill Henson listed his Place of Residence as Milstead Avenue, Rockdale County, Georgia. He noted his Mailing Address was the same. William’s Employer’s Name was noted as Student, Charleston, but Place of Employment was Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia. He was 19 years old and born on 8 June 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mrs. W.A. Henson I (his mother) of Conyers, Georgia was the person who would always know his address. (I find it odd that he would note his father as “I.” Was using “I” and “II” the family’s way of naming William II (Bill) after his father, but with a different middle name? Gertrude’s father’s middle name was “Alwin” and it was sometimes written as “Alvin,” so perhaps Bill Henson was named after both his father and his maternal grandfather and the “II” was not used in the traditional way).

In his draft registration form, Bill Henson described himself as 5′ 10″ tall, 135 pounds, with gray eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. He noted no “other obvious physical characteristic that will aid in identification.”

Application for Appointment as Aviation Cadet

On 5 October 1942, William Alvin Henson II filled out an Application for Appointment as Aviation Cadet. He noted on his Aviation Cadet Personnel Qualification Questionnaire that he was single with no dependents and was living at his parents’ address. His mother, Gertrude Lena Henson, was his emergency contact.

Bill Henson’s mother and father signed the form giving their consent to the application. The presidents of two local banks and a local attorney wrote recommendation letters for him. The attorney noted in his letter that,

There is no one more loyal to Government than he and his family, for some time he has been endeavoring to obtain his parents consent to enter the service, this having been withheld only on account of his youth.

On 6 October 1942, the Aviation Cadet Examination Board met in Atlanta, Georgia to examine William Alvin Henson II, applicant for Aviation Cadet appointment. The board found him mentally, morally, and physically qualified for appointment as an Air Crew Aviation Cadet and recommended his appointment.

Enlistment

On 6 October 1942, William Alvin Henson II enlisted in the Air Corps Enlisted Reserve in Atlanta, Georgia. His enlistment record notes his residence as Rockdale County, Georgia, and that he was born in Georgia in 1923. His Army Serial Number at the time of enlistment was 14147774. Note: Officers were reassigned with a new serial number when they were commissioned and Bill’s later become O-761431.

At the time of his enlistment, the record notes William Henson II had completed 1 year of college and was single, having no one dependent on him for support. His Civilian Occupation was noted as Salesperson.

Note: Bill Henson’s enlistment record is found in the Reserve Corps Records, rather than in the Enlistment Records file, link below.

Military Training

Effective 31 January 1943, William Alvin Henson II was called to Active Duty at AAFBTC No. 9, Miami Beach, Florida.

William Alvin Henson II’s Chronological Statement of Service and Training notes,

From 2-1-43 to 2-28-43. Private. Miami Beach, Florida. Air Corps. Basic Training. Active.
From 3-1-43 to 5-1-43. Private. Air Corps, Knoxville, Tennessee. C.T.D. Active.
From 5-1-43 to 6-7-43. Private. Air Corps, Nashville, Tennessee. Classification. Active.
From 6-11-43 to 9-9-43. Aviation Cadet. Aviation Cadet detachment., S.A.A.A.B. (San Antonio, Texas). Pre-Flight. Active.
From 9-11-43 to 12-4-43. Aviation Cadet. Aviation Cadet detachment., V.A.A.F., (Victorville, California). Bombardier Training. Active

From 11 September 1943 to 4 December 1943, William Alvin Henson II attended Bombardier School at Victorville Army Air Field in Victorville, California. He took the 12 week/3 month Bombardier training course, which included instruction on the Norden bombsight.

He graduated from Bombardier School at Victorville Army Air Field, Victorville, California, Class #43-17, 4 December 1943 and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. Upon release from the Bombardier School at Victorville, William Henson was assigned to the 2nd AF, 18th Replacement Wing, Salt Lake City, Utah on 4 December 1943.

Bill Henson’s continued training chronology includes,

15 January 1944 HBC, AAF, Alexandria, Louisiana. Bombardier, (Phase Training), 105 hours, MOS 1035 Bombardier. The Alexandria location was the home of the 469th Combat Crew Training School.
2 April 1944 AL 4-2 Prov GP, Bombardier
5 April 1944, KAAF Kearney, Nebraska (a last stop in the States on the way into combat in the European Theater)

William Alvin Henson’s mother, Gertrude Lena Sproessig Henson, left Germany on 5 April 1906 at the age of eight to begin her journey to America. Exactly thirty-eight years later, on 5 April 1944, her son William began his journey in a brand new B-17 his crew picked up in Kearney, Nebraska on his way to England to fight in the air war against his mother’s native country of Germany.

How would a mother feel knowing her son’s job would be dropping bombs on her homeland, the place of her ancestors and likely still home to many relatives? How would she go to sleep every night and wake up every morning without thinking about this aspect of her life and her world, but mostly worrying about the life of her son whom she could not keep safe while he fought in this horrific war which ravaged her native land and people?

World War II was a very personal war to many, but not many were as personally immersed in it, or as deeply, as Gretrude Sproessig Henson.

