Vapor Trails Volume 14, No.8
Editor: John Brennan, 492
Sqdrn 7thBG(H) 10th AF
Updated November 17,
2001
Eyes have it at your VA Hospital
Disabled Vets are reminded that they can obtain an eye exam and glasses if necessary at their Veterans Affairs Hospital or Eye Clinic. Your editor speaks from experience! He recently visited the West Roxbury VA Eye Clinic, 1400 VFW Pkwy, for an eye exam. Jessica Katz, O.D. and Lisa Fanciullo, O.D. gave him a most thorough and highly professional examination.
He was treated like a member of the General Staff instead of a former Staff Sergeant. Our thanks to the VA Eye Clinic staff. Disabled vets are reminded they must be registered with the VA to be eligible.
President's Message
Your president wants to tell all members of the Massachusetts
Chapter of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society how pleased he is with
our activities since the last Fling. We are proving to be a lively and
spirited group despite our advancing years.
Twenty-three members
attended our last Mini-meeting at McDonald's, Rte.1 in Walpole. We want to
apologize right now to the very patriotic people who operate and work at
the home of the Big Mac for the noise we made at the last meeting. It was
just that we were so glad to see each other we may have been a bit too
loud. Meanwhile we urge members and friends to patronize McDonalds and let
them know how much we appreciate their hospitality.
There is
increased security at Hanscom Air Base and we have supplied both gates
with a roster of those who attend our meetings. Remember that anyone can
join our Society and we must recruit if we are to keep the memory of the
Mighty Eighth alive.
Hope to see you all at Fling! Incidentally as
you enter the banquet room of the Officers Club you will see Henry Oi and
Bob Grahn selling raffle tickets. They did such an excellent job at the
last Fling they have been awarded LIFETIME POSITIONS!
My thanks to
all. Remember the Mighty Eighth!
Bill
Next
Year Let's Celebrate the 4th Like Americans!
Play "1812 Overture" Another Time!
Members
of the Mass. Chapter of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society enjoy the
Boston Pops Concert on the Esplanade each 4th of July. Television brings
it into tens of thousands of homes.
But one question pops into the
mind of more and more people each year. "Why are we celebrating a victory
of the Tsar over the French?"
Americans with a knowledge of
history know that the French were our very first allies and made possible
our victory over George III's troops. When Cornwallis was trapped on the
Yorktown peninsula it was a French fleet that stood offshore and prevented
the British from attempting a rescue. We're not even mentioning Lafayette
and Rochambeau!
Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart questioned
the use of playing 'this piece written by a Russian to celebrate victory
over the French in the 19th century" on our nation's birthday. Boston
Herald columnist T.J.Medrick calls "1812 Overture" a "wacky way to
celebrate our independence."
It's not as though we don't have a
fine piece of music ready and waiting to take over for this Russki
interloper. It is the music of Richard Rodgers "Victory at Sea" which
includes the stirring and patriotic "Guadalcanal March".
Bob
DeFelice, a professional musician from Hamilton, Ma., not coincidentally
the home of the late, great Gen. George Patton, has fashioned a new
arrangement of the Rodgers work. It begins with a musical description of
the attack on Pearl Harbor and follows right through to victory!
The presentation would not only display the music of Rodgers but
also provide the audience with all the cannonading, fireworks and clanging
church bells that Boston audiences have come to expect. But this time they
would be sounding off for an AMERICAN victory. Sounds good to me!
Enroll For VA Health
Care Now!
If you are not enrolled in the VA Health Care System do so now!
If you
have been on active duty and have an honorable discharge you probably are
eligible. If you have a computer visit http://www.va.gov/1010ez.htm for
your online 1010EZ form and more information.
ELIGIBILITY:
served on active duty Army, Navy , Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard.
Have Honorable or General Discharge.
TIME
REQUIREMENTS: Before 1980 no requirement. After 1980 minimum 24 months
active duty.
You don't qualify if: Dishonorable Discharge. Your
active duty does not meet time requirements. National Guard or Reserve
duty only.
Call Bill Davis 781-687-2701 or Laura Gould at
781-687-2705 for help and/or more info.
Dan Brundage
Remembers
Seth
Owen, staff writer for The Brockton Enterprise, honored Dan Brundage of
Abington last spring for his WW2 deeds. He wrote a very fine piece about
the familiar Abington veteran of the 8th AF and loyal member of this
society.
