Soldiers from New York: Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times, in World War Two: Flight Officer Leonard H. Busch – January 29, 1945 [Revised post…]

Update Though I’ve long known “of” the man at the focus of this post – F/O Leonard H. Busch, whose family lived at Haven Avenue, in New York City – specific details of his story have remained obscure.  Recently, however (almost three years after having created this post in May of 2017) I obtained documents from the Army which may have solved this enigma. 

It turns out that F/O Busch was a member of the 56th Troop Carrier Squadron of the 5th Air Force’s 375th Troop Carrier Group, which was equipped with C-46 transports.

Correlating this information to records of C-46s lost on Monday, January 29, 1945, via the Aviation Safety Network, reveals that two C-46Ds (42-101039 and 42-101157) were lost in accidents that day.  In turn, searching for information about these two C-46s yields FindAGrave records for the C-46 crew lost aboard aircraft #157, piloted by 1 Lt. Mumford M. Heard, with the following information about what transpired that Monday (from Russ Pickett):

“C-46D #42-101157, while cleared to takeoff and while attempting to takeoff from Tacloban, Leyte Island, Philippines, was directed to clear the runway immediately.

A C-54, without the knowledge of the radio tower, was attempting to land on the same runway.  C-46D #42-101157, while attempting to avoid a collision, veered off and ended up hitting two B-24’s and another C-46 causing the entire crew to be killed in this crash.”

(January 29, 1945 was an especially bad day for the 56th CCS, with C-46D – 44-77420, piloted by 2 Lt. William P. Spiess and carrying nine other crew and passengers – going missing.)

But…  F/O Busch is not listed as a crew member of 42-101157, the crew comprising:

Pilot: Heard, Mumford M., 1st Lt.
Co-Pilot: Robinson, Clark A., F/O
Crew Chief: Braley, Scott, Sgt.
Radio Operator: Duncan, James K., S/Sgt.
Radio Operator (assistant): Richter, Milton R., Cpl.

So, perhaps he was a crewman of the enigmatic “other” C-46D – 42-101039 – which was struck by Mumford’s plane, about which no information is available on the internet.

(As for the B-24, the plane was actually an F-7B photo-reconnaissance Liberator (44-40659) of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron, in which three men (pilot 2nd Lt. Richard I. Tubbs, co-pilot 2nd Lt. Paul J. Vivian, and flight engineer T/Sgt. Leland L. Lane) were lost.)  

If I find anything further, I’ll update this post accordingly.  Meanwhile…

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The original post starts here:  Flight Officer Leonard H. Busch, an aerial navigator, was killed in Philippines on Monday, January 29, 1945.  His name appeared in a Casualty List published in the Times on March 20, 1945, while his obituary – transcribed below – was published on April 5. 

However, his story is otherwise enigmatic.  Very enigmatic.   

There is no Missing Air Crew Report pertaining to him, and a check of the varied internet databases (government and private) covering WW II military aircraft losses or American military casualties, yields no records concerning his death, or, any relevant entry for a 5th or 13th Air Force C-46 or C-47 aircraft on January 29, 1945.

His obituary follows…

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Flight Officer Killed on Mission in Pacific

Mr. and Mrs. G. Walton Busch of 217 Haven Avenue have been notified by the War Department of the death of their son, Flight Officer Leonard H. Busch, 21 years old, at Leyte, in the Pacific, while on a troop-carrier mission Jan. 29.

Flight Officer Busch was a graduate of George Washington High School, and at the time he entered the service, October, 1942, was employed as a commercial artist.  He was trained as a radio technician at Scott Field., Ill., as an aerial gunner at Laredo Field, Tex., got his pilot’s wings at Jamestown College, Jamestown, N.D., and studied navigation at Santa Ana, Calif., and Hondo, Tex.  He went overseas last November.

In addition to his parents he is survived by two brothers, Merwin and Raymond.

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The Busch family residence at 217 Haven Ave., in the Washington Heights neighborhood (as seen at Apartments.com) is shown below.

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Another Jewish military casualty on January 29, 1945, was 1 Lt. Frank F. Oppenheimer (0-722672), a B-26 Marauder bombardier in the 558th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force, who was severely wounded by flak. 

Born in Del Rio, Texas, on September 25, 1915, he was the son of Libby F. Oppenheimer, and brother of Alex and Max, and lived at 211 East Dewey Place, in San Antonio.  He passed away in France, from a heart attack, on October 7 of that year.  (Reported in the San Antonio Express on August 23.)  He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, in San Antonio.  (Section T, Grave 72)

Reference

Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947.

May, 2017; March 22, 2020

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