Marriage

As of 19 November 1943, while at Bombardier school in Victorville, William Alvin Henson II considered his permanent home address (the one to which he intended to return to upon relief from active duty) to be 172 Milstead Avenue, Conyers, Georgia.

However, less than a month later, on 15 December 1943, just eleven days after his Bombardier School graduation, Lt. William Alvin Henson II married Harriet Taylor Whisnant in Summerville, Chattooga County, Georgia.

Harriet was born in Summerville on 24 November 1923. She was the daughter of John Black Whisnant and Sarah Faye Taylor Whisnant. Harriet had an older brother named John Whisnant, Jr. Before marrying, Harriet attended Shorter College (now Shorter University) in Rome, Georgia.

Harriet Whisnant, Shorter College 1943 Yearbook

Bill Henson’s sister, Jeanne Henson, attended Shorter College at the same time as Harriet. While Harriet was in the Junior class in the 1942 – 1943 school year, Jeanne was in the Sophomore class. It’s likely that Bill Henson met Harriet Whisnant through his sister Jeanne, as Harriet and Jeanne were schoolmates at Shorter.

Jeanne Henson, sister of William Alvin Henson II
Sophomore at Shorter College – 1943 Yearbook

According to the 1930 and 1940 Federal Censuses, the Whisnant family lived on Washington Street West next door to the Baker W. Farrar family. Baker Farrar was George Edwin Farrar’s uncle, his father’s (Carroll Johnson Farrar’s) older brother. Also living with the Baker Farrar family in 1940 was Pearl Farrar, Baker’s and Carroll’s older sister. (For context, George Edwin Farrar was my father, Carroll was my grandfather, and Baker was my great-uncle).

Although George Edwin Farrar and William Alvin Henson II were not assigned to the same air crew in the 384th Bomb Group, they were both assigned to the same Bomb Squadron, the 544th, and both served at Grafton Underwood at the same time.

Military Service/Combat Duty in World War II with the 384th Bomb Group

William Henson’s 384th Bomb Group Individual Sortie record indicates that his duty was Bombardier, one month’s pay was $247.50, and his home address was Mrs. W. A. Henson (his mother), 172 Milstead Avenue, Conyers, Georgia.

William Henson was credited with twenty-six missions with the 384th Bomb Group, ten as bombardier and sixteen as navigator. His first mission as bombardier was on 19 May 1944 and his last was on 21 June 1944. His first mission as navigator was on 20 July 1944 and his last was on 28 September 1944 as navigator on the Buslee crew’s B-17 on that date’s mid-air collision.

Morning Reports of the 384th Bombardment Group and other military documents indicate the following for William Alvin Henson II

Sammons Crew
Back row, L to R: Arthur Thompson (WG), Lawrence Feyerabend (RO), Redin Kilpatrick (WG), James Placer (BT), Walter Schneider (TT), Stanley Schwartz (TG)
Front row, L to R: Gerald Sammons (P), Oliver Pryor (CP), Jack Dashev (N), William Henson (B)
Photo courtesy of Ken Decker’s “Memories” book

On 6 MAY 1944, 2nd Lt. William Alvin Henson II was assigned to the 544th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), per AAF Station 106 Special Orders #85 dated 6 May 1944 as Bombardier with the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) of 1035 of the Gerald Sammons crew.
On 21 JULY 1944, William Henson overslept and was late to his B-17 for the day’s mission. Taking off late, as crew navigator, he was unable to locate the formation and the crew had to return to base. He received punishment of having to fly one extra sortie (mission) to complete his tour.
On 28 AUGUST 1944, William Henson was appointed 1st LT. per Eighth Army Air Forces Special Orders Number 233 date 28 August 1944.
On 26 SEPTEMBER 1944, William Henson was ordered per Item #9 of Special Orders #190, AAF Station No. 106, APO 557, dated 26 September 1944 from duty to Moulsford Manor (a flak house/rest home), AAF Station 511, to arrive prior to 1800 hours on 28 September 1944, TD to carry out instructions of CG, period not to exceed seven (7) days. Will leave Rest Home on 5 October 1944 to return to proper Station.
On 28 SEPTEMBER 1944, on Mission 201 to Magdeburg, Germany, Target of Industry, Steelworks, William Henson went from duty to MIA (Missing in Action). He was subsequently declared KIA (Killed in Action) on that date. The 28 September mission was the third time William Henson had flown with the Buslee crew. He had replaced Chester Rybarczyk as navigator just the day before on 27 September and a few weeks earlier on 3 September.
On 11 OCTOBER 1944, 384th Bomb Group Commanding Officer, Colonel Dale O. Smith, recommended William Henson for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). (Alternately, his Individual Sortie Record notes the date recommended for the award as 4 October 1944).

Medals and Decorations

William Alvin Henson II was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), and the Purple Heart.

He was awarded the Air Medal at the completion of 6th sortie (mission) – GO#98, Hq 1st BD, 6-14-44. He was awarded three oak leaf clusters for completion of (1) his 12th sortie – GO#234, Hq 1st BD, 8-11-44, (2) his 18th sortie – GO#318, Hq 1st BD, 9-9-44, and (3) his 24th sortie – GO#342 Hq 1st BD, 9-18-44.

