Through the lens of the past, one can discern the present.
And from the vantage of the present, the nature of the past can become clearer.
Case in point, novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter Michael Chabon’s speech at the Hebrew Union College graduation ceremony on May 14, 2018. Akin to the aphorism about a “talking dog” – that far more startling than the poor quality of its speech is the mere fact that it’s even capable of talking at all – the most remarkable aspect of Chabon’s address was that – as much as its very content – it was given in a venue that was (is?) “Jewish”. Truly remarkable in his ignorance of Jewish history in general, let alone the history of the re-established nation state of Israel in particular, the animating ethos of Chabon’s talk can best be understood as the legitimation and praise – if not the moral imperative (in a Kantian sense) – of Jewish self-negation, both individually and collectively.
Here’s Chabon’s speech, which can be found at Rando Namo’s YouTube channel (uploaded May 21, 2018) under the title “Hebrew Union College Graduation Ceremony Clip”.
Michael Chabon’s peroration elicited numerous insightful reactions, impassioned as much as analytical (links are given at the end of this post). Perhaps the best is D.G. Myers’ Michael Chabon’s Imaginary Jews, from the Fall, 2008 issue of the Sewanee Review. Equally telling is Rabbi Ammi (Ammiel) Hirsch’s September 19, 2018 Yom Kippur Sermon: “From the Ghetto”, at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. …
In these reflections of, and reflecting upon, Chabon’s speech I’m reminded of the lyrics to John Lennon’s 1971 facile Yoko-Ono-inspired-ode to collectivism, and, the jettisoning of human particularism, in favor of the nullifying pleasure of a soporific universalism: “Imagine“. I know I “heard” this song as far back as the early 70s (seriously! … even as a kid I found its airs of grandstanding moral nobility and near-pathological idealism to be disconcerting – though I didn’t know the words “pathological”, “idealism” and “disconcerting” back then!), but it’s true implications weren’t apparent until I viewed the 1984 movie “The Killing Fields”, in which the Lennon / Ono ode accompanies the film’s concluding scenes. It was here, through the cinema, that the banality, utter shallowness of thought, and especially the totalitarian brutality lurking behind the lyrics’ false sweetness was fully crystallized. For naively or intentionally, what this song was extolling was a mechanistic view of reality, the abolition of individual human endeavor, and, the suppression of all national identities, the results of which have been amply evident (and were ongoing even as the song was released in the midst of the (first?!) Cold War!) throughout the twentieth century, to the “tune” of tens of millions dead.
For your consideration, the lyrics follow:
Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today… Aha-ah…
Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion, too Imagine all the people Living life in peace… You…
You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world… You…
You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one.
Then again, I’ve always felt the pop-culture – and not just the pop-culture! – fascination with The Beatles to be perplexing. (Blasphemy, blasphemy!)
Oh. Yes. Getting back to Michael Chabon’s speech…
Thinking about the ideological currents contributing to his thinking, I’m reminded of an essay that appeared on April 13, 1945, a month before the end of the Second World War in Europe, in the Indiana-based The Jewish Post, which is currently published as The Jewish Post and Opinion. Written by Bertram A. Rosenberg and entitled “A Soldier Checks Up on His Buddies to Discover What Kind of Future in Store for U.S. Jewry”, the essay takes the form of a series of vignettes, eleven in number. Through these, Rosenberg relates his observations of the interaction of Jewish soldiers in his unidentified unit with and among Jewish and non-Jewish soldiers and civilians in settings both military and civilian. He also presents comments made by Jewish soldiers – discretely recorded, I would think! – that were expressed in unguarded reflection about their perception of themselves, other Jews, and the political and military situation of the Jewish people “in general” during the war’s final year.
Of central note is the fact that absolutely none of the eleven incidents … musings … conversations (call them what you will) recounted below pertain to antisemitism as directly experienced by these soldiers. Though we have no way of knowing how random, representative,or dramatically selective is this “portrait” (I think it’s truly random), distinct themes emerge from Rosenberg’s essay: The degree to which the identity of these men was derived not through the prism of their own identity, ancestry, and heritage, but instead, from assumptions of how they assume others perceived them. … The degree to which some wish to consciously jettison or escape from any sense of identification with the Jewish people. … The attribution of antisemitism to the behavior of Jews themselves. … The ineffectiveness of educational efforts to impart a sense of Zionism, and, Jewish history. … Juxtaposed against these observations are a small few in which efforts towards a positive, confident, and assured Jewish identity are described. This is particularly so in the last vignette, in which a colonel in the Medical Corp admonishes his men: “We have nothing to apologize for. It is impossible now to elaborate upon two thousand years of religious faith, but enough to say that, you fool nobody, not even yourself, whim you deny your birthright.”
Rosenberg’s conclusion is ambiguous: “I hesitate to enforce an all-inclusive conviction. I am reminded of the story of the blind men, who attempting to describe an elephant, found different points of emphasis and drew pictures in accordance with their sensitivity of experience. I do know that U.S. Jewish youth needs a new, different, more militant type of manhood. Being a Zionist, I know of one such type, possibly all-inclusive.” He closes with words from his brother: “We, the Israelites, need a Jewish-American manhood, that understands its responsibilities, accepts them and perceives the pleasures of our tradition, not solely the difficulties of it.”
Here’s Rosenberg’s essay, which is as relevant in 2024 as it was seventy-nine years ago:
A Soldier Checks Up on His Buddies to Discover What Kind of Future in Store for U.S. Jewry
Bertram A. Rosenberg
The Jewish Post April 13, 1945
ONE Sunday morning I awoke with a mission. I was going to find out, the extent of Jewishness, among my buddies, to learn of their background, Jewish education, awareness of Jewish problems, closeness of Jewish associations, and so on.
“Crazy fool,” strange interlude number one within me spoke. “Crazy fool, leave well enough alone! Leave well enough alone.”
“After all,” strange interlude number two spoke. “After all upon the thoughts of these youth, representative of all sections of the country, will depend the sort of Jewish life that will be led in America. And if you want to have a part in the destiny of your people, you should know the ways of their lives.”
Herewith I wish to assure all aspiring psychiatrists who desire to send me letters of advice and treatment that through the judicious use of non-habit forming opium, laudanum, cocaine, 3.2 per cent beer, intravenous morphine injections, I have cured myself of the delusions of “strange interlude.”
A Tall Assignment
“This is a tall assignment I says to me, so big, so subject to untrue generalities, so unscientific, so devoid of a beginning or an ending, a “rishon or a sof,” that only you would undertake it. You will start from the middle of an ocean, longitude zero, latitude zero, and descend downward, losing air, choking for sense, finding yourself swimming in four directional current, going up, going down, and wondering when the lifeline of common sanity will snap. Being human, thus lacking the fundamental annual sense of good and bad, I went ahead regardless.
In writing of what happened, I decided that I would quote various incidents written down in my black book and let the reader draw his own interpretation of their meaning. As for me, I was definitely swayed by what I had noted. After just a cursory landing on the “island within,” the footprints upon the beach, told me what I wanted to know…
Incident I …
“I feel that there are three hundred and sixty pairs of eyes watching our movements,…”
Our Jewish group of 25 men out of a total assembly of 360, were lined up in military formation, to march over to visit the chaplain. We, the Jews, led the parade, we the twenty five, because our chapel for today was the nearest. A young Jewish soldier alongside me said:
“I feel that there are three hundred and sixty pairs of eyes watching our movements, watching our cadence, watching our smartness, watching … whispering … criticizing … of course this is the super imaginative phantasy of my eighth sense, but it is a concrete disturbance.”
Incident 2 …
“I’m roped in.”
Our group deported from the others and as we awaited entrance to the chapel, one of the Jewish boys hollered out to a pal of his in the Christian columns:
“I’m roped in.”
As an honest, manly extension of this, he might have said:
“Listen, you Christians, I’m not here because I want to be. I’m not one of these Jews. I’m roped in because we were ordered to be here.”
Incident 3 …
“Yep, it’s peculiar, well when my father-in-law dies, I will be free.”
Before going into the chapel, one John Smith explains to all of us:
“Yep, nobody believes I’m Jewish. Why when I was to be married, my father-in-law thought me a “goy.” Yep, it’s peculiar, well when my father-in-law dies, I will be free.”
Incident 4 …
“…when such a thing happens it is best to leave it alone,
to let it go,
to avoid all trouble,
to let the matter drop,
to act as if nothing happened.”
Suddenly one of the boys motions for all of us to assemble in a small circle. We go underground to listen.
“Listen, fellows. I have something to tell you. One of our soldiers in barracks got up today and read a poem, a soldier’s hymn, contents being that the Christians fight while the Jews buy bonds. Fellows, when such a thing happens it is best to leave it alone, to let it go, to avoid all trouble, to let the matter drop, to act as if nothing happened. After all aren’t there many jokes about the Jews we tell ourselves. I know this kid. He even says “Sam Goldberg is his best friend.”
Incident 5 …
“Some of you say that even if you don’t believe in religion, you should attend services to gain the respect of your Christian pals, but what respect have you gained by having your face slapped.”
One of the boys replies:
“Listen, fellows, you guys that say hush-hush this affair are cowards. When that fellow read his poem you had not time to rationalize, to debate the wisest course of action, because this was a stimulus to your emotions, it was a split second affair, and if you hid under your cover, plugged your ears with your fingers, or bent down to tie your shoe lace, or walked out of the room, then you showed physical and menial cowardice. You had no time to think, you had only time for your Jewish conditioned background to activate your reaction. It was as if a hot iron were touched to your hand. The resultant action is based on muscular reflex, conditioned by your experiences with fire and heat. Sure you hid under your covers. Just as you have been hiding ever since you understood you were Jewish. You have no pride in your Judaism. Some of you say that even if you don’t believe in religion, you should attend services to gain the respect of your Christian pals, but what respect have you gained by having your face slapped.”
Incident 6 …
“In fact, it is a shock to learn that twenty five years of Zionist propaganda, of current events of American English articles, of books, has not conclusively reached into the heart of Chicago … outlands of New Jersey … southern Florida hand-clapping Texas … cold Massachusetts.”
After chapel services a discussion initiated by the chaplain was held. The topic chosen was “Regimented Prayer.” From out of nowhere a disturbed soul asks:
“Chaplain, what is a Zion … a Zionism … a Zio –”
The chaplain jumps to the rescue and adds:
“A Zionist”
“Yes, sir.”
“A Zionist is a person who wants the Jews of Europe to find a home in Palestine. Although an American Zionist is one who does not want to go there.”
A second voice says:
“Isn’t a Zionist, one who wants to kick the Arabs out of their land?”
A bright, young man astounds the gathering, Klal Israel, with the important piece of information:
“Pierre Van Paassen’s book, “Days of Our Years,” has the answer to that.”
A third voice says:
“Isn’t Biro-Bijan a Zionist state?”
So it goes, wholesale uninformativeness. It surprises one. In fact, it is a shock to learn that twenty five years of Zionist propaganda, of current events of American English articles, of books, has not conclusively reached into the heart of Chicago … outlands of New Jersey … southern Florida hand-clapping Texas … cold Massachusetts.
Incident 7 …
“See, that’s what I mean.
It is that type of Jew, dirty, begging, conspicuous, that causes anti-Semitism.
I don’t blame the Gentiles.”
Last night three of us Jewish boys went to a show. While on the way, we were cautiously approached and stopped by a bedraggled, hunched over moth-eaten man whose face bore marks of Jewish suffering. At first we intended brushing him aside, but to test my friend’s reactions, I said:
“Let’s buy a paper.”
“All right,” said pal one, “but I have no change. Will a dollar bill do?”
The man nodded, “No.
“’Here’s a dime,” I volunteered. “Let’s give it to him and forget the paper.”
“No, thanks, boys,” the man hastened to say, “I sell papers.”
“Du bist a Yid,” I said in pidgeon Jewish.
“An alte Yid,” he responded.
My friends demanded a halt to the conversation, appearing embarrassed, and cautioning me to speak softly. When we finally were out of earshot, one said:
“See, that’s what I mean. It is that type of Jew, dirty, begging, conspicuous, that causes anti-Semitism. I don’t blame the Gentiles.”
Incident 8 …
“We had gone “over the hill” from GI chow, and were seated in a Jewish restaurant, awaiting the entree of chopped herring. Each of us had been supplied by the observant proprietor with a drip-pan placed snugly against the lower lip, Ubangi style, into which fell the tidal wave of anxious saliva. One of the more daring boys had secured a bottle of Canadian Club, and asked the proprietor whether we could make a toast, the answer being:
“If I can’t see it, can I see it?”
Which translated into good English, means:
“If I can’t see it, can I see it?”
We lifted our glasses to a position Just on the level with our eyes (seeing is believing).
“Rebenishelolam.”
“Rehenishelolam,” I repeated, “what’s that?”
“Oh,” he replied, “that’s the Jewish toast for drinking.”
“Do you know what that means?”
“No,” he answered, “but my grandmother always said it at home.”
“You’re mistaken,” I said, “the word is ‘Lechaiim,’ to health. You were calling upon the Lord’s name.”
Nevertheless, the Canadian Club tasted good. Indeed after awhile we were amazed to find that the proprietor had installed a revolving cuisine. Or so it seemed.
Incident 9 …
“What do you guys want to do, prove this is a Jewish war?”
One day after a very impressive chapel service, during which the chaplain read of the “Heroes of the Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto,” with the tune of the Young Judean version of “Adon Olam” ringing in our ears, we made our way back to our barracks. There my friend found an old harmonica and commenced to give out with all the Palestinian chants he and I knew. Anu Banu Artza, Avinu Malkenu, Hineh Matov … It was not more than three songs and two bars of “Yerushalyium” later, when the section chief, a Jewish lad, cautioned us to quiet. Revolt flared up within us, this Sunday, and we continued.
Again the section chief emerged from his shell, and cautioned:
“What do you guys want to do, prove this is a Jewish war?”
Incident 10 …
“Fine Jewish boys met death with a “Shma Israel” on their lips, and a Mezuzzah in their hands. And here in these very halls…”
Our camp had a very fine library. Well, this day I walked in intent on securing Ben Hecht’s “Guide to [sic] the Bedevilled,” or Ludwig Lewisohn’s “Breathe Upon These“, or Pierre Van Paassen’s “Forgotten Ally,” when I observed and promptly snatched, or should I say snitched a booklet, “Fighting for America,” put out by the National Jewish Welfare Board.
As I looked through this history of brave fighting Jews and feverishly scoured the “missing in action,” the “died for their country” columns, I was aware of a sniping over my shoulder. A voice inquired:
“May I read it next?”
One day later, the booklet was returned to me with an enclosed note.
“Dear Bert,
I showed this booklet to several Jewish friends of mine and the consensus of opinion was that it is a waste of valuable paper. Why do certain people insist upon separating us Jews into a distinct grouping? This showing of our differences results in special attention to us. We need less of this.”
I venomed. Fine Jewish boys met death with a “Shma Israel” on their lips, and a Mezuzzah in their hands. And here in these very halls…
______________________________
Here are covers of the books referred in the above vignette. They’re all from my library. (Yes, I like books.)
A Guide for the Bedevilled Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, N.Y., 1944
__________
Breathe Upon These Ludwig Lewisohn Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, In., 1944
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The Forgotten Ally Pierre van Paassen The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1943
__________
Fighting for America A Record of the Participation of Jewish Men and Women in the Armed Forces During 1944 The National Jewish Welfare Board, New York, N.Y., 1944
______________________________
Incident 11 …
“We have nothing to apologize for.”
At services today, a colonel of the Medical Corps was among the worshippers and was requested by the chaplain to give his greetings. This elderly, handsome, neatly attired officer spoke:
“Fellow Jews, I think that what I have to say will be a Testament of Faith. Mind you I’m not a Holy Roller, but what I have to say, I believe in. Don’t be ashamed of being a Jew. Many of the boys who come to the medical training school are ashamed of being Jews, they try to hide it. As for me, I have always found a great source of spiritual strength in my religion. I have a Jewish home and intend to bring up my little family as Jews. We have nothing to apologize for. It is impossible now to elaborate upon two thousand years of religious faith, but enough to say that, you fool nobody, not even yourself, whim you deny your birthright.”
These are just eleven incidents, but easily multiplied by four score and seven, that like organic pain, are symptoms of unhealthy disturbances in U.S. Jewish life. This is not news. But the Army Express carries one over the broad land, throwing unassortedly man upon man, given the opportunity for a study of altogether different unlocalized human beings from Maine to Florida, from Washington to Texas, from California to New York.
Draws No Conclusions
This, then is my stay of “GI Jacob,” as I found him. From these “Incidents,” can be drawn a pretty fair diagram of Jewish-American youth as Jews. I, for one, am a poor artist. I leave the color, strong lines, weak lines, emphasis of profile, to the Jewish socio-religio experts, who in their own accepted learnings, will draw it out as it affects them.
I hesitate to enforce an all-inclusive conviction. I am reminded of the story of the blind men, who attempting to describe an elephant, found different points of emphasis and drew pictures in accordance with their sensitivity of experience. I do know that U.S. Jewish youth needs a new, different, more militant type of manhood. Being a Zionist, I know of one such type, possibly all-inclusive.
One word then, before I leave, one thought, that my brother so ably writes, from an army camp somewhere in the world:
“We, the Israelites, need a Jewish-American manhood, that understands its responsibilities, accepts them and perceives the pleasures of our tradition, not solely the difficulties of it.”
Here’s the original article as it appeared in The Jewish Post…
Let’s return to 2023 and 2024.
What conclusions can we draw from the intersection of Bertram Rosenberg’s article of 1945 and Michael Chabon’s speech of 2018? The opinions about Jewish identity, and survival, versus the ideology of self-negation that Chabon espoused in his commencement address didn’t solely arise from within his (and I quite eye-rollingly admit, my) generation, or, spontaneously spring from the ideological aether of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. They had already crystallized, and were felt and articulated in different ways decades earlier, having historical antecedents in events and philosophical currents – the impacts of which were perhaps initially unanticipated or unappreciated – that commenced far – centuries? – earlier.
As understood by Bertram Rosenberg’s anonymous Medical Corps colonel, an apology, however intensely felt, passionately articulated, and adroitly acted upon, cannot be the foundation for the the self-understanding of individuals, let alone the continued existence of a people and a nation.
To conclude, two videos:
November 3, 2023: “Pro-Palestinian protesters at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia call for Israel-Hamas ceasefire” (from The Philadelphia Inquirer)
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July 23, 2024: “Jewish Voices For Peace Hold A Sit-In On Capitol Hill Protesting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Visit” (from Forbes Breaking News) (A bit of a typo there: Should be “Jewish Voice for Peace”. The organization, Jew-ish in name only, (big emphasis on the “ish” part) is a contemporary incarnation of the former Soviet Union’s Yevsektsiya.)
“plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”.
Post Script
An ironic and unrelated afterword. Or two. (Or three.)
It’s odd.
Despite my opinions about Chabon’s Hebrew Union College speech and the ideology of his writing (as exemplified in his novel The Yiddish Policeman’s Union), I admit to really (truly!) enjoying the 2012 film John Carter, (based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ serialized John Carter of Mars; see more at Archive.org) for which Chabon was one of the three screenwriters. Though the film was and continues to be overwhelmingly “panned” and pummeled by many viewers and critics, I felt it was genuinely evocative and strongly representative of science fiction as presented in the pulps of the early twentieth century, examples of which you can find at my brother blog, WordsEnvisioned. Plus, it was lots of fun.
It’s now mid-October of 2024, and time once again to ( … drum roll … ) update this post. Reason being, I’ve recently come across three new videos about Bill Lyons and his experiences as a fighter pilot in the Second World War. The videos are: 1) Greg’s “P-51 Mustang Out-Turned by Fw 190 D-9? Yes, This Happened But…”, 2) Zack’s “Interview with Bill Lyons, WWII Fighter Pilot, 357th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group”, and 3) Jeff Simon’s “DOGFIGHT OVER GERMANY! WWII Hero Bill Lyons’ Untold Stories of Valor in the P-51 Mustang”. The videos themselves, and links to their creators’ YouTube channels are presented below.
Thus far I’ve only been able to view Greg’s video about P-51 versus FW-190D-9 combat, and of course, it’s fascinating and professionally done. Typical of Greg’s military aviation videos, he approaches topics from multiple vantage points: Those of technology (WW II technology, of course), engineering, aerodynamics, and the influence and implications of these three factors – whether for Allied or Axis aircraft – on military tactics.
I do look forward to viewing the other two videos.
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Update – June 8, 2024
Covering the experiences of William S. Lyons as a P-51 fighter pilot in the 8th Air Force, this post – created in October of 2018 – has now been updated. It includes a half-hour-long interview of Bill from Flight Line Media’s YouTube channel, which can be viewed (just scroll down a little) under the heading “Video”. It’s a great interview; moving, sensitively carried out, and professionally done. Notably, Bill mentions his cousin Sylvan Feld, about whom you can find information at the “bottom” of this post, along with comments about Sylvan’s brother Monroe, who – as a member of the 450th Bomb Group – was shot down and taken prisoner during a mission to Hungary in 1945. Enjoy.
______________________________
“God gives luck to somebody, but He needs such a lot of help from you!”
Lieutenant William Stanley Lyons, Steeple Morden, England, mid-August, 1944
As recounted in the previous post, Sunday, November 26, 1944 is notable for the severe losses incurred by the Eighth Air Force – principally the 445th and 491st Bomb Groups. – during its mission to rail viaducts, marshaling yards and oil installations in western Germany.
However, there’s another aspect of that day which – though it would not assuage the grief of those families whose sons were lost in combat – provides, in a purely military context, a measure of recompense for that day’s losses: The significant number of aerial victories attained by fighter pilots of the Eighth Air Force in combat with the Luftwaffe.
According to USAF Historical Study No. 85 (USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II) for November 26, Eighth Air Force fighter pilots were credited with 122 aerial victories, while elsewhere in Europe the 9th, 12th, and 15th Air Forces were credited with 13 enemy planes destroyed, and in the Southwest Pacific, 6 aerial victories were credited to fighter pilots of the 5th and 13th Air Forces.
Thus, on November 26, 1944, there were 141 confirmed aerial victories of USAAF fighter groups across all theatres of war. These are listed by Fighter Groups (and other units) below:
Europe
For the Eighth Air Force, total aerial victories by Group were:
78th Fighter Group – 9 victories (by 6 pilots) 339th Fighter Group – 28 victories (by 17 pilots; the highest scoring USAAF Fighter Group on November 26) 353rd Fighter Group – 3 victories (by 3 pilots) 355th Fighter Group – 21 victories (by 13 pilots) 356th Fighter Group – 22 victories (by 17 pilots) 359th Fighter Group – 1 victory 361st Fighter Group – 23 victories (by 18 pilots) 364th Fighter Group – 9 victories (by 7 pilots) 479th Fighter Group – 1 victory
Nine Air Force fighter units (one Group and one Fighter Squadron) were credited with the following aerial victories:
354th Fighter Group – 3 victories (by 1 pilot)
422nd Night Fighter Squadron – 1 victory (1 victory each credited to both pilot and radar operator)
In the Twelfth Air Force:
324th Fighter Group – 1 victory
And, in the Fifteenth Air Force:
14th Fighter Group – 8 victories (by 8 pilots)
Southwest Pacific
In the Fifth Air Force:
35th Fighter Group – 2 victories (by 2 pilots) 49th Fighter Group – 3 victories (by 3 pilots)
And, in the Thirteenth Air Force:
18th Fighter Group – 1 victory
______________________________
Among the Eighth Air Force fighter pilots who shot down German aircraft on November 26, 1944, was First Lieutenant William (“Bill”) Stanley Lyons (0-822214) of the 355th Fighter Group’s 357th Fighter Squadron, who later – on February 9, 1945 – shot down another German fighter for his second aerial victory, ultimately completing 63 combat missions over Europe. As reported in a letter published by the Brooklyn Eagle on December 28, 1944, under the heading “Over There”:
____________________
Here’s the emblem of the 357th Fighter Squadron. This image, of a painted-leather original jacket patch from WW II, was found at PicClick. (I edited the original photo for clarity.)
____________________
Diving from 15,000 feet to tree-top level, 1st Lt. William S. Lyons, of 6733 Ridge Boulevard, Mustang pilot, recently shot down a Messerschmitt 109 to tally his first victory over the Luftwaffe.
“Anybody who thinks the Luftwaffe is a thing of the past should have seen those 200 German fighters we tangled with,” said the lieutenant, recalling the aerial battle over Hanover, during which his group destroyed 22 enemy planes.
“There were about three big formations. When we first saw them they were preparing to attack the Liberators which our group was escorting. We intercepted the first wave and kept them off for a while, but there were so many Germans that they finally got to the bombers and hit them pretty hard.
“I managed to get behind one Me-109. I hit him in the fuselage a few times and smoke began streaming out of the plane. He tried to turn very tightly and I put another good burst into him. His wing-tip scraped the ground and he cart-wheeled and crashed.”
The 20-year-old flyer, a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School, was employed in a defense plant before entering the service in 1942.
Akin to a significant number of American Jewish servicemen who participated in combat during the Second World War, Bill’s name never appeared in the 1947 publication American Jews in World War II. Regardless, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and eight Oak Leaf Clusters.
Born on June 20, 1924, Bill’s parents were Edward Immanuel and Ethel (Goldstein) Lyons; his wartime residence was 6733 Ridge Boulevard, in Brooklyn.
With the passage of time, notably commencing in the early 2000s, Bill’s story has become easily; readily; immediately accessible.
Here are websites where you can learn more about his experiences, and, view images and artistic depictions of his “personal” P-51, Tiger’s Revenge…
Interviews
Audio
At Hyperscale, you can listen to Bill’s 10-minute account – recorded in 2006 – of his aerial victory during the Magdeburg mission of February 9, 1945.
Video(s)
Conducted on August 9, 2023, and uploaded to Flight Line Media on May 19, 2024, here is Flight Line Media’s interview of Bill, directed by Andrew Horton, videographer Caleb Stopa, and editor, Shawn Zhen.
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“The Jewish P-51 Fighter Pilot who Fought the Nazis | #7”
At the West Point Center for Oral History, you can view a two-hour interview of Bill as he recounts his experiences during the Second World War, in an interview entitled “A Mustang Over Europe”. Of particular interest is Bill’s presentation and description of two portraits taken during his service in the 357th Fighter Squadron (one of which forms the “header” image for this post), which can be viewed at HistoryNet.
LoHud (Long Island Hudson?- Part of the USA Today Network?) features a news item of August 31, 2014: “Honor Flight to fly WWII Vets to D.C. Memorials”, by Richard Liebson, about Bill’s 2014 visit to the National World War II Memorial, U.S. Marine Corps War (Iwo Jima) Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. The visit was organized by Hudson Valley Honor Flight. The article includes eight photos, showing Bill, Bill and his wife Carol, and Frank Kimler of Hudson Valley Honor Flight.
As mentioned above, HistoryNet has Bill’s own well-written account of the November 26, 1944 Misburg mission (“Mustang Pilot’s Mission: A Day in the Life”) derived from a January 15, 2013 article in Aviation History Magazine.
The 12 O’Clock High Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum includes a discussion about Bill’s aerial Victory of February 9, 1945. A question: Could the German plane actually have been long-nose FW-190D (“Dora”) rather than an Me-109?
Bill was assigned his own P-51 on November 29, 1944, after the completion of 129 hours of combat time. The plane bore the nicknames Tiger’s Revenge and Elaine on its port and starboard cowlings, respectively, the former being a double entendre: “Tiger” was Bill’s nickname within the 357th Fighter Squadron, while the phrase “Tiger’s Revenge” denoted vengeance on behalf of Bill’s cousin, Major Sylvan Feld, who was killed in France in the summer of 1944.
Tiger’s Revenge was lost on April 16, 1945, during a strafing attack on Eferding Airdrome, Austria, while being piloted by Captain Joseph E. Lake, of Delaware County, Indiana.
(Captain Lake was killed. According to his WW II Honoree Record (created by Martha A. Harris) his fate was only fully determined in 1949. He was buried at Elm Ridge Memorial Park, Muncie, Indiana, on May 25 of that year. Information about him can also be found at WW2 Aircraft.Net. The loss of Captain Lake and Tiger’s Revenge is an example – even in mid-1945 – of an ETO USAAF combat loss for which there is no Missing Aircrew Report.)
Nine beautifully rendered in-flight depictions of Tiger’s Revenge, seen from various vantage points, can be viewed at Sim Outhouse / SOH Combat Flight Center, under the heading “P-51D Tiger’s Revenge”. In light of copyright concerns, and, uncertainty about the artist’s identity (John Terrell?), rather than display the images “here”, you can view them directly at SIM-Outhouse.
A color profile of Tiger’s Revenge (by Nick King) can be viewed at Peter Randall’s Little Friends website, the profile being accompanied by two photographs of the actual airplane, all of which you can find at the Little Friends search page. Readily notable is the immaculate, shiny appearance of the fuselage, testimony to the conscientiousness of the fighter’s ground crew.
And, yet more…
Some years ago, I had the good fortune to meet and interview Bill “in person”. The result was a fascinating, enlightening, and moving conversation of about six hours duration, concerning his wartime, pre-war, and post-war experiences.
You can listen to excerpts from the interview – cumulatively somewhat over an hour long – below. The excerpts have been subdivided into three sections, with explanatory text and images below each section.
Akin to the interviews with Irving Newman, Lawrence Levinson, and Phil Goldstein, in my prior blog posts, the interview addresses sociological and psychological aspects of military service, and, philosophical issues, as well as (but of course) military technology and combat. Likewise, some parts of this interview cover topics perhaps not addressed elsewhere. (The intermittent vwhirrr – vwhirrr – vwhirrr – (and more vwhirrs!) – sound is from the micro-cassette recorder which was used to record the interview. (Remember audiotape?!))
Section I
00:00 – 11:08: Bill’s youth in Brooklyn, and the genealogical background of his family; his desire – from adolescence – to become a fighter pilot. His knowledge, during the 1930s, of events in Europe; the probability of war. 11:22 – 15:40: The relative degrees danger of different types of combat missions (specifically, strafing versus escort). 15:22 – 22:01: Variations in performance of different aircraft of the same type and model (for example, “P-51D versus P-51D”), and, the quality of aircraft maintenance. Preparation for combat missions.
Section II
00:10 – 02:08: Psychologically and sociologically adapting oneself to combat flying, in terms of the individual and the group. 02:24 – 03:17: The personalities of fighter pilots; Bill’s opinion of the 1986 movie Top Gun. 03:35 – 08:49: Given that he was flying combat missions over the Third Reich, Bill’s thoughts about the implications of being captured, and, identified as a Jew. The concept of courage – what is it? Human behavior in extreme situations. “God gives luck to somebody, but He needs such a lot of help from you!”
Commentary and Digression…
A number of Jewish fighter pilots became POWs of the Germans (and a few, of the Japanese) during the Second World War.
A few names are given below.
Royal Air Force – No. 65 Squadron
Waterman, Philip Fay, Flight Lieutenant, J/15023 Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; 1919 Mr. M. Waterman (father), Leah and Matthew (sister and brother), 2912 West 31st Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Shot Down January 3, 1944 Aircraft: Spitfire IX, MA847 POW at Stalag Luft III; German POW # 1372 Canadian Jews in World War, Part II, p. 133 Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume III, p. 11
This example of the No. 65 Squadron crest is from Air Force Collectables, where, dating from the mid-1980s, it’s described as, “RAF Patch 65 Squadron Royal Air Force Crest Patch Shadow For 229 OCU Operational Conversion Unit Tornado F 2 F 3 1986 RAF Chivenor Applique embroidered on twill cut edge 108mm by 77mm four and one quarter inches by three inches.“
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Royal Air Force – No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron
Maranz, Nathaniel, Flight Lieutenant, 86617 Born New York, N.Y., January 12, 1919 Dr. Jacob M. and Mrs. Amelia (Schimmel) Maranz (parents), 102 East Fourth St., New York, N.Y. Shot down by Me-109 of JG 2 or JG 26, on June 21, 1941. Gunshot wounds in both legs; burned foot. Picked up by German Air-Sea Rescue. Aircraft: Hurricane II, Z3461 (Also, shot down and parachuted over England on April 6, 1941; Suffered burns.) POW at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany; German POW # 1372 Columbia University School of Pharmacy Graduate, Class of 1939 Changed surname to “Marans” by 1957 Died July 29, 2002, at Belvedre Tiburon, California Jewish Post (Indianapolis) 6/27/41, 7/25/41 Jewish Chronicle 8/1/41, 8/8/41 Long Island Daily Press 9/2/41 New York Sun 3/19/41 New York Times 7/18/41, 9/2/41, 9/3/41 P.M. 8/20/41 Schenectady Gazette 6/24/41 The Knickerbocker News 9/2/41 The Times Record (Troy, N.Y.) 7/18/41 Utica Daily Press 7/18/41 We Will Remember Them, Volume I, p. 214 Behind The Wire, Record # 263 Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume I, p. 121
This photo of Nathaniel Maranz is from the Columbia University Yearbook of 1939.
This example of the emblem of RAF No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron was found at the Etsy store TheMilitaryPlace. It’s a very nice contemporary reproduction of the insignia.
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South African Air Force – No. 1 Squadron (“The Billy Boys”)
Wayburne, Ellis, Captain, 47508V Born November 16, 1916 Mr. and Mrs. Meier Gerson and Sonia (Blank) Wayburne [Waigowsky] (parents) Cyril, Gert, Harry, Issy, Laura, Lea, Mary, and Rose (brothers and sisters) 20 Beelaerts St., Troyeville, Johannesburg, Guateng, South Africa Shot down September 23, 1944 Aircraft: Spitfire IX, MA313 POW at Stalag Luft II, Sagan, and Stalag IIIA (Luckenwalde) Eagles Victorious, p. 307 85 Years of South African Air Force, pp. 300, 307 The Story of No. 1 Squadron S.A.A.F., Sometime Known as the Billy Boys, p. 424
Marcia Myerson (wife)…
…made Aliyah to Eretz Israel in 1970
This picture of Ellis Wayburne (possibly taken while he was a student pilot) is from The Billy Boys. It also appears in his autobiography.
Here’s a representative view of a No. 1 Squadron South African Air Force Spitfire, as such aircraft would have appeared in Italy from 1944 through the war’s end. According to military history enthusiast / modeler / author William S. Marshall, in SAAF WW2 Nose Art (which focuses on markings carried by Hurricanes and Spitfires of Number 1 Squadron) the plane is finished in, …”RAF Ocean Grey /RAF Dark Green with RAF Medium Sea Grey undersides in the typical day fighter scheme used in Italy during 1944/45.” This particular aircraft is Spitfire Mk VIII JF322, as flown by Lt. Hilton Ackerman. The illustration, by P.J. van Schalkwyk, is from Winston Brent’s 85 Years of South African Air Force. Unfortunately, I’ve no idea of the identification letter or nose art (if any?) of Ellis Wayburne’s MA313.
Here’s the emblem of Number 1 Squadron SAAF, as it appeared on the engine cowlings of the Squadron’s Spitfires. The example presented here appears in SAAF WW2 Nose Art.
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United States Army Air Force
Korotkin, Louis, 2 Lt., 0-749567, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, 10 combat missions 10th Air Force, 80th Fighter Group, 459th Fighter Squadron (The “Twin Tail Dragons”) Born Brooklyn, New York, June 5, 1919 Mrs. Angelina J. (Sanicola) Korotkin (wife), 97-29 91st St., Ozone Park, N.Y. Mr. Isidore Bronstein (father), 91-07 101st Ave., Ozone Park, N.Y. Shot down February 3, 1944; Evaded until February 8, when captured by Japanese patrol; Liberated 4/28/45 Aircraft: P-38H, 42-66981; MACR 2089 POW at Burma #5; Moulmein & Rangoon Jail Graduated Williams Field, Arizona, 6/22/43 Long Island Daily Press 5/28/45 The Leader-Observer 5/31/45 The Record (Richmond Hill, N.Y.) 5/31/45, 3/1/44, 5/28/45 American Jews in World War Two, p. 366
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Here’s a low-resolution photo of Louis Korotkin in Propwash – Class 43-F – Sequoia Field – Visalia, Calif., from Army Air Forces Collection. This is the only image of Louis Korotkin that seems to exist on (or, via) the Internet.
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Here’s the squadron insignia of the 459th Fighter Squadron, which – given that the unit was equipped with P-38s – quite appropriately depicts the twin engines and central “gondola” of the Lightning as lightning-shooting snakes.