Dan was an aerial gunner on a B24 Liberator during the
difficult and dangerous summer of 1944. He was credited with 32 combat
missions. Dan says the first missions were perhaps the most dangerous and
that after the invasion of Normandy Nazi air power began to
decline.
It was still in pretty good shape on 30 May, 1944, when
Dan's B24, the Golden Gaboon, was hit by ackack on its sixth mission. They
were over the city of Oldenberg which also features in George Sarkis's
account of being shot. Oldenberg must have had pretty darn good
antiaircraft defenses or was just lucky.
Brundage, now 78,
remembers being hurled through the waist window when the Lib slammed down
at Old Buckenham Field in Great Britain. He continued flying another 26
missions and returned home to Abington to start a family , build houses
and serve on various Abington town boards. He married his future wife,
Jessie, and the couple had three children. Jessie died in March, 2000. Dan
who originally came from Quincy, became very active in Abington affairs.
He served on the Sewer Commission for many years and was very active in
helping veterans and veteran's issues.
Say Hello to George Sarkes
Let me introduce you to our good friend and comrade George Sarkes.
George is a genuine American hero like many in the ranks of the Eighth
but he wouldn't like to hear you call him that. George lives in Middleboro,
Ma. and is retired from a career in heavy equipment mechanics. There
was a time when he was an aerial engineer on a B-24 and manned the
top turret.
George was a Tech Sergeant in the 786 Sqdrn., 466 Bomb
Group and started flying his missions in the spring of 1944.. He was shot
in the leg over Padenborn, Germany on April 19, 1944 and was hospitalized.
As soon as he was released it was back into the 24s to complete his
missions. He was hit in the same leg again over Osnabruck, Germany on
August 19, 1944.
The 24 absorbed a lot of punishment and the trip
back to England was desperate with engines out and those that still worked
sputtering. Many fields were socked in by the English weather. The pilot
managed to set the Lib down on its belly and got a DFC for bringing his
crew and the airplane back to Blightey.
As soon as the bomber came
to a halt George, who could not walk, dove out the waist window to the
tarmac. Two crewmen jumped after him, grabbed him under the arms and
lugged him away from the wreck, which was in imminent danger of burning.
It was back to the hospital for repairs and when he was discharged he was
sent back to complete his 35 missions. He finished in October, 1944.
Remarkably George recalls his worst mission as one in which his
squadron bombed the Nazi rocket bases at Peenemunde. The Hermann Goering
Flying Circus flying yellow-nosed ME109s defended it. The pilots were
reputed to be the best in the Luftwaffe as befits an outfit named after
the Air Marshall.
George and his brother, a veteran of D-Day,
visited the U.S. National Cemetery near the invasion beaches in France in
the spring of 2001. There they visited his cousin's grave who had fallen
during one of those desperate battles.
That Presidential Unit
Citation You Wear Belongs to You!
Some vets are still confused
about the whys and wherefores of the Presidential Unit Citation. They
consider it a decoration awarded a squadron, a company, a sort of giveaway
that has little personal attached to it.
Not so! That little blue
ribbon with the gold frame and the victor's laurel wreaths is worn by all
members of a cited organization and is considered an individual
decoration. It may be worn by a person whether or not he remains with the
cited organization.
The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to
units of our Armed Forces and to co-belligerent nations for extraordinary
heroism in action against an armed enemy occurring on or after Pearl
Harbor Day. The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and
esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and
hazardous conditions. These conditions must set it apart and above other
units participating in the same campaign. The degree of heroism required
is the same as that which would warrant award of a Distinguished Service
Cross to an individual.
Extended periods of combat duty or
participation in a large number of either air or ground operational
missions is not enough. The award will normally be earned by units that
have participated in single or successive actions covering brief time
spans except under the most unusual circumstances. It is not reasonable,
say the Regulations, to presume that entire units can sustain
Distinguished Service Cross performance for an extended time. Only on rare
occasions will a unit larger than a battalion qualify. Further information
may be obtained at http://www.perscom.army.mil where we obtained much of
the foregoing information. JB
Vets now
eligible for Prescription Drug Program!