Also, an unnamed/unnumbered military service form notes in the Awards & Decorations section,

Authorized Bronze Star to ETO Ribbon, Sec 1, Par 7b (1) WD Cir 195 1944. Auth 2nd Bronze star to ETO Ribbon per Ltr Hq ETOUSA, Sub: “Battle Participation Awards.” dtd 19 July 1944.

Bill Henson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for completion of his 25th Sortie (mission). Commanding Officer Colonel Dale O. Smith’s recommendation letter for William Alvin Henson II’s Distinguished Flying Cross stated,

1st Lt. William A. Henson, II has completed twenty-five operational bombing missions as Bombardier and Navigator over Germany and enemy occupied country between 19 May 1944 and 27 September 1944. Lt. Henson was lost in action over Magdeburg, Germany, 28 September 1944, on his twenty-sixth mission.

Many of these missions were among the longest and most viciously opposed dispatched by this organization during that period of time, among which were Berlin, Germany, 19 May and 21 June, Mannheim Germany, 27 May, Krzesinski, Poland, 29 May, Peenemunde, Germany, 4 August, Merseburg, Germany, 13 September and Magdeburg, Germany, 28 September 1944.

Lt. Henson entered this organization as a Bombardier but due to his exceptional intelligence and unusual ability was trained and checked out as a Lead Navigator and carried out his dual duties in a highly efficient manner. His initiative, determination and high degree of technical skill as both Bombardier and Navigator have contributed greatly to the successful conclusion of many of the missions on which he was dispatched. He has flown as Deputy Combat Wing Lead Navigator three times, Deputy Group Lead Navigator three times and Group Lead Navigator once.

Lt. Henson’s willing assumption of responsibility, his high degree of technical skill, his courage and coolness under conditions requiring initiative and determination to reach and bomb the designated enemy objective in spite of heavy opposition and unfavorable weather have set a high standard of achievement for this entire organization.

More about William Alvin “Bill” Henson II in my next post…

Notes/Links

Previous post, Lt. William Henson Killed in Action

Previous post, A B-17 Navigator Oversleeps

William Henson’s Enlistment Record in the online National Archives (in the Reserve Corps records)

William Alvin Henson’s Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

MOS means Military Occupational Specialty

Previous post, Assigned Military Occupational Specialties of the Buslee and Brodie Crews

Previous post, Timeline for Buslee Crewmembers and Substitutes, 544th Bomb Squadron

Previous post, Chester Anthony Rybarczyk, Update

William Alvin Henson’s Find a Grave memorial

Chester Anthony Rybarczyk, Update

April 12, 2023 7:00 AM / Leave a comment

Chester Anthony Rybarczyk

New information from a new search on Ancestry.com, and new information from military records have provided me with some new and updated information regarding Chester Anthony Rybarczyk, the navigator of the John Oliver Buslee crew of the 544th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Army Air Forces in WWII.

To view my original post and other information about Chester Anthony Rybarczyk, please see the links at the end of this post.

Rybarczyk Family

Chester Anthony Rybarczyk was born 18 January 1923 in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio to father Jan “John” Rybarczyk (1886 – 1963) and Jadwiga “Hattie” Malak Rybarczyk (1892 – 1950).

Chester’s father was noted as being born in Germany/Poland on early Federal Census records, but in Poland on later records. He immigrated to America in 1889 according to the 1930 census. Census records note Chester’s mother was born in Poland and immigrated in 1910.

Chester was one of nine children of John and Hattie Rybarczyk. The Rybarczyk children were,

Daniel Stanley (1912 – 1992)
Martha M. (1914 – 2008)
Jane Agnes “Jennie” (1916 – 2001)
Edmund Daniel (1917 – 1996)
Stephanie Rita (1919 – 2015)
Stanislawa (1921 – 1921)
Chester Anthony (1923 – 1967)
Felix Joseph (1925 – 1997)
Anna Barbara (1926 – 2016)

The 1930 Federal Census notes that the Rybarczyk family lived at 1118 Blum Street in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. Chester was seven years old. The household included Chester’s parents and all siblings except for Stanislawa, who survived only twenty minutes after his birth on 11 August 1921.

The 1930 census record also notes that Chester’s parents were both born in Poland as were all of their parents. Chester and all of his siblings were born in Toledo. Chester’s father worked as a Foreman, a building contractor.

The 1940 Federal Census notes that the Rybarczyk family still lived at 1118 Blum Street in Toledo, but only the four youngest children remained living at home – Edmund, Chester, Felix, and Anna. Chester was seventeen years old.

Education and Civilian Employment Prior to Military Service

Chester Rybarczyk attended Libbey High School in Toledo, Ohio, and later graduated from Macomber Vocational High School in Auto Mechanics in 1941.

Before entering the service Chester worked for Bentley & Sons in Toledo, Ohio. Bentley & Sons was a contracting company and they built many Toledo area landmarks over the years.