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Willner, Edward A., 2 Lt., 0-671824, Air Medal, Purple Heart 10th Air Force, 311th Fighter Group, 530th Fighter Squadron Mrs. Lillian (Greenberg) Willner (wife), 2646 Tuxedo St., Detroit, Mi. Mr. C.R. Willner (father) , Westwoods, Ca. Shot down November 27, 1943 Aircraft: P-51A, 43-6265; MACR 1213 POW at Burma #5; Moulmein & Rangoon Jail The Jewish News (Detroit) 6/29/45, 7/6/45 American Jews in World War Two – Not listed
Here are two versions of the squadron insignia of the 530th FS.
…while this image is from the cover of the book 530th Fighter Squadron – 1942-?, the squadron’s wartime-printed history, once available (alas, no longer: it’s been purchased, but a few pages are still on display!) from Flying Tiger Antiques.
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Wood, Henry Irving, 1 Lt., 0-789035, Air Medal, Purple Heart 14th Air Force, 23rd Fighter Group, 75th Fighter Squadron Born 1918 Mrs. Josephine (Hughes) Wood (mother), 2217 Herschell St., Jacksonville, Fl. Shot down October 1, 1943 Aircraft: P-40K, 42-46250; MACR 759 POW at Shanghai POW Camp, Kiangwan, China Craig Field, Alabama, Class 42-D Jacksonville Commentator 10/21/43, 11/5/43 American Jews in World War Two, p. 86
Lt. Wood’s portrait is from the United States National Archives collection: “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation – NARA RG 18-PU”. (In this case, Box 102.)
09:06 – 09:41: Did Bill ever discuss the above topic – being a Jewish aviator, flying over Germany – with anyone else? (No.) Did he know any other Jewish airmen in the 357th Fighter Squadron? (Yes.) One: Lieutenant Jack H. Dressler. 09:38 – 18:27: An encounter with antisemitism (the comments of “Lieutenant X”).
Commentary and Digression…
The historical records of the 357th Fighter Squadron revealed that Bill’s memory of Lieutenant X’s surname – deleted for the purpose of this blog post – was dead-on accurate. The man passed away in the mid-1950s. In any event, the Latin expression: “Res ipsa loquitur,” – “The thing speaks for itself,” is as pertinent as it is sufficient.
As I listened to Bill “then”, and once again while creating this post, I was reminded of Len Giovannitti’s 1957 novel The Prisoners of Combine D, a novel about a group of American prisoners of war in Germany from late 1944 through the war’s end in May, 1945. Inspired and loosely based upon Giovannitti’s experiences as a POW in Stalag Luft III, a central plot element involves the identification and attempted segregation of Jewish POWs in the camp … which event actually transpired in Stalag Luft I and Stalag 9B (Bad Orb), but not Sagan. Jewish POWs were not segregated at the latter camp, probably due to a combination of the intervention and policies of the senior allied officers, and, the timing of the forced march of all POWs from that camp, which commenced on the evening of January 27, 1945.
The cover of Bantam Books’ 1959 paperback edition of the novel appears below. Though the cover artist is unknown and the art itself undramatic, albeit directly relevant to the story, this illustration is – ironically – vastly better than the uninspired, monochrome composition by the strangely over-rated Ben Shahn, which graces the dust jacket of the book’s (hardback) first edition.
The novel’s central characters (Bendel, Fernandez, Kitchener, Lawton, Storch, and Zuckerman) represent individuals of a variety of social, and ethnic backgrounds, while in a literary sense, all are generally “three dimensional” in terms of representing distinct individuals with different personalities.
The novel pays absolutely no attention to aerial combat, and very little attention to pre-war events, life in the United States, postwar plans, or life – in “general” – elsewhere and elsewhen. In effect and intention, the novel’s entire “world” – in terms of both time, space, and thought – is confined to the immediacy of the POW camp, and, the psychological impact of being a prisoner of war.
Not evident – perhaps intentionally so, given the tenor of the 1950s? – from the blurb on the rear cover, the central character turns out to be “Hyman Zuckerman” (I would think refreshingly unrelated to Philip Roth’s “Nathan Zuckerman”!) who is almost certainly a fictional representation of Giovannitti himself.
As for his military service, Len Giovannitti (ASN 0-811621) was a navigator in the 742nd Bomb Squadron of the 455th Bomb Group, and was one of the seven survivors from B-24H 41-29261 – Gargantua – piloted by 1 Lt. Ralph D. Sensenbrenner, which was shot down during the 15th Air Force’s mission to Vienna on June 26, 1944, his 50th mission. The plane’s loss is covered in MACR 6404 and Luftgaukommando Report ME 1492.
The image below shows Giovannitti’s “Angaben über Gefangennahme von Feindlichen Luftwaffenangehörigen” (“Information about capture of enemy air force personnel”) form, from the Luftgaukommando Report.
In Giovannitti’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Nature of the Beast (1977), the protagonist is named Dante Ebreo. The name is strikingly symbolic, seemingly derived from “Dante” – as in the name of the renowned poet “Durante degliAlighieri”, author of The Divine Comedy, combined with “Ebreo” – the Italian word for “Jew”. Within the book, Giovannitti devotes one chapter to his – or is it “Dante Ebreo’s”? – experiences during the Second World War. Here, he recounts his final mission in great detail (even naming his pilot “Sensebrenner” ), concluding with a few paragraphs which summarize the profound impact of his war experiences in general – and captivity in Germany, in particular – upon his life, within the overall arc of Dante Ebreo’s – or is it Len Giovannitt’s? – story.
Early in the novel, in the context of the fate of the camp’s Jewish POWs,Zuckerman expresses the following thoughts to his friend, Edward Lawton:
Zuckerman: I used to think a pogrom might happen in New York and I’d get killed. And now it’s my yardstick, you might say.
Lawton: How do you mean?
Zuckerman: I measure people against it. I say to myself, if a pogrom really did happen and …(if) people like me were threatened with death, what would he do, my friend? Would he fight for me or would he turn away, a little sick maybe, but turn away. It’s not really fair, I guess, because a pogrom would be after me and I’d have to fight, but I want to know who’s with me and who’s against me and who’s just going to watch and be sick.
Given Giovannitti’s literary skill, it would have been invaluable if he’d re-visited his wartime experiences in non-fiction format, as did David K. Westheimer, author of Song of the Young Sentry (and Von Ryan’s Express), in his 1992 book Sitting It Out– A World War II POW Memoir. Unfortunately for history, that book never came to be. As Len Giovannitti confided to me some years back, a little over three decades after the completion of Prisoners, he no longer had any desire to “re-visit” his Second World War experiences, whether as fiction or fact. Perhaps his novel – the writing of which spanned four years – was enough.
Perhaps more about Len Giovannitti in a future post. But in the meantime, here’s a portrait of Len Giovannitti from the jacket of his semi autobiographical novel, The Nature of the Beast. The image presumably dates from the mid-1970s, given that book’s 1997 publication date.
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And so, back to the interview with Bill Lyons…
Section III
00:06 – 0:37: What happened to Jack Dressler?
Commentary…
…as for “Dressler”, Bill’s memory was remarkably accurate:
“Dressler” was 2 Lt. Jacob (“Jack”) Harry Dressler (0-824608), from 81-21 20th Avenue, in New York. The son of Morris and Anna (Braunfeld) Dressler (parents), his siblings were Jack, Miriam, and Paul.
As recorded in the historical records of the 357th Fighter Squadron for March 15, 1945, “Lieutenant Dressler on this mission ran short of gas and was last seen heading toward the Russian lines. He wasn’t heard for two weeks and was given up as missing in action. Then on the 30th of March the report came in that he was safe and was on his way back to the squadron.” (See below.) The historical records of the 357th Fighter Squadron contain no information about his experiences in Russia, simply noting that he returned by April.
He was flying P-51D 44-14314 (OS * L), intriguingly nicknamed Sexless Stella / One More Time (what inspired that moniker?!). (This information is from Peter Randall’s Little Friends.) There is no MACR for this incident. The plane was one of at least eleven 8th and 15th Air Force P-51s that landed in the Soviet Union, or behind Soviet lines, between 1944 and 1945, based on data compiled by Martin Kyburz, of Swiss Mustangs.
Jack Dressler’s name appears on page 299 of American Jews in World War II, with the notation that he received the Air Medal, likely indicating that he completed between 5 and 10 combat missions. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 25, 1923, he died on November 2, 2017. His portrait, from Legacy, appears below:
00:51 – 02:17: Bill’s attitude towards the Germans, as “people”, and, as opponents in aerial combat. 02:44 – 07:58: Bill’s interactions with British civilians. Impressions of Steeple Morden and Letchworth. Dating a German-Jewish refugee girl – “Elsa” – in Letchworth. 08:11 – 17:38: Shooting down an Me-109 over Magdeburg, Germany, on February 9, 1945.
Commentary…
Here’s the Encounter Report for Bill’s aerial victory:
…and here is Ronnie Olsthoorn’s depiction of Bill’s victory, which appeared in 2007 at Hyperscale, which is accompanied by Bill’s account (audio) of this event.
Created in 2005, the original work was presented to Bill at the 355th Fighter Group reunion in October of 2005, with A-2 size signed prints (signed by Ronnie Olsthoorn and Bill) then being made available at Digital Aviation Art. The signed prints have since sold out, but Giclee (fine art digital inkjet prints) seem (?) to still be available through Mr. Olsthoorn’s site. Several qualities contribute to the striking nature of this artwork: The image is characterized by its unusual perspective – the action is viewed front the front of the aircraft, not the side; the complementary use of light (bright horizon) versus dark (shadows, earth tones, and darkened sky tones towards the top of the image); the degree of detail (details of the data block on the fuselage of the P-51 are visible); and the compositional relationship of the P-51 (foreground) and Me-109 (background).
“Moroney” is 1 Lt. Edward J. Moroney, Jr. (ASN 0-806496) who attained three confirmed victories while flying in the 357th Fighter Squadron (one on November 2, and two on November 26). He was from Highland Park, Il., and was killed in the crash of F-84E 50-1209 on June 8, 1951, one of eight F-84E Thunderjets that crashed near Richmond, Indiana, that day. He is buried at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery, Lake County, Il. The news article below, from the Rome Daily Sentinel (New York) of June 11 (via Thomas M. Tryniski’s FultonHistory website) lists the pilots involved in the accident, as well as their addresses and next of kin:
New York State Digital library
17:38 – 22:48:Shooting down an Me-109 on November 26, 1944.
Commentary…
Here is the encounter report for this aerial victory…
…and here’s a picture of Bill, taken shortly after his return from this mission. As described by Bill in The West Point Center for Oral History video (1:58:30 – 1:59:35), the picture was taken by Bill’s crew chief using the gun camera from Bill’s Mustang (behind), which had been temporarily removed from the fighter’s wing to capture the image.
“Fred Haviland” is Capt. Fred R. Haviland, Jr., who attained six aerial victories in the 357th Fighter Squadron.
23:10 – 25:53: Encounter with an Me-262 on March 3, 1945.
Commentary and Digression…
Here’s Bill’s Encounter Report for this mission…
Since the (above) digital image – from microfilm – is extremely difficult to read, an image of a transcribed version of this Encounter Report appears below…
…while here is a (400 dpi) scan from Bill’s flight log, covering missions from March 2 through March 19, which mentions the encounter with the Me-262. “Escort to Magdeburg. – Fight with jets. – Damaged one Me-262. – Damn near had him. – Boresight off, fired with tanks.”
While some visitors to this post will doubtless be immediately familiar with the Messerschmitt 262 – and thus need no introduction to the aircraft – for those unfamiliar with WW II military aviation, a depiction of the plane is displayed below, for representative purposes. Notably, this illustration does not depict the specific Me-262 which Bill pursued on March 3, the unit and markings of which are unknown. Rather, it’s simply a very good; quite evocative picture: the “box art” for Airfix’s 1/72 scale Me-262A-1A (kit A03088), and shows a Schwalbe of KG(J) 54 attacking B-17s of the 351st Bomb Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group on March 18, 1945.
25:45 – 26:35: Memories of two pilots who were lost on November 26, 1944: 1 Lt. Bernard R.J. Barab and 2 Lt. Charles W. Kelley, killed in a mid-air collision witnessed by Bill.
Commentary…
Biographical information about Bernard R.J. Barab and Charles W. Kelley follows below:
1 Lt. Bernard R.J. Barab, 0-796643, Air Medal, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Mary (Curran) Barab (parents), Thelma and Eileen (sisters), 2 South Bartram Ave. / 927 Atlantic Ave. / 127 Ocean Ave., Atlantic City, N.J. Mr. Richard L. Barab (cousin) MACR 11079, P-51D 44-13574; No Luftgaukommando Report? Name appeared in casualty list published on November 1, 1945 Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium – Plot C, Row 6, Grave 52
Bernard Barab’s name appeared in a Casualty List issued by the War Department on October 31, 1945. The New York Times published the list on November 1, limiting the names to servicemen from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Barab’s name appearing under “New Jersey – European Area”.
2 Lt. Charles W. Kelley, 0-826462 (presumably received Purple Heart; other awards unknown) Born August 2, 1919 Probably from Hyattsville, Md. Mrs. Helen Hawk (daughter) (Information from biographical profile at Registry of National WW II Memorial) MACR 10886, P-51C 42-106910; Luftgaukommando Report J 2624 Mount Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Crimora, Virginia
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The Tiger’s Cousin: Major Sylvan Feld
.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.
Ironically, in light of the ready availability of information and photographs concerning the military service of William Lyons, there is relatively – far, if not vastly – less known about his cousin, the man who served as the inspiration for Bill’s military service: Major Sylvan “Sid” Feld.
Among American pilots who flew the famous Spitfire fighter plane while specifically serving in the United States Army Air Force, “Sid” Feld attained the highest number of kills (nine) against German aircraft.
As recounted by Bill in the West Point Center for Oral History video (from 14:00 – 15:00), along with Bill’s innate interest in aviation, his parallel inspiration to become a fighter pilot was his cousin Sylvan Feld, who was born in Woodhaven, Queens, on August 20, 1918.
Bill’s first cousin on his mother’s side, Sylvan’s family originated in Bayshore, Long Island, where Sylvan’s father Nathan worked as a driver for Bill’s grandfather, in the dairy business. Nathan subsequently worked in lumber and construction, where he and Bill’s father Immanuel became “more or less partners” until Immanuel decided to work at Wall Street. Nathan moved to Lynn, Massachusetts in mid-thirties or late thirties, where he opened a dairy.
Remembering Sylvan from his childhood in the (then) very rural area of Bayshore, Bill viewed himself as a “little kid” who Sylvan, along with Sylvan’s older brother “Herbie” (Monroe Herbert) and their older sister Evelyn, “sort of took care of me. Babysat for me.“
However, Bill didn’t actually see Sylvan after the age of six or seven. (1930 – 1931) “There was the one letter that he wrote me… He was just advising me that I’d really like to be a pilot. He said if you’re going to be in the service, then you’ve got to be an officer, and a pilot, because it’s a terrific life. The idea was that it was a good life, and a worthwhile one.”
Towards the end of Bill’s teens, while he was working at the Sperry Gyroscope, Sylvan was flying in North Africa. “I remember a letter from him in which he heard that I was interested in becoming a pilot. He encouraged me. He said there was one great job in the service, and since I was eventually going to go into the service, he just assumed that I would be a pilot.”
The photographic portraits below respectively show Sylvan as a Flight Cadet at Kelly Field, and, his graduation portrait from June of 1942. They are both found in the National Archives’ collection ” RG 18-PU: “Records of the Army Air Forces” – “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation” “.
Both Monroe and Sylvan would eventually serve in the Army Air Force. Fate was kind to neither, albeit thankfully Monroe did survive the war.
Born on June 23, 1915, in New York, Monroe (“Monroe Herbert” or “Herbie”) enlisted in the Army Air Force in January, 1942, becoming a Sergeant and waist gunner in the 723rd Bomb Squadron of the 450th (Cottontails) Bomb Group. His aircraft, B-24L 44-50245 “Princess Pat”, piloted by 1 Lt. Murray G. Stowe, was struck by flak down on March 12, 1945, during a mission to the Florisdorf Marshalling Yards, in Austria, the plane’s 10 crewmen parachuting (all with good ‘chutes) went of Lente, Hungary. Of the bomber’s crewmen, 8 survived as prisoners of war. Monroe and Sgt. Lawrence Cilestio were beaten so severely by Hungarian soldiers that, upon being reunited with their fellow crewmen, they were unrecognizable.
Two other crewmen – navigator 2 Lt. Richard H. Van Huisen and gunner S/Sgt. William R. Ahlschlager – landed safely by parachute, but were never seen again. As of 2018, they remain missing.
Like his cousin William, Monroe’s name never appeared in American Jews in World War II.
Born in Woodhaven, New York, on August 20, 1918, Sylvan was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, on February 13, 1942. He was one of the original pilots of the 4th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, which was originally assigned to the 8th Air Force, and then transferred to North Africa to support the landings there in November of 1942. He attained his aerial victories (4 Me-109s, 3 FW-190s, and 2 Ju-88s) between March and June of 1943, after which he returned to the United States.
He was subsequently assigned to the Headquarters Squadron of the 373rd Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, where he served as Operations Officer. It was in this capacity that he was shot down, near Argentan, France, on August 13, 1944, while flying P-47D Thunderbolt 42-25966 (loss covered in MACR 8584).
The MACR includes only one statement about his loss: A report by 1 Lt. Virgil T. Bolin, Jr., stating, “On 13 August 1944, I was flying Gaysong Red 3 on a dive bombing strafing mission. I became lost from the first element on a strafing [pair? – run?] and joined Yellow 1 and 2. A short time later Major Feld called and told me to come North East of Argentan to join him. I was on my way from Laigle when he called and said he was on fire and was bailing out. I did not see the plane or his chute.”
Evading the Germans for a few days, Major Feld was eventually captured. (The details are unknown, and by now, probably will remain unknown.) Placed with a small group of other captured Allied personnel – aviators and ground troops; British and Canadians – these soldiers had the tragic misfortune to be caught in the midst of a raid by American bombers in the town of Bernay. Some of the captured servicemen were wounded, and with a sad and terrible irony – for it was his 26th birthday – Sylvan was severely wounded.
He died the next day at Petit-Quevilly, while the small group of prisoners were being taken to Maromme.
All this is covered in MACR 8584, which contains correspondence focusing on the search for information about his final fate. After September of 1944, the trail of information grew cold.
Sylvan remained missing for a decade and a half. But, in 1959, during the disinterment and identification of German war dead buried in France, as a step to eventual reinterment in German military cemeteries, German officials discovered an American dog-tag and flying clothing associated with the body of a man identified only as an “unknown German soldier”.
American authorities were notified, and by November of 1959, after investigation, the remains of the “German soldier” were determined to actually be those of Sylvan.
He is buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery, at Neupre, Belgium (Plot B, Row 33, Grave 58). His burial plot appears in the image below, which was provided by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
…while this 2013 image is by FindAGrave contributor Doc Wilson.
As for Thunderbolt 42-25966, it’s unknown if this was his personal aircraft, or, a Thunderbolt from one of the 373rd’s three squadrons (410th, 411th, or 412th) which he randomly chose to fly on August 13. Given the location and circumstances of its loss, it is not (and probably could not have been) covered by a Luftgaukommando Report, while it’s unknown if its exact crash location is noted in Sylvan’s IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File); I don’t have a copy of that document.
Lieu-dit La Commune – Neuvy-au-Houlme (1,8 km SE) -10 km S de Falaise – (Fouilles réalisées)
Location at the town of Neuvy-au-Houlme (1.8 km southeast) -10 km south of Falaise – (Excavations completed)
(Curiously, in Major Feld’s last radio message, he stated that he was northeast of Argentan, while the location 1.8 km southeast of Neuv-au-Houlme is northwest of Argentan.)
Fouille en 1988 par l‘Ansa – Recup : moteur – train mitrailleuse Browninq cal 0,50 (SN 1016677) – localisation précise du crash non communiquée
Search in 1988 by ANSA [Association Normand du Souvenir Aérien (“Normandy Air Remembrance Association”)] – Retrieved: engine – 0.50 caliber Browning machine gun (Serial Number 1016677) – precise location of the crash not communicated
Based on the above information, the maps below – shown in order of increasing scale – show the probable location of 42-25966’s crash site.
This map is centered upon the Normandy Region of France. The Red Google location pointer indicates the location listed above – 1.8 km southeast of Neuvy-au-Houlme; not visible at this scale – which is south of Falaise, in the Calvados Department.
A larger-scale view shows the location of Neuvy-au-Houlme (outlined in red).
Moving in closer, the the probable crash site of Major Feld’s Thunderbolt is denoted by thered oval.
This image is an air-photo view of the above map. The probable crash site appears to be located in farmland, denoted as above by a redoval.
The image below shows the data plate that had been attached to the Thunderbolt’s engine. Information on the plate correlates to the engine type (R-2800-63) and serial number (42-56386) listed in MACR 8584. The photo originally appeared at Passion Militaria, in an image uploaded by “CED6250” on February 3, 2014, in a sub-forum entitled “le destin tragique du major Sylvan FELD, pilote de P47”) [“The Tragic Fate of Major Sylvan Feld, P-47 Pilot”.
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Update, December 2022
At ANSA’s website, I recently discovered A.N.S.A.-MAG / Magazine de liaison de l’A.N.S.A. 39/45 for the first third of 1999 (No. 2 1er quadrimestre 1999), which carries information about the location and recovery of the wreckage of Major Feld’s Thunderbolt, specifically, “…a large piece of airframe, a complete landing gear and the engine in its entirety plus many miscellaneous parts.” The article includes two images of the plane’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine. (Or to be specific, what’s left of the engine.) Unfortunately (oh, well…!) the exact geographic coordinates of the crash location of 42-25966 are not listed.
A transcript and English translation follow:
FOUILLES…
Le P 47 du Major Sylvan FELD
Le P 47 Thunderbolt du Major Sylvan FELD a été abattu le 13 Août 1944 lors de l’attaque de la poche de Falaise. Il appartenait au 373éme F.G.
Lors d’une attaque de bombardement et mitraillage sur des troupes allemandes au sol emprisonnées dans la poche de Falaise, après avoir effectué une passe de mitraillage , son avion prit feu. Aucun de ses co-équipiers ne le vit sauter. Il dût évacuer son avion en parachute et fut capturé en parfaite santé par les allemands.
Le Major FELD, qui était prisonnier des allemands, est mort le 21 Août à 1 heure du matin à Grand-Quevilly, aux chantiers de Normandie, des suites d’une blessure grave reçue à Bernay le 20 Août 1944 lors d’un bombardement américain. Lorsqu’il est mort, il était inconscient depuis la veille. Il attendait d’être chargé dans une ambulance allemande au bac de Croisset pour traverser la Seine en compagnie d’un canadien moins sérieusement blessé et d’un officier britannique.
Jean-Pierre NICLOT
Notre ami, Jean-Pierre NICLOT, a fait don, pour notre futur “Mémorial des combats aériens 39/45” d’un nombre impressionnant de pièces de grosse taille provenant de ce P 47 sorti de terre il y a environ 10 ans.
L’ANSA tient à le remercier vivement pour ce geste généreux qui nous va droit au coeur. Ces superbes pièces seront parfaitement mises en valeur dans le cadre d’un diorama de crash que nous avons prévu de présenter à l’intérieur du Mémorial.
Nous avons récupéré un morceau important de cellule, un train d’atterrissage complet ainsi que le moteur dans son intégralité plus de nombreuses pièces diverses.
Je laisse notre responsable de l’atelier, Roland BENARD, vous conter le rapatriement de ce matériel à notre entrepôt…. vu la taille et le poids des pièces, cela n’a pas été si simple que cela ….
Sylvain DEZELEE
Vérification de l’arrimage après quelques kilomètres de route.
1ère MISSION: Repérage du site
Au cours d’une réunion de Bureau, il fut décidé de répondre rapidement au souhait de notre ami Jean-Pierre NICLOT, membre de l’ANSA Yvelines qui souhaitait offrir de belles pièces aéronautiques pour garnir le futur Musée. C.A SIMONEAU se propose de prendre contact et le mercredi 21 Octobre, il nous emmena avec Michel DUTHEIL faire l’évaluation quantitative et réfléchir sur le mode opératoire pour manipuler des poids importants sans l’aide de moyens de levage mécanique, (l’emplacement de stockage du moteur ne permettant pas l’emploi d’engin de levage). Il nous fallait opérer avec le minimum de matériel et un maximum d’efficacité et de sécurité.
2ème MISSION: Traitement de l’objectif
C’est après avoir copieusement rempli le coffre de la 306 de quelques cales de bois, sangles, cordes, une barre à mine, des crics à crémaillère … et j’en passe, malgré un brouillard tenace et frisquet, qu’avec mon ami Michel DUTHEIL, nous nous sommes de nouveau rendus chez J-P NICLOT le mercredi 10 décembre 98. La principale difficulté concernait le moteur, il était dans une position et un endroit difficiles à manoeuvrer. A la vue de ce bijou, la tristesse et la froideur du climat furent bien vite oubliées. Un sentiment d’appréhension nous accompagna quelque temps au début de la manutention de cette pièce de plus de 800 kgs (probablement près de 900 kgs…). Rapidement, nos réflexes et savoir-faire, héritages de nos métiers antérieurs, nous permirent de faire pivoter, redresser et déplacer sur 5 métrés environ les 900 kg du moteur. Sans consulter nos montres, nos estomacs nous rappellèrent qu’il fallait “ravitailler”. Ce “stand-by” effectué dans un “mess” local, en compagnie de l’ami NICLOT et de son comparse, l’ami BERLIOZ, fût bien apprécié. La reprise des “opérations” fut consacrée à l’élévation de 40 cm du moteur sur son bâti afin de pouvoir reculer une remorque sous celui-ci et, avec le concours de quelques rouleaux …. il n’y aura … ka …pousser!
3ème MISSION: Retour à l’entrepôt
C’est avec une remorque porte-voiture prêtée par Philippe DUTHEIL et tractée par le 4 x 4 du Président, plus un fourgon et toujours accompagné d’un brouillard tenace qu’un “commando ébroïcien” a investi vers 9h le domicile de J-P NICLOT. Etant donné l’accès très difficle sur le lieu et l’étroitesse du portail, la mise en place de la remorque se fit manuellement, le manque de largeur de la rue empêchant une marche arrière aisée. L’aide de Nicolas VECCHI assisté de son père fut appréciée pour le “ya ka pousser le moteur sur la remorque”, ce qui ne fut pas une mince affaire. Ce fut ensuite le chargement d’une jambe de train (mon Dieu que c’était lourd, nous n’étions pas trop de cinq pour la lever!) et d’un bon morceau de structure (ça, c’était encore plus lourd, nous nous y sommes mis à sept pour le bouger… ), tout.ceci fut fermement arrimé. Quant au fourgon, il fut le bienvenu, car de nombreux accessoires y furent entassés, armement, pales d’hélice, cylindres du moteur, carburateur, pas variable …etc … La camionnette était pleine à mi-hauteur de vestiges.
L’arrimage du matériel ainsi que le chargement du fourgon furent termines pour midi. Après une halte au “mess local”, le retour s’effectua sans incident et c’est vers 16h environ que le déchargement se fit au dépôt avec le concours de notre hôte et de son chariot élévateur. Ce téléscopique fut le bienvenu poir vider aisément les presque deux tonnes de matériel posés sur la remorc-e if moteur, le train d’atterissage et le morceau de cellule).
Les mécanos de service vont se faire un plaisir de toiletter ces merveilles endormies. Il y a vraiment quelque chose de superbe à faire de ces belles pièces, surtout avec le moteur qui est presque complet.
Roland BENARD Responsable de l’entrepôt
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EXCAVATIONS…
Major Sylvan FELD’s P-47
The P 47 Thunderbolt of Major Sylvan FELD was shot down on August 13, 1944 during the attack on the Falaise pocket. It belonged to the 373rd F.G.
During a bombing and strafing attack on German ground troops trapped in the Falaise Pocket, after making a strafing pass, his aircraft caught fire. None of his teammates saw him jump. He had to evacuate his plane by parachute and was captured in perfect health by the Germans.
Major FELD, who was a prisoner of the Germans, died on August 21 at 1 a.m. in Grand-Quevilly, at the Normandy shipyards, following a serious injury received at Bernay on August 20, 1944 during an American bombardment. When he died, he had been unconscious since the day before. He was waiting to be loaded into a German ambulance at the Croisset ferry to cross the Seine in the company of a less seriously injured Canadian and a British officer.
Jean-Pierre NICLOT
Our friend, Jean-Pierre NICLOT, donated, for our future “39/45 Air Combat Memorial”, an impressive number of large pieces from this P 47 which came out of the ground about 10 years ago.
ANSA would like to thank him warmly for this generous gesture which goes straight to our hearts. These stunning pieces will be showcased perfectly as part of a crash diorama that we are planning to display inside the Memorial. We recovered a large piece of airframe, a complete landing gear and the engine in its entirety plus many miscellaneous parts.
I let our workshop manager, Roland BENARD, tell you about the repatriation of this material to our warehouse …. given the size and weight of the parts, it was not that simple…
Sylvain DEZELEE
Checking the stowage after a few kilometers on the road.
1st MISSION: Site scouting
During a Board meeting, it was decided to respond quickly to the wish of our friend Jean-Pierre NICLOT, member of ANSA Yvelines who wanted to offer beautiful aeronautical parts to furnish the future Museum. C.A SIMONEAU proposes to make contact and on Wednesday, October 21, he took us with Michel DUTHEIL to do the quantitative evaluation and to reflect on the operating mode for handling heavy weights without the aid of mechanical lifting means, (the location engine storage that does not allow the use of lifting gear). We had to operate with a minimum of equipment and maximum efficiency and safety.
2nd MISSION: Treatment of the objective
It was after copiously filling the trunk of the 306 with a few wooden wedges, straps, ropes, a crowbar, rack jacks… and so on, despite a tenacious and chilly fog, that with my friend Michel DUTHEIL, we went again to J-P NICLOT on Wednesday December 10, 98. The main difficulty concerned the engine, it was in a difficult position and place to maneuver. At the sight of this jewel, the sadness and the coldness of the climate were quickly forgotten. A feeling of apprehension accompanied us for some time at the beginning of the handling of this piece of more than 800 kgs (probably nearly 900 kgs…). Quickly, our reflexes and know-how, inherited from our previous trades, enabled us to rotate, straighten and move the 900 kg of the engine over approximately 5 meters. Without consulting our watches, our stomachs reminded us that we had to “refuel”. This “stand-by” carried out in a local “mess”, in the company of friend NICLOT and his sidekick, friend BERLIOZ, was well appreciated. The resumption of “operations” was devoted to the elevation of 40 cm of the engine on its frame in order to be able to move a trailer under it and, with the help of a few rollers …. there will be … ka …push!
3rd MISSION: Return to the warehouse
It was with a car carrier loaned by Philippe DUTHEIL and towed by the President’s 4 x 4, plus a van and always accompanied by a stubborn fog that an “Ebroïcien commando” took over the home of J-P NICLOT around 9 a.m. Given the very difficult access to the site and the narrowness of the gate, the installation of the trailer was done manually, the lack of width of the street preventing easy reversing. The help of Nicolas VECCHI assisted by his father was appreciated for the “ya ka pushing the engine on the trailer”, which was not an easy task. It was then the loading of a train leg (my God it was heavy, there were not too many of us to lift it!) and a good piece of structure (that was even heavier, there were seven of us to move it…), everything was firmly secured. As for the van, it was welcome, because many accessories were piled up there, armament, propeller blades, engine cylinders, carburettor, variable pitch … etc … The van was full halfway up with remains.
The stowage of the equipment as well as the loading of the van were finished by noon. After a stop at the “local mess”, the return was made without incident and it was around 4 p.m. that the unloading took place at the depot with the help of our host and his forklift. This telescopic was welcome to easily empty the almost two tons of material placed on the trailer if engine, the landing gear and the piece of cell).
The service mechanics will be happy to groom these sleeping wonders. There really is something wonderful to be done with these beautiful pieces, especially with the engine which is almost complete.
Roland BENARD Warehouse Manager
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Compared to other WW II USAAF fighter groups, photographic coverage of the 373rd Fighter Group seems to be scanty. However, ironically, there are two excellent photographs of the specific P-47 (“Gaysong Red Three”, a.k.a. R3 * G) flown by Lt. Bolin when he received Major Feld’s last radio call.
One of these pictures appears in Kent Rust’s The 9th Air Force in World War II, where it’s listed as an official Army Air Force photo – though it doesn’t seem to be available via Fold3.com. The plane is seen flying near Mont St. Michel, France. It’s now a Getty Image, captioned as “Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (42-25845 R3-G) of 410th Fighter Squadron USAAF in flight near Mont St Michael, Normandy, 26 August 1944. (Photo by Charles E. Brown / Royal Air Force Museum / Getty Images)”.
The other image of R3 * G is available at the American Air Museum in England, where it’s captioned, “A P-47 Thunderbolt (R3-G, serial number 42-25845) of the 373rd Fighter Group in flight. Image stamped on reverse: ‘Charles E Brown.’ [stamp], ‘Passed for publication 7 Sep 1944.’ [stamp] and ‘356662.’ [Censor no.] Printed caption on reverse: ‘P-47 Thunderbolt flying across open country.’” This picture has been scanned at an extremely high resolution, and zooming in on the photo reveals that the pilot is looking “up” through the canopy towards the photographer.
Unlike his brother Monroe and cousin Bill, Sylvan’s name does appear in American Jews in World War II: on page 157. There, his military awards are listed as the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 21 Oak Leaf Clusters (suggesting the completion of between 105 and 115 combat missions), and the Purple Heart.
During and after the Second World War, news items about Sylvan Feld appeared in the following publications: Chicago Jewish Chronicle – 8/13/43 The American Hebrew – 8/13/43 Lynn [Massachusetts] Daily Item – 9/2/43, 11/15/44, 5/20/60
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The image below, by Chris Davey, is a profile of Sylvan Feld’s Sylvan’s personal Spitfire Vc (ES276, WD * D), which appears in Andrew Thomas’ American Spitfire Aces of World War 2. Notable is the absence of any distinctive personal markings, except for Feld’s name and victory symbols.
The British Eagle Strike Productions company also produced (in 2006) a decal set covering Major Feld’s Spitfire, and, three other USAAF MTO Spitfires, images of which also illustrate the markings and camouflage of USAAF MTO Spitfires. These decals are available from the Valka Company, located in the village of Osek nad Bečvou in the Czech Republic.
I do possess more (but not really that much more) information about Major Sylvan Feld, but the above covers the essentials of his story, so far as those essentials can be known. Alas, a telephone inquiry to Monroe in the 1990s elicited a firm unwillingness – albeit, it must be stated, an unwillingness respectful and polite – to discuss either his brother’s life or his own military experiences.
Ironically, more information seems to be available (at that, what little there really is!) about Major Feld’s aircraft; about Major Feld as a military pilot, than about Sylvan Feld as a son, brother, cousin, comrade, and friend. The final disposition of the correspondence (personal and official), documents, photographs, and memorabilia that he likely accumulated through his three years of military service – assuming that this material has even survived – is unknown. And, with the passing of his parents, sister, and brother, and members of their generations, recollections of him “as a person” have passed into history – and therefore beyond memory – as well.
Still, a memory partial, fragmentary, and indirect – for all men, both great and small – are in time remembered incompletely – is better than no memory whatsoever.
May this blog post perpetuate his memory, as best it can.
References
Books
Brent, Winston, 85 Years of South African Air Force – 1920-2005 (African Aviation Series No. 13), Freeworld Publications xx, Nelspruit, South Africa, 2005
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom – Compiled by the Bureau of War Records of the National Jewish Welfare Board, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Franks, Norman L.R., Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume I – Operational Losses: Aircraft and Crews 1939-1941, Midland Publishing, Ltd., Leicester, Great Britain, 1997
Franks, Norman L.R., Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume III – Operational Losses: Aircraft and Crews 1944-1945 (Incorporating Air Defence Great Britain and 2nd TAF), Midland Publishing, Ltd., Leicester, Great Britain, 1997
Giovannitti, Len, The Prisoners of Combine D, Bantam Books, New York, N.Y., October, 1957 (Paperback edition January, 1959)
Holmes, Tony, Star-Spangled Spitfires, Pen & Sword Aviaton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, 2017. (NOOK Book (eBook)), available from Barnes & Noble
Ivie, Tom, and Pudwig, Paul, Spitfires & Yellow Tail Mustangs: The U.S. 52nd Fighter Group in WWII, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2013
Martin, Henry J., and Orpen, Neil D., Eagles Victorious: The operations of the South African Forces over the Mediterranean and Europe, in Italy, the Balkans and the Aegean, and from Gibraltar and West Africa, Purnell, Cape Town, South Africa, 1977
Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
Rust, Kenn C., The 9th Air Force in World War II, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, Ca., 1970
Thomas, Andrew, American Spitfire Aces of World War 2, Osprey Publishing, New York, N.Y., 2007
Vee, Roger, The Story of No. 1 Squadron S.A.A.F., Sometime Known as the Billy Boys, Mercantile Atlas, Cape Town, South Africa, 1952
Wayburne, Ellis, Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (…And Where There’s a Way, There’s a Wayburne), Israel, 1995 (privately printed)
Wright, Arnold A., Behind The Wire: Stalag Luft III – South Compound, Arnold A. Wright, Printed in Benton, Ar., 1993 (privately printed)
Canadian Jews in World War II – Part II: Casualties, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1947
USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Air University, Office of Air Force History, Headquarters, USAF, 1978.
