Hi Carl,
I love your site. I just found it last night.
My mother met 1/Lt. Herbert Holbrook Moore, Jr at Barksdale where he was a pilot-instructor in late 1943 or early 1944.
Sadly, Mr. Moore is no longer living. He died April 5, 1946, before my mother and he could marry. After he was released from the military, he moved home to Louisville and reentered law school at U of L. His father was a very prominent attorney in Louisville. My mother went and spent Christmas 1945 with his family. He begged her to marry him then, but she was afraid he would feel the pressures of having to support a wife and not finish law school. He told her, "If something happens and we don't marry, I'll haunt you the rest of your life." He attended a party at a very prominent family's home on February 10, 1946. He and some friends were examining the owner's gun collection. He was shot by an "unloaded" handgun, through the right hand, right shoulder and the bullet ricocheted into his abdomen striking his liver. (I'm guessing that someone pointed the "unloaded" gun at him and he instinctively put up the palm of his right hand and half turned away as the gun went off. That would line up his palm, arm and liver.) He survived the initial injury, only to die six weeks later, the day before he was to go home, of an internal hemorrhage. The last word he spoke was my mother's name and it was as he placed his signet ring in his sister's hand. (There is quite a bit more, but this is the gist of the story.) I have that ring and his Caterpillar Club pin.
I have not made it to the B-26 archives yet to research the first downing. I had a very good relationship with Stan Akers when he was there. He helped me figure out which BG and squadron Lt. Moore was in. He became interested in the "whole" story and published it in the Marauder Voice several years ago. Since then, I have been able to fill in a lot of the gaps and correct some errors that were in that original story due to a very amazing turn of fortune. My mother died in 1999 and I started really seriously researching Lt. Moore as a tribute to her. I had done a little superficial work before her death but not huge amount. It's along story but, I came into the possession of a large quantity of letters, V-Mails and a few pictures, from the war years, that none of us (including my mother) knew existed. My grandmother had hidden them away in an old trunk. It is through them that I can date fairly precisely that first crash landing. It occurred between August 23rd and September 6th 1944. By September 6th he is in the hospital with a broken left ankle. I have e-mailed the archives twice asking about the availability of either paid or volunteer researchers and have not received a reply. Stan was always good about at least acknowledging the e-mail even if he didn't have the answer you sought.
According to an article in his hometown newspaper, the Louisville-Courier Journal, October 18, 1944, "In a previous battle in August, "Jumbo's (college nickname) plane collected three cannon shells and more than one hundred bullet holes..." By the fact that they were able to count the holes, I'm guessing he made it back to somewhere safe.
The second time was October 6, 1944 trying to bomb Arnhem Bridge after Monty's folly, 'Market Garden'.
From the MACR the crew that day was:
1/Lt. Herbert H. Moore, Jr.- pilot
2/Lt. Albert Allen - co-pilot
2/Lt. Edward Sadula- bombardier, navigator
S/Sgt. Norman Traux- radio/ gunner
S/Sgt Bernard Bielinski- Eng.-gunner
Sgt George Boyer - TG
Sgt. Einar Nielson- radio/gunner
The plane was "Nick's Chick" 42-95918 as you have no doubt noticed it is but one digit off the serial number of "The Shop Worn Angel" (42-95917). From the MACR they were "(the) last plane in formation Number 5 position." They were hit by heavy flak immediately after dropping their bomb load from 12,500 ft. Sgt. Einar Nielson "...smelled gas and told them over the intercom phone." Lt. Moore ordered everyone to bail out. Navigator/bombardier Lt Sadula refused to come out of the nose until he had plotted a course back over enemy lines. Lt. Moore told S/Sgt Traux to open the door leading to the bomb-bays but the smoke forced him back. The tail fell off and the ends hurtled through space. It exploded at about 4000 feet, freeing Lt.'s Moore and Allen. Unfortunately, Lt. Sadula was in the pilot's compartment and his parachute was in the radio compartment. Boyer and Traux also went down with the plane. Bielinski received severe burns and a back injury, Allen had a broken leg and burns and Moore re-broke his left ankle and was hit with shrapnel in his right knee. They were all picked up by the Dutch Resistance.
Interestingly, of the seven crew members on " Nick's Chick" that day, only two survived past 1950 when Bielinski, too died. Since Nielson is the one filling out the reports and is the only one not in the hospital, I'm guessing he was the first off the plane.
It is very possible your father and Lt. Moore knew each other. Lt. Moore was at Stansted from about July 1944 (could be earlier but doesn't admit he's in England until August 14, 1944) until they moved to France. But he was only in France until October 6, 1944 when he was shot down.
Lt. Moore lived in a converted garage apartment where my mother and her friend lived as boarders in the main house. This was in Shreveport, LA just off Barksdale AFB. My mother, whose name was Pat, went over to "borrow" some ice from "the pilot's" apartment. She and her friend only had a room and no refrigerator and they figured he was out flying anyway. So my mother softly knocked. When no one answered she slid her small hand through a crack in the screen with her long, beautifully manicured nails painted a dark red. Herbert grabbed her by the wrist and said, "Who's breaking into my house?"
She jumped and tried to wrest her hand free.
"Who's got ahold of my hand?" came her indignant reply.
"I asked you first!"
Now, really annoyed, she said," Cathy!" Just then he swung the door open and saw her.
"If you're Cathy, then I must be Heathcliff."
And so they were from then on, Cathy and Heathy to each other. Sadly prophetic that he chose to name them after the doomed lovers in Wuthering Heights.
So it was , "Cathy," that was Heathy's final word.
I ride and train dressage horses and the humans that ride them. But as you see, I still take lessons to continue my own progress. I have several horse but the two I am showing currently are both International level, both just a bit below the Olympic level. But we're still headed up through the levels and hope to debut at Grand Prix next year.
My husband grew up in Greenvale. He graduated from North Shore High School in Glen Head. It's a small world! We live in Abilene, TX where my husband is a doctor. We both love history and this has been a labor of love on both our parts. I guess we kind of adopted Heathy and his sister and parents because they were the end of that line of Moore's. Heathy's father died only 15 days after he did at the age of 55. My mother said he died of a broken heart. His sister married and divorced but had no children. This is a way of keeping them alive, by sharing their story. I am writing a book about Heathy and Cathy.
My dad was a career Army officer. He was in Intelligence. He was a cryptographer, a code breaker. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the attack. He helped break the Japanese code. Until 1967, none of us knew what he did during the war. He couldn't tell us. He too has passed on.
This has been quite an interesting journey. We've been to Louisville (Heathy's hometown) twice. We've actually taken loads of pictures of 1464 St. James Court, where Heathy lived. I haven't been brave enough to go up to the door. I have tracked down a neighbor who knew them. She is now 86 and I have sent her a letter and several clippings and pictures. I will have to call her if I don't hear from her pretty soon. The U of L Archives are extensive and they were loads of help. They searched with us after hearing the story. From them I found out that Heathy was already a pilot when he joined the Army Air Corps. He was certified to fly every plane in their arsenal with over 1000 flying hours. He became a pilot instructor as soon as he graduated and was commissioned.
I had not thought of Googling the other crew members. That's a great idea. I'll try it. Thanks for a great site! I look forward to hearing from you,
Best Regards,
Katie Ryan