Entry in WWII Military Service

Draft Registration

On 30 June 1942, Chester Anthony Rybarczyk registered for the WWII draft at Local Board No. 14, 1332 Nebraska Avenue, Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. He listed his Place of Residence as 1118 Blum St., but replaced it with 3805 Rushland Ave., Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. He noted his Mailing Address was the same. Chester’s Employer’s Name was Bentley & Sons in Toledo, Ohio. He was 19 years old and born on 18 January 1923 in Toledo.

John Rybarczyk (Chester’s father), of the same address, was the person who would always know his address.

Chester described himself as 5′ 10″ tall, 150 pounds, with brown eyes, brown hair, and a dark complexion. He noted no “other obvious physical characteristic that will aid in identification.”

Enlistment

On 9 September 1942, Chester A. Rybarczyk enlisted in the Air Corps Enlisted Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. Chester’s enlistment record notes his residence as Lucas County, Ohio and that he was born in Ohio in 1923. His Army Serial Number at the time of enlistment was 15132416. Note: Officers were reassigned with a new serial number when they were commissioned and Chester’s later become O-720014.

At the time of his enlistment, Chester Rybarczyk had completed 4 years of high school and was single, having no one dependent on him for support.

Note: Chester’s enlistment record is found in the Reserve Corps Records, rather than in the Enlistment Records file, link below.

Military Training

Chester Rybarczyk’s military personnel records were lost in the fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, leaving me without a history of his military training, but he would have attended basic training, gunnery school, navigator’s school, and phase training at Ardmore, Oklahoma with the John Oliver Buslee crew before his entry into combat.

Military Service

An Officers’ Pay, Allowance, and Mileage Voucher record from September 1945 notes that Chester Rybarczyk entered Active Duty on 28 January 1943. He was ordered to Active Duty from his Reserve Status from Toledo, Ohio.

The same pay record notes that Chester Rybarczyk was commissioned on 8 April 1944, likely indicating his graduation from navigator school and appointment as 2nd Lt. as of this date.

Combat Duty in World War II in the 384th Bomb Group

Chester Rybarczyk’s 384th Bomb Group Individual Sortie record indicates that his duty was Navigator, one month’s pay was $247.50, and his home address was Mrs. Hattie Rybarczyk, 1118 Blum St., Toledo, Ohio.

Chester Rybarczyk was credited with thirty-five missions with the 384th Bomb Group. His first mission was on 4 August 1944 and his last was on 18 December 1944.

While serving with the 384th Bomb Group in England, Chester inscribed the back of his A2 flight jacket with “Korky,” his nickname for his sweetheart back home, Bernadette Koralewski.

Chester Rybarczyk in his Flight Jacket

The jacket also shows a picture of a bomb for each of his missions except for his 15th mission. That mission is depicted as a boot, signifying a mission from which the boys had to “walk” back to base after a crash landing when their B-17 did not make it back to England.

Morning Reports of the 384th Bombardment Group and other military documents indicate the following for Chester Rybarczyk

On 22 JULY 1944, 2nd Lt. Chester Anthony Rybarczyk was assigned to the 544th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), per AAF Station 106 Special Orders #144 dated 22 July 1944 as Navigator of the John Oliver Buslee crew with the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) of 1034.
On 7 OCTOBER 1944, on his fifteenth mission to a synthetic oil plant at Leipzig, Germany, Chester Rybarczyk’s B-17 was hit by flak. Flying with the James W. Orr crew on B-17 43-38615, they landed safely in allied territory near Brussels, Belgium. With all the crew safe, they returned to duty at Grafton Underwood to continue their active duty.
On 26 NOVEMBER 1944, Chester Rybarczyk was promoted to First Lieutenant effective 26 November 1944 per Headquarters, Eighth Air Force Special Orders #323, EXTRACT dated 26 November 1944.
On 20 DECEMBER 1944, Chester Rybarczyk was released from assigned & transferred to Casual Pool 70th Replacement Depot AAF Station 591, departed per 6 SO 355 HQ 1st Bomb Division (Completed tour).

Return to the States

Although I know Chester Rybarczyk was released from duty with the 384th Bomb Group on 20 December 1944, I do not know the date he returned to the States.

A letter he sent to my grandmother on 15 July 1945 from AAFNS (Army Air Forces Navigation School) puts him at Hondo Army Air Field, Hondo, Texas as of that date. He was inquiring about my dad’s (George Edwin Farrar’s) return to the States following his release as a prisoner of war. Where Chester had been stationed between 20 December 1944 and 15 July 1945, I do not know.

Release from WWII Active Duty

Chester Anthony Rybarczyk was released from active duty and discharged from military service in September 1945.

From Headquarters, Army Air Forces Flight Engineer School, Hondo Army Air Field, Hondo, Texas, Extract dated 4 September 1945, Special Orders #213, Chester Rybarczyk was released from further assignment and duty at this station & WP to (his) home, for release from active duty with TDY enroute at Separation Center, Camp Atterberry, Indiana, as required for processing.

Chester left Hondo AAF Texas on 7 September 1945 and arrived at Camp Atterbury, Indiana on 10 September 1945.