Miscellaneous
357th Fighter Squadron Historical Records – AFHRA Microfilm Roll AO784 (“SQ-FI-357-Hi – SQ-FI-358 Hi”)
Dating Back to December 30, 2017 – have nearly seven years gone by already? – I’ve made a correction to this post based on a recent communication from Russ Czaplewski. Russ calls attention to the photo of the nose art of B-26B Marauder nicknamed “Becky“, of the 320th Bomb Group’s 441st Bomb Squadron, from Victor C. Tannehill’s book Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group in World War II.
In my caption to the image, I originally identified this camouflaged B-26 as aircraft 42-107711, squadron / battle number “02“, which was piloted by Lt. Paul E. Trunk and lost with its entire crew on August 15, 1944, when the plane crashed into a mountain in bad weather.
Here’s Russ’s message:
“I have an original negative with a similar view of “Becky” and the serial number above the round unit logo reads 42-96119 rather than 41-107711. There were multiple bombers named “Becky” in the 441st and the illustration shown is not sharp enough to distinguish the serial number.”
Along with the corrected information about 42-107711, I’ve updated the post by including the text of the obituary for Heinz Thannhauser’s father Justin, and, adding links to FindAGrave for the eight crew members of the lost B-26.
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Aufbau: The Reconstruction of Memory
As irony abounds in the histories of nations, so it does in the lives of men.
During World War Two, a striking irony could sometimes be found among Jewish military personnel in the Allied armed forces. Some Jewish soldiers, at one time citizens of Germany and Austria, and subsequently refugees and emigrants from those countries, might – through a combination of intention and chance – find themselves arrayed in battle against the Axis. This circumstance, a melding of civil obligation, moral responsibility, idealism, motivated by a personal sense of justice, was deeply symbolic aspect of Jewish military service during the Second World War.
For the United States, a perusal of both the Jewish press and the general news media from 1942 through 1945 reveals occasional articles – and inevitably, casualty notices – covering such servicemen. Such news items called specific attention to the circumstances behind a soldier’s arrival in the United States, and often extended to accounts of his family’s pre-war life in Germany or Austria. This was not limited to the American news media. The Jewish Chronicle of England was replete with articles covering the military service of Jewish refugee soldiers in the armed forces of England and British Commonwealth countries, including – before Israel’s re-establishment in 1948 – British military units comprised of personnel (often refugees) from the pre-State Yishuv.
In the American news media, a striking example of one such news items appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 13, 1943.
GERMAN REFUGEE MISSING IN ACTION
A 22-year-old German refugee who fled his native Leipzig in 1935 to escape Nazi persecution is one of four Philadelphians reported last night by the War Department as missing in action.
He is Corporal Maurice Derfler, of 1601 Ruscomb St., worker in a Philadelphia clothing factory before he entered the Army Air Forces on March 28, 1942.
WROTE TO FIANCEE
Derfler has been missing since May 19, just five days after his fiancée, Mildred Roush, 19, of 4813 N. Franklin St., received a letter from him, stating that he was “going on a dangerous mission” but felt sure that he would return. For, he explained, he was looking forward to his furlough next September, when he and Miss Roush would be married.
The next message was the War Department communication, which Abraham Roush, prospective father-in-law of the soldier, received on May 29. The message stated that Derfler, a radio operator in a Consolidated Liberator bomber, had failed to return from a mission.
FIANCEE CONFIDENT
Miss Roush, who is confident that Derfler will return, “and I still will be waiting,” could tell little of her fiancee’s flight from his native Germany. “He didn’t like to talk about it. It must have been an ordeal for him. He keeps it as his secret.”
Derfler, Miss Roush recalled, arrived in Philadelphia with a group of other refugees. His one desire was to get into the American forces for a “crack at the Germans.” He was naturalized in September of 1941 and the following March entered the service. Ironically, the Air Forces sent him into the Pacific area.
Corporal Derfler served as a radio operator in the 400th Bomb Squadron of the 90th (“Jolly Rogers”) Bomb Group of the 5th Air Force. His aircraft, a B-24D Liberator (serial number 41-29269) piloted by 1 Lt. Donald L. Almond, was conducting a solo daylight reconnaissance mission along the eastern coast of New Guinea. It was intercepted by five Japanese pilots of the 24th Sentai, who were flying Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Japanese for “Peregrine Falcon”; Allied code-name “Oscar”) fighter planes. One of these aviators, Sergeant Hikoto Sato, was killed during the engagement when his fighter rammed the B-24.
As the aerial engagement began, the B-24 radioed a message – likely transmitted by Corporal Derfler himself – that it was under attack by Japanese fighters.
Five minutes later, another radio message reported that the plane was going down.
No trace of the plane or crew – presumed to have crashed near Karkar Island, off the northeastern coast of New Guinea – has ever been found.
The names of the B-24’s ten crewmen are commemorated at the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, in the Philippines.
Corporal Derfler (serial number 33157713) received the Air Medal and Purple Heart. In 1943, he was mentioned in The American Hebrew (August 20), the Chicago Jewish Chronicle (August 27), and The Jewish Times (Delaware County, Pennsylvania) (September 3).
Initially assigned to the famed 44th (“Flying Eightballs”) Bomb Group – which, ironically, flew bombing missions against Germany – Cpl. Derfler was the only member of his family to have escaped from Germany.
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In terms of detailed information about the military service of German-Jewish refugees in the armed forces of the Allies – in general – and United States in particular, one publication stands out: Aufbau, or in translation, “Construction”, or “Building Up”. Published between 1934 and 2004, the newspaper was founded by the German-Jewish Club, later re-named the “New World Club”. Originally intended as a monthly newsletter for the club, the periodical changed markedly when Manfred George was nominated as editor in 1939. George transformed the publication to one of the leading anti-Nazi periodicals of the German Exile Press (Exilpresse) Group, increasing its circulation from 8,000 to 40,000. According to the description of Aufbau at Archiv.org (and as can be solidly verified from perusal of its contents), writings of many well-known personalities appeared in its pages. (Three names among many: Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Stefan Zweig.) According to Wikipedia, after having been published in New York City through 2004, the periodical subsequently began publishing in Zurich. However, the given link (http://www.aufbauonline.com/) seems to be inoperative.
A catalog record for Aufbau – and 29 other periodicals comprising German Exile Press publications can, appropriately, be found at the website of the German National Library – Deutsch National Bibliothek. A screen-shot of the catalag record for Aufbau is shown below:
When the Aufbau was reviewed in 2010, it could be accessed directly through the DNB’s website. However, by now – 2017 – it seems to be only available through archive.org. This is the first page of Archive.org catalog record for the publication:
And, here is the second:
Unlike the DNB website, which (as I recall?…) allowed access and viewing of the publication on an extraordinarily useful issue-by-issue and even page-by-page basis, users accessing Aufbau at Archive.org cannot view the periodical at such a fine level of informational ”clarity”. (Despite being able to scroll through and view volumation and numbering of all issues in Archive.org’s “View EAD” window.) Rather, once a hyperlink for any issue is selected, the entire content for that year is then displayed in a new window as a single file – and that year’s full content is also downloaded as a single PDF, or in other formats.
The image below shows issue records for Aufbau as they appear at the Archive.org catalog record. (The format of this information is representative of, and identical to, issue records for all other years of publication.)
And… This image shows the interface for 1942 issues of Aufbau, by which the publication – encompassing that entire year – can be viewed online, or downloaded. Other years of publication are displayed in a similar manner.
PDF file sizes for wartime editions of Aufbau are:
Published on a weekly basis, Aufbau provides overlapping windows upon American Jewry, German Jewry (particularly of course, those Jews fortunate enough to have escaped from Germany), and world Jewry, through its coverage of political, social, and intellectual developments of the late 1930s and early 1940s. News covered by the publication pertained to all facets of life, “in general”: current events; literary, cultural, cinematic, theatrical, and social news; and, innumerable essays and opinion pieces.
Intriguingly, the paper’s news coverage and editorial content – at least encompassing 1939 through 1946 – suggests intertwining, competing, and parallel aspects of thought that have persisted since the halting beginnings of Jewish “emancipation” only a few centuries ago: One one hand, a staunch and unapologetic emphasis on Jewish identity and Zionism. On the other, the subsuming of Jewish identity within a wider world of (ostensibly) democratic universalism.
(Ah, but I digress. That is another long, and continuing story…)
Back, to the topic at hand…
Though Aufbau’s central focus was not Jewish military service as such, the newspaper nonetheless serves as a tremendously rich repository of information – genealogical; biographical; historical – about the experiences of Jewish soldiers during the Second World War. In that sense, news items in Aufbau relevant to Jewish military service falls into these general themes:
1) Lists of awards and honors; 2) News about and accounts of military service by American Jewish soldiers; similarly-themed news items about military service of Jews in other Allied nations (the Soviet Union, British Commonwealth countries, France, and Poland); 3) Detailed biographies of soldiers wounded, killed, and missing in action; 4) The campaign for the establishment of some form of autonomous Jewish fighting force; 5) The activities of the Jewish Brigade Group; 6) The military service of Jews from the Yishuv in the armed forces of Britain and other Commonwealth nations; 7) Zionism – the drive to re-establish a Jewish nation-state.
These items are often accompanied by photographs of the specific servicemen in question, or, thematically relevant illustrations. Of course, given the origin and ethos of Aufbau, from editor to publisher; from correspondents to stringers to contributors; in its coverage of Jewish military service, the newspaper placed great – if not central – emphasis, on Jewish soldiers whose families originated in Germany, and who were fortunate enough to have found citizenship in the United States.
The following five categories of articles in Aufbau are immediately relevant to the seven “themes” listed above:
1) The Struggle for a Jewish Army – 139 articles 2) Jews of the Yishuv at War – 33 articles 3) Jewish Prisoners of War – 10 articles 4) Jewish Military Casualties – 132 articles 5) The Jewish Brigade – 37 articles 6) Photographs (primarily of soldiers, yet including other subjects) – 252
…while the following three categories of items, though not directly related to Jewish WW II military service, are very relevant to the “tenor of the times”…
1) antisemitism / Judeophobia – 20 articles 2) Random News Items About the Second World War – 31 articles 3) Acculturation and Assimilation – 48 articles
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As examples of such news items in Aufbau – yet more than mere examples; to bestow symbolic tribute upon the many German-Jewish soldiers who served in the Allied armed forces – news items about two WW II German-Jewish soldiers (Army Air Force S/Sgt. Heinz H. Thannhauser and Army PFC George E. Rosing) follow.
Aufbau’s biography of S/Sgt. Thannhauser is quite detailed, probably due to his family’s prominence in the German-Jewish immigrant community, and, the world of art Even before he entered the Army Air Force, Heinz’s background and accomplishments portended a remarkable future, if only his bomber had taken a slightly different course before before a Sardinian sunrise on August 15, 1944…
Heinz was the son of Justin K. (5/7/82-12/26/76) and Kate (Levi) (5/24/94-1959) Thannhauser, grandson of Heinrich Thannhauser, and the lineal descendant of Baruch Loeb Thannhauser, his father and grandfather originally having been residents of Munich, where – as art dealers – they owned the Thannhauser Galleries, specializing in Modernist art. Justin moved to Paris in 1937 with his family to escape the Third Reich, and after the outbreak of the Second World War, to Switzerland. They fled to the United States in 1941, establishing themselves in New York City, where Justin opened a private gallery, the initial core of which comprised a number of works that he had managed to bring with him to America.
Due to Heinz’s death, and the doubly tragic passing of his only other child Michel in 1952, Justin cancelled plans to open a public gallery. He remained a resident of New York until 1971, operating his gallery, collecting art, and assisting museums and galleries with exhibitions and acquisitions. In recognition and honor of his sons and their late mother Kate – as well as his support of artistic progress – Justin’s collection was bequeathed to the Guggenheim Museum in 1963. Due to the scope, size, and centrality of the collection, the Guggenheim established the Thannhauser Wing in 1965, where the original components of the collection, as well as additional works, are now on display.
Justin Thannhauser Dead at 84; Dealer in Art’s Modern Masters
December 31, 1976
GSTAAD, Switzerland, Dec. 30 (AP) —Justin Thannhauser, a German‐born United States art dealer whose landmark exhibitions spread the fame of modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Paul Klee, died here last Sunday, a personal friend said today. He was 84 years old.
A Swiss journalist, Gaudenz Baumann, said Mr. Thannhauser suffered a heart attack in his hotel room last Friday. He was buried in Bern today.
Mr. Thannhauser’s five galleries in Gerbieny, Switzerland, France and the United States handled some of the best work of the 20th‐century masters.
He turned the Munich art gallery that his father founded in 1904 into a focal point for Mr. Munch and other Die Bruecke group expressionists, Klee, Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.
Collection Seized
Mr. Thannhauser branched out to Lucerne from 1919 to 1939 and opened Galerie Thannhauser, his biggest gallery, in Berlin, in 1927.
During a 1937 Swiss visit, the Jewish dealer’s Berlin collection was seized by the Nazi regime. He was forced to reestablish himself in Paris, only to lose another collection to the Nazis during the World War II German invasion of France.
Mr. Thannhauser fled to New York in 1941 and started collecting from scratch. Among many works he donated to art museums, 75 paintings including valuable French Impressionist works are on display in the Thannhauser wing of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
It was in the “Moderne Gallerie” that Mr. Thannhauser ran in Munich from 1909 to 1928 that Marc and Kandinsky first met and in 1911, founded the group of artists named Der Blaue Reiter – the blue rider – after a famous Kandinsky painting.
The first major exhibitions by Picasso and Marc were held there in 1909. Mr. Thannhauser retained his links with Picasso and was one of the few visitors with regular access to the Spanish painter before he died in 1973 in his cloistered home in France.
The Moderne Gallerie staged the first Klee display in 1911 and the same year, helped fix Blaue Reither group’s place in modern art history with a pioneering exhibition.
Mr. Thannhauser left the United States in 1971 to retire in Switzerland, dividing his time between his Bern home and Gstaad.
His only surviving close relative is his second wife, Hilde, 56. A son from former marriage was killed in the crash of a United States bomber in the south of France during the 1944 Allied invasion.
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A radio operator in the 441st Bomb Squadron of the 320th Bomb Group (12th Air Force), Heinz and his seven fellow crewmen were killed when their B-26C Marauder (serial 42-107711, squadron number “02”, nicknamed “Becky” [Update, March, 2024 … see correction about aircraft identification in next paragraph…] crashed during take-off from Decimomannu, Sardinia, on August 15, 1944. The plane flew directly into the side of Monte Azza, 2 kilometers from the town of Serrenti, in the pre-dawn darkness. The aircraft had been one of 34 B-26s dispatched to bomb a beach at Baie de Cavalaire (north of Saint Tropaz), France. As revealed in the 320th Bomb Group’s report of that mission, one other B-26s was lost on take-off, fortunately with all crewmen surviving.
Heinz’s name would appear in an official casualty list published in October 21, 1944,
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The illustration below, from Victor Tannehill’s Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group, shows what I believe is “the” actual Becky: 42-107711. The circular emblem just behind the bombardier’s position is the insignia of the 441st Bomb Squadron, while rows of bomb symbols painted to the right of the plane’s nickname denote sorties against the enemy. [Update… Based on information from Russ Czaplewski, this aircraft isn’t 42-107711, a B-26C-45-MO. It’s actually 42-96119, a B-26B-55-MA. Being that there is neither aMissing Air Crew Reportnor anAccident Reportfor this aircraft, I would assume that the latter plane survived the war and was returned to the United States for reclamation by the RFC.]
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This image, from Vintage Leather Jackets, shows a beautiful original example of a 441st Bomb Squadron uniform patch, which would have adorned the flying jacket of many a 441st BS airman. The Latin expression “Finis Origine Pendet”, superimposed on a B-26 Marauder, means “The Beginning of the End”.
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Here is the 320th Bomb Group’s Mission Report covering the mission of August 15, 1944. Becky’s[42-107711’s] crew is listed at the bottom.
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Most of the Mission Report is comprised of crew lists for the B-26s assigned to the mission, the page below covering six aircraft of the 441st Bomb Squadron. Lieutenant Trunk’s plane and crew are listed second, with the notation “Crashed after T/O written alongside.
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As stated in the concluding paragraph of the Missing Air Crew Report covering Becky (MACR 7300), “He [1 Lt. Paul E Trunk, the plane’s pilot] made no attempt to contact us by radio so further attempts to ascertain the exact cause would only be conjecture. In our opinion the actual cause of the accident cannot be ascertained.”
Here is the first page of the Missing Air Crew Report for the loss of Becky [42-107711], with five of the plane’s crew listed at bottom…
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…while this is the second page, listing Sergeants Bratton and Winters, with Captain Brouchard, as a passenger, at the end.
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This page lists the home addresses and next of kin of thecrew.
Ein wunderbar erfülltes junges Leben hat ein jähes Ende genommen. “Heinz Thannhauser, Staff Sgt. of the U. S. Army Air Force, killed in action over Sardinia, August 15, 1944.”
Fünfundzwanzig Jahre alt. Ein Liebling der Götter und der Menschen. Glücklichste Jugend im schönsten, wärmsten Elternhaus. Begeistert Amerika liebend und überall hier Gegenliebe findend. Ungewöhnlich begabt, ungewöhnlich reif. Mit sechzehn Jahren — statt der erforderten achtzehn — war er in Cambridge zum Studium zugelassen worden — eine beispiellose Ausnahme in der traditionsgebundenen englischen Universität. In Harvard macht er seinen Doctor of Art. Mit 22 Jahren wird er Instructing Professor an der Universität Tulane, New Orleans.
Lehren ist seine Leidenschaft. Er versteht es, wie wenig andere, die Begeisterung seiner Schuler zu wecken. Nicht nur für die Kunst, zu der er von Kindheit auf die Liebe im Elternhause eingesogen hatte. Er wirbt und wirkt für das, was nur als das Höchste ansicht: für das Ideal demokratischer Freiheit. Er gründet Jugendklubs, hält Reden, schreibt Aufsehen erregende Aufsatze — er reisst die anderen durch seine starke Empfindung mit. Und durch den wunderbaren Sense of humor, den er mit seiner scharfen Beobachtungsgabe verbindet.
Aber in diesem lebensschäumenden, von Schönheit und Frohsinn erfüllten Menschen steckt ein glühender Hass gegen die brutalen Gewalten, die den Untergang Europas herbeigeführt haben. Und eine ganze Welt schwer bedrohen. Als der Krieg hier ausbricht, meldet er sich sofort freiwillig.
Im Februar 1943 verlässt Heinz Thannhauser Amerika auf seinem Bombenflugzeug. Von nun an kommen Briefe, Briefe, Briefe. Es sind nicht nur Schätze für seine Eltern. Es sind Dokumente der Zeit und Dokumente schönster Menschlichkeit. Er kennt keine Trägheit des Herzens. Er ist ein Kämpfer aus Leidenschaft — vom ersten bis zum letzten Tag. Heinz Thannhauser glaubt glühend an die gerechte Sache, die er vertritt. Wie eine Beschwörung kehrt der Satz wieder:
“Ihr musst alles tun, was in Eurer [not legible] steht um zu verhindern, dass es jemals wieder einen solchen Krieg gibt.. nicht mit Phrasen – – mit Taten…”
Er selbst leistet einen Schwur, sein Leben lang dafür zu kämpfen.
Ein Bericht aus Rom, wo er drei selige Urlaubstage verbringt, klingt wie eine Fanfare. Er ist in einem Glückstaumel. Seitenlang schildert er Details einiger Gestalten am Plafond der sixtinischen Kapelle — zum erstenmal sieht er im Original die Meisterwerke, über die er gelehrt und geschrieben hat. Er ist wie betrunken von so viel Schönheit. Aber gleich danach:
“Trotz allem, es ist wichtiger, das Leben eines einzigen unschuudigen Geisel zu retten, als das schonste alte Kunstwerk…”
In einem seiner letzten Briefe schildert er die Erregung, die mit jedem Flug verbunden ist. (Er hatte 37 Missions hinter sich…):
“…The sober anticipation before a mission. The terrible feeling of going time after time through heavy flak without being able to do anything except sit and hope for the best. The real exultation of seeing your bombs hit the target – huge flames coming up and smoke as high as you are flying. The relief and joy at seeing your field again, like home indeed! Also – losing your friends – empty beds, guys who, the night before, were talking of what names to give their children and so on… And I share his horror of war and determination that it must never happen again…”
Heinz Thannhauser hat ein Testament hinterlassen. Er vermacht alles, was er besitzt, dem “American Youth Movement for a Free World”.
– A. D.
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Fallen For Freedom
HEINZ THANNHAUSER
Aufbau September 15, 1944
A wonderfully fulfilling young life took an abrupt end. “Heinz Thannhauser, Staff Sgt. of the U.S. Army Air Force, killed in action over Sardinia, August 15, 1944.”
Twenty-five years old. A favorite of God and mankind. The happiest youth in the most beautiful, warmest home. Enthusiastic, America loving and everywhere here finding requited love. Unusually gifted; unusually mature. At sixteen years – instead of the required eighteen – he had been admitted to Cambridge to study – an unprecedented exception to the tradition-bound English university. At Harvard he makes his Doctor of Art. At 22 he is an instructing professor at Tulane University, New Orleans.
Teaching is his passion. He understands how little others awaken the passion of his students. Not only for art, which from childhood he had imbibed to love in his parents’ home. He promotes and acts only for what is the highest opinion: For the ideal of democratic freedom. He founds youth clubs, gives speeches, writes sensational essays – he pulls others with his strong feelings. And through a wonderful sense of humor, which he combines with his keen powers of observation.
But in this tumultuous beauty and joy, there is an ardent hatred against the brutal forces which have led to the downfall of Europe. And heavily threaten the whole world. When the war broke out, he immediately volunteered.
In February 1943, Heinz Thannhauser left America on his bomber aircraft. From now on arrive letters, letters, letters. They’re not just treasures for his parents. They are documents of time and documents of the most beautiful humanity. He knows no indolence of the heart. He is a fighter of passion – from the first to the last day. Heinz Thannhauser glowingly believes in the just cause he represents. Like an incantation, the sentence repeats:
“You have to do everything that is in your [power] to prevent that there is ever such a war again … not with phrases – – with deeds …”
He himself makes an oath, to fight for this all his life.
A report from Rome, where he spends three blissful holidays, sounds like a fanfare. He is in a stroke of luck. For pages on end he describes details of some figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – the first time he sees the original masterpieces, about which he has taught and written. He is intoxicated with so much beauty. But immediately afterwards:
“In spite of all this, it is more important to save the life of a single innocent hostage than the most beautiful old work of art …”
In one of his last letters, he described the excitement that is associated with each flight. (He had 37 missions behind himself…):
“… The sober anticipation before a mission. The terrible feeling of going through heavy flak time after time without being able to do anything except sit and hope for the best. The real exultation of seeing your bombs hit the target – huge flames coming up and smoke as high as you are flying. The relief and joy at seeing your field again, like home indeed! So – losing your friends – empty beds, guys who, the night before, were talking of what names to give their children and so on… And I share his horror of war and determination did it must never happen again… “
Heinz Thannhauser made a will. He bequeathed everything he owned, to the “American Youth Movement for a Free World”.
– A.D.
While the Aufbau article touched upon the depth of Heinz’s education and ambitions, his life was chronicled in much greater detail in College Art Journal in 1945 (Volume 4, Issue 2) in the form of a biography by “H.R.H.”:
On August 15, 1944, Sgt. Heinz H. Thannhauser was killed in action while in service of his country as radio operator and gunner on a Marauder Bomber in the Mediterranean theatre. His parents have recently been notified that Heinz was awarded posthumously the Purple Heart.
He was born in Bavaria on September 28, 1918. The son of the well known Berlin and Paris art dealer, Justin K. Thannhauser, Heinz had a unique opportunity of becoming acquainted with the works of modern artists at an early age. He received his primary and secondary education at the College Francais in Berlin and later in Paris at the Sorbonne. He then attended Cambridge University. England, and took his B.A, degree in 1938. In that year he came to this country at the age of twenty, and was holder of the Sachs fellowship at Harvard University. During his two years at Harvard, he specialized in the history of modern art and obtained the A.M. degree in 1941. At the Fogg his brilliant and active mind and his warm enthusiasms won Heinz the respect and the friendship of his fellow students and teachers. In the fall of 1941, he accepted an instructorship under Professor Robin Feild at Newcomb College of Tulane University. He was a collaborator of the ART JOURNAL where he published in March 1943 an article describing a project for collaboration between art and drama departments. He had planned during the summer of 1943 to begin work on his doctoral dissertation, but in February he entered the Army.
Heinz had shown much promise as a young teacher and scholar in the field of art history and his loss will be keenly felt.
H.R.H.
In January 1945, the College Art Journal published another tribute to Heinz, in the form of a transcript of a letter sent to his parents in 1944. Under the title “Furlough in Rome”, the article is an extraordinarily vivid, detailed, yet light-hearted account of a tour of artistic works among churches in that city, this letter having been alluded to in the above Aufbau article.
FURLOUGH IN ROME BY HEINZ H. THANNHAUSER
Excerpts from a letter written to his parents during the summer of 1944 after a visit to Rome
THAT morning we went to S. Luigi dei Francesi, to look at the Caravaggio pictures; but there was a big mass and celebration there by French troops of the 5th Army, so we didn’t see them. The French came out later in a parade reminiscent of some I’ve seen in Paris, with turbaned troops and all (only their uniforms, except for headgear, are always American) – we took a picture or two of them. Next, we went to the Sapienza and got into the courtyard and looked at St. Ivo; unfortunately, the inside was closed, you can see it only on days when mass is held for the laureates. But we looked at the facade for quite a while, and after this visit to Rome I have even more respect for Borromini than I had by studying him formerly. From there we went to S. Agnese in Piazza Navona, and had a good look at the Four Rivers Fountain too, which really is a pretty daring tour de force on old Bernini’s part. The veil of the Nile is quite something. All in all this visit to Rome has increased my respect for the technical courage and perfection of the Baroque masters if for nothing else in their work. Next, S. Andrea della Valle, which quite apart from its design was amazing as being the first example of Baroque cupola and ceiling decoration I’d seen – the Lanfranco dome not being, perhaps, as terrific as some of them, but quite an introduction! Then the Palazzo Farnese, which is now a French headquarters building. After asking some Sudanese guards for directions, we groped our way up and finally a maid showed us into the Galleria, which was just being cleaned up – what a thrill! A lot of super-moderns despise the Carracci as coldly academic and what-not, but when you see an ensemble like this, which so perfectly fulfills its purpose, your hat goes off to them. The freshness of the color is amazing, and both the figures and the entire composition are pure delight. Especially as a little breather after too many visits to the dark and serious churches – although I understand the fracas caused by cardinals having sexy things like that painted in their home! The other rooms were astounding too, with the woodwork ceilings, etc. I need hardly say how impressed I was with the facade in Rome, however, you get so, that the only thing you notice is a façade that is not perfect, the perfect ones being so common! Next, S. Mariain Vallicella, with another terrific ceiling, and the Rubens altar piece with the angels holding up the picture of the Virgin that the gambler is said to have stoned when it was at S. Mariadella Pace, whereupon real blood came from it.
The next day we went to Santa Susanna and then to S. Maria della Vittoria, but unfortunately the Bernini Ecstacy of St. Theresa has been walled in for protection, like so many other things. The figures of the onlooking Cornaro family in the two side boxes are still visible, though. Then we went up to see S. Carloalle Quattro Fontane, which is just about the most amazing of Borromini’s tours de force. We couldn’t get into the cloister but we looked for quite a long time at the amazing amount of movement and undulation he got into so small a facade at such a narrow corner. We tried to take pictures of it but will have to splice two together, there wasn’t enough backing room.
From there it was just a little way to Sta. Maria Maggiore, which I had especially wanted to see, after that unending paper I wrote for Koehler on the mosaics there. I was afraid they’d probably have them walled up like most of the apsidial mosaics in Rome, but lo and behold, they were all there in their full freshness! It was one of the most terrific artistic impressions I got on our stay in Rome. I had not expected anything like the strength of color that remains just gleaming out at you, – especially so, of course, in the case of the Torriti work but amazingly bright too with the old mosaics. We walked round the whole church looking at the mall: the walls of Jericho falling down, God’s hand throwing stones down on the enemy, Lot’s wife turning to salt, the passage over the Red Sea, etc. I really was happy we had been able to get into Sta. Maria Maggiore.
We had planned to go back via the Thermae of Trajan, but it got too late for that, and at S. Pietro in Vincoli, we heard that Michelangelo’s Moses was all covered up, so we didn’t bother. Instead, we dropped into San Clemente, where so many great painters have worshipped in Masaccio’s chapel. Father McSweeney (it’s a church given to the Irish in Rome), who took us around, remarked, “He was quite a big noise in those days, as you would say!” First I asked him in Italian how to get to the subterranean church, and he answered in Italian and then said “Ye don’t speak much English, do ye?” which was very funny. He proved to be an unusually interesting person, with the most intimate knowledge of art history and styles and so forth as well as all matters pertaining to his church and a lively interest in the war, discussing bombing formations and everything else. He is completely in love with Rome and said there was no place like it to live in, and that he hoped after the war we would all three come to stay and live there! The mosaics, as usual, were covered over, but we had plenty of time to study all the details of the Masaccio and Masolino works, and then went down to the old church below, with the Mithraic statue and the other amazing things. He showed us where the house of Clemens was, and pointed out the usual anecdotic details of the Cicerone with an ever so slight but delightful note of amusement in his voice, placing them where they belong: for instance, with the Aqua Mysteriosa, “because nobody knows where it comes from” he said, as if he meant to say, “and why should anybody give a damn, either?” All in all, on account of the Masolino chapel, the church itself, the subterranean part with its amazing fragments of early painting, and last but not least Father McSweeney’s delightful and enlightened manner, this was one of our most memorable visits in Rome.
We hailed a horse carriage and went straight to St. Peter’s. As Paul and I had already studied it pretty thoroughly the time before, we just glanced into give our friend a look at it, and then went straight to the Sistine Chapel. Well, there just aren’t any words to tell how overwhelming it was. Here I’d written a paper, God knows how long, about the Prophets and Sibyls and the interrelation of figures on the ceiling, but I hadn’t known a damned thing about the ceiling. It is so unbelievably powerful that you can’t say anything. I kept looking, irresistibly, at the Jonah, which epitomizes tome the whole of Michelangelo’s life and torture, and really is, in the last analysis, the culmination and cornerstone to the whole ceiling. What a piece of painting – what a piece of poetry, or philosophy, or emotional outburst, a whole age expressed in one movement of a body! The way in which everything including the Prophets and Sibyls and Atlantes builds up from the relatively quiet figures in the chronologically later pieces (Biblically speaking) to the storm that sweeps through the early Genesis scenes and the figures around them, is inexpressible in words, Romain Rolland’s or anyone’s. As for sheer perfection of painting, the Creation of Adam just can’t be beat. And say what you will, no photographs, detail enlargements of the most skillful kind, can ever do what the things themselves do to you, especially in the context from which you can’t separate them. The Last Judgment is almost an anticlimax against it; and as for the Ghirlandaios, etc., you just can’t get yourself to look at them because something immediately pulls your eye up high again. And when has there ever been a man to do so much to your sense of form with such modest and restrained use of color? You begin to wonder why Rubens ever needed all that richness when a guy like this can sweep you off your feet with just a few tints of rose and light blue and yellow – but where the tints are put, oh boy! Well, it’s all written up in all the books, but I just have to put down what it did to me. – Mediterranean Theatre
Finally, an excellent representative image of B-26 Marauders of the 441st Bomb Squadron in formation, somewhere in the Meditarreanean Theater of War. Notice that the aircraft in this photo comprise both camouflaged (olive drab / neutral gray) and “silver” (that is, uncamouflaged) aircraft. The image is from the National Museum of the Air Force.
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Stephen Ambrose’s 1998 book The Victors included recollections of the experiences of Cpl. James Pemberton, a squad leader in the United States Army’s 103rd Infantry Division, covering combat with German forces in late 1944. Pemberton mentioned the death in battle of a German-speaking Jewish infantryman, who was killed while attempting – in his native language – to persuade a group of German soldiers to surrender.
The fact that the soldier remained anonymous lent the story a haunting note, for that man’s name deserved to be remembered.
Aufbau revealed his identity. He was Private First Class George E. Rosing.
Born in Krefeld, Germany, he arrived in the United States on a Kindertransport in 1937. As revealed in the newspaper in September of 1945 (and verified through official documents) he received the Silver Star by audaciously using his fluency in German to enable the advance of his battalion in late November of 1944.
The Victors – Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II
Stephen E. Ambrose 1998
That same day Cpl. James Pemberton, a 1942 high school graduate who went into ASTP and then to the 103rd Division as a replacement, was also following a tank. “My guys started wandering and drifting a bit, and I yelled at them to get in the tank tracks to avoid the mines. They did and we followed. The tank was rolling over Schu [anti-personnel] mines like crazy. I could see them popping left and right like popcorn.” Pemberton had an eighteen-year-old replacement in the squad; he told him to hop up and ride on the tank, thinking he would be out of the way up there. An 88 fired. The replacement fell off. The tank went into reverse and backed over him, crushing him from the waist down. “There was one scream, and some mortars hit the Kraut 88 and our tank went forward again. To me, it was one of the worst things I went through. This poor bastard had graduated from high school in June, was drafted, took basic training, shipped overseas, had thirty seconds of combat, and was killed.”
Pemberton’s unit kept advancing. “The Krauts always shot up all their ammo and then surrendered,” he remembered. Hoping to avoid such nonsense, in one village the CO sent a Jewish private who spoke German forward with a white flag, calling out to the German boys to surrender. “They shot him up so bad that after it was over the medics had to slide a blanket under his body to take him away.” Then the Germans started waving their own white flag. Single file, eight of them emerged from a building, hands up. “They were very cocky. They were about 20 feet from me when I saw the leader suddenly realize he still had a pistol in his shoulder holster. He reached into his jacket with two fingers to pull it out and throw it away.
“One of our guys yelled, ‘Watch it! He’s got a gun!’ and came running up shooting and there were eight Krauts on the ground shot up but not dead. They wanted water but no one gave them any. I never felt bad about it although I’m sure civilians would be horrified. But these guys asked for it. If we had not been so tired and frustrated and keyed up and mad about our boys they shot up, it never would have happened. But a lot of things happen in war and both sides know the penalties.”
Aufbau’s tribute to PFC Rosing appeared nineteen days after the end of the Second World War.
Pfc. George E. Rosing
Aufbau September 21, 1945
Der fruhere Gert Rozenzweig aus Krefeld, zuletzt Cincinnati, O., ist am 1. Dezember 1944 beim Vormarsch auf Schlettstadt im Elsaas im Alter von 21 Jahren gefallen. Er wurde jetzt posthum mit dem Silver Star, der dritthöchsten Auszeichnung der amerikanishen Armee, geehrt. – Es war am 24. November 1944, als die Spitze seines Bataillons in der Nähe von Lubine in Frankreich auf eine unerwartete feindliche Block-Stellung stiess, die die Strasse versperrte. Unter Lebensgefahr trat Pfc. Rosing vor und begann, den feindlichen Wachposten auf deutch ins Gespräch zu ziehen. Auf dessen Befehl legte er die Waffen nieder ung ging bis zu zehn Meter an den Wachposten heran. Damit gab er seinen Kameraden Gelegenheit, Deckung zu suchen und den Angriff vorzubereiten. Der Wachposten war uberrascht. Bevor er sich aber der Situation bewusst wurde und Alarm geben konnte, gelang es der amerikanischen Truppe, durch die Stellung durchzustossen. – Pfc. Rosing kam 1937 mit einen Kindertransport nach Amerika; 1942 nachdem er gerade ein Jahr am College of Engineering an der Universität Cincinnati studiert hatte, trat er in die Armee ein.