The Office of Veterans'
Services has announced that veterans are now eligible for a subsidized
prescription drug program. Under the plan veterans will pay just two
dollars ($2.00) for a 30 day supply. You do NOT need a service-connected
disability to be eligible. There is NO means test so all you rich guys can
stop fussing. This is only right! No one ever asked how much you made a
year when the time came to clamber into a ball turret or dig a foxhole in
a rainstorm just west of the Siegfreid Line. The only MUST is that you
MUST enroll in the Veterans Affairs Health Care system and see a VA doctor
to verify the need for that prescription. There is a minimal charge for
visits to the VA doctor which is usually covered by the vets own health
insurance. To find out more about VA health benefits call the VA tollfree
at 1-877-222-8387. JB
Minutes of the June
21st meeting
recorded by Secretary
John McKernan
The meeting was called to order by President Bill Campbell at
11'05. (The meeting was held in the O Club at Hanscom Field, Ed.). Opening
ceremonies included the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of
silence in memory of our departed comrades. The attendance roster
indicates 19 individuals were present.
President's Report: Bill
began the meeting with a discussion relating to problems some members were
having obtaining a base sticker.
Bob Grahn related his experiences
at he Hansom AFB Security Office and eligibility for automobile stickers.
Henry Bengis reported on his efforts to arrange for a visit to the
Dept. of Defense Lab in Natick, Ma.
Treasurer Carl Wood reported that we have a positive financial balance
in the till. Carl noted the expenses of printing and mailing Vapor Trails
resulted in a net loss of $25.55.
Editor John Brennan says that
this was because two separate printing orders were necessary due to a
miscalculation of the number of copies needed and that cost more than if
all copies had been printed at the same time' John says that Vapor Trails
in on your computer and he has received positive comments via
EMail.
The Secretary's report was read and filed.
Mark
Kelleher reported on his efforts to arrange for a field trip to Westover
AFB. It is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 12. 2001.
Henry Oi reported on his efforts to arrange for the annual Boat
Trip. The trip is limited to 25 individuals and is scheduled for
Tuesday,Aug. 21. Dagg Morse proposed a motion that a contribution be made
to Harvey's Saltwater Fishing Club on behalf of veterans. The motion
carried and the membership agreed that a $10 fee be charged those who take
part in this activity.
Lionel LeBlanc commented on donations of
the Air Force magazine to various organizations.
Adjourned at
1210. Respectfully submitted by John McKernan, Secretary
There was never a good
war or a bad peace!... Ben Franklin quoted in George Feifer's marvelous book, "Tennozan",
The battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb.
Interrogated
A certain fellow rose to his
feet at our last meeting at Hanscom Air Base and said he was reminded of
an incident in a German POW camp, a Stalag Luft.
"A German officer
invited me to sit down at a wooden table. He offered me an American
cigarette, which I politely refused because I didn't smoke. He was all
comrades-in-arms, ve are both fliers, ja?. I haf your name, rank and
serial number. Now for just a few kvestions which I am sure you can answer
without tinking you are giffink away the store?"
Big smile. "Vere
ver you stationed?" Silence. "How many bombers are in your group?" " How
is morale? Are some crews ready to kvit because we shoot down so many?"
Silence.
The questioning continued without success on the
Germans's part. "Look, I appreciate you not vanting to answer but my
qvestions are harmless. We already know the answer to them anyway" ("Yeah,
then why are you asking them?") He leaned over and began to whisper.
"Airman to airman. "A furtive glance. "If you do not tell me
someting dey will come in and take you away to some awful place but if you
answer me you will be detained with your fellow airmen. Good food, no one
will bother you. Just sit out the war in comfort."
The prisoner
looked thoughtful. "Ok, there's something that has been bothering me and
is bothering a lot of guys. There's something you Germans have that is far
and away superior to anything we fliers have on our side."
"Vot is
it? Vot is it?" grinned the interrogator. "Is it our rockets? Is it our
ME-109s? Is it our superior autopilots, radios, radar, machine guns,
cannon, our vunderful food? I could go on and on. What is it?"
"It's that Luftwaffe uniform," announced the downed airman,
reaching out and fingering the startled German's lapels. "What great
threads! What super-handsome threads. Yes sir, just shows to go you even a
bunch of knuckleheads like you can eventually manage to do something
right."
A Friend to Veterans
Passes
Veterans lost a true friend
when Congressman Joe Moakley of South Boston died this summer. Former AFHS
president Henry Oi was an "old and loyal" friend according to Joe and
Henry was always able to get his ear when veteran's issues arose. Here's
an excerpt from a letter Henry received from the Congressman a few years
back.
"It is always a pleasure to speak to you. As a follow-up to
our conversation about the future of the VA Medical Center, I want to
reinforce that I am committed to keeping a strong viable hospital at West
Roxbury."
We salute the memory of Congressman Joe!
The real war will
never get in the books --Walt Whitman
Missing the Flush of Youth!