From Army Service Forces, Fifth Service Command, 1560th SCU, Separation Center, Camp Atterbury (Station 4333), Indiana, Extract dated 11 September 1945, Special Orders #215, Chester Rybarczyk was released from attached unassigned this organization 11 September 1945 and WP to arrive home on date specified (19 September 1945), upon midnight of which date he will revert to inactive status.

Chester left Camp Atterbury on 11 September 1945 and arrived in Toledo, Ohio on 12 September 1945. He was officially discharged from military service on 19 September 1945.

Military Record and Report of Separation/Certificate of Service

Again, Chester Rybarczyk’s military personnel records were lost in the fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, leaving me without his Military Record and Report of Separation/Certificate of Service.

Medals and Decorations

During his military service with the 384th Bomb Group in World War II, Chester Rybarczyk earned an Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

He likely also was awarded the EAME (European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign) Ribbon, WWII Victory Medal, and American Theater Ribbon, however, since his personnel records appear not to have survived the fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), I cannot confirm these awards.

Civilian Life After the War

Chester Anthony Rybarczyk married Bernadette Helen Koralewski on 21 May 1945 in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. Bernadette was born 17 December 1924 in Toledo.

Chester Rybarczyk watched his original crew go down on 28 September 1944, but according to Bernadette as reported by their son Tony, he did not talk much about it.

In the 1950 Federal Census, Chester (age 27) and Bernadette (age 25) Rybarczyk were a married couple living in Toledo, Ohio with their one-year-old son Eugene. Chester’s occupation was bus driver on a public bus. In the years to come, the family would grow to four children, two boys and two girls.

On 16 July 1952, Chester Rybarczyk was accepted into the Toledo Fire Department and assigned badge #109. On 9 March 1964, he was promoted to Lieutenant.

On 2 September 1967, the Toledo Fire Department Rescue Squad responded to a two-alarm fire at a local north side tavern, Pee Wee’s Inn, at 5101 Suder Avenue.

Lieutenant Chester Rybarczyk, now a fifteen-year veteran with the Toledo Fire Department, was one of the firefighters who entered the building to fight the fire. Suddenly, conditions inside the building changed and the rescue squad attempted to evacuate the structure.

Four firefighters became trapped behind a partition separating the bar from a game room. Two of the four men made it out while Chester and another firefighter, James Martin, remained trapped. Crews on the outside used a ladder in a rescue attempt through a window. They were able to pull James out first, saving him. With James safe, they began to pull an unconscious Chester, overcome by smoke, out of the same window.

The fireman that had a hold of Chester’s arm stepped on a power line that had fallen on the ladder. When the shock of electricity hit him, he lost his grip and Chester fell back into the burning room. Chester was finally removed from the building, but he died shortly afterward at Riverside Hospital. The other three firefighters managed to escape with only minor injuries.

Chester Rybarczyk died 2 September 1967 in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, at the age of 44. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, Grave S 1/2, Range or Lot 21, Section 34.

Bernadette Helen Koralewski Rybarczyk died 22 September 1986 at the age of 61 in North Port, Sarasota County, Florida. She was a school bus driver for the North Port school district. She was survived by sons Eugene and Anthony, and daughters Frances (Stein) and Michelle (Lindsey).

Forty-seven years after his death, on 2 September 2014, Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld, the Public Information Officer of the Toledo, Ohio Fire & Rescue Department, posted online memorials to Chester Rybarczyk to both the department’s Facebook page and website.

Chester Rybarczyk, Toledo, Ohio firefighter
Photo courtesy of Toledo, Ohio Fire Rescue Department

Chester is listed on the department’s website’s “Memorials” page along with all of the department’s Line of Duty Deaths. Since 2014, the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department remembers Chester Rybarczyk every September 2 with this memorial on their Facebook page,

Facebook Memorial to Chester Rybarczyk, Toledo, Ohio firefighter
Photo courtesy of Toledo, Ohio Fire Rescue Department

Notes/Links

Previous post, Chester Rybarczyk

Previous post, Chester Rybarczyk – After the War

Chester Rybarczyk’s Enlistment Record in the online National Archives (in the Reserve Corps records)

Chester Rybarczyk’s Personnel Record courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group

MOS means Military Occupational Specialty

Previous post, Assigned Military Occupational Specialties of the Buslee and Brodie Crews

Previous post, Timeline for Buslee Crewmembers and Substitutes, 544th Bomb Squadron

Chester A. Rybarczyk’s Find a Grave memorial

Stanislawa Rybarczyk’s Find a Grave memorial

Bernadette H. Koralewski Rybarczyk’s Find a Grave memorial

Toledo Fire & Rescue Department Facebook memorials to Chester Rybarczyk

Toledo Fire & Rescue Department Website Memorial’s page

Orchestration of a Bomb Run

April 5, 2023 7:00 AM / 4 Comments on Orchestration of a Bomb Run

384th Bomb Group dropping bombs
Photo from the Ken Decker collection, November 2019
Courtesy of the 384th Bomb Group photo gallery

The bombardment missions of the 8th Army Air Forces in World War II were well planned with targets selected and the route determined in advance, and weather conditions checked at the air bases in England, along the route, and the area of the target. Probable flak zones were identified, too.