The former Gert Rozenzweig from Krefeld, most recently of Cincinnati, Ohio, fell on 1 December 1944 on the way to Schlettstadt in Elsaas at the age of 21 years. He has now been posthumously honored with the Silver Star, the third highest honor of the American Army. It was on November 24, 1944, when the head of his battalion encountered an unexpected enemy position blocking the road near Lubine in France. Under mortal danger, Pfc. Rosing began to draw the enemy sentinel into conversation. At his [the German sentinel’s] orders he laid down his weapons and went up to ten meters to the sentry. He gave his comrades the opportunity to seek cover and prepare for the attack. The sentry was surprised. But before he [the German sentinel] became aware of the situation and could give the alarm, the American force managed to break through the position. – Pfc. Rosing came to America in 1937 with a children’s transport; in 1942, after just one year studying at the College of Engineering at Cincinnati University, he joined the army.
Aufbau, September 21, 1945, page 7: The story of George Rosing.
HEADQUARTERS 103d INFANTRY DIVISION Office of the Commanding General
APO 470, U.S. Army 19 December 1944
GENERAL ORDERS) : NUMBER – 75)
AWARD, POSTHUMOUS, OF SILVER STAR
Private First Class George E. Rosing, 35801894, Infantry, Company “C”, 409th Infantry Regiment. For gallantry in action. During the night of 24 November 1944, in the vicinity of *** France, Private Rosing was with the battalion point, acting as interpreter, when an enemy road block was encountered. The point was cutting the surrounding barb wire entanglement around the road block when suddenly challenged. Private Rosing, a brilliant conversationalist in the enemies [sic] language, immediately stepped forward, with utter disregard for his life, to engage the sentry in conversation. He was ordered to drop his arms and advance to within 15 feet of the sentry, which he did. This gallant move gave the point an opportunity to seek cover in the immediate area. The guard stupefied by Private Rosing’s boldness was unaware of the situation confronting him. Before the guard could regain his composure, Private Rosing, assured that his group had reached safety, dived for the bushes as the sentry opened fire, and returned to his comrades unscathed. As a result of his quick thinking and calmness during a tense situation the battalion was able to pass through the enemy road block successfully in the push towards its objective. Throughout this entire activity his display of magnificent courage reflects the highest traditions of the military service. Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio. Next of kin: Eugene Rosenzweig, (Father), 564 Glenwood Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.
By command of Major General HAFFNER:
G.S. MELOY, JR. Colonel, G.S.C. Chief of Staff
Born on December 3, 1923, PFC Rosing (serial number 35801894) was the son of Eugene and Herta (Herz) Rosing. The brother of Pvt. John Rosing, his name appeared in Aufbau on January 12 and September 21, 1945. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, at Section 12, Grave 1574. His matzeva appears below, in an image at BillionGraves.com taken by Liallee.
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Two men, among many.
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As part of my research about Jewish military service during the Second World War, I reviewed all issues of Aufbau published between 1939 and 1946 for articles relating to Jewish military service and identified pertinent news-items in the categories listed above. (Whew. It took a while…) These will be presented in a future set of blog posts, with – where necessary – English-language translations accompanying the German-language article titles.
I have not translated all, many, most, or even “a lot” of these articles; I leave that to the interested reader. (!)
Well, okay.
I’ve translated a certain select and compelling few, primarily concerning Jewish prisoners of war, and, the Jewish Brigade Group, which you may find of interest.
Freeman, Roger A., Camouflage & Markings – United States Army Air Force 1937-1945, Ducimus Books Limited, London, England, 1974 (B-26 Marauder on pp. 25-48)
Tannehill, Victor C., Boomerang! – Story of the 320th Bombardment Group in World War II, Victor C. Tannehill, Racine, Wi., 1980. (Photo of “Becky” on page 115)
George E. Rosing
Ambrose, Stephen E., The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of WW II, Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 2004.
I recently received the following comment from Jim Rubin, concerning Major Milton Joel, commander of the 38th Fighter Squadron of the 55th Fighter Group until his death in combat over Holland with Me 109s of Jagdgeschwader 1 on November 29, 1943. (Among the posts about Major Joel, see here and here in particular.)
Being that – for a reason presently unresolved! (&$#@^&* (!?!)) – comments to this blog are not displayed in my sidebar, I thought I’d share Jim’s comment by turning it into a post. (Extraordinarily brief, by the standards of my blog!) So, herewith:
Maj. Milton Joel was my cousin (my dad’s contemporary, although eight years Pop’s senior). When Pop (now 96 y.o. and going strong) was in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany (1945-47), he spent a lot of time trying to track down cousin Milton’s remains, but was unsuccessful. Cousin Milton called my Pop “Little Buddy” and Pop loved and revered him. The Joels, Weinstein’s and the Rubin families were all heart broken over the loss of Milton. By all accounts he was a warm, kind and witty man.
My reply: Thanks very much for your insightful and moving comment, Jim. Trying to ascertain Major Joel’s fate was a noble effort on the part of your father, but given the time-frame – the immediate post-WW II years – such an endeavor would have been utterly daunting, and well-high impossible. For one thing, MACRs (Missing Air Crew Reports) were not declassified until the 1980s, while then-relatively-recently captured German Luftgaukommando Reports were – I think? – in a transitional stage of custody among & between American and British Forces.
In human terms, the only survivor among the P-38 pilots shot down on November 29, 1943 was 2 Lt. John J. Carroll, and the possibility of even identifying him – as a returned POW, in 1945, as a person to interview, as one would do in “our” world of the twenty-first century – would have been miniscule, due to confidentiality of military and other records, unless one previously had an “in” among and familiarity with 38th Fighter Squadron personnel.
As I explained in my series of posts about Major Joel and the other 38th Fighter Pilots lost over eight decades ago in the late November sky over Holland, I believe that Major Joel was shot down over the Netherlands, within or very near the area between Hoogeveen and Zwartsluis, as denoted by the blue oval.
I do not believe his “Flying Wolf” ever (ever) reached a point anywhere near the Ijsselmeer or North Sea.
I base this conclusion on the description of the sequence of events encompassing the shooting down of Lieutenants Albert A. Albino and Carroll, and, the arrival of Captain Rufus R.C. Franklin and 2 Lt. James W. Gilbride(of the 343rd Fighter Squadron, which by then, after having gone into two Lufberry Circles, was heading back to Nuthampstead under the command of a pilot who shall remain anonymous…) over Meppel and Hoogeveen, after they broke from their squadron to come to the aid of Major Joel and Lt. Carroll.
If this is so, certainly a central and entirely valid question is why the wreckage of 42-67020 was never found in this area of the Netherlands – which certainly has hardly been devoid of human habitation! – and reported upon by either the Germans, or, Dutch authorities. To this I can offer no answer. I can only suppose that like Lt. Albino’s Spirit of Aberdeen, Major Joel’s P-38H impacted so very deeply into the Dutch earth, perhaps unwitnessed in an uninhabited locale, as to have obliterated its point of impact, let alone the aircraft itself.
On an unrelated note, I’ve often wondered about the eventual fate of Major Joel’s correspondence – letters and V-Mails – with his parents and family members, let alone documents of an official nature, such as his pilot’s log-book. (His widow Elaine having destroyed their personal correspondence before she passed away many years ago.) Alas, I suppose this invaluable material has been lost to the randomness of time.
Anyway, thanks for remembering Major Joel, and thanks for your comment.
Here are two views of CG * A, Major Joel’s un-named “Flying Wolf”…
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Here are my blog posts about Major Joel…
A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: I – A Fate Unknown
A Missing Man: Major Milton Joel, Fighter Pilot, 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force: II – From Proskurov to Richmond
Update… Created back in May of 2021 (…a world ago, in internet terms; a world ago, in terms of the present moment…), I’ve edited this post to include images of the matzevot (tombstones) of Jack Bartman, and his parents, Morris and Gussie, which appeared on FindAGrave in 2023 and 2021, respectively.
The post also includes the full text of an article from issue 29 of the publication “der Vinschger”, entitled “Als in Göflan der Bomber „landete”” (“When the Bomber “Landed” in Göflan“), published in the town of Schlanders (and available at https://www.dervinschger.it/de/) in September of 2020, which includes an image of the wreckage of B-17G 44-6861. I’ve included the article’s original German text and an English-language translation, the latter appearing in dark blue, like this.
The story of the crew’s final flight in 44-6861, as highlighted in the “Als in Göflan der Bomber „landete”” (“When the Bomber “Landed” in Göflan”) specifically mentions the names of three of the bomber’s ten crewmen: pilot 1 Lt. Eugene T. Bissinger, navigator 1 Lt. Manton A. Nations, and, Cpl. Bartman himself. Therein, Jack Bartman’s fate is recounted in one sentence: “Einer der abgesprungenen Soldaten, Jack Bartman, wurde von fanatischen Widerstandskämpfern erschossen.” (“One of the soldiers who jumped [from the] ship, Jack Bartman, was shot by fanatical resistance fighters.”)
There’s no mention that Cpl. Bartman was murdered because he was a Jew.
Likewise, NARA RG 153 War Crimes Case File 16-293-16 specifically states that one or more of the men involved in Cpl. Bartman’s murder – Giovanni (Johann) Weiss, Kurt Gerlitsky (Gerlitzki), and Gottfried Marzoner – were members of the “Landwacht” (Land Watch? Land Guard?), which – putting it mildly – would’ve been the utter antithesis of any Resistance movement. Likewise, the Burgomeister of Lauregno also participated in Cpl. Bartman’s murder.
Otherwise, Ancestry.com reveals that T/Sgt. Francis Xavier Kelly (son of John F. (or Joseph J.?) and Elizabeth (Gaffney) Kelly) – whose report in MACR 13817 is so instrumental in reconstructing the events surrounding Cpl. Bartman’s fate – was born in Brooklyn on December 2, 1924, and passed away at the age of seventy years on June 13, 1994.
And so, here’s the revised post…
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“IT’S EASY TO REALIZE THE ANGUISH THE BOY’S FAMILY MUST BE ENDURING AS A RESULT OF NOT RECEIVING A PROPER STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR SON.
IT’S ALSO NICE TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE IS DEFINITELY INTERESTED IN HELPING THEM BY A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION OF THE CASE.
IN THAT RESPECT, I HOPE THIS INFORMATION WILL BE OF VERY GREAT VALUE TO YOU.
IN FACT, I AM WILLING TO HAVE YOU CALL ON ME AT ANY TIME FOR ANYTHING I MAY HAVE MISSED, FOR I AM VERY EAGER TO BE OF ASSISTANCE.”
– Francis X. Kelly, March 4, 1946
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Corporal Jack Bartman
Saturday, September 6, 1924 – Friday, April 20, 1945
“…and the land shall reveal its blood and it shall no longer conceal its slain ones.” (Isaiah 26:12)
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My recent post – focusing on Captain Paul Kamen, PFC Donald R. Lindheim, and PFC Arthur N. Sloan of the United States Army, as well other Jewish military casualties that occurred less than three weeks before the Second World War’s end – is incomplete, for it lacks a name and story which follows below: That of Corporal Jack Bartman of the United States Army Air Force.
An aerial gunner in the Italy-based 15th Air Force, he was captured – unwounded; uninjured – but never experienced the end of the war in Europe eighteen days later, let alone an eventual return to his family: He was murdered by civilians very shortly after being taken captive. Possibly because, much as could befall most any soldier or aviator – he was captured at the very wrong place; at the very wrong time. Equally – to an extent that will never be fully known, but whether an extent lesser or greater (and probably much greater) – because he was a Jew. In a larger sense, his story relates to the predicament of captured Jewish soldiers and airmen in the European Theater during WW II, albeit this varied enormously between Jewish soldiers captured while serving in the armed forces of the United States and British Commonwealth, versus those serving in the armed forces of Poland and the Soviet Union.
As such, Cpl. Bartman’s murder at the hands of civilians, and the disillusioning postwar outcome (well, there was no real outcome as such) of the postwar investigation into his murder thus merits “this” separate blog post.
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Jack Bartman (32883370), the son of Morris and Gussie (Needleman) Bortnicker, and the brother of Simon, was born in Manhattan on September 6, 1924, his family eventually residing at 487 Snediker Ave, in Brooklyn. Originally assigned to the 8th Air Force, he was, “One of hundreds of surplus 8th Air Force gunners who sailed from Glasgow, Scotland, docking at Naples, Italy, for assignment with the 15th Air Force.” Assigned to the 840th Bomb Squadron of the 483rd Bomb Group, he had no aircrew of his own, filling-in with crews as needed for combat missions.
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Jack Bartman
Jack Bartman’s Draft Registration Card
This image shows Jack Bartman and his (original?) crew during training at Ardmore, Oklahoma, in July of 1944. Jack is is the first row, second from right. The names of the other men are unknown, albeit the four in the rear (as seen in so many similar photos from the war) would have been the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and bombardier, while the five men in the front row with Jack would have been the flight engineer, radio operator, and other aerial gunners. On the reverse of the image is the notation “Fonville Studio, Ardmore Oklahoma, July 21, 1944.”
Assigned to the crew of 1 Lt. Eugene T. Bissinger on April 20, 1945, his “un-nicknamed” B-17G Flying Fortress, serial number 44-6861, was shot down during a mission to marshalling yards at Fortezza, Italy (the same target which claimed the crew of 2 Lt. Earle L. Sullivan of the 342nd Bomb Squadron of the 97th Bomb Group, among whom was tail gunner S/Sgt. David Weinstein), his plane’s loss being covered in Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 13817.
The bomber’s crew that day comprised:
1 Lt. Eugene T. Bissinger– Pilot – Prisoner of War at Merano, Italy 2 Lt. Donald W. McGinnis – Co-Pilot – Evaded capture (originally in Parrish crew) 1 Lt. Manton A. Nations – Navigator – Prisoner of War at Merano, Italy (original crew member of Jack Bissinger) S/Sgt. Lee Hugh Shead – Togglier (enlisted bombardier) – Prisoner of War at Merano, Italy(originally in Urschel crew) T/Sgt. Willie D. McDaniel – Flight Engineer – Evaded(originally in Urschel crew) T/Sgt. Francis X. Kelly – Radio Operator – Evaded (originally in Urschel crew) S/Sgt. Edmund T. Farrell – Gunner (Right Waist) – Evaded (originally in Urschel crew) S/Sgt. Marvin I. Mattatall – Gunner (Ball Turret) – Evaded (originally in Alford crew) S/Sgt. Peter A. Filosema – Gunner (Tail Gunner) – Evaded (originally in Urschel crew)
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As shown from the above list, interestingly, Eugene Bissinger’s crew for the April 20 mission was a composite crew, his only “original” crew member – assigned during training at MacDill Field, Florida – having been Manton Nations. Donald McGinnis was a member of the Thomas E. Parrish crew. Willie McDaniel, Lee Shead, Francis Kelly, Edmund Farrell, and Peter Filosema had been crew members of George C. Urschel, Jr., while Marvin Mattatal was a member of the William Alford crew.
The below photo, of George C. Urschel’s crew, includes five men who served in Jack Bissinger’s crew on April 20. The men are, left to right:
Rear row:
Raymond J. Kosinski – Bombardier (Urschel crew) – POW 4/20/45 Ira Geifer – Co-Pilot (Urschel crew) George C. Urschel – completed missions Carl R. Helfenberger – Navigator (Urschel crew) – completed missions
Front row:
Willie D. McDaniel Francis X. Kelly Anastasios T. Cokenias – Waist Gunner (Urschel crew) – Completed missions Peter A. Filosema Edmund T. Farrell Lee H. Shead
The loss of B-17G 44-6861 is covered in MACR 13817, the first page of which is shown below…
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What happened to Jack Bartman? Well, rather than simply display a bunch of images without comment or explanation, what follows is an account based upon information from Casualty Questionnaires in MACR 13817 (by Bissinger, Kelly, Mattatall, McDaniel, Nations, and Shead) and, Case File 16-293-16, the latter from NARA Records Group 153 (Records of the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army). The latter document covers the investigation into Jack Bartman’s murder, and includes the names of both accused and witnesses, which can be found below.
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And so…
Shortly after noon on April 20, 1945, as the 483rd’s formation rallied off Fortezza for return to its base at Sterparone, Italy, aircraft 44-6861 was struck by flak behind its #1 or #2 engines while flying at an altitude of 27,000 feet. Some witnesses reported that fuel began to spray from its damaged left wing, while others described flames flaring from under the #1 engine’s supercharger, with smoke – turning from gray to black – trailing behind.
Remarkably, this event was photographed from the radio room or dorsal turret of a nearby B-17, the resulting image becoming Army Air Force photo 60096AC / A22790. The photo clearly shows Lt. Bissinger’s 44-6861 trailing smoke or fuel from behind its #1 engine. Close examination of the picture reveals the tail insignia of the damaged plane to be a white “Y” upon a black background, with a lack of any geometric and / or numerical markings beneath the aircraft’s serial number: The markings of the 483rd Bomb Group.
Caption: “During the raid on the marshalling yards at Fortezza, Italy on April 20, 1945 this Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the 15th A.F. was hit by flak and caught fire. One of the greatest flak gun concentrations was massed in northern Italy before the Germans were beaten back to the Po River.”
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The bomber, fortunately not actually aflame, then dropped back from the 840th Bomb Squadron’s formation. With the plane skidding and quickly losing altitude, though remaining in level flight, five crewmen parachuted almost immediately, and a further two jumped soon after, all these crewmen exiting the bomber at a location ten to twenty-five miles due west of Fortezza, or, between Fortezza and a point 20 miles southwest of Merano.
The aircraft was last seen by other members of the 840th Bomb Squadron just south of the town of Stelvia, losing altitude over the Alps in a direction northwest from Fortezza, and then going out of sight in the haze, possibly at an altitude of eight to ten thousand feet.
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Here’s a map of the last reported location of 44-6861, from MACR 13817: Near Stelvio, Italy.
By way of comparison, here’s an Oogle Map photo (air or satellite? – I’m not sure which) of the area in the above map, very roughly at the same scale as the map itself, with Stelvio in the center of the image. While not apparent from the map, immediately obvious from the image is the mountainous nature of the terrain.
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Digressing… To give you a better idea of the appearance of 483rd Bomb Group B-17s (the 15th Air Force, let alone other numbered Air Forces of the WW II Army Air Force, having received markedly less attention over the decades following WW II than the 8th Air Force, but that’s getting off-topic…) here are a photo and painting of two different 483rd Bomb Group B-17s.
First, the photo: “Heading for its target, the Vienna Schwechat Oil Refineries in Austria, are bombs from one of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 15th AF that attacked this one of the few remaining sources of oil left to the Hun in Europe, on 7 Feb. 1945”.
The “un-nicknamed” B-17G in this image (Army Air Force Force photo 61599AC / A4991) – aircraft 44-6325, of the 816th Bomb Squadron – would be lost a little over a month later, on March 16, 1945, during a mission to that same target, though no cause of the plane’s loss is given in MACR 13059, which covers the incident. Piloted by 1 Lt. Homer R. Anderson, the plane crash-landed behind Soviet lines southeast of Lake Balaton, Hungary, with all ten crewmen aboard. The entire crew – all uninjured in the incident – eventually returned to the United States.
The image provides an excellent illustration of the relatively plain appearance of 15th Air Force (5th Bomb Wing, to be specific) B-17s, which bore far simpler, far less colorful unit insignia than Flying Fortresses of the 8th Air Force. Typical of 483rd Bomb Group planes, this aircraft bears a simple star beneath the “Y” symbol carried by all 5th Bomb Wing (15th Air Force) B-17s, and – like other planes of the 483rd Bomb Group – lacks any form of squadron identification.
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Second, the painting: Here is B-17G 44-6538 “Miss Prissy” of the 817th Bomb Squadron, as depicted by Don Greer in B-17 Flying Fortress in Color (1982). The image provides an illustration of the red rudders and cowl rings of 483rd Bomb Group B-17s, not evident from the black and white photos above.
This aircraft, piloted by 1 Lt. Ralph F. Bates, failed to return from a mission to oil refineries at Ruhland, Germany, on March 22, 1945. Subsequent to an attack by German fighters after bombs-away – which caused the bomber’s right main fuel tank to catch fire – five enlisted personnel (Brennan J., McCauley, Pickard, Piersall, and Thaen) bailed out, to be captured and interned at Stalag Luft I, while the flight engineer (Brewer) remained aboard with the plane’s four officers (Bates, Kallock, Fischer, and Jacobs). The aircraft eventually landing somewhere behind Russian lines. Fortunately, all of MISS PRISSY’S ten crew members eventually returned to the United States. The plane’s loss is covered in MACR 13242.
This was the last that was known of the plane and crew until not long after the war’s end.
It turned out that eight crewmen – not seven – parachuted from the plane, with Lieutenants Bissinger and Nations (the latter in the co-pilot’s seat) remaining in the aircraft. The two then crash-landed the plane – probably because the plane had descended too low to safely bail out? – with the bomber’s crew members giving different accounts of where it finally came to earth: According to Lt. Bissinger, “in a valley of a mountain 50 to 75 miles S.W. by W. of Fortezza”; according to Lt. Nations, “about 20 miles S.W. of Merano”; according to T/Sgt. McDaniel, “10 miles from Switzerland”; according to S/Sgt. Mattatall, (not a regular member of the Bissinger crew) “20 miles from Fondo Italy.”
Both men suffered cuts and severe bruises in the landing (and Bissinger a broken left hand) but they were uninjured by flak.
According to an entry by Manfred Haringer at https://b17flyingfortress.de/, Bissinger and Nations actually crash-landed 44-6861 in the vicinity of the village of Göflan (otherwise known as Covelano or Goldrain), near the town of Schlanders (otherwise known as Silandro) in the Adige river valley, in the South Tyrol.
Captured, these two officers remained in a German hospital in Merano until the war’s end. According to Lt. Nations, also at the hospital were “T/Sgt. Kolbe” and “S/Sgt. Mountain” and a second (un-named) Staff Sergeant, the latter I think togglier S/Sgt. Shead. As for “Kolbe” and “Mountain”, strangely, these names don’t correspond to any American POWs in the European Theater, whether from Army ground forces or Army Air Forces.
The other casualty in the crew was flight engineer McDaniel, who, hit by flak in the shoulder, arm, and cheek, and an evader, was given medical treatment by “a German woman doctor through Partisan activities”.
Six other crew members were more fortunate. According to radio operator Kelly, co-pilot McGinnis, McDaniel, and three aerial gunners (right waist gunner Farrell, ball turret gunner Mattatall, and tail gunner Filosena), evaded capture, probably remaining hidden in the area between Merano, and Göflan, and Schlanders.
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As for Corporal Jack Bartman? Taken as a whole, the Casualty Questionnaires of his fellow crewmen recount the same appalling event, with Francis Kelly’s account being by far the most detailed.
Eugene Bissinger: “Jack Bartman was brutally beaten by Italian civilians and finally shot by one of them. The name of the town and the man who did the shooting can be found in the statement of a 2nd Lt. Robert G. Henry 02058804 submitted to Escape Section, of Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, Bari Italy.”
(2 Lt. Robery G. Henry of Paris, Texas, was the co-pilot of Queen Anne / 53, a B-24H Liberator (42-95458 – see MACR 10937) of the 722nd Bomb Squadron, 450th Bomb Group, piloted by 1 Lt. Louis M. McCumsey, shot down during a mission to the Brenner Pass on December 29, 1944. Coincidentally, his plane crashed near Laurein (Lauregno). Nine of his plane’s ten crewmen survived. Having been an evader, Lt. Henry’s name doesn’t show up in Luftgaukommando Report KSU / ME 2651, which has “gaps” in the data fields where the co-pilot’s and navigator’s (Lt. Halstead) names would appear. Thus, it would seem that navigator Lt. Halstead also evaded capture.)
Manton Nations: “Believe to have parachuted safely to ground. Taken by Italian civilians as prisoner. His fate was due to their actions.” Source of information? “Lt Henry of Texas (Paris Texas) B-24 pilot who spent 6 or 7 mo. with Italian Partisans. He saw our plane go down.”
Marvin Mattatall: “I saw him when he bailed out. He was standing by the waist hatch.” “He was killed by German civilians. A civilian by the name of Wisse shot him after being badly beaten by them.” “The information given below was told to me by several Italian civilians. A full account of the incident was given by me and others of the crew to an intelligent [sic] officer at Bolzano and 15th A.A.F.H.Q. in Italy.”
Willie McDaniel: “”Any explanation of his fate based in part or wholly on supposition: “Only because he was of Jewish nationality.””
Lee Shead: “…he was captured and beat to death by civilian personel.” “I saw in the prison camp where I was held a few of his personal belongings and dog-tags. There was also a report stating that he was killed while resisting arrest. There was also a map showing his burial place.”
Due to the detail and comprehensiveness of Kelly’s account, I’ve included images and transcripts of his Casualty Questionnaire, which you can read below.
Kelly’s report can be summarized as follows:
Like the seven other crewmen who parachuted from 44-6861, Corporal Bartman landed without injury. This was near the town of Lauregno (more commonly and better known today as Laurein?).
This Oogle map of the South Tyrol shows the relative locations of Göflan (Covelano / Goldrain), Laurien (Lauregno), and Merano. Note Bolzano to the southeast.
Upon landing, Cpl. Bartman was first encountered by a friendly civilian (name unknown) who intended to help him evade capture. But, uncertain of the situation, Bartman hesitated, and tragically, the opportunity for evasion was immediately lost: He was captured other civilians, who were led by the Burgomeister and among whom was a certain Giovanni (Johann) Weiss.
Bartman was disarmed (presumably of his .45 pistol?), and then, he was beaten.
He was ostensibly to have been taken to the prisoner of war camp at Merano, though – in light of the near-48 kilometer (nearly 30 miles) distance between that town and Lauregno – Kelly does not specify if this was to have been via motor vehicle or (?!) on foot.
According to Oogle Maps, Merano and Laurein are today connected by roads SP86 and SS238, as shown in the map below.
Assuming that there was ever any real intention about his internment at Merano, the point soon became horribly moot. En route, civilians beat Corporal Bartman once again. Then, he was shot in both legs. Unable to continue walking, he was then murdered.
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Four days later, he buried in the city cemetery of Merano with neither a coffin nor identification. The location of his intentionally un-named grave was marked by Italian civilians sympathetic to the Allies, reportedly among them the civilian who first encountered and attempted to aid the Corporal. This man led American authorities to the grave after the war’s end, and Cpl. Bartman’s body was reinterred at the United States Military Cemetery at Mirandola in early June. More about this can be found in the letter – below – by Arini Adelino of Merano (the letter was incorporated into Corporal Bartman’s Individual Deceased Personnel File – IDPF), to the Allied Military Government.
To the
Allied Military Government
Merano
Through this I inform you, that on April 24th 1945, 9 o’clock in the morning, the corpse of the American pilot, Jack Bartman, who was killed by a member of the country guard (“Landwacht”) near the Palade Pass, was buried in the city cemetery by order of the German military commando (Platzkommando).
By order of the German political commissioner, Franz Huber, the American soldier was not buried in the heroes cemetery (Heldenfriedhof), but was buried without honors in a simple hole without a casket in the corner of the dishonorable (murders and suicides).
I protested against this and told the political commissioner, that such a treatment was inhuman and unjust, but I could not attain anything, because Mr. Huber said, that the corpse did not deserve anything better, as he defended himself against the him [sic] arresting country guard (Landwacht) and as he was a Jew.
Il. Direttore del Cimitero Arini Adelino
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Sgt. Kelly received this information while in hiding at two towns – one German, and another Italian – and noted that these reports coincided with stories given to the other evadees in his crew.
Kelly’s civilian informants included:
In Marcena di Rumo (presumably, the Italian town): An “unknown eyewitness” Elena Torresani
In Proveis (the German town): Johann Pichler
In the Italian towns of, Brez, Fondo, and Marcena di Lanza Unidentified civilians
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Here are images and transcripts of Sergeant Francis X. Kelly’s Casualty Questionnaire, Individual Casualty Questionnaire, and additional correspondence, from MACR 13817.
Casualty Questionnaire
Your name: FRANCIS X. KELLY Rank: T/SGT. Did other members of crew bail out? YES, ALL EXCEPT THE NAVIGATOR AND PILOT BAILED OUT IMMEDIATELY Tell all you know about when, where, how each person in your aircraft for whom no individual questionnaire is attached bailed out. A crew list is attached. Please give facts. If you don’t know, say: “No knowledge”. CO-PILOT, ENGINEER, 3 GUNNERS, AND MYSELF (RADIO GUNNER) WERE EVADES AFTER BAILING OUT. TOGGLIER BAILED OUT AND WAS TAKEN POW. OTHER GUNNER BAILED OUT SUCCESSFULLY, BUT WAS KILLED BY GERMAN CIVILIANS. Where did your aircraft strike the ground? NO KNOWLEDGE What members of your crew were in the aircraft when it struck the ground? (Should cross check with 8 above and individual questionnaires.) PILOT AND NAVIGATOR RODE THE SHIP TO THE GROUND Where were they in aircraft? IN PILOT’S AND CO-PILOTS POSITIONS What was their condition? NAVIGATOR WAS SLIGHTLY INJURED BY FLAK, PILOT WAS OK, BUT BOTH WERE INJURED BY CRASH. (BROKEN ARMS FOR EACH.)
Individual Casualty Questionnaire
Did he bail out? YES Where? ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF BOLZANO, ITALY Last contact or conversation just prior to or at time of loss of plane: AT THE SIDE DOOR OF THE PLANE WHILE PREPARING TO BAIL OUT Was he injured? NO Where was he last seen? I NEVER SAW HIM AFTER LEAVING PLANE Any hearsay information: FROM GERMAN AND ITALIAN NATIVES, I WAS FULLY INFORMED OF HIS DEATH. HE WAS KILLED BY GERMAN CIVILIANS UPON LANDING. I CAN GIVE DEFINITE NAMES AND PLACES AND WILL TYPE THEM ON BACK OF THIS SHEET. THESE PEOPLE CAN GIVE FULL DETAILS. THERE ARE A FEW EYE WITNESS[ES] IN THE TOWNS I WILL MENTION.
Any explanation of his fate based in part or wholly on supposition: NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE Total number of missions of above crew member: IT WAS HIS 33RD MISSION
Pages three and four – additional correspondence
Page “three”
(WHEN I LEFT THE SECTION, THE MAN NAMED WEISS WAS BEING HELD UNDER ARREST BY ITALIAN PARTISANS IN THE TOWN OF BREZ.)
ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION I WAS GIVEN, AND WHICH I CHECKED AS BEST I COULD, CPL. BARTMAN HIT THE GROUND NEAR THE TOWN OF LAUREGNO, AND WAS CAPTURED SOON AFTER BY GERMAN CIVILIANS. THE CIVILIANS WERE LED BY THE TOWN BURGOMEISTER, AND A CIVILIAN NAMED WEISS, WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEATH. THEY TOOK HIM INTO LAUREGNO AFTER DISARMING AND BEATING HIM. FROM THERE HE WAS TAKEN TO MERANO WHERE THERE WAS A PW CAMP, BUT EN ROUTE, THE CIVILIANS BEAT CPL. BARTMAN SOME MORE, SHOT HIM IN THE BACK OF EACH LEG AND TRIED TO GET HIM TO CONTINUE TO MARCH. AT THIS POINT I UNDERSTAND THAT HE WAS UNABLE TO CONTINUE, SO AFTER ANOTHER BEATING, ONE OF THE CIVILIANS PUT A GUN TO HIS HEAD, AND KILLED HIM. THEN THEY BURIED HIM IN AN UNMARKED GRAVE, BUT SOME ITALIAN SYMPATHIZERS MARKED THE SPOT AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN POINTED OUT TO AMERICAN AUTHORITIES WHEN THEY ARRIVED. I LEFT THE SECTION BEFORE THE AMERICANS ARRIVED, SO I DON’T KNOW IF IT EVER WAS BROUGHT TO ANYONE’S ATTENTION.
THE INFORMATION I RECEIVED WAS GIVEN TO ME IN TWO DIFFERENT TOWNS, ONE GERMAN AND THE OTHER ITALIAN, AND INCIDENTALLY COINCIDES WITH THE STORIES GIVEN BY OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CREW WHO WERE HIDING OUT IN OTHER TOWNS.
IN MARCENA DI RUMO, THERE WAS AN EYEWITNESS BUT I DON’T KNOW HIS NAME. THE WOMAN WHO HELPED ME WAS NAMED ELENA TORRESANI, AND SHE WOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE INFORMATION ALONG THOSE LINES. ALSO IN THE TOWN OF PROVEIS (GERMAN), WHERE A MAN NAMED JOHANN PICHLER HELPED ME YOU COULD FIND MORE INFORMATION. I KNOW NATIVES IN THE TOWNS OF BREZ, FONDO, AND MARCENA DI LANZA ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE FACTS SO I SUGGEST THESE PEOPLE BE APPROACHED. INCIDENTALLY ALL THESE TOWNS ARE IN NORTH ITALY, ABOUT 25-30 MILES DIRECTLY WEST OF BOLZANO.
THE KILLING OCCURRED ON APRIL 20, 1945.
Francis X. Kelly
Page “four”
March 4, 1946
295 ST JOHNS PLACE
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
DEAR SIR,
I HOPE I CAN BE OF SOME ASSISTANCE WITH THE ENCLOSED PARTICULARS. HAVING BEEN ON THE MISSION INVOLVED AND HAVING LIVED IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF THE SLAYING, I CAN HONESTLY AND DEFINITELY STATE THAT THESE ARE TRUE FACTS I’M PASSING ON, OR AT LEAST AS TRUE AS CAN BE FOUND OUT SO FAR. PERHAPS MORE INFORMATION CAN BE LOCATED BY LOOKING UP THE WAR CRIMES COMMISSION CASE AGAINST A GERMAN CIVILIAN NAMED WEISS, WHO LIVED IN THE TOWN OF LAUREGNO, SOUTH TIROL, NORTH ITALY. HE WAS UNDER ARREST IN THE TOWN OF BREZ, NORTH ITALY, HELD BY ITALIAN PARTISANS, TO BE TRIED FOR THE KILLING OF CPL. BARTMAN.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS AT BOLZANO, ITALY, AND AT 15TH AF HDQ., BARI, ITALY, HAVE RECEIVED SWORN STATEMENTS FROM THREE OTHER CREW MEMBERS AS WELL AS FROM MYSELF CONCERNING THE CASE.
IT’S EASY TO REALIZE THE ANGUISH THE BOY’S FAMILY MUST BE ENDURING AS A RESULT OF NOT RECEIVING A PROPER STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR SON. IT’S ALSO NICE TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE IS DEFINITELY INTERESTED IN HELPING THEM BY A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION OF THE CASE. IN THAT RESPECT, I HOPE THIS INFORMATION WILL BE OF VERY GREAT VALUE TO YOU. IN FACT, I AM WILLING TO HAVE YOU CALL ON ME AT ANY TIME FOR ANYTHING I MAY HAVE MISSED, FOR I AM VERY EAGER TO BE OF ASSISTANCE.
I WOULD APPRECIATE A REPLY TO LEARN FOR MYSELF WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, AND AGAIN PLACE MYSELF AT YOUR DISPOSITION.
RESPECTFULLY,
Francis X. Kelly
________________________________________
And there the story continued. That is, at least for a time.
As documented in Case File 16-293-16 of the Judge Advocate General’s Office – documentation for which commenced in mid-June, 1945 – those accused of Jack Bartman’s murder, and witnesses to the event, were identified by May of 1946.
But, by May 3, 1947, the Case was closed.
What happened?
Typical of other War Crimes Case Files, much of Case File 16-293-16 is comprised of both relatively boilerplate-ish correspondence about the status and progress of and about the investigation, and more importantly, information – eyewitnesses reports; interrogation transcripts; depositions – concerning the details of the Case itself. Albeit, the latter information is still nominally present.
As such, three particular documents stand out:
First, a letter of March 4, 1946, written to the Army by Jack’s brother Simon. Note that Simon’s letter was written the same day that Francis Kelly completed his Casualty Questionnaire (above) for the Missing Air Crew Report.
Second, a Docket Sheet listing the names of both accused and witnesses.
Those accused were:
Giovanni (Johann) Weiss Kurt Gerlitsky (Gerlitzki)
Gottfried Marzoner
Gerlitsky / Gerlitzki and Marzoner were in mid-1946 interned at the “339 PW Camp”, location unspecified. (In Germany?)