When the 7th Bomb Group,
10th Air Force, was transferred abruptly from Bengal to the airfield at
Tezpur on the Brahmaputra flood plain there were five happy people on each
air crew. They were the gunners and bombardier who were told they were to
be shipped back to the states. Only the pilots, navigator, flight engineer
and radioman would remain to crew the bombers.
Bombers? The 24s
had their turrets ripped out, three bomb bay tanks and Tokyo tanks
installed. The Libs were to ferry gasoline over the Hump to the 14th. We
had been practicing flying low and slow because most of the 7th's missions
were ten or twelve hours long or even longer. And a 24 flying slowly and
lowly to conserve gas and duck radar got hellishly hot. High altitude
temperatures seemed attractive.
But who cared about that? The
engineer and I ignored the loud raspberrys from the homeward bound and
inspected our new quarters, a straw roofed basha named "Mildew Manor".
That should have told us something. There were six rope-springed charpoys
or cots, four of which would be vacated by the homeward-bound. A single
light bulb hung from the painted cloth ceiling.
We soon discovered
rats climbed into the "attic each evening where they proceeded to hold
lodge meetings. At first when the ceiling jiggled and bounced as a rat ran
across it people blazed away with their .45s. The Provost Marshal soon put
a stop to that but he really didn't have to. The shooters quickly learned
that what happened when they hit a rat was worse than anything a healthy
rat could do.
But this is about latrines! The typical Tezpur
latrine was probably a twelve holer, long planks stretched over an
excavation. They were kept reasonably clean by local help. The roof was
thatch or straw like the bashas but there was no cloth ceiling, just
rafters stretching from wall to wall. The walls themselves were made from
burlap.
No one wanted to use the latrine after dark. It was pitch
dark inside and it took nerves of steel to sit there playing one's
flashlight about while waiting for Delhi Belly to subside. One night
around eleven there was an outburst of wild yelling and screaming followed
by the sound of weapons being fired. A gunner from another basha had been
forced by nature to visit the latrine and while he was sitting on the
rustic throne aiming his flashlight here and there he was horrified to
find a 16 foot python hanging from a rafter and looking him straight in
the eye. They were nose to nose.
He ran out through the wall.
Gunners rushed up with assorted weaponry and blazed away. They managed to
hit the roof but that was all. A local appeared and calmed the shooters.
He went into the latrine armed with his curved kukri knife. The snake
didn't have a chance. It measured sixteen feet without its head.
BOOK REVIEWS
The
Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who flew the B-24s over
Germany.
by Stephen E.Ambrose
Simon & Schuster.
303pp.
There's not much need to review Stephen A. Ambrose's latest
book. Those who fought in the air over Europe and other places are already
scrambling to to get copies. Ambrose, a master of his craft, is well known
as the biographer of Nixon and Eisenhower and a book describing Lewis and
Clark's epic journey across an unmapped continent. Ambrose is not a
veteran but has made his fame and hopefully his fortune writing about
warfare. He is also responsible for the great D-Day museum in New Orleans.
We are beginning to hear some complaints from society members.
B-17 crewmen, whether fliers or those who worked to keep the planes in the
air, are somewhat miffed that Ambrose chose to feature the Liberator in
his book. Flying Fortress people thought of B24s as the crates in which
they shipped the B17s .
Eighth Air Force people are questioning
privately why the Italy based 15th Air Force was chosen by the author over
the Mighty Eighth. Professional jealousy say the 15th people.
Author Ambrose chose to illustrate the air war over the Reich by
following the career of former South Dakota Senator George McGovern who
was a 21 year old Liberator pilot. McGovern had a somewhat controversial
career with the 15th but, hey, he was up there and that makes him OK in
our book. After all he saved his biggest crash for his presidential bid
where he managed to carry only the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
I guarantee you will all read this book and despite some
nit-picking will enjoy it. Our complaint is that the book is only 303
pages (with photos) and that seems mighty short for such a huge subject.
We also would like to say a few choice words to whomever wrote the
subtitle: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B24s Over Germany. We'd say
"Listen, Buster. There weren't any BOYS up there.".jb
TENNOZAN
THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA AND THE ATOMIC
BOMB
By George Feifer
Ticknor and Fields,N.Y.
622pp
This book has been around a while but your library
should have it. It didn't get much of a play a few years back despite its
excellence because it made the case for the necessity for dropping the
atomic bombs. The Left, whom some believe control the book review industry
and library services, didn't want to read such arguments and didn't want
you to read them either. Not many people today, even those who can find
Okinawa on a map, know that the 8th Air Force was scheduled to move to
Okinawa when Germany went belly up. The move was already under weigh when
the bombs were dropped. Your editor was talking to a veteran of Troop
Carrier Command just the other day and he regaled me with tales of meeting
8th Air Force people newly arrived on Okinawa. They were out of their
element, according to the TCC guy.