The bombs were loaded, the planes were readied – repaired and fueled – by the ground crews. The air crews were awakened, fed, briefed, and dressed in flight gear, armed with maps, ammunition, oxygen, and a prayer from the Group’s clergymen.

Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, and gunners manned their positions and prepared for their day’s work. Regardless of their position or job on the crew, the goal of each man was the same, to drop their B-17’s bombs on the day’s chosen target.

The navigator’s job was to plot the course both to the target and back to base. The gunners’ jobs were to protect the plane from enemy aircraft so that it would make it to the target. The bombardier’s job was to release the bombs at exactly the right moment for them to strike the target as accurately as possible.

The bombardier worked closely with the pilot to insure an accurate bomb drop, making their positions much more involved in the accuracy of the bomb release than the remainder of the crew, but all of the crew members had roles to play in getting those bombs to their destination.

The bombing mission could take many hours, depending how deep into Germany the formation would travel to arrive at the target, and as many hours for the return trip home. But the most critical period of the mission was that of the bomb run, which began at the Initial Point and concluded with Bombs Away, and was generally measured in minutes, a fraction of the length of the mission.

The steps taken between the B-17 pilot and bombardier depended upon several factors, including whether they were manning a lead aircraft. The lead aircraft carried the lead bombardiers and these officers determined the exact time and location of the bomb release. Other bombardiers of the formation who were following the lead dropped their bombs with the lead rather than calculating their own time and place to drop their bombs.

The 303rd Bomb Group’s website explains in great detail the factors that had to be controlled for the bomb run to be successful and the bomb release to be accurate. I will only summarize here and the 303rd’s information can be reviewed for the detail.

To assist the Bombardier in doing his job successfully, the Pilot had to,

Place the aircraft in the proper position to arrive at a point on a circle about the target from which the bombs could be released to hit the target.
Control the altitude of the aircraft, which partially determined the time of the bomb fall from time of release to the moment of impact.
Control the true airspeed, the measure of the speed of the aircraft through the air.
Control the groundspeed, the speed of the airplane in relation to the earth’s surface, while maintaining the correct altitude and constant airspeed.

The Bombardier, in determining the time and place of the bomb drop, controlled,

Bomb ballistics, by consulting bomb ballistics tables to account for type of bomb.
Trail, the horizontal distance the bomb was behind the airplane at the instant of impact, obtained from bombing tables and set in the bomb sight. However, trail was affected by the altitude and airspeed, which were controlled by the pilot, and by bomb ballistics and air density.
Drift, which was determined by the direction and velocity of the wind, and was set on the bombsight by the bombardier.

Prior to the bomb run, and even before takeoff, the pilot worked to set up the correct conditions to determine the proper point of bomb release.

Prior to takeoff, the pilot checked the aircraft’s flight instruments – the altimeter, airspeed indicator, free air temperature gauge, and all gyro instruments – for accuracy.
The pilot checked the C-1 automatic pilot for proper function.
The pilot checked the PDI (Pilot Direction or Directional Indicator), which was an instrument the bombardier used to indicate heading changes to the pilot in order to direct him to the proper location for the bomb drop.
If the bomb run was to be made on auto pilot, the pilot adjusted the auto pilot before reaching the target area under the same conditions that would exist over the target, and would continue to adjust due to changes in load due to gas consumption, before reaching the target.
The pilot adjusted the turn compensation knobs of the auto pilot to coordinate with the bombardier making turns to it.
The pilot adjusted the PDI using coordinated smooth turns and trimmed the aircraft so that the aircraft flew practically hands off with the bomb bay doors open.
The pilot and bombardier considered the effect of evasive action before reaching the initial point of the bomb run.
The (lead) bombardier selected the initial point onto the as-briefed heading for the beginning point of the bomb run.
Depending on whether the bombardier is the lead bombardier, either he or the pilot directed the aircraft to the exact position of the initial point and was on the as-briefed heading.

Even though the longest possible bomb run seldom exceeded three minutes, during the crucial portion of the bomb run, from initial point until bombs away, evasive action was discontinued, and flak and fighter opposition were ignored if bombs were to hit the target.

Either before or during the bomb run,

At the initial point of the bomb run, the (lead) bombardier took over the direction of flight by engaging a clutch on his bomb sight. He made adjustments on the sight to hold the sight’s hairline on target, automatically guiding the aircraft to the required course and target. He gave directions to the pilot for the operation of the bomb run.
The bombardier asked the pilot for a level, which means the pilot accurately leveled the aircraft using his instruments, and held that level until the bombs were dropped. Just one degree of tilt before or at the time of the bomb drop could cause an error of around 440 feet at an altitude of 20,000 feet.
In the case of a manually flown mission using the PDI (rather than using the auto pilot), the bombardier zeroed the PDI while the aircraft was lined up on a direct course with the target. The pilot then adjusted the stick and rudder to hold the PDI on zero.
The pilot maintained the selected altitude and airspeed as closely as possible while the bombardier set his course. Again, minor changes could greatly increase the error in the bombs reaching their target.

At the carefully calculated moment, the bombardier released the bombs on the target – Bombs Away!