The German officer was:
Major Heinemann, accused of refusing Corporal Bartman an honorable burial
Witnesses were:
Adelino Arini Alois (Luigi) Brugger Giuseppe Gaiser Francesco Huber Luigi Pircher Pancrazi Federico Segna …and… Dr. Veith
Third, the two “final” records in the File, both dated May 3, 1947:
1) A letter by Theater Judge Advocate Colonel Tom H. Barrett (of the Judge Advocate General’s Department) to the Civil Affairs Division of the War Department, indicating that the case was now “administratively closed”, the reasons being presented in the “next” letter, also by Colonel Barrett…
2) …Colonel Barret’s above-mentioned letter, sent to the Deputy Theater Judge Advocate, 7708 War Crimes Group, USFET.
The reasons given for closure of the case?
First, an inability to proceed with further investigation because the accused were by then in Germany, “…most of the accused are either in Germany or in other areas under your jurisdiction [where?] and therefore the investigation cannot be completed in this theater.”
Second, the impending closure of War Crimes investigations by May 1, 1947: “In view of the imminent close-out of this theater and the necessity of terminating the War Crimes investigations on 1 May to permit the completion of cases now ready for trial…”
Third (here, a carefully and diplomatically phrased sense of disillusionment and exasperation emerges from Colonel Barrett’s letter) a reduction in staff to a point that made further investigations of war crimes impracticable: “We will continue to assist to the extent of our ability so long as this office remains in existence even though our staff has been reduced to become almost ineffective.”
And with that, the Case – by all available information – ended.
Verbatim transcripts of these four documents appear below.
________________________________________
Here’s Simon’s letter to the Army of March 4, 1946, written after he visited Edmund Farrell (295 Sterling Place) and Francis Kelly (403 Park Place), in Brooklyn.
COPY March 4, 1946
Dear Sirs:
Recently I visited the homes of T/Sgt Francis X Kelly and S/Sgt Edmund T. Farrell who were crew members on a Flying Fortress with my brother
) AGPC 201 Bartman Jack ( ) MTO 176 Cpl. 32883370 (
who were shot down and their account which they say they gave repeatedly is in wide difference to all communications and versions we have received to date. As told to me the plane was hit at Bolzano and bailed out. Jack was fourth to bail out. He was captured at Lauregno by a civilian called Weiss and the Burgomaster who incited the people. A friendly civilian was the first to find my brother when he parachuted and he wanted him to go with him but Jack was distrustful and before he realized that he was friendly the others had found him. Jack gave this fella an airborne ring in token for his trying to be of help. The others led him up the road between Lana [sic] and Merano. They shot him in the head and buried him in an unmarked grave. The civilian that tried to befriend my brother later led the American authorities to the grave location. At that time I believe it was INS 9 or the 88th Division that did the investigating working with the British. The key pts. to investigate are at Merano & Bolzano. The people that know the story are located in town of Marcena de Rumo – Proveis – Lauregno.
He was killed the same day, April 20th. They all know the story for he was the only American killed there.
I hope this information will be of help.
Sincerely Yours, Simon Bartman
COPY
________________________________________
This is the Docket Sheet filed on May 3, 1946, listing the names of the accused (Weiss, Gerlitsky / Gerlitzki, and Marzoner), Italian witnesses, and American witnesses, the latter members of Cpl. Bartman’s crew, plus Lt. Henry from the 450th Bomb Group.
Note the closing comments about the JA (Judge Advocate) of PES (?) and Trial Judge Advocate deeming evidence being insufficient for the case to stand trial, because “the claim was made that Cpl. Bartman was shot “while trying to escape.”
This is a statement – reads like something out of film noir, but it’s not fiction – that on occasion (I doubt if the total number has been quantified) can be found in Casualty Questionnaires within Missing Air Crew Reports pertaining to crews of 8th and 15th Air Force bombers. The statement typically appears in the context of comments, made either offhand or calculatedly by German interrogators or guards to surviving POWs of bomber crews, concerning fellow crewmen who – sometimes unwounded and uninjured when last seen, typically when bailing out – did not survive.
In the case of “Case 105”, was this statement a reason, or, a rationalization?
CASE 105 DOCKET SHEET
DATE: 3 May 1946
SOURCE: WD Report 16-293-5 DATE OF REPORT: 6 Sept. 1945 NATURE OF CRIME: Killing of wounded American Airman.
DATE OF CRIME: 22 April 1945 PLACE OF CRIME: near Lauregno, Italy (Lano to Merano) NAME OF VICTIM(s): Corporal Jack BARTMAN, ASN 32883370 NAME(s) OF ACCUSED
Weiss, Giovanni (Johann) GERLITZKI, Kurt 339 PW Camp
MARZONER, Gottfried 339 PW Camp
Major Heinemann (refusing honorable burial)
NAMES OF WITNESSES
GAISER, Giuseppe HUBER, Francesco ARINI, Adelino BRUGGER, Alois (Luigi) LUIGI PIRCHER PANCRAZI SEGNA, Federico Dr. Veith
American witnesses 483 Bomb Grp.
S/Sgt. Peter A. Filosena S/Sgt. Ed Farrell T/Sgt. William McDaniels T/Sgt. Frank Kelly 2nd Lt. Robert G. Henry S/Sgt. Lee Shead
STATUS OR DISPOSITION: JA of PES and Trial Judge Advocate consider evidence insufficient to warrant trial, the principal reason being that the claim is made that Bartman was shot while “trying to escape”. War Crimes Branch will attempt to convince the legal side that this claim was SOP in Northern Italy and will request a review of this case.
________________________________________
Here’s Colonel Barrett’s statement about the closure of the Case:
HEADQUARTERS
MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
Office of the Theater Judge Advocate
UNITED STATES ARMY
APO 512
File No : JA 000.5/WCC # 1053 May 1947
SUBJECT : War Crimes Case #105.
TO : Civil Affairs Division War Department Special Staff Washington 25, D.C. ATTN: War Crimes Branch
1. Reference War Crimes Case #105. War Department File: 16-293-5.
2. Subject War Crimes Case was administratively closed by this section and complete files forwarded to War Crimes Group, USFET for the reason indicated in attached copy of letter of transmittal.
TOM H. BARRETT
Colonel, JAGD
Theater Judge Advocate
THB/bp
Incls: a/s
________________________________________
Here’s Colonel Barrett’s letter of transmittal, detailing reasons for the Case’s closure. “We will continue to assist to the extent of our ability so long as this office remains in existence even though our staff has been reduced to become almost ineffective.”
File No : JA 000.5/WCC #105 3 May 1947
SUBJECT : Forwarding of War Crimes Case
TO : Deputy Theater Judge Advocate 7708 War Crimes Group, USFET APO 178, U.S. Army
1. There is forwarded herewith the complete file of this office relative to a case which appears to have been a war crime committed by German personnel against a U.S. Prisoner of War. Investigation of the case over a long period of time indicates that most of the accused are either in Germany or in other areas under your jurisdiction and therefore the investigation cannot be completed in this theater.
2. In view of the imminent close-out of this theater and the necessity of terminating the War Crimes investigations on 1 May to permit the completion of cases now ready for trial, this case is forwarded to you for appropriate action in accordance with the War Department policy that you will assume the residual war crimes functions of this theater. It is believed that this will permit you to review these files and to request information deemed necessary from this area which might not otherwise be obtainable if transmission was not made until after close-out of the theater.
3. There are in custody in this theater the following named individuals:
Johann WEISS 110 5828 Kurt GERLITSKY 81 SP 199 350 H Gottfried MARZONER 81 SP 766 01 Pol
Request you advise us at once of the disposition you desire made of the individuals in question, and also that you advise of any further information you may desire from here. We will continue to assist to the extent of our ability so long as this office remains in existence even though our staff has been reduced to become almost ineffective.
TOM H. BARRETT Colonel, JAGD Theater Judge Advocate
THB/bp Incls: a/s Cpy to WD Special Staff
________________________________________
Here’s Josef Laner’s article about the fate of 44-6861 and her crew, from der Vinschger, the cover of which appears below:
Als in Göflan der Bomber „landete”
When the Bomber “Landed” in Göflan
Das erste Foto nach der Notlandung des Bombers. Die herbeigeeilten Menschen wurden vom Südtiroler Ordnungsdienst (SOD) angehalten, auf Distanz zu bleiben, weil vermutet wurde, dass der Bomber explodieren könnte. Links ist der „Koflerhof” zu sehen, wo ein Flügel des Bombers den Dachfirst des Stadels gerammt hatte, rechts erkennt man die Dorfkirche zum Hl. Martin in Göflan.
The first photo after the bomber’s emergency landing. The people who rushed to the scene were asked by the South Tyrolean Public Order Service (SOD) to keep their distance because it was suspected that the bomber could explode. On the left you can see the “Koflerhof”, where a wing of the bomber rammed the roof of the barn, on the right you can see the village church of St. Martin in Göflan.
____________________
The article includes pictures of remnants of 44-6861, which (as of 2020, at least) had long been in the possession of residents of Göflan and Schlanders…
Luis Tumler aus Göflan mit einer Tankhalterung aus einem Flügel des Bombers. (links)
Herbert Tappeiner aus Schlanders mit einem Luft-Hydraulik-Zylinder. (mitte)
Gustav Angerer aus Schlanders (91 Jahre) war zur Zeit der Bruchlandung des Bombers Lehrbub beim Göflaner Schmied und in technischer Hinsicht der wichtigste Augenzeuge. (rechts) (Er steht neben einer Motorhalterung, wie im Diagramm unten aus der illustrierten Teileaufschlüsselung für die B-17G (USAAF Technical Order 1B-17G-4) dargestellt.)
Luis Tumler from Göflan with a tank mount made from a bomber wing. (left)
Herbert Tappeiner from Schlanders with an air-hydraulic cylinder. (center)
Gustav Angerer from Schlanders (91 years old) was an apprentice at the Göflan blacksmith at the time of the bomber’s crash landing and was the most important eyewitness from a technical point of view. (right) (He’s standing next to an engine mount, as depicted in the diagram below from the Illustrated Parts Breakdown for the B-17G (USAAF Technical Order 1B-17G-4).
____________________
And so, here’s the article…
Manfred Haringer ist seit 15 Jahren auf Spurensuche.
Zeitzeugen für Film gesucht.
GÖFLAN – Es war der 20. April des Jahres 1945, als in Göflan ein US-Bomber des Typs Boeing B-17G notlandete. Der 4-motorige Bomber hatte zusammen mit einer US-Bomberformation einen Einsatz im Gebiet von Franzensfeste und am Brenner geflogen, als einer seiner Tanks von der Kugel einer Flugabwehrkanone getroffen wurde. Gegen Mittag des genannten Tages befand sich der Bomber mit abgeschalteten Motoren im Gleitflug, als es beim „Koflerhof” in Göflan auf einem Acker zur Bruchlandung kam. Der Pilot und der Navigator wurden schwer verletzt und in das Krankenhaus nach Meran gebracht. Die weiteren 8 Crew-Mitglieder waren schon vorab mit Fallschirmen abgesprungen, die zwei letzten im Gemeindegebiet von Proveis am Nonsberg. „Der getroffene US-Bomber wollte die neutrale Schweiz erreichen”, ist Manfred Haringer aus Göflan überzeugt. Seit rund 15 Jahren befindet er sich auf der Spurensuche im Zusammenhang mit den Geschehnissen rund um die Bomber-Notlandung. Es ist mittlerweile eine dicke Mappe mit allerlei Dokumenten, Schriftstücken und Aussagen von Zeitzeugen zusammengekommen. Auch in Proveis und in Gemeinden des Nonstals im Trentino war Haringer unterwegs, um mit Menschen zu sprechen, die seinerzeit mit den abgesprungenen US-Soldaten zu tun hatten bzw. im Kontakt standen. Einer der abgesprungenen Soldaten, Jack Bartman, wurde von fanatischen Widerstandskämpfern erschossen. Sein Leichnam wurde nach Kriegsende in die USA überführt. Verwandte des Piloten Eugene T. Bissinger, dem es gelungen war, den Bomber in Göflan zusammen mit dem Navigator Nations Manton A. ohne Menschenverluste zu Boden zu bringen, waren im Vorjahr in Göflan. Der Aufbau von Kontakten zu Verwandten und Nachkommen der US-Crew-Mitglieder ist eines der Ziele, die Haringer verfolgt. Schon seit längerer Zeit gearbeitet wird außerdem an einem Film, der in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Amateurfilmer Verein Vinschgau entsteht und in dem vor allem Zeitzeugen zu Wort kommen, die die Bruchlandung direkt oder indirekt miterlebt bzw. beobachtet haben. Manfred Haringer ist weiterhin auf der Suche von Zeitzeugen. Solche können sich gerne bei ihm melden und zwar unter Tel. 339 5335534. Auch eine PowerPoint-Präsentation hat Haringer bereits zusammengestellt. Darin wird die gesamte Geschichte rund um die Landung nachgezeichnet, und zwar beginnend mit dem Bau der „fliegenden Festungen” in Seattle bis zur Bruchlandung in Göflan und der Zeit danach. In Göflan sorgte die Bruchlandung damals natürlich für großes Aufsehen. Alles lief zur Unglücksstelle. Viele nahmen später Teile des Bomber-Wracks mit nach Hause. Richard Reiter zum Beispiel, ein versierter Techniker, besorgte sich das Radiosendegerät aus dem Flugzeug. Für einige Monate konnten im Raum Schlanders seine Programme gehört werden, unter „Radio Stilfser Joch”, dem „Ersten Vinschgauer Radiosender”. Als Haringer die PowerPoint-Präsentation der Fraktionsverwaltung mit Präsident Erhard Alber an der Spitze zeigte, zeigte sich diese begeistert und froh darüber, dass die Geschichte rund um die Bomber-Notlandung umfassend und bleibend aufbereitet wird und somit der Nachwelt erhalten bleibt. Auch erste Vorbereitungen für eine Ausstellung sind bereits im Gang. Für diese Ausstellung zum Bomberabsturz wären Bomber-Relikte bzw. entwendete Teile davon sehr erwünscht und werden gerne entgegengenommen! An der Stelle, wo die Bruchlandung erfolgte, sollte eine Tafel angebracht werden. Manfred Haringer wertet seine Bemühungen und Recherchen im Zusammenhang mit dieser Geschichte in erster Linie als eine Art Friedensmission: „Das Wachhalten der Erinnerung an diesen Vorfall soll uns daran erinnern, wie schrecklich j e der Krieg und wie wertvoll der Frie de ist.” Detail am Rande: Für Flugzeuge und das Fliegen hat Manfred Haringer übrigens seit jeher einen „Fimmel”. Er war 1980 einer der ersten Drachenflieger im Vinschgau. Erlernt hatte er das Drachenfliegen von seinem um 4 Jahre älteren Bruder Hermann. Später widmete sich Manfred auch dem Bau von Flugzeug- und Hubschraubermodellen.
And, the English-language translation…
Manfred Haringer has been searching for clues for 15 years.
Contemporary witnesses wanted for film.
GÖFLAN – It was April 20, 1945, when a US Boeing B-17G bomber made an emergency landing in Göflan. The 4-engine bomber had been flying a mission in the area of Franzensfeste and Brenner along with a US bomber formation when one of its tanks was hit by a shot from an anti-aircraft gun. Around noon on the day mentioned, the bomber was gliding with the engines switched off when it crash-landed in a field near the “Koflerhof” in Göflan. The pilot and the navigator were seriously injured and taken to the hospital in Meran. The other 8 crew members had already jumped out with parachutes, the last two in the municipality of Proveis on Nonsberg. “The US bomber that was hit wanted to reach neutral Switzerland,” Manfred Haringer from Göflan is convinced. For around 15 years he has been searching for clues in connection with the events surrounding the bomber emergency landing. A thick folder has now been collected with all sorts of documents, papers and statements from contemporary witnesses. Haringer also traveled to Proveis and communities in the Non Valley in Trentino to talk to people who were involved or in contact with the US soldiers who had jumped ship. One of the soldiers who jumped [from the] ship, Jack Bartman, was shot by fanatical resistance fighters. His body was returned to the USA after the end of the war. Relatives of the pilot Eugene T. Bissinger, who managed to bring the bomber down in Göflan together with the navigator Manton A. Nations without any casualties, were in Göflan the previous year. Establishing contacts with relatives and descendants of the US crew members is one of Haringer’s goals. We have also been working on a film for some time now, which is being made in collaboration with the Vinschgau amateur filmmakers’ association and in which contemporary witnesses who directly or indirectly experienced the crash landing will have their say or have observed. Manfred Haringer is still looking for contemporary witnesses. They are welcome to contact him on Tel. 339 5335534. Haringer has also already put together a PowerPoint presentation. It traces the entire history of the landing, starting with the construction of the “Flying Fortress” in Seattle through the crash landing in Göflan and the period afterwards. Of course, the crash landing caused a great stir in Göflan at the time. Everyone ran to the scene of the accident. Many later took parts of the bomber wreckage home with them. Richard Reiter, for example, an experienced technician, got the radio transmitter from the plane. For a few months his programs could be heard in the Silandro area under “Radio Stilfser Joch”, the ” First Vinschgau Radio Station”. When Haringer showed the PowerPoint presentation to the parliamentary group administration with President Erhard Alber at the helm, they were enthusiastic and happy that the story surrounding the bomber emergency landing was being comprehensively and permanently prepared and thus preserved for posterity. Initial preparations for an exhibition are already underway. For this exhibition on the bomber crash, bomber relics or stolen parts of them would be very welcome and would be gladly accepted! A plaque should be placed at the spot where the crash landing occurred. Manfred Haringer sees his efforts and research in connection with this story primarily as a kind of peace mission: “Keeping the memory of this incident alive should remind us how terrible war is and how valuable peace is.” Detail on the side: By the way, Manfred Haringer has always had a passion for airplanes and flying. In 1980 he was one of the first hang gliders in Vinschgau. He learned hang gliding from his brother Hermann, who was four years older than him. Manfred later also devoted himself to building model airplanes and helicopters.
________________________________________
Some observations and thoughts…
First, it’s notable that of the three named accused in the Case File, Weiss went by the first name of both the Italian-sounding “Giovanni” or German-sounding “Johann”, while Gerlitsky / Gerlitzki and Marzoner also had German-sounding first names. Perhaps – just a thought? – this is no coincidence: a reflection of then demographic composition and political control of the South Tyrol during the Second World War. (Interestingly, the witnesses all had Italian first names.) As described in Wikipedia:
“South Tyrol as an administrative entity originated during the First World War. The Allies promised the area to Italy in the Treaty of London of 1915 as an incentive to enter the war on their side. Until 1918 it was part of the Austro-Hungarian princely County of Tyrol, but this almost completely German-speaking territory was occupied by Italy at the end of the war in November 1918 and was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1919. The province as it exists today was created in 1926 after an administrative reorganization of the Kingdom of Italy, and was incorporated together with the province of Trento into the newly created region of Venezia Tridentina (“Trentine Venetia”).
With the rise of Italian Fascism, the new regime made efforts to bring forward the Italianization of South Tyrol. The German language was banished from public service, German teaching was officially forbidden, and German newspapers were censored (with the exception of the fascistic Alpenzeitung). The regime also favored immigration from other Italian regions.
The subsequent alliance between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared that South Tyrol would not follow the destiny of Austria, which had been annexed to the Third Reich. Instead the dictators agreed that the German-speaking population be transferred to German-ruled territory or dispersed around Italy, but the outbreak of the Second World War prevented them from fully carrying out their intention. Every single citizen had the free choice to give up his German cultural identity and stay in fascist Italy, or to leave his homeland and move to Nazi Germany to retain this cultural identity. The result was that in these difficult times of fascism, the individual South Tyrolean families were divided and separated.
****
In 1943, when the Italian government signed an armistice with the Allies, the region was occupied by Germany, which reorganised it as the Operation Zone of the Alpine Foothills and put it under the administration of Gauleiter Franz Hofer. The region was de facto annexed to the German Reich (with the addition of the province of Belluno) until the end of the war. This status ended along with the Nazi regime, and Italian rule was restored in 1945.”
Second, though I cannot cite specific references, I’m under the general impression (?) that the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of war crimes in Italy – whether committed by the Wermacht, SS, or Italian Fascists; whether against Allied POWs, civilians, or Partisans – never had anywhere near the organizational support, focus, drive, and publicity that initially characterized the pursuit of justice for war crimes in the European (as opposed to Mediterranean) and Pacific theaters of war, even if this was eventually undermined and negated through a combination of apathy, Realpolitik of the (first) Cold-War, and economic interests. (For more on this disillusioning story read Tom Bower’s Blind Eye to Murder – Britain, America and the Purging of Nazi Germany – a Pledge Betrayed.)
Third, the dishonor shown to Cpl. Bartman’s body after his murder. The denial of an honorable burial, and especially, the refusal to allow any identifying information to be associated with Cpl. Bartman’s body and place of burial, was not only – necessarily – an attempt to conceal his murder. It was an attempt to obliterate his identity.
Fourth, I have no information about the subsequent fates of Johann / Giovanni Weiss, Kurt Gerlitsky / Gerlitzki, and Gottfried Marzoner, but it would seem that at least in terms of this case – 16-293-16 – nothing further followed. Perhaps – perhaps not? – they returned to the villages or towns where they resided. (If Weiss was a member of the “Landwacht” (Land Watch? Land Guard?), this would suggest that he was physically incapable of, and / or too old for active military service, and thus was performing some kind of auxiliary police duty. Perhaps in 1945 he was in his 40s, or, older.) Perhaps – perhaps not? – they lived the remainder of their lives and experienced the fullness of years. And, the world moved on.
____________________
Corporal Jack Bartman’s name is listed on page 270 of the 1947 book American Jews in World War II, where he is recorded as having been awarded the Purple Heart, Air Medal, and one Oak Leaf Cluster. His name also appears in Jacob L. Grimm’s Heroes of the 483rd. He completed 33 combat missions.
He was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York in November of 1948.
This image of Jack Bartman’s matzeva is by FindAGrave contributor RJHorowitz…, who described himself in his profile with this inspirational statement: “Although a secular Jew, (I do not keep the Sabbath, kosher, light candles, attend services or give Zedakah as often as I should), I try to honor my ancestors, fellow Jews and my G-d one picture at a time.”
Jack Bartman’s Hebrew name, comprising the three words in the second line of text, is “Yaakov bar Moshe” (Yakov son of Moshe). Note that the stone incorporates symbols relating to both American and Jewish history. An eagle with thirteen stars. Below: to the left a Magen David, and to the right the winged star symbol of the Army Air Force.
This image of a dedicatory plaque at the base of the matzeva, also photographed by RJHorowitz, bears the text:
VIVIDLY ALIVE IN THE HEARTS OF YOUR PARENTS BROTHERS AND SISTERS
This photo of the matzeva of Jack’s parents, Morris and Gussie, is by FindAGrave contributor MattFlyfisher. The Hebrew names of Jack’s parents were, respectively, Moshe bar Yitzhak (Moses son of Isaac), and Gilda bat Rav Avraham (Gilda daughter of Rabbi Avraham). Thus, Jack Bartman’s maternal grandfather was a rabbi.
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And there the past remains.
It will always remain, even without the memory of man.
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Note – Acknowledgement
Just as I was completing this post (!) I came across a discussion of the deaths of four POWs, at the 12 O’Clock High! forum. This eventually led me to information compiled by researcher Rolland Swank, comprising biographical profiles of the Bissinger crew, maps, a Mission Report, photographs, a description of the crash of 44-6861, images of some of the documents in the IDPF for Jack Bartman, and other documents. For example, it was within this material that I found the photos of Jack Bartman, his fellow crew members, the aerial photo Bissinger’s damaged B-17 (at the “top’ of the this post), and Arini Adelino’s translated letter of 1945.
So, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to Rolland for allowing me to use this information: “Thank you.”
Bower, Tom, Blind Eye to Murder – Britain, America and the Purging of Nazi Germany – A Pledge Betrayed, Granada Publishing Limited, Herts, England, 1981
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
Grimm, Jacob L., Heroes of the 483rd: Crew Histories of a Much-Decorated B-17 Bomber Group During World War II, Georgia (?), 483rd Bombardment Group Association, 1997
Rust, Kenn C., Fifteenth Air Force Story, Historical Aviation Album, Temple City, Ca., 1976
United States National Archives (College Park, Maryland)
Records Group 92: Missing Air Crew Report 13817 Records Group 153: Case File 16-293-16
(Update II – December 18, 2023: This year, I received an interesting message from P-38 historian John Clements. Specifically: “I stumbled on your websites the other day doing a semi-regular troll for P-38 information on the web. I am working on a book on the P-38, trying to present the most accurate information possible. I was stunned when I came across the two photos of Milton Joel standing in front of a P-38D during the Carolina Maneuvers in the articles from 2020. #96 has all of the characteristics of a YP-38, not a P-38D. It could also be a straight P-38, but I have never seen any model of the early aircraft with a YP-38 style lower cowling.”
Upon receiving John’s message, I consulted Volume I of Bert Kinzey’s two-part series on the P-38 – specifically, the set of 1/72 line drawings of the YP-38 on pages 23 through 25 – and immediately verified John’s observation: In YP-38s, the oil cooler inlets are less circular than those of the D version, featuring a vertical double-divider in the center. This is entirely consistent with the appearance of the inlets of the aircraft behind Major Joel. As related by John, “I haven’t found evidence of any kind that this style was on any other model. I’m including another photo of the YP that was used in wind tunnel tests in Virginia. It’s the best photo of the engine nacelle of the YP’s that I have found so far.”
Thanks, John! More information and photos appear below…!)
(Update I – January 13, 2021: Originally created on November 12, 2020, this post has been updated to include three new images. These comprise a portrait of Milton Joel standing before a Stearman PT-17, taken while be was in Primary pilot training, and, two images from the U.S. School Yearbook database at Ancestry.com. The latter are specifically from the 1940 Yearbook for the University of Richmond, Milton Joel’s alma mater. These two images comprise a group photo of the University of Richmond Aviation Club, and, Milton’s graduation portrait. Scroll on down to take a look…)
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Part II: From Proskurov to Richmond
Let’s start at a man’s beginning…
Milton Joel was born in Richmond, Virginia, on July 12, 1919, to Joseph and Minnie (Weinstein) Joel. Characterized as a “change of life baby” due to his parents’ then relatively advanced ages (in the context of that era) of 38 and 32, respectively, he would be their only child.
Joseph, described by Sara F, Markham (the best friend of Milton’s (eventual!) wife Elaine Ebenstein) as, “…a Judaica scholar and a homespun philosopher who was always writings letters to the Op-Ed page of our reactionary gazette, the Richmond Times-Dispatch,” owned and operated the Virginia Jewelry Store, following – to a minor extent – the footsteps of his own father, Salomon.
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Fortunately; remarkably, Joseph’s literary and historical bent led him, towards the end of his life in 1960, to compose – with Myron Berman (then rabbi of Temple Beth-El in Richmond) – an essay covering his family’s genealogy and history. This appeared in the July 1979, issue of The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, under the title “My Recollections and Experiences of Richmond, Virginia, 1884-1892.”
Though focused on his father, Joseph’s essay enables us to place Milton’s life in a deeper, multi-generational historical context.
The introduction to the essay (there’s far more to it!) follows below. (References to the Ukrainian SSR should be understood in terms of the essay’s 1979 publication.)
THESE memoirs constitute a small portion of the autobiographical manuscripts written by Joseph Joel (1882-1960) near the end of his life. They display a panorama of Jewish civilization at the turn of the century as well as the reflections of an East European immigrant upon life in Europe America. The narrative, which focuses mainly upon the experiences Joseph Joel’s father, Salomon Czaczkes (Joel) (1853-1934), constitutes both the epitome and antithesis of an immigrant’s odyssey from Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire to America in the period immediately prior to World War I. What is perhaps unique about Salomon Joel’s peregrinations is that unlike the majority of his East European compatriots whose transatlantic passages were paid by prosperous relatives from America, Salomon Joel and his family eventually returned to Europe on a prepaid ticket provided by the European branch of his family. (1)
Brought to these shores while yet an infant, Joseph Joel years later pieced together the poignant details of his parents’ migration from Proskurov, originally part of Poland but through annexation in the eighteenth century incorporated into the Russian empire. (2) Because Salomon Joel had lived within the borders of Galicia, he was looked upon with suspicion by the Russian government. With ten growing children to provide for, Salomon’s father earlier had decided to move from Tarnopol (3) to Podwoloczyska (4) as the railroad had been extended to that border outpost between Russia Austria-Hungary and afforded economic advantages for merchants dealing in agricultural products.
When his mother died, Salomon Joel was subject to the vagaries of his stepmother. It was she who was responsible for his enrollment in a yeshiva or Jewish parochial school away from home and for his early marital alliance with a cousin of hers in Proskurov. (5) Eventually he was himself the father of ten children, three of whom, including Joseph, were born in Europe. The untenability of his legal status, the precarious nature of his livelihood, and, finally, the pull of a brother and a sister already residing in America were primary factors motivating the emigration of Salomon Joel with his family. (6)
Joel had a difficult time adjusting to the American economy. Although he had been a grain merchant in Europe, he opened a jewelry store in Richmond, which proved a fiasco. Never having learned the business, he was always dependent upon the services of trained technicians whom he had to employ. Devoting himself more to communal pursuits than to his livelihood, Joel moved frequently within the city of Richmond and finally to Chicago to try his luck during the World’s Fair of 1893. When economic conditions in the United States worsened shortly thereafter, Salomon Joel returned with his family to Podwoloczyska.
In Europe, Joel was assisted by his stepbrother but never fared well. He typified a large segment of immigrants who could not adjust to the American environment and to a certain extent may be categorized as Luftmenschen, trying to subsist on air. Salomon Joel died in Europe, and tragically a large number of his family were later massacred by the Nazis. (7)
Joseph Joel, however, returned to America in 1914 and, after a brief sojourn in Deming, New Mexico, became a jewelry merchant in Richmond. More successful than his father, he wrote nostalgically about the good old days of strong religious and family ties, which contrasted rather starkly with the environment of the ‘fifties. Joseph married Minnie Weinstein, the daughter of a Landtsmann or compatriot from Tarnopol, whose family’s voyage to America had been facilitated by Salomon Joel. Their only son, Captain [sic] Milton Joel, was killed during World War II. In later years, Joseph Joel, despite certain eccentricities, became a patriarch to his family.
1) Joseph Czaczkes, a banker, Salomon Joel’s stepbrother, was the family’s benefactor. 2) Proskurov today is in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The population of the city was forty percent Jewish until World War II when it was occupied by the Germans. 3) Tarnopol, Galicia, today is called Ternopol and is in the Ukrainian SSR. 4) Podwoloczyska, Galicia, is called Podvolochisk and is in the Ukrainian SSR. 5) Salomon Josel first married Yetta Bernstein and upon her death, her sister Bertha. 6) The children of Salomon Joel were as follows: Fannie (1873-1891), buried at the Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery in Richmond Moses (1877-1904), buried in Podwoloczyska Yetta died in infancy and was buried in Podwoloczyska Joseph (1882-1960), buried at Beth Ahabah’s Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond Israel (1886-1930), buried in Wiener Neustadt Esther (1980-ca.-1940), exterminated by the Nazis Herman (1890-1965), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery Efraim (1893-1977), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery Mushke or Moses (1904-1930), buried at Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery Robert (1898 – ), a resident of Miami and Clara (1912 – ), a physician in Baltimore (7) Members of his family from America visited him just prior to his death in 1934.
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But how did “Czaczkes” become “Joel”?
As noted elsewhere in the essay, Joseph’s, “…father [was] Salomon Czaczkes, who changed his name on arrival at Richmond, Va. to Salomon Joel. This changing of name was due to the fact that there were few foreigners here and the people just couldn’t pronounce the “Cz” as “Ch” as in Chicken,” etc.”
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A 1930s view of the Joel family home in Richmond. (c/o Harold Winston)
This Oogle Street View shows that the now-nearly-century-old residence (it was constructed in 1922) looks much the same today.
Milton’s bar mitzvah portrait. (c/o Harold Winston)
Though I don’t know the date of his bar mitzvah, Milton’s birth on Saturday, July 12, 1919, may (may…) have correlated to a Bar Mitzvah date of July 18, 1932 (Tammuz 14, 5692). If so, his Haftorah would have been Parshat Pinchas, concerning which there is a vast amount of commentary, such as these examples from…
Though, unsurprisingly, there’s little information about Milton’s childhood and adolescence, it is known that he graduated in 1936 from Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond. There, he was active in the school’s newspaper, aptly titled The Jeffersonian, as reported in Richmond Times-Dispatch article of February 16, 1936.
– In the photo, Milton is among the group of students in the right-hand image, where he stands second from right in the second row.
Caption:“The staff of editors of The Jeffersonian, pictured above, includes those who served last term and their successors for editorial positions this term. They are: Front row, left to right, Norman Robinson, Grant Morton, Adelaide Rose, Constance Strailmann, Watson James, Jr., and Thurman Day. Second row, Shirley Sheain, Rosa Ellis, Mary Elizabeth Alvis, Ruth Keppel, James Harris, Milton Joel and Jane Obermeyer. Back row, William Franch, Elizabeth Johnson, Charlotte Nance, Kathering Priddy, Robert Howard and Austin Gribb.”
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Milton’s father Joseph, at the family home in the 1930s or 40s. (c/o Harold Winston)
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Though the source of his aeronautical inspiration is unknown, Milton’s interest in flying was apparent by the time he attended the University of Richmond (he first attended the University of Virginia), his enrollment commencing in 1936. There, he participated in a pilot training program sponsored by the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Authority; later the Civil Aeronautics Board), which was covered in the following three Richmond Times-Dispatch news items.
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Students Are Taught to Use Parachutes – – – on the Ground
Richmond Times-Dispatch
December 19, 1939
University of Richmond flying students received their first instruction in parachute jumping yesterday, but, to the relief of many, the training was given on the ground.
Instructor J.H. Preissner pointed out the correct method of opening the ‘chute and delved into technical details for the benefit of the class of 17 students at Byrd Airport.
The group has been receiving the flight instruction, sponsored by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, since October 18, in two classes of two hours’ duration each week. The course, consisting of 72 hours of class work, will be completed in June.
10 Are Active Pupils
Prior to the beginning of actual flying instruction 10 days ago, the students were taught civil air regulations and aerodynamics. Ten member of the class are active pupils while the others are alternates.
Examinations will be given by the Federal Government. The training is being given the students by the Government at approximately one-tenth what would be charged at private fields in order to raise the number of civilian pilots in the United States.
The students are in no way obligated to the Government, however, it was pointed out. In all probability an advanced course will be given next year.
Caption: COLLEGE PUPILS STUDY ‘CHUTES – University of Richmond students who are taking a flying course under the Civil Aeronautics Authority, got their first instructions yesterday in taking to the air via a parachute. Members of the class are shown above with Instructor J.H. Preissner. Left to right, are Milton Joel, Parke Starke, Harvey Chapman, Ernest Taylor, Clyde Ford, Donald Murrill, Mr. Preissner, Samuel George, Thomas Bruno and Tom Wiley.
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In this Richmond Times-Dispatch news article of February 28, 1940, covering CAA pilot training of University of Richmond Students, Milton stands at the far right. (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)
A nearly similar image – below – appeared in the University of Richmond 1940 yearbook, which specifies that the fourteen men in the photo are actually members or associates of the University of Richmond Aviation Club.
A close inspection reveals that these are actually two different photographs, albeit taken by the same photographer: S.L. Baird. The giveaway? While the men are standing in the same relative locations in the pictures, there are minor differences in their poses and facial expressions.
The aircraft is a Rearwin Cloudster, a, “…two or three-seat civil utility aircraft produced by the Rearwin Aircraft & Engines Company of Kansas City, Missouri beginning in 1939.It was a strut-braced, high-wing monoplane of conventional design with an enclosed cabin and fixed, taildragger undercarriage.” You can view a restored Cloudster in this 2010 video narrated by owner Ed McKeown, from the Aero-News Network.
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This photo published (I think?) in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 7, 1940 illustrates CAA student pilots. With hands on the controls – I think this is a Cloudster – Milton sits adjacent to the aircraft’s entry door. (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)
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Milton’s graduation portrait.
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After his university graduation, Milton pursued flying in a military vein: Here is notification received by his parents concerning his enlistment in the Regular Army on October 12, 1940, and, his departure for the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics at Tuscaloosa. (c/o Congregation Beth Ahabah Archives)
The following three images show the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics as it appeared in the 1940s.
This photo shows classrooms, dormitories, a hangar, and numerous (Boeing Stearman?) biplanes.
A barracks room. Simple and spartan, but it does the job.
Flying cadets return from training.
From the Archives of Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, Virginia, this image shows Milton Joel standing before a Stearman PT-17, presumably at Tuscaloosa.