He did not know to what outfit
the 8th people belonged but he thought they were some sort of pathfinder
for those to follow. He said he became a hero to the 8th people who were
desperate to know where they could buy some cigars. He managed to get them
aboard a Navy ship where they got their cigars but refused offers of
pogey-bait, a term unknown to refined 8th AF people. "Tennozan" was a
famous site in the 16th century where a Japanese warlord risked everything
on one battle. The 1945 warlords were planning to fight for every inch of
the homeland in just such a struggle when Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinced
them that further struggle was useless.
Perhaps you are alive
today because of the events related in Tennozan. Your editor recalls
August 9, 1945, very clearly. It was his 21st birthday. He was an RO on a
B-24 heading for Chengtu (now Chengdu) from India with a cargo of high
octane. Rumors were everywhere that soon we would move to China and resume
bombing. I was fiddling with the radio when I heard an excited English
language broadcast from someplace in China telling of the bomb that had
just wiped out a city. It sounded like that bomb would end the war and we
could go home. We began to celebrate on oxygen at altitude as best we
could in a B24 that stunk of gasoline. We probably passed around the
cigarettes!.jb
Nothing
is worse than war? Dishonour is worse than war! Slavery is worse than
war. George
Feifer quotes Winston Churchill and proves that patriot Franklin could be
as wrong as anybody else.
Directions to Hanscom
Air Force Base
Take Rte 2A
off Rte 2 or 128 or take Rte 4/255 off 128. The Air Force Police will
check you off from a roster we'll supply. Click
here for a map to Hanscom.
NEW MEMBERS
Welcome, Chippy!
The society welcomes new member
Paul V. Chipman of Norwood. Paul was a long time resident of West Roxbury.
He entered the aviation cadet program after graduating from Boston College
High and doing a semester at BC.
Paul served in the 47th BG of the
12th Air Force. He trained in B26s in what some people called the Carolina
air force. He was at Charlotte, Greenville,Columbia, Myrtle Beach and left
for Ascension from Hunter Field , Savannah.
Paul did 29 missions on
the three seater A-26 Invader, He was a bombigator as those who combined
the skills of navigation and bombardier were called. Most of the missions
were around the German -held Appennine mountains. Paul says he used to fly
with an unlit pipe in his mouth and on one mission a flak burst smashed a
section of plexiglass window and a piece of plexiglass knocked the end off
his pipe without giving him a scratch. Paul was recalled during the Korean
War but was lucky enough to serve as a captain at the Army Base in good
old Boston. New friends and old welcome "Chippy" aboard.
Join the
8th!
To print an application, click the seal above.
 HOW TO FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON
-
Come to
our monthly meeting at Hanscom Field. Third Thursday at Oh Eleven
Hundred.
-
Come to
our min-meeting, first, Oh Ten Hundred, First Tuesday. McDonald's Rte. 1
and Union Street, Walpole.
-
Call a
pal who does go to the meetings.
-
-
Call an
officer. No, not a cop! One of the officers whose phone and email
address is listed on the back cover.
SERIOUS STUFF.... THE
DUE$
QUE$TION!!!
All are
welcome to join the Eighth Air Force Historical Society. Dues are $20 a
year! (It was just raised by the national organization.) You pay us twenty
dollars only when you first join! After that, the National organization
will bill you for $20 once a year. That's the only money involved. You get
two issues of "Vapor Trails" and four issues of the highly professional
Time magazine-sized "The Eighth Air Force News" as well as a chance to
take part in the sort of fun events you read about in this issue. Please
do NOT send your dues to our saintly treasurer once you've sent that first
ten. You don't want to get on his WRONG side, do you?
When I fly the
skies! What a splendid place to be buried! The top of a cloud would
be..........
--A Kamikaze volunteer before setting out on his mission.
Eighth
Air Force veteran upon reading this in "Tennozan." "Oh, sure!"
Just a
word to say we send our best regards to Joe DiGiaccomo,
Harold,"Mike" Larson and , of course, our old buddy Harry
Miller.
TEN HUT!
SPECIAL
ORDER! Bring a gift for the Raffle
Table!
The receipts
from the raffle ($1.00 each) help pay for "Vapor Trails" and other
administrative costs.
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