After bomb release,

Evasive action could be continued if it had to be discontinued during the bomb run.
The pilot could continue to fly the aircraft on auto pilot or choose to fly manually.
The aircraft and the formation headed for home.

Sources and Further Reading

Carlsbad Army Airfield public Facebook page

Facebook post from Carlsbad Army Airfield, Bombardier Training

303rd Bomb Group: Duties and Responsibilities of the Bombardier

B-17 Flying Fortress Queen of the Skies, Crew Positions, Bombardier

The B-17 Bombardier

March 29, 2023 7:00 AM / 3 Comments on The B-17 Bombardier

My dad, George Edwin Farrar, was a waist/flexible gunner with the John Oliver Buslee crew of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Army Air Forces in World War II. On 28 September 1944, the Buslee crew and the James Joseph Brodie crew of the same group became forever connected when the B-17’s they were aboard on a combat mission over Germany suffered a mid-air collision.

I am currently updating the biographical information of the men of these two crews, and I thought it would be a good time to explain the duties involved in each position of the airmen aboard the aircraft, the B-17. I have recently updated the information of the four 384th Bomb Group Bombardiers and one Togglier who flew with the John Oliver Buslee crew of the 544th Bomb Squadron and the James Joseph Brodie crew of the 545th Bomb Squadron.

Marvin Fryden, assigned Buslee crew bombardier

Born 8 January 1921
Died 5 August 1944, age 23
Buried Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England, Plot E, Row 2, Grave 4
384th BG Personnel Record
The Family of Marvin Fryden
Marvin Fryden, Update

James Buford Davis, Jung crew bombardier & Buslee crew replacement bombardier after Fryden’s death

Born 5 October 1921
Died 20 December 2009, age 88
Cremated, Greater South Side Crematory, Greenwood, Johnson County, Indiana, USA
384th BG Personnel Record
James B. Davis
More Information About James B. Davis
James Buford Davis, Update – Part 1
James Buford Davis, Update – Part 2

Robert Sumner Stearns, Durdin crew bombardier, but bombardier of the Buslee crew on 28 September 1944

Born 25 August 1923
Died 28 September 1944, age 21
Buried Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, San Mateo County, California, USA, Section B, Site 302
Memorial marker at Family/Home Cemetery at Juniper Haven Cemetery, Prineville, Crook County, Oregon, USA
384th BG Personnel Record
Robert Sumner Stearns
Robert Sumner Stearns, Update

William Douglas Barnes, Jr., assigned Brodie crew bombardier

Born 20 May 1919
Died 6 December 1990, age 71
Buried Riverside Cemetery, Hastings, Barry County, Michigan, USA
384th BG Personnel Record
William D. Barnes, Jr.
More Information About William D. Barnes, Jr.
William Douglas Barnes, Jr., Update

Byron Leverne Atkins, Chadwick crew flexible (waist) gunner, but togglier of the Brodie crew on 28 September 1944

Born 10 November 1924
Died 28 September 1944, age 19
Buried Oak Hill Cemetery, Lebanon, Boone County, Indiana, USA
384th BG Personnel Record
Byron L. Atkins
Byron Leverne “Bud” Atkins, Update

For a list of all of the airmen of the Buslee and Brodie crews, see permanent page The Buslee and Brodie Crews, which is maintained with new information/posts.

Duties and Responsibilities of the B-17 Bombardier

According to the 303rd Bomb Group’s website, the bombardier’s job was the most important of the entire B-17 crew as “accurate and effective bombing is the ultimate purpose of your entire airplane and crew.” This makes “every other function … preparatory to hitting and destroying the target.”

But the bombardier could not act alone. The B-17’s pilot and bombardier worked together to set up the conditions for the bomb run. Many factors were involved in positioning the aircraft and setting the course from the initial point of the run to the target.

The success of the mission rested on the accomplishment of the bombardier during the bomb run, which made up just a matter of minutes, between the initial point of the run and the target, of the multi-hours long mission to the target.

Some of the many things a bombardier must understand were his aircraft’s,

Bombsight
Bombing instruments and equipment
Racks, switches, controls, releases, doors, linkage, etc.
Automatic pilot as it pertains to bombing and how to set it up and make any adjustments and minor repairs while in flight
Bombs and how to load and fuse them

The bombardier must be an expert in target identification and in aircraft identification and he should be able to assist the navigator in case the navigator becomes incapacitated.

Please refer to the 303rd Bomb Group’s website for the full list of bombardier responsibilities and much more detailed information.

My next post will cover the process and actions necessary for a successful bomb run.

The B-17 Togglier

According to an article posted on the Carlsbad Army Airfield’s public Facebook page,

When there was a shortage of bombardier graduates coming into the operational units, the continental air forces completed their crews with enlisted men who had received individual bombardier training in their own units.

While a good portion of the aircraft in the formation, especially the lead aircraft, carried bombardier school graduates as their bombardiers, many carried toggliers.

Bombardiers were commissioned officers who graduated from bombardier school as part of their stateside training. Toggliers were enlisted men who did not did not attend bombardier school in the States before going overseas into combat.