Very (very!) close examination of the photograph (it’s actually a paper photocopy, thus accounting for its graininess and low resolution) reveals that the Stearman’s serial number is 40-1841. According to the Aviation Archeology database, this aircraft was involved in a landing accident at Albany Field, Georgia, on October 29, 1941, while piloted by Donald P. Chapman.
The date of the photograph is unknown, but from crispness of shadows and bright illumination, it was certainly a very sunny day.
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Having completed his Basic Flying School at Gunter Field, Alabama, in March of 1941, Milton next attended Advanced Flying School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, from which he graduated the following May. Along with six other Aviation Cadets from Virginia, Milton appeared in this Richmond Times-Dispatch photograph on April 27, 1941. Here, the seven cadets and flight instructor Lieutenant Neener stand before a North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer.
Caption: YOUNG PILOTS TRAIN – Seven Virginians are shown here checking final flight plans with Lieutenant E.H. Neener at Maxwelll Field, Ala., where they are in training. They are (left to right) Cadets Glassel Stringfellow of Culpepper, Charles R. Mallory Jr. of Richmond, Milton Joel of Richmond, Lieutenant Neener, Cadets George L.J. Newton of Powhatan County, Roy L. Reeve of Arlington, R.L. Tribble of South Boston and Thomas Campbell of Franklin. The cadets will graduate next month with more than 200 hours’ air training at the Advanced Flying Field. They will be commissioned second lieutenants and sent on extended active duty with regular Air Corps units.
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A review of National Archives Records covering Honor Rolls of WW II Army Dead (via the National WW II Memorial website) reveals that all the above (then) Cadets, as well as Lt. Neener, survived the war. Milton was the only member of this group who did not return.
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This news item of May 2, 1941 from “The Richmond Daybook” section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, reports on Milton’s final stages of Advanced Flying Training at Maxwell Field, Alabama.
FLYING Cadet Milton Joel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel of Greenway Lane, Richmond, has begun the final phases of his flying training at the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala. On May 29 he will be graduated into the status of second lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, receive military aeronautical status of “pilot” and be assigned to extended duty training with a regular squadron for a period of one year. Cadet Joel finished his basic training at Gunter Field, Montgomery, last March.
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This photographic portrait of Milton as a Flying Cadet, from the United States National Archives’ collection “Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation”, in NARA Records Group 18-PU. Notation on the photo (not visible in this image) states “Graduated 5/29/41”. This image is only one of the collection’s many thousands of portraits and related photos, which – spanning the very late 1930s through approximately 1944 and having heaviest coverage from 1941 through 1943 – includes a small number of photos from WW I and the twenties, and, a few pictures of foreign aviators from the 20s and 30s. You can read much more about the this collection in Five Pilots in December (which displays images of the five Army Air Corps fighter pilots who lost their lives during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), at my brother blog, ThePastPresented. (Milton’s portrait, serial number “P-8000”, is located in Box 47 of RG 18 PU’s 105 archival storage boxes.)
On May 30, 1941, Milton’s high-school newspaper the Jeffersonian reported his graduation from Maxwell Field.
Flying Cadet Milton Joel ’36, who was business manager at the Jeffersonian in 1935-36, was graduated into the status of second lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, at the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala., yesterday. He also received the military aeronautical status of “pilot” and was assigned to extended active duty training with a regular squadron for a year.
A little over a month later, on July 21, the Times-Dispatch reported Milton’s assignment to the 27th Pursuit Squadron of the 1st Pursuit Group, then at Selfridge Army Airfield, Michigan.
Richmond Aviator Goes to Michigan
SELFRIDGE FIELD, Mich., July 21 – Milton Joel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, Greenway Lane, Richmond, and recent graduate of the Air Corps Flying School, Maxwell Field, Ala., has been assigned as a second lieutenant with the World War famous First Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, and has taken over his flying duties with the Twenty-Seventh Pursuit Squadron, Major Robert S. Israel, Jr., commanding officer of the “P-38” Fighter Group, revealed today.
Joel, who has attended both the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond, is required to accomplish a minimum of fifty hours’ flying monthly. Beside the regular aerial flights, Joel must undergo intensive ground flying. Key to the paradox is the Link trainer, an ingenious and complex device which makes it possible to simulate the conditions of blind flying.
In November of 1941, Milton’s assignment to the 27th Pursuit Squadron involved participation in the Army’s Carolina Maneuvers, with the 1st Pursuit Group (a component of the 6th Fighter Wing) taking part in all four Maneuver phases: Louisiana Phases 1 and 2, and Carolina phases 1 and 2, from September 15 through 27, and November 16 through 27, respectively.
These two images show Milton standing before a P-38D YP-38 Lightning bearing aircraft-in-squadron number “96”. The aircraft carries temporary (water-based-paint) Maneuver markings, consisting of a red cross upon its nose, and, (rather fading) white paint on the bottom of its gondola and wings. (c/o Sarah F. Markham)
In this image, the crest of the 1st Fighter Group is visible on Milton’s service cap, while the Army Air Corp’s pre-war “triple-pinwheel” orange and blue emblem is visible on his left shoulder. (c/o Sara F. Markham)
Here’s an example of the pre-war art-deco-ish shoulder Army Air Force patch, worn from July 20, 1937, through March 19, 1942, when it was replaced by the more well-known winged star.
Continuing with John Clements’ identification of this plane as a YP-38, here the list of all YP-38s – but one – compiled by Joe Baugher:
MSN 122-2202/2214. Model 122-62-02 service test aircraft.
689 crashed during high-speed dive Nov 4, 1941 over Glendale, CA, killing test pilot Ralph Virden. 690 assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia Nov 27, 1941 to Feb 4, 1942. To Parks Air College, St Louis, MO Feb 26, 1942. 691 assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia Nov 27, 1941. Scrapped at Sacramento Air Depot Dec 17, 1945. 692 scrapped at Lowry Field, Denver, CO Jul 5, 1945. 693 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer at Chanute, AK Jul 24, 1942. 694 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943, Granite Falls, WA. 695 w/o Jul 23, 1941, Alpena, MI.? 697 used as class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed 698 scrapped Mar 20, 1946 San Bernardino, CA. 699 crashed Jun 23, 1941, Atlanta, MI. Pilot Lt Guy Leland Putnam killed. 700 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 27, 1943 at Brookley Field, Mobile, AL. 701 relegated to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed
On discussing the above list, John noted that aircraft “696” is missing. Being that the plane-in-squadron (tail) number of Major Joel’s plane is “96” (as seen in the photo on page 81 of Dana Bell’s Air Force Colors), John suggests that the plane could be the absent “696”, or specifically, “39-696”. Makes sense to me!
The photo below, provided by John, is of, “…the YP that was used in wind tunnel tests in Virginia. It’s the best photo of the engine nacelle of the YP’s that I have found so far.” The front of the nacelle is identical to that of Major Joel’s plane.
Interestingly, Bert Kinzey’s book states that for YP-38, “Armament was to be two .50-caliber machine guns, two .30-caliber machine guns, and a single 37-mm cannon. However, this was not fitted, and the gun ports were faired over.” In that context, perhaps 696’s armament of two machine guns, the muzzles of which are covered with streamlined cylindrical fairings, represents a modification carried out after the plane was assigned to the 1st Fighter Group.
The specific P-38D YP-38 serving as a backdrop to Major Joel can be seen (a very tiny portion of it can be seen) in Army Air Corps Photo “A 20599AC / 342-3B-41009”, dated November 3, 1941: The number on its port fin and rudder is visible immediately to the left of the port fin and rudder of P-38 “67”, the latter in the right center of the image. This picture can be found on page 81 of Dana Bell’s Air Force Colors, Vol. I.
Another photo provided by John: 1st Fighter Group P-38s – #54 and #51 – at the Carolina Maneuvers.
From Air Force Colors, Vol. I, here’s an illustration of a P-38D in “red force” markings:
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Two images of Milton in the United States. Date unknown; location unknown.
(c/o Ida Joel Kaplan)
(c/o Harold Winston)
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While assigned to the 27th Fighter Squadron, Milton was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in February or March of 1942, and then Captain in June. It was at the latter rank that on October 3, 1942, he took command of the 38th Fighter Squadron at Paine Field, Washington. This photo, showing Milton wearing a flight jacket with the insignia of the 27th Fighter Squadron, can therefore be dated as having been taken before that date. (c/o Harold Winston)
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The circumstances – random luck? – a mutual acquaintance? – by which Milton and his future wife, Elaine Ebenstein of Beverly Hills, California, met one another, are unknown. However, most definitely known is that they were married at Paine Field in June of 1943, as reported in the Richmond Times-Disptach on June 25, of that year.
Miss Ebenstein Will Marry Major Milton Joel, USAAF
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert R. Ebenstein, of New York and Beverley Hills, Calif., announce the engagement of their daughter, Elaine, to Major Milton Joel, United States Army Air Force, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, of Richmond.
The wedding will take place June 29 [Tuesday] at Paine Field, Everette, Wash. The groom is a graduate of the University of Richmond in the class of 1940.
Characterized by her friend Sarah Markham as “tall, thin, and regal”, here is Elaine’s portrait. (c/o Harold Winston)…
…and, here’s a view of Minnie, Joseph, and their beaming daughter-in-law in Richmond. (c/o Ida Joel Kaplan)
[Update: Created in November of 2020, this post has been updated to reflect information provided by Andrew Garcia, pertaining to the P-38 that serves as a backdrop for the image of Major Joel and Capt. Joseph Myers, Jr. The picture can be seen towards the (very) bottom of the post.]
Part III: On Course
Now in command of the 38th Fighter Squadron, Milton’s promotion to Major was announced in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, on February 2, 1943.
MAJOR AT 23 – Milton Joel (above) son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel, 5 Greenway Lane, is believed to be one of the army’s youngest majors. He completed his civilian pilot’s course at the University of Richmond in 1939 after attending the University of Virginia. He later trained at Tuscaloosa Field, Ala. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in May, 1941, promoted to first lieutenant in February, 1942, and a captain in June. He is now commanding officer of a fighter squadron at Pendleton Field, Ore.
Flying-battle-axe emblem of the 38th Fighter Squadron, digital…
…and physical, as a patch, available from EBay seller EZ.Collect. (Not a “plug” – I simply found this image via duckduckgo!)
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Three and a half months after taking command of the 38th Fighter Squadron, on February 19, 1943, Milton and several of his squadron’s pilots gathered for this group photograph, under what seems (?) to have been an overcast sky.
Interestingly, at least four pilots in the rear row (thus all perhaps in the rear row?) were members of the 27th Fighter Squadron (Milton’s former squadron) and attained aerial victories in the Mediterranean Theater.
Though this image is present in the squadron’s historical records (specifically, in AFHRA Microfilm Roll AO 136) inquiries to the National Archives revealed that it’s absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection. Thus, it seems to have remained at squadron level, never having been bureaucratically passed “upwards” to any higher organizational level.
From a technical point of view, the photograph clearly illustrates the counter-rotating propellers used in all P-38 Lightnings commencing with the XP-38, with the exception of 22 of the 143 P-38s which had been ordered by the Royal Air Force as Lightning Mark 1s. As such, viewed from the “front”, it can be seen that the propellers rotate outwards, away from the aircraft’s central gondola and toward the wings.
Another point: It appears that the aircraft’s nose has been painted, perhaps as a form of squadron identification.
…and includes the pilots’ surnames – and their surnames only. However, this clue enables identification of most of these men. They are:
Front row, left to right (All members of the 38th Fighter Squadron)
Wyche, Wilton E., 0-729407 Ayers, Jerry H., 0-659441 Leinweber, Gerald F., 0-659473 Joel, Milton, 0-416308 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1429 – P-38H 42-67020; No Luftgaukommando Report) Hancock, James H., 0-659122 “Meyer” (Myers?), Joseph, Jr., 0-659166 Leve, Morris, 0-791127 (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2110 – P-38J 42-67768; Luftgaukommando Report AV 641/44)
Rear row, left to right (The four identified men were members of the 27th Fighter Squadron)
Ellerbee Conn, David M., 0-732171 Meikle, James B. Connors Dickie Crane, Edwin R., 0-728980 McIntosh, Robert L., 0-802054 Harris Smoot Hammond Purvis
Here’s another 38th Fighter Squadron photo, from Robert M. Littlefield’s Double Nickel, Double Trouble. Taken on June 4, 1943 at McChord Field, Washington, these seven men comprise the original squadron commanders of the 38th Fighter Squadron, and, the four officers heading the 55th Fighter Group. Akin to the preceding photograph, an inquiry to NARA revealed that this photograph is absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection. Also paralleling the above photo, this P-38’s nose (the plane is a P-38G-15) has been painted – probably – in white or yellow, and bears a (plane-in-squadron?) identification number. Unusually for a stateside warplane, this aircraft bears nose art. This takes the form of Walt Disney’s “Thumper” holding a machine gun, and the appropos nickname “WABBIT”. (Albeit no relation to Elmer Fudd…)
The men are…
…left to right:
Major Richard W. (“R. Dick”) Busching, 0-427516, Commanding Officer of the 338th Fighter Squadron Major Milton Joel, 0-416308, Commanding Officer of the 38th Fighter Squadron Wendell Kelly, Group Operations Officer Colonel Frank A. James, Commanding Officer of the 55th Fighter Group Lt. Colonel Jack S. Jenkins, 0-22606, Group Executive Officer George Crowell, Group Operation Officer Major Dallas W. (“Spider”) Webb, Commanding Officer of the 343rd Fighter Squadron
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This third image, from the collection of 38th Fighter Squadron pilot (and only survivor among the four 38th Fighter Squadron pilots shot down on November 29, 1943 – but we’ll get to that in a subsequent post) John J. Carroll, was taken on July 20, 1943. From The American Air Museum in Britain (image UPL 40377) the photo shows the original members of the 38th Fighter Squadron sent to England in late summer of 1943. (This picture also appears in Double Nickel, Double Trouble.)
Paralleling the above pictures, this photograph is absent from the WW II U.S. Army Air Force Photo Collection. The text on the image as published in Double Nickel, Double Trouble (but not visible on this web image) states:
Shipman, Mark K., 0-431166 Wyche, Wilton E., 0-729407 Ayers, Jerry H., 0-659441 “Meyers” (Myers?), Joseph, Jr., 0-659166 Joel, Milton, 0-416308 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1429 – P-38H 42-67020; No Luftgaukommando Report) Meyer, Robert J. Leinweber, Gerald F., 0-659473 Hancock, James H., 0-659122 Unknown
Rear, left to right
Albino, Albert A., 0-743330 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1428 – P-38H 42-67051; Luftgaukommando Report J 307?) Fisher, D., (“David D.”), (T-1046) (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2106 – P-38J 42-67757; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown) Brown, Gerald, 0-740139 Unknown Kreft, Willard L., 0-740219 Erickson, Wilton G., 0-748934 (KIA 12/1/43 – MACR 1430 – P-38H 42-67033; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown) Erickson, Robert E., 0-743324 Gillette, Hugh E., 2 Lt., 0-740169 (KIA 10/18/43 – MACR 1040 – P-38H 42-66719; No Luftgaukommando Report) Steiner, Delorn L., 0-740297 (KIA 1/31/44 – MACR 2105 – P-38J 42-67711; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown) Fisher, (Paul, Jr.), (0-740149) Peters, Edward F., 0-746168 Peters, Allen R., 0-743368 Carroll, John J., 0-743313 (POW 11/29/43 – MACR 1431 – P-38H 42-67090; Luftgaukommando Report Unknown) Unknown Garvin, James M., 0-740164 (KIA 11/29/43 – MACR 1427 – P-38H 42-67046; Luftgaukommando Reports J 338 and AV 513 / 44) Forsblad, Richard W., 0-740153 Des Voignes, Clair W., 0-743425 (KIA 7/13/44 – MACR 6709, 6717 – P-38J 42-28279; Luftgaukommando Report J 1635)
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The 55th Fighter Group departed McChord Field, Washington, for England on 23 August 1943. The Group reached Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on August 27, remaining there until September 4, when the Group boarded the H.M.T. Orion (a 24,000 ton ocean liner launched in 1934) in New York Harbor, the burned-out wreck of the SS Normandie – renamed the USS Lafayette – visible nearby. The Orion departed the next day, reaching its English base at Nuthampstead on September 14. Milton’s diary verifies these dates and locations.
In this image (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2009.006.096) a Coast Guard J4F Widgeon flies near the wreckage of the Lafayette, with the Empire State Building faintly visible in the distance. This area is probably the location of the Orion’s departure for England.
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During this hectic interval, Milton kept a diary covering the 18-day trans-Atlantic journey, in which he recorded observations and impressions of people, places, and events, noting the controlled chaos associated with the rapid movement of his squadron and group to a foreign shores. Specifically mentioned (albeit not including first names!) are pilots Willard L. Kreft, Gerald F. Leinweber, Mark K. Shipman, Albert A. Albino, Colonel Frank A. James, and ground officers Octavian R. Tuckerman (Ordnance), and Arthur S. Weinberger (Personnel).
The first two pages of Milton’s diary are shown below, followed by a transcript of all diary entries. Milton’s penmanship was not (!) the best, so the text includes some “gaps” (thus [“_____”]). But, enough of his writing is legible such that the sequence of events, his impressions of people (one observation of human behavior is quite frank by the standards of the 1940s) and sense of activity emerge from the document’s pages, as do his pride in his squadron.
Aug 23-1943 En Route Paine Field to NY P of E
This first entry in the daily record of events and sidelights of my participation in the action toward victory is made with the hope that it will not suffer the ignominity of becoming merely another bit of evidence of slovenly performance & tasks undertaken. At 08:30 AM left Mukilteo Washington in command of the 38th Fighter Squadron. Everyone eager and straining at the bit just as I am. Feel sure we can do a good job of it since I know we are better in a hundred ways than any outfit that has previously left the cont. for foreign duty both in efficiency and spirit. Wish Elaine could have been there to see us off but that would have been an anticlimax. Then too make it a first not to see her after the men were placed incommunicado. What’s good enough for them is good enough for me.
Aug 24 ’43
Trip so far completely uneventful, train shakes so cannot write.
Aug 25th ’43 No change. All serene.
All the men really on the ball – violent bridge game constantly in progress involving _____ _____ [Willard L.] Kreft & [Gerald F.] Leinweber. They have screamed themselves hoarse. Particularly Leinweber now sounds like a fog horn. Sporadic poker games continue on. [Mark K.] Shipman is like a kid just bubbles over with enthusiasm. He wrangled a ride on the engine & stayed there some four or five hours.
Aug 26th Everyone thoroughly encrusted in soot.
We look like miners not soldiers. [Albert A.] Albino & his _____ _____ _____ _____. Shipman worried about poker games _____ as though we should see that pilots learn to take care of their money. Losses haven’t been heavy. _____ (_____) & I talk him out of it. Is indignant when we try to explain that paternalism should not be carried that far. Am proud as pink over the conduct & appearance of the outfit at exercise time at stop by the wayside. Even though they are grimy they are sharp. Leinweber spends waking hour looking for a spoon from his mess kit – 200 pounds of almost _____ _____.
Aug 27th Camp Kilmer, N.J.
– arrived here at 08:05 from then on it was nit & tuck – nip a breath & tuck it away to last for an hour or two when you may or may not be able to catch another. Was met at the station with everything but the brass band. I.F. a billeting officer, a supply officer, a medical man, a rail transportation man & truck transport man and two or three others for good measure. We whisked the men off the train & marched them off to their barracks. I stayed behind with _____ (Exec. Off) & went through the train with a rail officer & train Rep. & a Pullman Rep. to check for damage. There was none. Dashed madly to new quarters while the rain started to pour. Have a piece of paper shoved at me telling me that I and the whole staff report at 9:00 AM for instruction – Do not have time to even wash off the weeks soot & grime or change clothes.
We report, Larry (_____) S-2, _____ S-1, Shipman S-3 & _____ S-4 & I _____ _____ officer _____ who gives us 2 hours instruction & a thousand sheets of paper (S.O.P. – Standard Operating Procedures).
We receive a schedule for the day which is a killer. Return to barracks Four & officers are just settling down. Tuckerman & Weinberger have just returned with the baggage detail & the baggage and it is all stowed away in our building – Rush away to lunch. Return & going to quit as too tired to continue.
Sept 1 Have decided that war is hell.
If the battling will be as rough as the getting to it. We’ve had at least 6 countermanding orders on our load list, we pack them then unpack. Then pack. Then unpack. That’s the way it goes. Everyone is beginning to get thoroughly disgusted but that’s the way they said it would be.
This camp is tremendous place thousands & 10’s of thousands of men pour through here each week. They are practically re-equipped. It’s amazing really. We had a meeting today and there were at least 300 unit commanders and adjutants. This is going to be a tremendous deal, but big rumors are rampant. Morale however is getting very low. Pilots like a bunch of race horses. They’re tense & at each others throats practically. Mainly due to hanging around with nothing to do & hangovers, everyone having gone to New York last night & night before. I went in. Had a big lobster dinner & a fried chicken but was too tired to stay late.
Sept 14 Haven’t had a moment to do more than write a few words to Elaine.
Left Camp Kilmer on the 4th in the morning for Embarkation. Our B-4 bags & packs were so damned heavy don’t know how we made it. Rode the train to ferry & thence off the harbor to the pier and boarded H.M.T. Orion. Saw the Normandie still lying serenely on her side like some tired old man refusing to get up & go to work. As soon as all the men were aboard I managed to drag my raincoat, briefcase, blanket roll, mussette bag, gas mask, pistol, web belt and canteen aboard half carrying & half falling over my B-4 bag to my stateroom. This was pleasantly surprised by a Staff Sergeant Symanoff who brought me four letters from Elaine. She had a hunch – the _____ _____ _____ that I would come to New York and had contacted Gene Symanoff who worked in the port. That was to prove the greatest treat to date aboard this tub.
No sooner did I get on board ship then was I summoned to Col. James’ [Frank James] room – where I found a great stir & dither. I was informed that I was to be Deck Commander of “E” Deck, which at this time didn’t seem so bad. Was soon to find out just what a rough deal it really turned out to be. Col. James was the senior line officer slated to come aboard and was then made troop commander. We were informed that there had never previously been American troops board ship and in addition there were 2000 more of them than the British had ever conceived of placing aboard. I.E. We had 7000 troops placed helter skelter on the ship and no one with us had ever had any experience of either handling troops aboard ship or _____ _____ any permanent _____. Men had been loaded helter skelter like sardines thrown into the can and then lid forced down. There were not even any set instructions orders or the like. This looks like the goddamnedest mess the brass hats could dream up & was. Went below & found my deck was “double loaded” I.E. 1500 men eat & sleep below deck & 1500 sleep & two above on another deck for 24 hours. All eat below in double shifts of 2 sittings each man shifting the _____ _____ for each of the 2 meals and again in the middle of the day. At night there wasn’t room either below or above to move an inch without stepping on someone’s face 1/2 _____ staying below slept on mattresses on the floor and tables the other half in hammocks. Those above decks slept on blankets on hard decks rain or shine – oh rough – To add to it all compartments on all decks had to pass through my deck to go to & from the galley also the twice daily canteen details also went through all the latrines for EMs aboard ship were also located _____. At meal times shift it looked like 42nd & Broadway on New Year’s Eve. How we ever got any organization is still a mystery to me.
To add to it all men consisted of the raunchiest crew I had ever seen. A larger proportion was criminals most of whom had 2 to 3 court martials against them some of whom even brought on board by armed guard. It was utter chaos. For first 3 days there was utter chaos and it took some days to eliminate the confusion. Many groups had one unexperienced 2nd Lt. in command who had just picked them up the day before. There was a group of 80 officers all _____ aboard who much like the men here were as motley as Joseph’s Coat and had an equivalent record. We found the total officers straight aboard to be 700 including eighty very recently commissioned and very eager nurses. These turned out to be as big a problem the 2nd Lts went after them like hound-dogs after a bitch in heat. I believe most of these girls were actually in heat because it seemed they were very cooperative. Ended up by picking a staff from the staff of the squadron & assigning each squadron officer a job with the men. Had about 150 officers assigned me and to other deck commander and took them down into Compartment Commanders and watch officers so that officer would be with the men 24 hours a day.
Morale for the first four days was the lowest I’ve ever seen it. The confusion was unimaginable. At meal time the corridor looked like 42nd & Broadway on New Year Eve. Only thing that made it satisfactory were boat drills weren’t always went over in first order.
There is a Moving Picture version of a British Colonel aboard as permanent Liaison Officer. Had been troop C.O. for two years aboard same ship. Knows every knook and cranny. Knows every argument that comes up with ships company before it comes up. Without his help this tub would have sunk in this chaos. He is one of the shrewdest men I have ever met & just as humorous. Whenever an argument in Staff Meeting is going the wrong way he can draw a red herring through the conversation so fast that it makes your head swim or tell some fantastic typical statement. “Ships officers are dead from 2 PM til’ four. If you attempted to wake one up the ruddy funnel will fall off.”
Took about seven days to get things afoot so that trip became very pleasant U.S.O. shows helped immensely. Billy Gilbert the Hollywood _____ artist is aboard with a troop and his shows have done wonders for morale. After the first three days the men’s spirits raised and remained amazingly high considering the hardships of sleeping in stinking holds & open but cold decks.
No excitement yet other than an incident the seventh night out. A Swedish ship blasted through the entire convoy at perpendicular courses & all ships had to make a sweeping torn to avoid her she was completely lighted & must have completely silhouetted us also made sub contact at the same time & depth charges were dropped well over the place which sit up a “ruddy din”.
About 1/3 of the men were thoroughly sick the second & third day out when it got fairly rough out water has been like a mild pond ever since.
Units were so spilt up _____ Lord knows how we will debark them. Tuckerman has been made garbage disposal officer and has taken a hell of a beating. Trash & garbage has to be disposed of only at a _____ _____ prior to black out to prevent causing a trail so it’s a hell of a job. Carroll is official announcer on P.A. system and as _____ that an official ____ for everyone aboard when he announces _____ time. Typical crack “Dumping time tonight will be at _ _ o’clock. Stick out your cans for the scrounger man. Tuckerman the garbage man.”
Cards & crap games fill every deck & latrine. Officers and men at it 24 hours a day. One EM cleared $ 1300 one day. Some even have set up boards with numbers on them carnival fashion & have this game in the canteen.
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The 55th Fighter Group, the first P-38 equipped 8th Air Force Fighter Group to enter combat with the Luftwaffe, moved to Wormingford, England, on April 16, 1944.
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During the 55th’s movement to England Milton managed to send a single V-Mail letter to his parents in Richmond, in which he commented on the hectic nature of the Group’s inter-continental journey, a sea-food dinner in Manhattan, and expressed pride in his wife, Elaine.
In light of Milton’s then as-yet-unknown future, the letter closes with the unintentionally (or not?…) prophetic statement, “It will probably be some time until you hear from me again so don’t worry. This is my real opportunity. Think of it in that light. I’m really on my way home in a way that this is what I had to get under my belt before I could do that.”
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Joel
1119 Hull Street
Richmond, 21, Va.
Milton Joel, Major AC
38 Fighter Sq 55th Fighter Group
APO #4833 c/o Postmaster New York
Sept. 3, 1943
Dear Folks,
Have been here “somewhere” in New Jersey. Have never had such an exasperating or busy few days in my life. It’s just like recruit camp all over again. Quite an experience. We’ve been held incommunicado so didn’t have time to call anyone in N.Y. Managed to get in one evening long enough for a lobster and a drink. Wonderful to eat Eastern sea food again.
Elaine is in L.A. Got a letter from her yesterday. She’s done a swell job of taking care of our affairs and getting home. Her attitude about this whole thing, I tried to give you a hint about two weeks ago but you couldn’t catch on evidently.
Did Elaine send you some pictures that we took? I’m proud of them particularly the ones taken in the house. Got a swell letter from Elaine’s father. Our two weeks of living together you know showed Elaine to be every thing that I thought her to be plus a great deal.
It will probably be some time until you hear from me again so don’t worry. This is my real opportunity. Think of it in that light. I’m really on my way home in a way that this is what I had to get under my belt before I could do that. Don’t send any thing until I ask for it. Use “V” mail.
Love to all Milton
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This Oogle map below shows the location of Nuthampstead (indicated by Oogle’s emblematic red pointer) in relation to London.
This British Government Royal Ordnance Survey aerial photo shows Nuthampstead Airfield as it appeared on July 9, 1946. Annotations on the photo are from Roger Freeman’s 1978 Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now. The original image has been photoshopifically “rotated” from its original orientation such that the north arrow points “up”. As such, the orientation of the airfield is congruent with the area as seen in the contemporary Oogle Earth photo, below.
Here’s a contemporary Oogle air photo view of the area of Nuthampstead airfield and its surrounding terrain. Practically all the land upon which the air base was situated has been turned over to agricultural use.
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Newly arrived at Nuthampstead, the 55th Fighter Group’s Commanders are visited by Major General William E. Kepner (far left), then head of the Eighth Fighter Command.
To General Kepner’s own left in the photo (left to right) are:
Col. Frank B. James Lt. Col. Jack S. Jenkins, 0-22606 Major Dallas W. Webb Major Milton Joel, 0-416308 Major Richard W. (Dick) Busching, 0-427516
Though I don’t recall the specific source of this image as used “here” in this post, this picture can also be viewed at the 55th Fighter Group website. It also appeared in print in the October, 1997, issue of Wings magazine (V 7, N 5, p. 13), where it’s noted as having been part of Jack Jenkins’ photo collection, from which the names above are taken. There, Milton’s name is incorrectly listed as “Walton”. Wings mentions that General Kepner, then in his 50s “…flew his personal P-47D everywhere, including an occasional sortie into combat. Kepner was a strong and successful commander.”
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The following Army Air Force photographs, taken some time between the 55th Fighter Group’s arrival at Nuthampstead in September of 1943, and November 29, 1943 (that sad day will be covered in detail in subsequent posts…) may be well known to those with an interest in the history of Eighth Air Force fighter operations, and, the P-38 Lightning. But, for those newly acquainted with this story:
First, image A1 79829 AC / A14144 1A. The photo caption states:
“Flight leaders of the 38th Fighter Squadron, based at Nuthampstead, England, gather for an informal briefing by Major Milton Joel of Richmond, Virginia just before a mission over enemy territory. They are, left to right: 1st Lt. James Hancock of Sebring, Fla., 1st Lt. Gerald Leinweber of Houston, Texas, 1st Lt. Joseph Myers of Canton, Ohio, and 1st Lt. Jerry Ayers of Shelbyville, Tenn.”
Obviously posed (Lt. Ayers and Major Joel have wry smiles) it’s still a great photo. Notice that Lt. Hancock and Major Joel are – gadzooks! – smoking! (In the world of 2020, how … er … uh … um … ironically, dare I say “refreshing ”… as it were?)
Second, image: B1 79830AC / A14145 1A.
The caption?
“Lt. Albert A. Albino of Aberdeen, Wash., and Lt. John J. Carroll of Detroit, Mich., both members of the 38th Fighter Squadron stationed at Nuthampstead, England, discuss the map of a future target in the squadron pilot room.”
Like the above image, this photo is almost certainly posed, but it’s still an excellent study. While Lt. Albino wears a classic leather flight jacket, it looks as if Lt. Carroll sports a home-made (?) sweater.
By day’s end on November 29, 1943, Lt. Albino would no longer be among the living, and Lt. Carroll would be a prisoner of war.
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After Major Joel failed to return from the mission of November 29, Captain Mark K. Shipman of Fresno, California, took command of the 38th, until replaced in that role by Capt. Joseph Myers.
This image, from The American Air Museum in Britain, shows Captain Shipman in front of his personal P-38, 42-67080, “Skylark IV”, “CG * S”. This photograph appears on page 93 of Roger Freeman’s The Mighty Eighth, albeit in cropped form, and transposed (a mirror-image) from the actual print. Major Shipman was officially credited with 2.5 aerial victories: One in North Africa, and two in Europe.
This image of the aircraft and ground crew was photographed by Sgt. Robert T. Sand, who not-so-coincidentally completed Skylark IV’s nose art. Note that the 20mm cannon has been removed from the plane’s nose.
The below article about Major Shipman appeared in the Pittsburgh Press on February 6, 1943, and pertains to his experience on January 23, 1943, while he was serving as a lieutenant in the 48th Fighter Squadron of the 14th Fighter Group. Accounts of this mission, in which the 48th lost six pilots – of whom Lt. Shipman turned out to be the sole survivor – can be found at emedals.com and Rob Brown’s RAF 112 Squadron.org.
U.S. Flier Walks 2 Days Through Italian Positions
Pilot’s Clothes Stolen, So He Wraps Feet in Rags; Brings Back Valuable Information
By the United Press
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, North Africa. Feb. 6 – For two days Lt. Mark K. Shipman, 22, Fresno, Cal., wandered over desert and mountains, his feet bound with shreds of his uniform, but when he finally reached an American outpost he brought with him valuable reconnaissance information.
The lieutenant told about his experience today.
His Lightning fighter plane was shot down on the morning of Jan 23 when he left formation to help a comrade fighting a cluster of Messerschmitts. Lieut. Shipman said he made a belly landing.
“The ship was practically undamaged,” he said. “I ran about 40 yards away because I knew the Messerschmitts would strafe me. Three of them riddled the plane with three dives. Then I went back to it and took out a helmet, canteen and pistol and started hiking for the mountains.”
Clothes Stolen
Lieut. Shipman said all his clothes except his trousers and undershirt were stolen from him, although he managed to retain a wedding ring and Crucifix which were presents from his wife. (The dispatch did not say who did the looting.)
“I found I couldn’t walk in my bare feet,” Lieut. Shipman continued. “So I cut off my trousers below the knees and wrapped the cloth around my feet. I walked over a mountain knowing by the sun I was traveling toward the American lines. I found a narrow dirt road and started making better time but my feet were getting sore.
Fixes Crude Bed
“So I took off mv trousers and managed to cut off more cloth above the knees, which I added to the strips I already had tied about, my feet. I turned off the trail and went over to a creek bed and fixed a crude bed in a hole. I got kind of warm and rested.
“After a while the moon came up and I got out and started down the creek bed. About 10 o’clock I passed what I believed were some Italian tents and snaked along silently, finally getting into the open.
“I ran along a dirt road for a while and was hiding in a ditch when a motorcyclist came along. He was Italian. I decided it was safer to keep off the road. My feet were so sore I could scarcely stand so I made a sort of fox hole about a hundred yards from the road.
Crosses Road
“When daylight came I positively identified other passing vehicles as Italian. I crossed the road and crept along, finally reaching three Italian road blocks. I took off my white cotton undershirt so I wouldn’t be conspicuous.
“By that time I was getting desperate and I decided on a break. I got into ravines and at times I saw Italian sentries on both sides. After I sneaked along for about five miles I didn’t see any more Italians. About 5 p.m. I approached an American outpost. They recognized me.”
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Capt. Joseph Myers, Jr. and Major Joel stand before a P-38. The date and location of the image are unknown. Thanks to information from Andrew Garcia in November of 2023, I’ve been able to correlate the four-digit Lockheed Aircraft Company factory production number “1526” on the fighter’s nose to its Army Air Force serial: The aircraft is P-38H 42-67015. Being that this aircraft isn’t listed at the Aviation Archeology database and there is no Missing Air Crew Report for it, it seems that it survived the war, I assume to be turned into aluminum siding or pots & pans after 1945. (Photo c/o Harold Winston)
Another image of Capt. Myers, this time in front of his personal aircraft, P-38J 42-67685 “Journey’s End’ / “CG * O”, with ground crew members Sergeants K.P. Bartozeck and J. D. “Dee Dee” Durnin. The image presumably dates from very late 1943, as “Journey’s End” was destroyed during a single-engine crash-landing on January 4, 1944.
This image shows Lt. Col. Joseph Myers, seated in a P-51D Mustang, to which the 55th Fighter Group began converting in July, 1944. He commanded the 38th Fighter Squadron between February 10 and April 22 of that year. This image is from the collection of Dave Jewell.
Maloney, Edwatd T., Lockheed P-38 “Lightning”, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, Ca., 1968 (The book includes a table correlating Lockheed Aircraft Company serials to Army Air Force serials.)
“…the fact that its entire crew of five are all from New York.”
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Definitions of the phrase “New Yorker”…
… at Wordnik: “a native or resident of New York (especially of New York City)” … at Cambridge Dictionary: “someone from the US city of New York” “someone from the US state of New York” …at Collins Dictionary: 1. a. “of the state of New York” 1. b. “of the city of New York” 2. a. “a person born or living in the state of New York” 2. b. ” a person born or living in the city of New York”
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My prior post, The Invisible Sailor – The Invisible Jew?, concerning Warner Brothers’ 1943 film about the United States submarine service, Destination Tokyo, focuses on a fascinating scene that arrives at the film’s halfway point. After “Mike”, one of the sub’s crew, is murdered – quite literally stabbed in the back – by a Japanese fighter pilot ostensibly in the act of surrender, the Greek-American sailor “Tin-Can” (played by Dane Clark, actual nameBernard Elliot Zanville) is unwilling and unable to attend the former’s funeral. Tin-Can’s absence from the ceremony sparks anger and shock from his fellow crew members, who take deep offense at his detached and seemingly passive reaction to the death of a fellow crewman. Then, with great and increasing intensity, Tin-Can explains the reason for his absence. He relates how the suffering of his family in German-occupied Greece – particularly the murder of his kindly philosopher uncle – has become the central motivation for his military service, which is a form of patriotism and deeply personal – if not familial and ethnic – revenge against the Axis. In a story otherwise devoted to action, adventure, drama, and occasional moments of levity (what, with Alan Hale, Sr.!), Tin-Can’s speech grounds the film upon a plane of seriousness and depth.
But, I believe there was a story behind Tin-Can’s story. As I explain fully in the post, given the ownership of the studio that produced the film, as well as identity of some of the writers, producers, and actors involved in the movie’s creation – let alone the time-frame of the film’s release – I believe that the writers and producers of Destination Tokyo used Tin-Can’s speech as a disguised soliloquy about the fate of of the Jews of Europe. The proviso being of course, that unapologetically and explicitly drawing attention to the fate of the Jews of Europe in the context of fighting the Axis powers, in a form of popular entertainment created for a nationwide audience, was – in the Hollywood of 1943 – perceived as being anathema, in terms of cultural, social, and professional acceptability.
Anyway, Destination Tokyo was a movie; a story; fiction, in which reality lay behind a cloak of invisibility.
In the world of life; of fact; of literature and journalism, there are other forms of invisibility; even if unintentional; even if benign. But, just as in Destination Tokyo, the absence of a fact can “speak” far more loudly and leave a far deeper impression, than if it is mentioned … even if briefly, even if fleetingly, even if in passing. This will reveal more about the writer, publisher, and tenor of the times, than the story itself. Such was the case of a news item published in The New York Times in early 1944…
But first, by way of explanation:
Many of my posts on this blog – an ongoing series as it were?! – focus on the military service of Jewish soldiers during the Second World War. These are centered around news items about Jewish military casualties from the New York metropolitan area, which were published in The New York Times, in the final two years – 1944 and 1945 – of that global conflict.
Appearing under the heading “Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times in WW II”, I’ve created about forty such posts as of the completion of “this” post in mid-July of 2023. As explained more fully at Soldiers from New York: Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times, in World War Two, the now-distant impetus for this effort was my review of every issue (seriously!) of the Times published between late 1940 and 1946 for any news item related to the military service of Jewish soldiers during that time. (I did this in the 1990s by reviewing the Times on 35mm microfilm. Lots and lots of microfilm. Did I say lots? Lots!) The goal of this endeavor was to learn about the experience and thoughts of Jewish soldiers in the Armed forces of the Allies in the context of the Shoah, and, the historical experience of the Jewish people during that awful, complex, and transformative time.
I thought – when I began this research three now-seemingly-distant decades ago – given the Times being a newspaper headquartered in Manhattan, with the New York metro area then being the demographic “center” of Jewish life in the United States, that the newspaper would occasionally feature news items about the implications or aspects of Jewish military service during the war, even if in passing: even if tangentially; even only hesitantly. Well, was I wrong about that. Very wrong. Completely wrong; completely-upending-your-assumptions and jaw-droppingly kind of wrong.
Certainly news about American Jewish servicemen (and on vanishingly rare occasions, Jewish soldiers in the armies of other Allied nations) appeared in the Times, but this facet … or central aspect? … of their identity was never a focus of the paper’s reporting, assuming it fell into the awareness of the paper’s journalists and editors to begin with. Well… Given the history of the Times, the prevailing self-perception of the Jews of America at that time, and, the nature of the times (pun entirely intended), perhaps this was inevitable. An example of this, from early 1944, follows…
On February 4 of that year, this article, by an anonymous Times correspondent, appear in the first section of the newspaper:
FIVE NEW YORKERS ON INVASION PLANE
Crew of Butchski Plan to Run ‘Overseas Branch of the Bronx Express’
By Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
AT A UNITED STATES TROOP CARRIER COMMAND STATION in Britain, Feb. 3 – All the twin-engined transport planes on this station look alike in their grubby green-brown war paint, but one is really different. Its two chief points of difference are the white lettered name Butchski on the nose and the fact that its entire crew of five are all from New York.
When the invasion starts and the troop-carrier command begins shuttling combat soldiers from bases to actual fighting fronts Butchski will become an “overseas branch of the Bronx Express,” according to its crew. Every member of the crew agrees the service will be strictly “express.”
The skipper of Butchski is quiet, youthful-looking Capt. E.M. Malakoff of 60 East Ninety-fourth Street, Manhattan. A graduate of Penn State and New York University Law School, he passed the New York bar examination in 1941.
He is only 27 years old now, but handles the transport plane as if he had been flying it all his life. The plane is named for his 9-year-old brother James, whose nickname is Butchski.
Co-Pilot “Typical New Yorker”
Lieut. James P. Wilt of 538 East Sixteenth Street is co-pilot. He maintains he is the most typical New Yorker because he was born in Dayton, Ohio, twenty-five years ago and moved to New York to attend New York University after having gone to the University of Cincinnati. After finishing school he worked in radio before joining the Army. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Noble Wilt, now live in Troy, Ohio, with his younger brother and sister.
Flight Officer Saul Bush, who is 25 years old and lives at 1749 Grand Concourse, the Bronx, is the navigator of Butchski. He insists his chef distinction is that he is the only married man in the crew and he feels sorry because the other members will never be able to marry a girl as incomparable as his wife, Beatrice, who lives in the Bronx. He attended De Witt Clinton High School and City College in New York.
Staff Sgt. David Lifschutz, who says he “was born, reared and hopes to die” in New York, is the fourth member of the crew. He is only 21. His home is 32-17 Seventy-seventh Street, Jackson Heights, and for years before he joined the Army he used to hang around La Guardia Field hoping to be a flier one day. He attended Long Island City High School and his parents still live at the Seventy-seventh Street address.
Youngest Member Is 20
Staff Sgt. Lester Leftkowitz [sic], who attended Morris High School and lived at 586 Southern Boulevard, the Bronx, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Lefkowitz, is the fifth and youngest member of the crew. He is just 20 years old.
The job of Butchski is to haul paratroops and tow gliders loaded with airborne fighting men to fighting areas when the invasion starts. They all realize it is a tough job, but one that has to be done, and they are just waiting until the time comes to do it.
Here’s how the article appeared in the paper:
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Biographical information about each of these men follows below. (A minor caveat: “Letfkowitz” is actually “Lefkowitz”.) As will soon be evident as you scroll through this lengthy post, Captain Malakoff was killed in action, but every member of his crew survived the war. With the significant caveat, that Staff Sergeant Lifschutz was shot down and taken prisoner of war in late December of 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.
And so, Butchski’s crew:
Pilot: Capt. Seymour M. Malakoff, 0-660774, Air Medal, Purple Heart Mr. and Mrs. Jacob John (3/6/91-6/14/55) and Vera (Ida) (Partman) (7/12/90-11/18/43) Malakoff, 60 East 94th St., New York, N.Y. James Leonard “Butchski” Malakoff (brother) (6/20/33-7/24/07) Born New Haven, Ct., 10/24/16 The New York Times 2/4/44, 6/27/44 Casualty List 7/25/44 Forvarts 6/29/44
Co-Pilot: Lieutenant James Philip Wilt Mr. and Mrs. Walter Noble (5/21/93-1984) and Katherine (Harper) (Folckemer) (1/4/93-12/29/61) Wilt (parents) Robert N. Wilt (brother) (1/6/30-7/2/60), 234 South Plum St., Troy, Oh. Wartime residence: 538 East 16th St., New York, N.Y. Born Dayton, Oh., 4/2/18; Died 12/13/78 Riverside Cemetery, Troy, Oh. – Section 1, North West Corner
Navigator: Flight Officer Saul Bush Mrs. Beatrice (Rosen) Bush (wife), 1749 Grand Concourse, Bronx, N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred and Dora (Stein) Bush (parents), 2101 Morris St., New York, N.Y. Born New York, N.Y., 6/29/19; Died 10/20/04 American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
Radio Operator: S/Sgt. David Lifschutz, 12147259, Air Medal Three Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim (“Frank”?) and Claire Lifschutz (parents), 32-17 77th St., Jackson Heights, N.Y. Born New York, N.Y., 6/3/22 Casualty List 6/13/45 Long Island Star Journal 4/14/45, 6/14/45 American Jews in World War II – 381
Crew Chief: S/Sgt. Lester Lefkowitz (Hersch G’dali bar Shmuel), 12182071 Born Bronx, N.Y., 5/25/23; Died 10/3/00 Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. and Etta Leftkowitz (parents), 586 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, N.Y. Mount Ararat Cemetery, East Farmingdale, N.Y. American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
What about Seymour Malakoff? … He received his pilot wings and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on May 20 1942. His portrait appears below. Taken when he was aviation cadet, it’s from the United States National Archives, where it’s one image among thousands of similar photos within 105 archival storage boxes encompassing the collection “RECORDS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES – Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation”.
Lt. Malakoff’s portrait, “P-14933”, is in box 57.
(Digression one: The overwhelming majority of these images were taken during the very late 1930s, and early 1940s; with a very small number from WW I and the twenties. A few civilian flyers (like Amelia Earhart and Anthony Fokker) are also present, along with a few images of famous German WW I aviators. Most of the portraits are of Flying Cadets, or, men who had just graduated as Second Lieutenants and received their “wings” from Army Air Force pilot, bombardier, and navigator schools. The majority of the images seem to have been taken from 1941 through 1943, with some from 1944, and a very few thereafter.
Some pictures were taken outdoors, along an airfield flight-line, apparent from background scenery. Some, with photographic back-drops of aircraft, clouds, or other aviation-related images, were obviously taken in studios. Other were taken in simple, unadorned, indoor settings. Some images are printed upon 8 ½” x 11” black & white glossy finish photographic paper, while others, of smaller dimensions, are mounted upon (glued to) heavy 8 ½” x 11” stock. Typically, information such the date of the photograph, name and rank of subject, and the aviation school where the image was taken is recorded with the image; sometimes on the image itself.
Inevitably, given the coincidence between the timing of their graduation and the time-frame of the Second World War, many of these men were killed in action, while others lost their lives in training or operational accidents. Similarly, it is notable that there are no photographs of aircrews; only individuals. Notably, this collection of photographs comprises a limited number of the tens of thousands Army Air Force pilots, bombardiers, navigators who were Aviation Cadets, or were commissioned, during World War Two.)
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The Times article obviously attracted attention well beyond the confines of Manhattan, for it was referenced in Walter Winchell’s column three days later, in which S/Sgt. Lifschutz was mentioned in reply to comments by Mississippi Senator John E. Rankin concerning the latter’s remarks about the ethnic backgrounds of American servicemen. Here are the first two paragraph’s from Winchell’s column:
By Walter Winchell
The Man on Broadway
NEW YORK, Feb. 7. – Man About Town:
U.S. Senator Styles Bridges is helping his State Department heart trousseau shop … Al Jolson is Jinx Falkenberg’s most constant visitor at her St. Luke’s Hospital bedside… Dorothy Fox, the dance director, got a quiet melting down (from her Naval Intelligence bridegroom in Florida last week)… Barbara Booth, who understudied Hepburn in “Without Love,” was secretly married last week in San Francisco to an Army lieutenant… New Yorkers suspect that Wayne (wife-killer) Lonergan’s sudden coin (to hire a lawyer) came from men named in her diary… Betty Hutton is Capt. C. Gable’s morale builder this week… “Under Cover” author Carlson is 1-A and rarin’ to go.
HERR RANKIN’S disparagement of certain war heroes is the consequent result of a defense mechanism. He is Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Rankin is a World War I war vet – by virtue of 17 days’ service… The AP reports that the first American ashore on the Anzio beaches (south of Rome) was Pvt. Walter P. Krysztofiak, a father, of Illinois. Wonder what Rankin would say about this American whose name can hardly be pronounced? … And then there’s the New York Times report of Feb. 4 (about New Yorkers making up the crew of a bomber) – one crew man being Staff Sgt. David Lifschutz… You can tell Rep. Hoffman from the others in Congress. While he talked about a march on Washington – his constituents were more interested in a March of Dimes… Ralph Pearl says Hoffman is so unimpressive (haw!) he goes in one eye – and out the other.
Here’s how Winchell’s column actually appeared … as published in the Syracuse Herald-Journal:
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If the Times article of February 4 was (in its own way) enlightening, the following very small news item, published on June 27, three weeks after D-Day, was much sadder: It reports that Captain Malakoff was missing in action.
New York Flier Missing
On June 5, Capt. Seymour M. Malakoff of 60 East Ninety-fourth Street, skipper of “Butchski,” a twin-engined transport plane, wrote to his father, J.M. Malakoff, that “everything was fine”. The next day air-borne troops invaded the coast of France, and Mr. Malakoff said yesterday he had received a War Department telegram saying his son had been reported “missing in action since June 6 over France.”
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What happened?
Missing Air Crew Report 8409 reveals that Captain Malakoff was the pilot of C-47A 43-30735 (otherwise known as “CK * P” / chalk # 37 / “Butchski II“), of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, 435th Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Force. His aircraft was one of nineteen 9th Air Force C-47s lost during D-Day (this number based on MACRs covering C-47 losses on June 6), with the 435th losing two other aircraft, both from the 77th Troop Carrier Squadron. These planes were 42-24077, “IB * J”, piloted by 1 Lt. James J. Hamblin (MACR 7801), and 43-30734, piloted by Captain John H. Schaefers (MACR 8414). Identical to Captain Malakoff’s “Butchski II” (as will be evident a few paragraphs down…), there were no survivors from the crew of either transport; four men in Lt. Hamblin’s crew, and 5 in Captain Schaefers’.
(Digression two: Here’s the insignia of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron. (It’s from Ebay seller abqmetal.))
The fate of Butchski II is described in this excerpt from Ian Gardner’s Tonight We Die As Men, the story of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, encompassing the history of the Battalion’s from its creation through D-Day. The excerpt describes the loss of the C-47 as seen from the ground.
The two men moved cautiously off along the line of the wall toward a hedge. A few minutes later they discovered George Rosie hiding under a tree. He was overjoyed to see them. They remained hidden in the hedge for a while wondering what they should do. Suddenly Rosie pointed in the direction of the farmhouse and muttered something through his broken teeth that sounded like, “Jesus Christ. Look!”
A C-47 had been hit, its port engine was on fire and it was banking sharply to the right. The men watched as the aircraft leveled out and its paratroopers started to jump. As the last man left the aircraft it became totally engulfed in flames. It was then that Gibson, Lee, and Rosie realized that it was heading directly toward them. They flattened themselves against the ground and the stricken plane tore through power lines and swept 20 ft above their heads before exploding in a ball of flame at Clos des Brohiers. Just moments later they were surprised to see four men, silhouetted by the inferno, sprinting toward them. A water-filled ditch briefly interrupted their run, but they waded in and quickly scrambled out. Watching in amazement, Gibson’s small group could not believe their eyes. Before them, covered in mud and dripping wet, were Cyrus Swinson, Leo Krebs, Phil Abbey, and Francis Ronzani. All four had jumped from the same plane as Gibson. They had been hiding in a field and the burning plane forced them out.
Dr. Barney Ryan had landed in the flooded area close to L’Amont and could see something burning furiously on higher ground nearby. He had met up with three other men and led them toward the fire. Ryan recollects, “I couldn’t be sure what was burning at the time but thought it was an aircraft. We were shot at by figures running around the flames. As we weren’t supposed to open fire until daybreak we guessed they must be Germans.” The figures were probably Mongolian soldiers who could see Ryan’s group illuminated in the flames. Their firing forced Ryan and his men to dive under the water and swim away.
The burning plane had been carrying 18 men from H Co, 501st Bn. They had been scheduled to jump on Drop Zone C, which was about 3 miles north of the crash site. All the paratroopers got out safely but unfortunately the plane’s five-man crew perished in the inferno. The aircraft was piloted by Capt. Malakoff from the 435th Troop Carrier Group’s 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, based at Welford in Berkshire. It was probably hit shortly after crossing the French coast and fell back in the formation. Losing altitude and unable to reach the drop zone, the pilot switched on the green light allowing the paratroopers to jump to safety before the plane crashed.
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Missing Air Crew Report 8409 includes thirteen (!) eyewitness accounts pertaining to the loss of Captain Malakoff’s C-47. These comprise a total of ten statements from the eighteen paratroopers aboard the plane (all eighteen jumped successfully) and, statements from Captain Paul W. Dahl (C-47 42-92093), and First Lieutenants Charles P. Kearns, Jr. (C-47 42-100675) and Edgar H. Albers, Jr. (C-47 42-92099), fellow pilots in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron. Here’s Captain Dahl’s statement:
I last saw Captain Malakoff as we entered the West Coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula. I was leading the second element of the 4th Squadron. Captain Malakoff was leading the last squadron directly behind me. Immediately after crossing the coast we went into an overcast laying over the coast directly on our course. I turned out to the right a short distance to avoid collision with other ships in the overcast and then resumed course letting down until I broke out beneath the overcast. If Captain Malakoff had continued straight on course he undoubtedly would have caught up with us out on our left. A short time after breaking out of the overcast I was fired upon from the ground, guns firing all over the sky. I saw two ships explode and go down in flames off to our left front about 300 to 500 feet above. Approximately one-half a minute later I made a left turn into the D.Z. (my navigator recognizing it) and it was about this time I saw a violent explosion directly to our left and then saw the flames engulfing the remnants of the plane as it went down. I would say this occurred about approximately one mile Northwest of the DZ according to my navigator’s calculations. The exploding plane was at about the same altitude as we were which was 1000 ft indicated letting down. I definitely saw tracers going into the explosion. I had to make a left turn into the DZ because of the previous right turn I made in the overcast which is another fact that might indicate Captain Malakoff’s being off to my left.
I would estimate Captain Malakoff’s speed at 140 to 150 mph the last time I definitely saw him before we entered the overcast.
I was in the overcast approximately few and one half minutes. We were under fire most of the time after breaking out of the overcast.
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This statement is by Pvt. Joe L. Cardenas, of (at the time) H Company:
I was the last man in my stick, the last to jump from the plane. Because of my position near the radio compartment I couldn’t see out but 1 did notice the plane lurch a little possibly from wing hits. Lt. Hoffmann [1 Lt. John W. Huffman] gave the order to “stand up”, “hook-up”. The crew chief came out and said that he thought they were coning in south of the DZ. He told us to hold it up and I passed this word down the line. He then went back to the pilot. He came out again and wanted to know why we were in the plane and went back into the pilot’s cabin. He came out again, rather excited and said “we are coming over the DZ when you get the light. “Go! Go! Go!” The plane seemed to be OK. I had no trouble getting out. I never saw the plane again after I jumped.
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Missing Air Crew Report 8409 lists C-47 43-30735 as having last been seen west of Etienville, France. In reality, the plane crashed on the ground of the Frigot Farm, about two miles north-northwest of Carentan. Several images of Butchski II’s crash site can be seen at TAPA Talk (“Meehan Crash Site“), while Mark Bando has this account at The Carrington News:
C-47 #43-30735 (pilot Seymour M. Malakoff) belonged to the 75th TCS and was shot down during mission Albany on D-day. Butchski II came down near Frigot Farm on D-Night, just north of the road that runs straight east toward Basse Addeville [La Basse Addeville] from Dead Man’s Corner. The plane was carrying the stick of 3rd platoon H/501. Capt. Seymour Malakoff, pilot, 2nd Lt. Thomas Tucker, co-pilot, 1st Lt. Eugene Gaul, navigator, Sgt. Paul Jacoway flight engineer, S/Sgt. Robert Walsh, radio … were all killed in the crash.
All the troopers on board including Harry Plisevich, Len Morris, Robert Niles, Paul Solea, and Clarence Felt jumped before the ship went in. Solea’s reserve chute opened accidentally in the plane, causing a four minute delay in jumping. Due to the cloud banks and ground fire which brought down two other planes of the same serial carrying G/501st personnel [42-24077 and 43-30734], the plane had strayed off-course. Butchski II was actually hit somewhere south of Carentan and then began a route bringing her NE, on an angle that took her above Addeville. She then turned back west bound and the occupants of the Frigot farm on the north side of the road just west of the A13 overpass heard it go over their house before she crashed a few fields over. There was a AA battery on the high ground just north of Chateau Bel Enault [Château Bellenau], which was pumping rounds at the plane as it turned west, losing altitude all the while, one of the troopers [Pvt. Fred J. DiPietro, 15354752?] that jumped was KIA shortly after landing between Baupte and Raffoville, when he knocked on the door of a French farmhouse and a German answered, probably with a pistol in his hand. From Mark Bando…
These two air photos show the Frigot Farm, which lies at the intersection of D913 and Rue du Bel Esnault, bounded by rows of trees adjacent to each road. Based on photos at TAPA Talk, the aircraft crashed adjacent to one of the two northwest-southeast oriented rows of trees subdividing the property: the long row in the very center of the image, or, the diminutive row in the farm’s southwest corner.
This photo, at a smaller scale, shows the setting of the Frigot Farm relative to Château Bellenau, which is just southwest of La Basse Addeville.
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Words and maps can only convey so much. The photo below, also from Gardner’s book (as is the caption), shows the burnt-out wreckage of Captain Malakoff’s C-47 a few days after D-Day. Little is left of the aircraft except for the fin, an outer portion of one wing, and fragments of bent and burned aluminum.
“Pvt. Walter Hendrix from E Company 506th stands beside the burnt-out remains of 75th Troop Carrier Squadron C-47 “Butchski II”, which crashed near Frigot Farm on D-Day. The plane was carrying men from H Company 501st, who all jumped to safety before it crashed. Unfortunately its crew were not so fortunate and Capt. Seymour Malakoff (pilot), 2 Lt. Thomas Tucker (co-pilot), 1st Lt. Eugene Gaul (navigator), Sgt. Paul Jacoway (flight engineer) and S/Sgt. Robert Walsh (radio operator) all perished in the inferno. (Forrest Guth picture, Carnetan Historical Center)”
I do find it notable that whereas the Times gives the nickname of Captain Malakoff’s C-47 as “Butchski“, Missing Air Crew Report 8409 and other sources list the aircraft’s name as “Butchski II“. Whether this reflects an error in the Times’ article, or, the fact that there was an original “Butchski (one)” replaced by a C-47 dubbed “Butchski II” … in the tradition of so many USAAF WW II aircraft … I’ve no idea.
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Captain Malakoff’s crew on this mission – their first, last, and only mission – comprised:
I’d suppose that his original crew, as listed in the Times, was broken up as a unit prior to D-Day, and distributed among other crews in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron. In any event, as mentioned above, all of Captain Malakoff’s original crewmen survived the war.
Perhaps inspired by the Times, on June 29 the Forvarts published the following news item about Lieutenant Malakoff. Given the formal nature of the portrait, what with the fluffy white scarf and jauntily placed cap and headphones, this picture was probably taken during his pilot training in the United States – possibly upon his graduation from pilot training and commissioning as an officer – and before his assignment to the 435th Troop Carrier Group. I suppose the picture was sent to his parents, who then provided the image to the Forvarts.
Though I don’t know Yiddish, I think the approximate translation of the title is rather straightforward: Something to the effect of “Jewish Pilot Flies Airplane with Parachutists”. The word “Butchski“, phoneticized in Yiddish, definitely appears in the article. It’s in quotes in the third line from the bottom.
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And now, submitted for your consideration:
The elephant in the living room.
…or…
The rhinoceros in the foyer.
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Getting back to the Times’ article.
Well, yeah.
Captain Malakoff’s crew were most definitely “New Yorkers” by either residence or birth. That’s explicitly stated in the Time’s article’s first paragraph. That all but one of the airmen in the crew were Jews was, however, entirely left unmentioned. Perhaps this “silence” about the coincidence of four Jewish airmen assigned to the same aircrew, in the European Theater of War, arose because it wasn’t even noticed to begin with. (That, I seriously doubt.) Perhaps it was deemed irrelevant. (That is surely possible.) Perhaps it was left unmentioned because the story’s anonymous author and editor adhered to and tacitly accepted the Times’ deeply animating ideology which has continued to negate an acceptance of Jewish peoplehood. (Surely that’s possible too.)
But still, in the cultural context of the forties and the next few decades (not so much any more),the phrase “New Yorker” was a verbal shorthand that not always, but not uncommonly had a certain Jewish connotation or “ring” to it – on occasion positive; sometimes ambivalent; perhaps neutral; sometimes negative – whether in politics, popular culture, or comedy.
Walter Winchell’s column, published three days after the Times’ story, made mention of David Lifschutz as a way of refuting Congressman John E. Rankin’s statements about American Jews. But, even accounting for the fact that Winchell was a gossip columnist, something’s clearly “off” with with his article just as much as there is in the Times’ original story. On a minor point, Butchski was a transport, not a bomber. On a major point, obviously having combed the article for details, why did Winchell not deign to mention Seymour Malakoff, Saul Bush, and Lester Lefkowitz? Given the length of his very long column – of which the above image is only a beginning snippet – why the silence about these three men? Though my knowledge of Winchell’s life only comes from Wikipedia, what stands out from his biography is that despite – or perhaps as a consequence; perhaps as a cause – of his all-too-fleeting fame and social prominence (in a personal life characterized by turbulence and tragedy); despite his father having been a part-time cantor – his only real connection to Judaism and the Jewish people was in his ancestry.
Plus, the Magen David on his Matzeva.
Yet, there could be another explanation for the nature of the Times’ article: Perhaps there were aspects of the Times’ reporter’s conversation with the crew of Butchski – then unrecorded and now unknown – that never reached the printed page. In this, I’m reminded of comments made to me by a Jewish WW II veteran who flew B-17s in the 8th Air Force, several of whose crew members were Jews, and whose brother (a ball turret gunner) and cousin (1st Lieutenant Morris Leve; see also…) were killed in action while serving in the 15th and 8th Air Forces, respectively.
As he related in a late 1993 interview:
Me: Can you recall any other Jewish guys who were in your squadron, besides the guys in your crew? Veteran: Oh yeah. Yeah. We had a…we had a guy; he was a navigator. A fellow by the name of Bill L. And Bill L.… Bill L.… He had worked for the…he worked for the Daily… He had some kind of a job with the Daily News. … The fact that he had worked for the newspaper, I guess, you know… He was… Let me see, how can I say it? You know, he wanted…he wanted in the worst way, to publicize…the fact… He hung onto my crew…because we had so many Jews. And he wanted…he wanted to…you know, to throw out a lot of publicity about it and I turned him down, while we were overseas. And I said, “No, no, no. I don’t want to do that.” The one thing that he did, and it was printed in the Brooklyn Daily Times, or Times Union…I forget what the hell the name of the paper was… He had a picture taken of Irving S. and myself…at the airplane, glancing at a…at a map, and he had written a small article. He and some other guy… I forget what the hell his name was. He was our…he was our PR man. He was also Jewish. And he was the squadron PR man. And…and they…they had this little article, and they titled it as, “Brooklyn Flak Dodgers”, you know, and he was showing me how we could dodge the flak and all this other bullshit!, but… But it was never printed that way, in the paper. It was just printed…and I have a copy of it…it was printed just as, “Two… You know, as “Two Brooklynites on the Same Crew”. That’s all. Just some little article in the… And I have it someplace. I don’t know where. And I have that picture, too. I have a copy of the picture. Me: But he tended to want to socialize with your crew? Veteran:No, no no no no. No, he didn’t… No, there was…there was no socializing at all. He…the only thing that he wanted to do… He wanted to, you know… I guess, he wanted…he wanted to write, about “this Jewish crew, that were doing ‘this’ and were doing ‘this’ and were doing, you know. And he wanted to…he wanted some sort of notoriety about it, and I didn’t want…I didn’t want it. I said, “No, I don’t care for it.” I came in…I…I had…I had my brakes shot out on one mission. I had the hydraulic system that was just… My whole hydraulic system went bad, you know, just the…the fluid leaked out. It was shot up? And, I made, what they called…referred to as a…”Stars and Stripes Landing”, using a parachute to…you know, to…to slow me down so that I could… Me: Out the waist windows or something like that? Veteran:No no, out the tail. And we used that parachute out the tail, and he wanted to make a big tzimmis[Yiddish for fuss] about it, and I said, “No, I don’t want it Bill.” I said, “I’ll tell you what you do. Write a nice article about my tail gunner, who’s”…what the hell is his name?…P., Henry P.… I said, “Write an article about Henry P.; that P. threw his parachute out the tail, to slow us down so that we didn’t run off the runway.” And that was…that was it. I didn’t want… I was kind of… You know, I was…superstitious about it, you know. Me:About the Jewish angle being played up. Veteran:Well, about any angle… I was superstitious about any kind of, really, publicity.You know, trying to make a…trying to make a hero out of us, you know? Me:That it would be tempting fate? Veteran:I think so, yes. That was my feeling.
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As mentioned above, the only casualty among Captain Malakoff’s original crewmen would eventually be his radio operator, S/Sgt. David Lifschutz. Here’s his photo, from the Long Island Star Journal of June 14, 1945.
Remaining in the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, S/Sgt. Lifschutz was a crew member aboard C-47A 43-48718 (the un-nicknamed CK * A) when, during the re-supply mission to American troops in Bastogne, Belgium on mid-afternoon of December 26, 1944, his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Coincidentally; ironically, S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s pilot this day was Captain Paul Warren Dahl, whose eyewitness account (see above) of the loss of Butchski II on D-Day figures so prominently in the Missing Air Crew Report for Captain Malakoff.
Unfortunately, the only person actually identified in the photo is the Captain himself, at center rear. This photo of Captain Dahl, from his biography at FindAGrave, was taken while he was a flying cadet.
Even if names can’t be correlated to faces, I think it’s possible to attach names to faces based on information in the relevant Missing Air Crew Report, number 11322.
Along with Captain Dahl and S/Sgt. Lifschutz on the December mission were the following men:
Co-Pilot: 2 Lt. William L. Murtaugh, 0-809998 Navigator: 1 Lt. Zeno Hardy Rose, Jr., 0-807314 Flight Engineer: T/Sgt. George T. Gazarian, 31125533 Passenger: Sgt. John J. Walsh, 36321092, member of 3rd Air Cargo Resupply Squadron
Missing Air Crew Report 11322, covering the loss of this aircraft, includes accounts by three crewmen of a nearby C-47, as well as detailed reports by Captain Dahl and Lt. Murtaugh. The latter two men, along with Lt. Rose and Sgt. Walsh, landed by parachute in no-man’s-land between German and American forces, but were immediately saved from death or capture by soldiers from the 318th Infantry Regiment of the 80th Infantry Division. It turned out that Captain Dahl, Lt. Murtaugh, and Sergeant Walsh were wounded either when their plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire, or, injured when they landed by parachute, all having bailing out from an extremely low altitude. Murtaugh was most seriously hurt, but Navigator Zeno Rose was much more fortunate, emerging from the ordeal unwounded.
This report about the men’s rescue was filed by the Adjutant of the 435th Troop Carrier Group on January 2, 1945, when the status of the plane’s two other crewmen – S/Sgt. Lifschitz and T/Sgt. Gazarian – was still “Missing in Action”:
2 January 1945.
1st Lt Zeno H Rose, 0807314, 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, this organization, reported “Missing in Action” on “Missing Air Crew Report”, this headquarters, dared 28 December 1944, has returned to this organization.
The following is extracted from interrogation of Lt Rose and is submitted as supplemental to “Missing Air Crew Report”.
“We took off from Station 474 about 1211 BST, 26 December 1944, and flew as the lead ship of the right element of the 75th TC Squadron in the 435th formation. About two end one half minutes before we reached the DZ at Bastogne, Belgium, we were subjected to enemy fire from both light machine gun and light flak. Both types of fire were effectively hitting our airplane knocking out the instrument panel on the right side, and at that time, the co-pilot, Lt Murtaugh, was hit by both MG and AA fire that broke his right shoulder or collar bone. This caused profuse bleeding and severe pain, however, Lt Murtaugh remained at his position and carried on his duties. At this scene time, the flak burst hit me, although the injury was slight.
Our bundles both in the pararacks and the cabin were ejected over the DZ about 1525 BST. We made a sharp right turn and were in formation on the ran out when about 2-1/2 minutes from the DZ light flak burst in the cockpit, most probably severing the fuel lines, knocking out the instruments, wounding Captain Dahl and starting fires in the forward part of the airplane. Captain Dahl rolled the trim tab back checked the power which was already on full, and gave the order and signal for balling out.
I quickly proceeded to the cabin door and saw that the enlisted men had net yet jumped; they seemed to be hesitant possibly because of our altitude. There was no hesitancy on my part so without further thought, I jumped and was followed by the enlisted men. (I later learned that the enlisted men were followed by Lt Murtaugh and then Captain Dahl.) It seemed that we were about three hundred and fifty feet above the ground at that time and my parachute opened instantly. During my descent to the ground I could hear enemy bullets whizzing past. I landed near some woods southwest of Bastogne and north of Assenois at approximately P325545, which at that time was between our lines and these of the enemy. There was a great deal of fire coming toward me so I feinted dead until I could become oriented.
Captain Dahl, Lt Murtaugh and Sgt Walsh landed at a position about 100 yards southeast of my landing near or in the woods and they were picked up by the same organization that joined me. Captain Dahl had a broken arm, some wounds and lacerations from flak and burns about the nape of his neck; Lt Murtaugh had the broken shoulder, several flak wounds about the face and a sprained ankle, and Sgt Walsh had a broken leg. All three as well as myself were given medical aid at the Aid Station, then sent to a clearance station, then to a field hospital and then to the 103rd Hospital about forty miles south of Bastogne.
Before departing from the area in which we landed, we were told that the parachute of one of the men had not opened and that in the case of the sixth man, that he had landed closer to the enemy lines and that he had been taken prisoner or had been killed by the enemy.”
Lt Rose interrogated by Captain Clement A. Erb, Intelligence Officer, 75th Troop Carrier squadron, this organization.
The members of this air crew were flying in aircraft C-47A, No. 43-48713, organizations and present status indicated; crew position indicated:
Sgt John J. Walsh, 3rd Air Cargo Re-Supply Squadron, was flying on subject aircraft, and was reported as battle casualty by his organization.
MACR 11322 includes the following map, indicating that the C-47 crashed just west of what is today highway N4, north of Remonfosse and east of Assenois.
This Apple air photo shows Assenois at lower left center, Remonfosse to the east, and Bastogne to the north. The blue circle indicates the approximate area where the crew landed by parachute – as suggested by the MACR – while the black circle indicates the (again) approximate crash location of C-47A 43-48718.
The status of Sergeants Lifschutz and Gazarian, like Captain Dahl on their 9th mission, was uncertain at least through March of 1945. However, the fate of both Sergeants was established by the war’s end, as revealed in the Individual Casualty Questionnaires as completed by Lt. Rose and incorporated into MACR 11322. (Rose’s are the only such Questionnaires in the MACR.)
Sergeant Gazarian (31125533) was killed, either in an unsuccessful parachute jump, or due to ground fire from German troops. Given that witnesses reported seeing five, and not six, parachutes, the cause was most likely the former. Born on January 3, 1907, the thirty-seven year old sergeant from Waterbury Ct., is buried at Old Pine Grove Cemetery, Waterbury, Ct.
S/Sgt. Lifschutz was immediately captured on landing, as revealed in Lt. Rose’s Questionnaire. Given that he and Lt. Rose met one another on May 12, 1945, perhaps he returned to the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron after his liberation, while en route back to the United States.
The very fact that Lt. Rose was able to record a full list of S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s missions, which were completely identical in date and number to those flown by T/Sgt. Gazarian and Captain Dahl, suggests that Lifschutz, Gazarian, Rose, and Dahl had been members of the same crew commencing with the Normandy invasion. Thus – following that logic – with the exception of Lt. Murtaugh, for whom the flight of December 26 was his first (and only?) mission – these are the men who appear in the photo of the Dahl crew: Gazarian and Lifschutz in front.
The POW camp in which S/Sgt. Lifschutz was interned is unknown, but that he was a POW is solidly verified by the standard Luftgaukommando Report form “Meldung über den Abschuss eines US-amerikanischen Flugzueges“(“Report About the Shooting Down of a US Airplane”), in report KU 1214A. The Report also includes a crew list for C-47 43-48718, which includes Captain Dahl’s serial number. Oddly, an English-language transcription of this document can be found in MACR 11322, but the original sheet is missing from the actual Luftgaukommando Report.