The togglier was usually a gunner who was retrained and reassigned to sit in the bombardier’s seat in the nose of the aircraft. The togglier was trained to “toggle” a switch to release his aircraft’s bomb load as soon as the lead bombardier released his bombs.

When the standard bombing procedure changed for the non-lead crew/aircraft bombardiers and toggliers to drop their bombs with the lead bombardier, many bombardier graduates pursued lead bombardier training or navigator training within their combat groups.

Location of the Bombardier in a B-17

The bombardier of a B-17 sits over the bombsight in the Plexiglas nose of the aircraft. Should the bombardier have to bail out of the aircraft, he would likely bail out through the door below the nose.

In the following diagram, Robert Stearns is noted in the bombardier position in the nose of the aircraft along with the other Buslee crew members in their positions on September 28, 1944.

Buslee Crew in Position on September 28, 1944
Diagram courtesy of 91st Bomb Group and modified by Cindy Farrar Bryan in 2014

B-17 Bombardier Position Photos

I took the following photo of the Collings Foundation’s B-17 Nine-O-Nine a few years before its tragic crash. It shows the nose of the B-17 with the navigator’s table in the left foreground and the bombardier’s seat in the front of the nose in the middle.

Nose position of the navigator and bombardier of the Collings Foundation’s B-17G Nine-o-Nine In Leesburg, Florida, November 4, 2017

This photo, shared by photographer John Slemp, shows a much better view of the bombardier’s position.

To see more of John Slemp’s photographs, or to purchase his book of photos of WWII Bomber Boys’ flight jacket art, please visit his website.

Stories of 384th Bomb Group Bombardiers and Toggliers

I thought it might also be interesting to read stories, diaries, and journals written by or view video interviews of some of the 384th’s own bombardiers. You’ll find a chart of several bombardiers of the 384th Bomb Group below with links to their personnel records and their written and oral histories as are provided on the Stories page of 384thBombGroup.com.

Airman Personnel Record	Stories, Diaries, Journals, and Interviews
Ackerson, Donald Richard⇗	Résumé of Tour of Bombing Action in Europe⇓ (0.084 MB)
Fleenor, Charles Thurman, “Chuck”⇗	B-17 Bombardier, Speaking at 2011 Reunion⇗
Deignan, Charles Joseph⇗	2005 Veteran’s History Project Oral History Interview⇗
Furiga, Frank Dominic⇗	2004 Veteran’s History Project Oral History Interview⇗
Richard, Oscar Gabriel, III⇗	Oral History Interview⇗
Walton, Daniel Alton⇗	Oral History Interview⇗
Burns, Robert (NMI)⇗	My Bit For Victory⇓ (2.721 MB)

Sources and Further Reading

303rd Bomb Group: Duties and Responsibilities of the Bombardier

303rd Bomb Group: Military Occupational Specialty

B-17 Flying Fortress Queen of the Skies, Crew Positions, Bombardier

TM 12-427 Military Occupational Classification of Enlisted Personnel

The Military Yearbook Project – Army Air Force WWII Codes

The Army Air Forces in World War II: VI, Men and Planes, Edited by W.F. Craven and J.L. Cate, Chapter 19: Training of Ground Technicians and Service Personnel

Training to Fly: Military Flight Training 1907 – 1945 by Rebecca Hancock Cameron

Facebook post from Carlsbad Army Airfield, Bombardier Training

Carlsbad Army Airfield public Facebook page

Thank you to the 91st Bomb Group for granting me permission in 2014 to use and modify their B-17 diagram for use on The Arrowhead Club.

Category Archives: WWII

Return to the Zone of the Interior (ZOI)

Post-war Hospitalization

Release from WWII Military Service

Honorable Discharge and Military Record and Report of Separation

Return to Civilian Life

Notes

George Hawkins Missing in Action

George Hawkins Prisoner of War

POW Hospitalization

Liberation and Repatriation

Notes

Combat Duty with the 384th Bomb Group

Mid-air Collision

Notes

Hawkins Family

Education and Civilian Employment prior to Military Service

Entry into WWII Military Service

Initial Military Assignments

Military Training

Notes

Continued Post-war War Department Correspondence

Return Home for Burial

Flashback – Family Before the War

After the War

Long After the War

Notes/Links

Casualty of War

A Chronology

Notes/Links

Henson Family

Education and Civilian Employment Prior to Military Service

Entry into World War II Military Service

Military Training

Marriage

Military Service/Combat Duty in World War II with the 384th Bomb Group

Notes/Links

Rybarczyk Family

Education and Civilian Employment Prior to Military Service

Entry in WWII Military Service

Military Training

Military Service

Combat Duty in World War II in the 384th Bomb Group

Return to the States

Release from WWII Active Duty

Military Record and Report of Separation/Certificate of Service

Medals and Decorations

Civilian Life After the War

Notes/Links

Sources and Further Reading

Duties and Responsibilities of the B-17 Bombardier

The B-17 Togglier

Location of the Bombardier in a B-17

B-17 Bombardier Position Photos

Stories of 384th Bomb Group Bombardiers and Toggliers

Sources and Further Reading

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