(Digressing… The “A” suffix seems to have been used in Luftgaukommando Reports covering aircraft which had multiple crewmen – as opposed to single-seat fighters – in situations for which some crewmen were known to have evaded capture, or were otherwise unaccounted for, at the time the report was initially filed.)
Here’s S/Sgt. Lifschutz’s dog-tag.
Yes, it bears the letter “H”.
The Long Island Star Journal reported upon the Sergeant’s liberation and impending return in its issue of June 14, 1945, in a brief article which featured his portrait.
Bastogne Captive Awaits Return
Staff Sergeant David Lifchutz of Jackson Heights, who was captured Dec. 24 after he bailed out from his burning plane over Bastogne, was liberated April 29 and is in England awaiting shipment home.
A radio operator on a C-47 transport plane, the 23-yeard-old airman had flown over Holland, France and Germany in the year and a half he had been overseas. He wears the Air Medal with one cluster.
A graduate of Public School 126, Jackson Heights, Long Island City High School and the Hebrew Technical Institute, which is now a part of New York University, Sergeant Lifchutz worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a shipfitter before entering the Army in 1943.
He is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Lifchutz of 32-17 77th Street.
OOOOOOOO
I don’t know anything at all about the subsequent course of David Lifschutz’s life, but I suppose that given the passage of time, following the way of all men, he has passed into history.
But, it’s nice to remember a little bit longer.
Two Books.
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
Gardner, Ian, and Day, Roger, Tonight We Die as Men: The Untold Story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day, Osprey, Oxford, England, 2010 (see pages 153-155)
Digression Three…
In light of my post about Destination Tokyo, I’m contemplating a post about James Jones’ 1962 novel, The Thin Red Line, which was the basis of the 1964 film by Andrew Marton, and, the 1998 film by Terrence Malik. I’ve not seen either film (!), but I’m particularly curious about the 1998 version in light of Malick – as touched upon in weirdly brief passing by Peter Biskind at Vanity Fair – having “…changed Stein [Captain Bugger Stein], a Jewish captain, to Staros, an officer of Greek extraction, thereby gutting Jones’s indictment of anti-Semitism in the military, which the novelist had observed close-up in his own company.” This is in light of the many, many (did I say “many”?!) passages in the novel centered upon Captain Stein, by which Jones, a fantastic writer, with clear and obvious intent explored the officer’s experiences with tremendous perception, depth, and empathy.
So, in 1998, why was Captain Bugger Stein missing in action from The Thin Red Line?
“Seguing” from the posts covering Jewish military casualties of February 25, 1945, in the ground forces of the Allies, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, this third post pertains to Jewish members of the United States Army Air Force….
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For those who lost their lives on this date… Sunday, February 25, 1945 / Adar 13, 5705 – .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. – …Tehé Nafshó Tzrurá Bitzrór Haḥayím May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.
Diamond, Carl Hershman, Sgt., 32900336, Radio Operator Killed in Action Aircraft: B-26C 41-34952 “Ginny Lou / Anahuac Lion“ – “YU * Q”; Pilot: 2 Lt. Richard N. Brown; 6 crew members – no survivors MACR 12733; Luftgaukommando Report KU 3759 Germany, Koln (20 km SW); Lechenich (3 km NW) Born Brooklyn, N.Y. 3/15/24 Mr. and Mrs. Morris (10/15/87-9/74) and Anna (Wikitsky) (1887-?) Diamond (parents), 501 Wyona St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Mrs. Rose (Diamond) Glasser (sister); Sidney Glasser (brother in law) Place of burial unknown American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
Ginny Lou / Anahuac Lion received a direct hit by flak in its left engine during a mission to “Germany” (that’s exactly how the destination is listed in MACR 12733) after crossing the “bomb line”. The engine and port main fuel tank burst into flames, with bombardier Ernest Pierucci salvoeing the aircraft’s bomb-load a moment later. The plane turned off on its left wing, going downward into a slow spin while on fire. None of the bomber’s crew were able to escape from the aircraft, which exploded on impact.
According to Luftgaukommando Report KU 3769, Ginny Lou / Anahuac Lion crashed 3 km northwest of Lehenich, 10 km west of Bruehl, 20 km southwest of Koln. Very little remained of the aircraft.
Sergeant Diamond has been an enigma. His name is absent from American Jews in World War II, and similarly, doesn’t appear in any casualty list covering the New York Metropolitan area. His family could only be identified via Ancestry.com, based on the name and address of his sister as listed in the next-of-kin sheet in MACR 12733. Unlike his five fellow crewmen, his place of burial – I suppose somewhere in the environs of New York City? – is unknown.
“Ginny Lou” herself – or perhaps another B-26 with the same nickname? – can be seen in this official Army Air Force photograph (75310AC / A2771) taken at Meeks Field, Iceland, while en route to England, on May 27, 1943. The aircraft is in the very center of the image, where it’s among several Marauders under care of the 2nd Service Group.
15th Air Force
301st Bomb Group, 352nd Bomb Squadron
“Navigator – reported by bombardier as in ship with parachute on.”
Bernstein, Robert, 2 Lt., 0-2071497, Navigator, Air Medal, Purple Heart Killed in Action Aircraft: B-17G 43-38505; Pilot 1 Lt. Ralph W. Steuve; 10 crew members – 3 survivors MACR 12474; Luftgaukommando Reports KSU 2928 (only one page) and ME 2928 (unavailable via NARA.com) Born Brooklyn, N.Y. 5/6/22 Mrs. Alice C. Bernstein (wife), 1515 47th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. Harry “Henry S.” (6/7/92-11/21/63) and Anna (Halperin) (1901-8/67) Bernstein (parents) Mrs. Marilyn Davis and Mr. Richard Bernstein (sister and brother) Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, L.I., N.Y. – Section 1, Block 3, Bernstein Family Circle (corner of Sunset and Brandeis Avenues); Buried 10/17/48 Casualty List 2/24/46 New York Times Obituary Section 10/16/48, 10/17/48 American Jews in World War II – 276
During a mission to marshalling yards at Linz, Austria, un-nicknamed Flying Fortress 43-38505 – while over the target – was struck by flak directly in its #4 (right outboard) engine and wing a few seconds before bomb release. Lt. Ralph Steuve pulled the bomber out of the 301st’s formation by dropping back and down, and moved off to the right, as flames streamed from the damaged engine to the trailing edge of the wing.
After clearing the formation, the burning plane began a gentle turn to the right. By the time the bomber had made a 180-degree turn, two men were seen to have bailed out from the plane. Shortly afterwards the right wing exploded, and the plane began to spin, burning as it fell, by which time it had fallen 2,000 feet below the 301st’s other B-17s. The plane was last seen to be spinning downwards, a moment before 1 o’clock in the afternoon, through a clear and cloudless Austrian sky.
Of the bombers ten crewmen there emerged three survivors:
Co-Pilot – Varns, William E., 2 Lt. (New Haven, Ct.) Bombardier – Koch, William Eaton, 1 Lt. (Elmhurst, Il.) Flight Engineer – Bernard, Albert Silvo, T/Sgt. (Chandler, Az.)
Luftgaukommando Report KSU / ME 2928 is vague about the location of the plane’s loss, only stating that the bomber crashed at “Linz / Danube”. Of the three survivors, the only crew member to have returned a Casualty Questionnaire to the Army was the co-pilot, Lt. Varns. His report verified the observations of eyewitnesses in the 301st’s formation, simply stating that the plane blew up over Linz (over the edge of the Danube River) and that of the nine other men on the plane, only the bombardier and flight engineer actually bailed out. Presumably, they were the two men seen parachuting as the bomber turned away from the formation. As for Lt. Varns himself, he wrote, “The ship blew up, and I fell free.”
Otherwise, he stated that:
Pilot – in seat when ship blew – no parachute on. Navigator – reported by bombardier as in ship with parachute on. Engineer salvoed bombs and bailed out when I got out of co-pilot seat (over)
The ship sustained 2 to 4 direct hits and was burning badly in the cockpit. The bombs were salvoed after leaving formation while we were in a fairly steep dive. When the pilot switched on the C1 [autopilot; see more about the use of the C-1 at Archive.org]I was thrown violently to the floor of the cockpit and the next instant I was free of the ship. Though I did not have my leg straps fastened I did not fall out of my parachute leading me to believe there was not much pull on my arms and that I must have been falling very slowly when the ‘chute opened. If this is correct I must have been slowed by an explosion and would also lead to the fact that the ship blew up pulling out of the dive. The pilot, ball turret gunner, and tail gunner were not wearing ‘chutes. I saw only one parachute coming down and that proved to be the engineer. I did not see the plane but saw much debris around me i.e. engine cowlings, part of tail identified.
An image of Lt. Varns’ Casualty Questionnaire appears below. (The extremely poor quality of the Fold3 image, replete with scratches on microfiche, is plainly obvious. And rather typical.)
“It is hard for anyone to imagine what really did happen. The explosion was terrific and it all happened so fast. It is a miracle that any of us came through it alive, and also so hard to understand just why three swell fellows had to give their lives.”
(This image of the 721st Bomb Squadron insignia is via Pinterest.)
Gordon, Seymour, 2 Lt., 0-776980, Bombardier, Air Medal, Purple Heart, 7 missions Killed in Action Aircraft: B-24J 44-41188 “35”; Pilot 1 Lt. Jeremiah P. O’Sullivan; 12 crew members – 9 survivors MACR 12510; Luftgaukommando Report ME 2926 Born New York, N.Y. 3/9/20 Mrs. Shirley Frances Gordon (wife), 1144 Vista St., Los Angeles, Ca. Mr. and Mrs. Max and Gertrude Gordon (parents), 2450 72nd St., New York, N.Y. Also 2441 St. Paul St., Baltimore, Maryland Tablets of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal, France American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
Another aircraft lost during a mission to the Linz marshalling yards…
B-24J Liberator 44-41188, squadron number “35”, received a direct flak hit in the nose just before “bombs away”. The aircraft slid back within the formation, seemingly almost out of control, but Lieutenant O’Sullivan managed to regain control of the plane and peeled away to the left of the 450th Bomb Group’s formation. A large hole had been blown in the left side of the aircraft’s nose section, immediately behind the nose turret and extending from the floor to roof of the fuselage, but the bomber’s four engines were still operating and the plane remained controllable.
Nine of the bomber’s twelve crew members parachuted from the damaged plane after the bomb load was dropped. All these men landed safely, were captured, and survived the war as POWs.
According to Luftgaukommando Report ME 2926 (just a single sheet of paper – that’s all there is) the plane crashed – like above-mentioned B-17G 43-38505 – in the very ambiguous location of “Linz / Danube”. The three crew members in the nose – bombardier 2 Lt. Seymour Gordon, navigator 2 Lt. Frank Alfred Johnstone, and nose gunner Sgt. Kenneth Olen Dean – were killed instantly. According to statements by T/Sgt. Eugene M. Winner (one of the bomber’s gunners) in his postwar Casualty Questionnaire, a German soldier – a member of the Luftwaffe – showed Lt. O’Sullivan the three men’s dog-tags, and reported that 44-41188 crashed into a mountainside near the crew’s place of capture, possibly in the vicinity of Styer, Austria. However, of the three casualties, only Sgt. Dean actually has a place of burial. Gordon and Johnstone are both commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in France.
This image, via Roy Heim, shows Sgt. Dean and – probably – five other members of the O’Sullivan crew, the crew’s four officers possibly in the group. The photo is from Kenneth Dean’s biographical profile at FindAGrave.
The events of February 25, 1945, are described in this letter from Charles L. Smith, co-pilot of “35“, to Mrs. Myrl Irene Dean, mother of nose-gunner Kenneth Olean Dean. The letter, also via Roy Heim, is from the 450th Bomb Group Memorial Association Website.
1400 Morton Street, Apt. B Lafayette, Indiana January 21st, 1947
Dear Mrs. Dean:
I received your letter last week. The reason I haven’t written you before now is because I thought it might be a little easier for you if I didn’t write. I would like to keep in contact with you, and certainly want you to feel free to write me at any time you feel you would like to write.
I, too, cannot understand why the army would move Kenneth’s body ever five hundred miles when there must he thousands of our boys in cemeteries in Austria and Germany.
We had an extra engineer and a cameraman along the day we were shot down, and as I was not positive which one of the engineers was in the top turret at the time, I immediately wrote a letter to our regular engineer Carmen Labetti [Sgt. Carmine J. Labetti]. You probably remember Kenneth mentioning “Lab” in his letters home. I received a special delivery airmail from “Lab” today, and he confirmed my belief that he was in the top turret. It was Labetti who I had check on the men in the nose. He too says that the turret was still hanging on the nose of the plane. There were only the four of us (pilot, myself, the extra engineer and Labetti) on the flight deck and the rest of the crew that escaped with their lives were in the waist of the ship behind the bomb bays. The boys in the waist and the tail bailed out the escape hatch in the waist and never came to the forward part of the plane. To another plane in the formation I imagine it did look as though the nose was blown off as that is where the shell exploded and pieces of metal, glass, equipment, maps, etc. tore out of the nose section. Others in the formation couldn’t have had more than a momentary view of our ship, as we sliced across the top of our formation and were left behind immediately.
It is hard for anyone to imagine what really did happen. The explosion was terrific and it all happened so fast. It is a miracle that any of us came through it alive, and also so hard to understand just why three swell fellows had to give their lives. It may help a little to know that the boys were probably busy watching for the bombs to be released, and they never knew what happened or suffered any pain.
I was the last man to be picked up by the Germans, and that evening when I joined the rest of the crew, a German guard showed us Kenneth’s dog tags. Labetti also remembers seeing Kenneth’s dog tags. I also asked “Lab” about Kenneth’s crash bracelet, but he didn’t mention anything about it in his letter. I would imagine that Kenneth was wearing it, if it didn’t come home with his other belongings.
Mrs. Dean, Kenneth didn’t join my crew until about the middle of our training at March Field and the pictures I took in Italy were not returned to me, so I thought perhaps you might have a negative from which I could have a picture of Kenneth made.
I have been out of the army for ever a year and a half now. I tried going back to college (Purdue University), but that didn’t work out too well.
However, my wife, little boy and I are still living here in Lafayette, and I am now working at the Packard Garage here. My little boy is two years old and he really keeps things lively at home.
I hope I have answered all your questions, and again — we’d like to hear from you.
Labetti’s address is:
1169 Bay Street Staten Island, 5, New York
if you would like to write him.
sincerely yours,
Charles Smith
The document below is the single sheet comprising ME 2926, which lists the full names of eight of the plane’s crew members, and, partial to complete names for Gordon, Johnstone, and Dean. Despite Gordon and Johnstone being listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, this document suggests that German investigators at the very least discovered the men’s dog-tags, leading to the possibility that their remains might (might) be buried in that cemetery as unknowns…
20th Air Force
497th Bomb Group, 871st Bomb Squadron
Even the most cursory review of WW II military aviation history will reveal the significant proportion of aircraft and aircrew losses that were not directly attributable to enemy action. Such was the case for the loss of two B-29 Superfortresses of the 497th Bomb Group’s 871st Bomb Squadron, during the February 25th mission to urban areas in Tokyo.
As recorded in Missing Air Crew Reports 12721 and 12722 (the two documents are effectively interchangeable, given the nature of the incident) the two bombers were approaching the Assembly Point of the 73rd Bomb Wing when the unnicknamed airplane A square 45 (42-24808 with 12 airmen aboard, piloted by 1 Lt. Jack S. Barnes) pulled into formation above A square 44 (42-63431 with a crew of 11, piloted by 1 Lt. Austin R. Keith and otherwise known as Ponderous Peg). At an altitude of 1600 feet, the two bombers collided; it was impossible to determine which aircraft moved improperly. A square 44 broke apart, while A square 45 entered a ninety-degree bank with both inboard engines dead, and descended to the sea.
A third B-29 (A square 51) remained in the area, searching the crash location of A square 45 at very low altitude for any signs of life. Nothing was seen except for floating oxygen bottles, two inflated crew life rafts, and a single-man life raft.
This photograph of Ponderous Peg (62609AC – A38499) was taken in on Saipan in November of 1944.
Evidently, the aircraft’s nose art was revised subsequent to November of 1944, as seen in this photo.
Here’s a view of Ponderous Peg from another perspective. In this image from the Athey Family, A square 45’s tail is barely visible in the middle of the left-center window of the bombardier’s station … it’s just to the left of the propeller on the #4 engine of the B-29 directly ahead.
As noted in the MACR, weather conditions at the time of the accident were “ceiling and visibility unlimited”. Though the cause of the accident will never be known (well, among men), I’d suggest that it was a case of distraction or complacency, and if so the latter ironically because of the ideal weather conditions.
The bombardier of Lt. Barnes’ aircraft was 2 Lt. Roland Sheriff (0-928781), who was born in Manhattan on March 12, 1922. The son of Barney (4/4/93-11/12/70) and Violet (Hutt) (8/2/01-11/76) Sheriff, and brother of Sonya, the family resided at 86 Concord Ave. in White Plains, New York, and possibly had a connection to Essex County, Massachusetts. Given that Lt. Sheriff received the Air Medal and Purple Heart, the flight of February 25, 1945 was probably his fifth to ninth combat mission.
This is the only image of Roland Sheriff I’ve been able to locate. He appears at lower right, in this photograph published in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus on October 27, 1942. Notably, he was first interested in becoming a naval aviator.
In a pattern (for lack of a better word!) seen many times before, Lt. Sheriff’s name is absent from American Jews in World War II, though news items about him did appear in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus on 10/27/42 and 3/3/45, and Yonkers Herald Statesman on 3/3/45 and 3/31/45. His name is commemorated at the Tablets of the Missing, at the Honolulu Memorial, in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Curiously, the MACR name index card for Lt. Sheriff states “No MACR”, however, the MACR for this crew – #12721 – obviously, very much exists.)
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Whether as prisoners of war, internees, or evaders, the following men returned…
8th Air Force
92nd Bomb Group, 327th Bomb Squadron
As reported in MACR 12719, B-17G Flying Fortress 43-39026 (Reba Jane / UX * L) lost two engines to flak and caught fire during a mission to Munich. The bomber’s crew of nine survived by parachuting from their damaged plane. They all survived as POWs and returned to the United States a few months later.
Luftgaukommando Report KU 3760 provides a substantive report about the crew’s capture, the identification of their bomber (or, what was left of it?!), and the determination of the squadron and group to which men and plane were assigned. The report sheds a little insight onto the German perspective of obtaining military intelligence from captured airmen, paying an ironic tribute to three of Reba Jane’s crewmen – co-pilot Lt. Shabsin, flight engineer S/Sgt. Major, and gunner Sgt. Bruin – for their refusal to reveal information to their captors. As stated in the “Angaben über Gefangennahme von feindlichen Luftwaffenangehörigen” (Report on Capture of Members of Enemy Air Forces) form for Lt. Shabsin, “Nähere Angaben wurden von dem Kgf. [Kriegsgefangen] verweigert.” – “More specific information was refused by the prisoner of war.”
Here’s a translation of a page in Luftgaukommando Report KU 3760:
Subject: Preliminary interrogation of S/Sgt. Anthony, Radio operator, who parachuted from a B 17 G of the 92nd Bomb-Group, 327th Bombardment Squadron, stationed in Podington, 25 . February 1945 at midday.
Crew: 2nd Lt. Chase – Pilot – missing [2 Lt. Frank J. Chase] 2nd Lt. Shabsin – Co-pilot – prisoner [2 Lt. Edward Shabsin] 2ns Lt. Shumaker – Navigator – prisoner [2 Lt. Donald E. Shumaker] S/Sgt. Major – Mechanic – prisoner [S/Sgt. Roydon D. Major] S/Sgt. Anthony – Radio operator – prisoner [Sgt. Rudolph A. Anthony] S/Sgt. Bastian – gunner – prisoner [S/Sgt. Raymond C. Bastian] Sgt. Kellam, Jr. – gunner – prisoner [Sgt. William F. Kellam, Jr.] Sgt. Johnson – gunner – prisoner [Sgt. Victor L. Johnson] Sgt. Bruin – gunner – prisoner[Sgt. Stanley M. Bruin]
According to reports made by the population 11 or 12 parachutes were observed, whereas the plane flew on by itself, was then shot down by American fighters and crashed near Erolsheim, 15 km. NW of Memmingen. The crew had already parachuted near Kempten.
The Squadron:
According to the report of Airbase Kaufbauren the plane’s identifications are : a blue L without frame on the tail, L-star U X / and the manufacturer’s number 339026 above the L on tail. (on fuselage)
Interrogated prisoner gave the same manufacturer’s number …026, but claimed the letter on the tail-unit to be : B in triangle; his unit is 92nd Bomb Group, 337th Bomb-Squadron in Podington. The 40th Group Baker (“Foxhole”), which appears in the records he claimed not to know anything of.
The order to bail out had been given because fire broke out in the engines from no apparent reasons.
The remainder of the crew, to judge by first impressions, seemed to be very well trained in resisting intelligence operations. Shabsin, Major and Bruin will probably not be suitable for transfer to Evaluation Point West.
And… Here’s the actual page in question:
And, what of 2 Lt. Edward Shabsin, otherwise “0-828552”?
Born in Chicago on January 25, 1921, he was the son of George (7/1/92-10/7/70) and Belle (Wolf) (5/14/95-11/1/74) Shabsin, the family residing at 3355 Potomac Ave. in that city. The bomber’s co-pilot, he received the Air Medal, suggesting that the mission of February 25 was his fifth to tenth combat flight. He passed away on April 13, 1993, and is buried at Greenwood Memorial Park, in San Diego, Ca. His name does appear in American Jews in World War II – specifically, on page 116. Otherwise and obvious by this account, he was most definitely a POW, but – not uncommonly for men captured in the European Theater towards the end of the war – the POW camp in which he was interned is unknown.
351st Bomb Group, 509th Bomb Squadron
The loss of Torchy Tess / RQ * V, a B-17G Flying Fortress of the 351st Bomb Group’s 509th Bomb Squadron, is covered in Missing Air Crew Report 12728, and in very great detail on pages 67 through 69 in Volume II of Hans-Heiri Stapfer’s Strangers In a Strange Land. Struck by flak during a mission to Munich (the crew’s second mission), the bomber, 43-37854, was last seen at 7,000 feet near Lake Constance, Switzerland, being escorted by three fighters.
As revealed in flight engineer Sgt. Clinton O. Norby’s account, flak severely damaged the left side of the fuselage, particularly the pilot’s windows, flight controls, and instruments, placing the burden of flying the aircraft on the co-pilot, 2 Lt. Harold V. Gividen. The explosion had also wounded the nose gunner and navigator. The escorting fighter planes turned out to be Swiss aircraft, as denoted by their white-cross-on-red-square national insignia.
The aircraft gradually descended as it flew onwards, with Norby recollecting, “…I could see that we were going to crash, and not on a flat piece of ground. … I looked at the air speed and it was indicating 140 mph. This surprised me as we usually cruised at 130 mph indicating. Three things came to my mind: this was going to be a bad crash, we still had over 1,000 gallons of gas onboard, and I was worried about fire.”
By the time the aircraft impacted, the engines had stopped running, the only noise coming from the aircraft hitting treetops. As the aircraft slowed, the last tree it hit, “…was a very large one and we hit on the left side of the plane, wrapped around it and stopped.” The front of the aircraft had been demolished, with pilot Abplanalp having been killed in the crash. The seven other crew members survived, with the co-pilot, navigator, and two waist gunners, wounded by flak or injured in the landing, being taken to a hospital in Lucerne.
This mission was the first or second combat flight of the plane’s radio operator, Sergeant Paul Levinson (16168993). The son of Benjamin G. and Jennie (Golden) Levinson and brother of Elaine, his family’s home address was 5959 Kenmore Ave., Chicago, though another address may have been 3143 Wilson Ave. in the same city. His name appears on page 378 of American Jews in World War II, which – by the lack of any other information – suggests (?) that he received no medals or awards. Born in Chicago on April 23, 1923, he passed away on March 7, 2007.
351st Bomb Group, 508th Bomb Squadron
No Missing Air Crew Report exists for B-17G 42-97843 of the 351st Bomb Group’s 508th Bomb Squadron. This is because the bomber (YB * C), which lost two engines to flak during a mission to Munich, and then a third after leaving that target, landed on its remaining engine at a French fighter airfield at Lunéville, with its co-pilot – Carl Stahl – seriously wounded in his right foot and leg by flak. Thus, neither the plane nor crew were missing for the 48-hour time period allotted before a MACR would be filed.
Also wounded, though the specifics are unknown, was the plane’s bombardier, 2 Lt. Norman Rosenblatt (0-1304955), who was awarded the Air Medal and one Oak Leaf Cluster, and of course the Purple Heart. This was his 19th combat mission. The husband of Rosalind Rosenblatt of 87 Woodruff Ave., Brooklyn, his name can be found on page 418 of American Jews in World War II, while this incident is noted on pages 67 and 130 of A Chronicle of the 351st Bomb Group (H). A review of the MACR name index reveals the notation “No MACR” on the file card bearing his name.
Other known crew members were YB * C’s pilot, 1 Lt. Robert A. Sandel, navigator 1 Lt. Edward H.L. Clarac, Jr. (also wounded: “A fragment of a German 88mm shell nicked Ed’s neck and tore through his throat mike, putting a hole in his scarf and tearing thru his B-10 jacket.”), and tail gunner Arthur Kemp.
486th Bomb Group, 835th Bomb Squadron
(This reproduction of the 835th Bomb Squadron’s strange yet colorful insignia was created by EBay seller abqMetal.)
Though a Missing Air Crew Report – # 12578 – was certainly filed for B-17G 43-38648 H8 * H of the 486th Bomb Group’s 835th Bomb Squadron, unfortunately, the document is not accessible through NARA. (So, what else is new? I can only surmise – ? – that this MACR – as copied in digital format from microfiche masters – is one of the many Missing Air Crew Reports, created by Fold3 which are of such abysmal quality as to be barely readable, or, completely illegible (out of focus, contrast ridiculously low or high, and heavily adorned with damage, scratches, and smudges that obscure individual frames of the MACR), to the point of being inaccessible when searching through NARA’s online catalog.)
Fortunately, the story of the loss of this crew and plane can be reconstructed from other sources. These include the American Air Museum in Britain, Jing Zhou’s B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress – The Queen of The Skies, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3738, and the 486th Bomb Group Association’s website. The latter reveals that during the Group’s mission to Neuberg, Germany, the aircraft, piloted by 1 Lt. William C. Wiley, “…suffered a flak hit in the right wing, leaving a gaping hole. The aircraft’s right inboard engine was feathered and no gasoline was getting to the #3 engine, which was feathered and #4 was smoking. The aircraft was losing altitude and falling behind the formation. Lt. Wiley managed to make a wheels up landing near Altstödten, Germany.” The entire crew was captured and eventually returned to the United States.
In terms of photos, Lt. Wiley can be seen here, while five of the crew’s six enlisted men can be seen here. The crew list, below, has been reconstructed from data at the 486th Bomb Group’s website and the Luftgaukommando Report. The formation plan for the mission is available here.
Pilot – 1 Lt. William C. Wiley Co-Pilot – 2 Lt. Donald J. Demerath Navigator – F/O Demetrios G. Maurides Gunner (Nose) – S/Sgt. Clarence M. Baugh Flight Engineer – T/Sgt. Curtis L. Jessen Radio Operator – S/Sgt. Donald Wilbur Brown Gunner (Ball Turret) – S/Sgt. Keith G. Splude Gunner (Waist) – S/Sgt. George Rubin Gunner (Tail) – S/Sgt. James B. Manford
There are two great photos of H8 * H….
This image, at the 486th Bombardment Group website, shows the aircraft in flight, viewed from above, with contrails behind. This image is via George Rubin.
Here’s a high-resolution close-up of the same photo, via the American Air Museum in Britain. (Image UPL 37758.) Clearly visible is the red and blue chevron on the plane’s right wing.
This image, also at the 486th Bomb Group website, via George Rubin, shows H8 * H, draped by German soldiers with foliage for concealment from Allied fighters (good luck with that, given the yellow tail, triple-yellow striped fuselage, and color chevron on the starboard wing!) after its crash-landing.
Luftgaukommando Report 3738 is remarkably comprehensive in its description of the condition, examination, and recovery of H8 * H. The report states that the aircraft made an emergency landing 2 kilometers south of Sonthofen / Allgäu at 1255 hours.
This Oogle map shows Sonthofen relative to Munich and the Swiss border. The city is directly south of Kempten, which is in the center of the map. The mountaintops south of these cities probably correspond to those seen at the left center of the above photo, in the distance beyond the B-17. If so, this would indicate that the plane was heading south when it landed, suggesting that the crew had hoped to reach Switzerland.
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Oogling in, we can see Sonthofen, and, Burgberg im Allgäu in the map’s center. The probably crash-landing location is denoted by the red circle.
A map view at an even larger scale reveals the area – the Iller River valley – in greater detail.
S/Sgt. George Rubin (32991833) was born in Brooklyn on May 7, 1925, the son of Dr. and Mrs. William and Rita Rubin, of 240 Utica Ave. The recipient of the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters (thus suggesting he completed between fifteen and twenty combat missions), and Purple Heart, his name can be found on page 423 of American Jews in World War II.
12th Air Force
340th Bomb Group, 489th Bomb Squadron
(Via Pinterest, and I think (?) designed by PzD501 and featured at TeePublic, here’s the insignia of the 489th Bomb Squadron. For those with a bent towards literature and science fiction, this is the military unit in which Walter M. Miller, Jr., author of the acclaimed novel A Canticle for Liebowitz, served as a radio operator.)
Bubbies / 9G, a B-25J Mitchell that officially went by the serial number 43-4062, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during a mission to Vipiteno, Italy. As described in MACR 12707, the aircraft, piloted by 1 Lt. Gayle C. Gearheart and leading an element of three 489th Bomb Squadron Mitchells, was seen by 2 Lt. Charles Huber, Jr. (piloting a B-25 in the number three position) was seen to be throwing fuel or oil from its port engine, which seemed to quit, and then was feathered. When last seen, Bubbies was heading up a valley under escort by two fighters, apparently under control and maintaining its altitude. Lt. Gearheart informed Lt. Huber that he was, “okay, and not to stay with him”.
Fortunately, the entire crew survived. As reported by 2 Lt. Wendell H. Beverly (co-pilot), Sgt. Harold Schoenholtz (radio operator / gunner), and Sgt. Albert D. Taylor (tail gunner) in their postwar Casualty Questionnaires, the aircraft was crash-landed in the vicinity of “Glurn”, “Glurns”, or “Glorenza”, Italy, while Luftgaukommando Report ME 2923 lists 9G as having landed 200 meters northwest of “Graun” at 13:25 hours. I believe this is in the Italian Tyrol.
The pilots must have made an excellent landing, for the report states that the plane was only 10% damaged, and gives an extremely detailed breakdown of the aircraft’s radio equipment, as well as emergency equipment such as parachutes (obviously not used!), life jackets and life rafts, and flares. The report also verifies Lt. Huber’s observation of 9G’s battle damage, a translation of the document stating, “Fuselage slightly damaged by bullets. Propellers spoilt by bending. Condition of the landing gear cannot be seen, because the belly landing was made with retracted landing gear. Left motor slightly damaged by bullets, which caused its loss during the flight.”
As is typical for airmen and soldiers captured in 1945, there’s no specific information, directly via the National Archives, identifying the POW camps to which the crew members were sent. However, this is answered in Sgt. Schoenholtz’s Casualty Questionnaire, which reveals that at least some (perhaps all?) of the crew were interned at Nuremberg by late March, and then at Moosburg, where they were liberated.
As for Sgt. Schoenholtz (32976723), he was born in Manhattan on August 6, 1918 to Dr. and Mrs. Adolph Israel (4/1/80-8/21/45) and Jane (Liebowitz) (1891-?) Schoenholtz, who during the war resided at 3204 Rochambeau Ave., in the Bronx. His sister was Gertrude Evelyn (“Eve” / “Gotel Chava”?) (4/19/14-11/8/91). Akin to other airmen listed in this (and many other) posts, his name never appeared in American Jews in World War II. He passed away on April 16, 2017.
By the way, though the MACR lists 9G’s nickname as “BUVVIES”, it’s actually “Bubbies”, as seen in this photo of Bubbies’ nose art, via the American Air Museum in England.
451st Bomb Group, 727th Bomb Squadron
(The unit insignia of the 727th Bomb Squadron is colorful and symbolic: Two airmen sit atop a winged boxcar, one firing a machine gun, the other flying the contraption, or, dropping bombs. This example, an original patch, is from US Wars Patches.)
2 Lt. Albert “Buddy” Sokol (0-2001534), a navigator, was one of the few survivors of B-24J 42-52054, an aircraft of the 727th Bomb Squadron, 451st Bomb Group.
The husband of Pauline “Polly” (Kaplan) Sokol (9/17/23-3/31/15), of 309 South 19th St., Bessemer, Alabama, he was born in Birmingham on November 4, 1923. His parents were Isadore “Issie” (8/2/95-1/1/53) and Elisa (Yosovich) (2/28/99-1/29/62) Sokol, whose wartime address (residential or business – I don’t know which) was listed as 2105 Clarendon Ave. (or 2nd Ave.) also in Bessemer. The recipient of the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart, his name appears on page 36 of American Jews in World War II. He passed away on December 10, 2008 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. Akin to other servicemen captured in the European Theater by this point in the war, the POW camp where he was interned isn’t known.
The loss (over Linz) of 42-52054, piloted by 2 Lt. David N. Compton, is covered in Missing Air Crew Report 12472, in a statement by 2 Lt. Philip K. Pohl. Lt. Pohl reported that, “…when the formation was over Linz, Austria, at 1323 hours, and just before “bombs away”, a burst of flak struck [Lt. Compton’s] ship in the bomb-bays. Almost at the same time, he dropped his bombs. A fire spread from the wings back, and the plane slid away from the formation, losing altitude in a glide. It was still under control when I last saw it. It has been reported that four (4) chutes were seen to open, and that the plane was last seen at an altitude of about 10,000 feet.”
The reports were correct: There were four survivors from the 10 crewmen aboard the un-nicknamed Liberator. Besides Lt. Sokol, the other three men were:
Right waist gunner – Sullivan, John W., Sgt. – Lynn, Ma. Nose gunner – Rhoades, Lawrence J., Sgt. – Greenville, Oh. Special radio (intercept) operator – Felderhoff, Alfred, S/Sgt. – Philadelphia, Pa.
The identification of the crew is covered in sparse detail in Luftgaukommando Report KSU / ME 2925, which simply indicates that Lt. Compton’s Liberator exploded in mid-air over in the vicinity of Linz.
Otherwise, the Missing Air Crew Report is enigmatic, for – coincidentally or not – it’s entirely absent of any correspondence or completed Casualty Questionnaires from Felderhoff, Rhoades, Sokol, and Sullivan.
Perhaps there was little that they could say.
Perhaps there was little that they wanted to say.
15th Air Force
459th Bomb Group, 758th Bomb Squadron
(This image of a replica patch of the 758th Bomb Squadron is from SdcRX4’s flickr page.)
One of my earliest posts, concerning the Prisoner of War experiences of 1 Lt. (and postwar Rabbi) Leonard Winograd of the 376th Bomb Group, mentions the remarkable coincidence of another 15th Air Force navigator by exactly the same name, who – too – was shot down during a combat mission. This “other” Leonard Winograd had a rather different experience in occupied Europe: With his entire crew, he was able to evade capture and return to military control.
“This” Leonard Winograd (0-2066090), a Second Lieutenant, served in the 758th Bomb Squadron of the 459th Bomb Group. Like other 15th Air Force bombers lost this day, his aircraft didn’t return from a mission to Linz, Austria. As reported by Captain David R. Crockett in MACR 12360, Lowry’s aircraft, B-24J (probably un-nicknamed) 42-51382, piloted by 2 Lt. Lionel L. Lowry, Jr., failed to rally with the rest of the 459th after the Group dropped its bombs over the target, amidst heavy and accurate flak. The aircraft was seen to be slowly losing altitude, and, “…seemingly “floating” towards the ground,” apparently under control. The plane was last seen about 5 miles north of Linz. Other than this statement, a very generic map showing the plane’s last plotted location, and a standard data crew and aircraft data form typical of other late-war 15th Air Force MACRs, the report is absent of other documents. However, the penciled-in “RTD” notation by the name of each of the bomber’s ten crewman, and the lack of a corresponding Luftgaukommando Report, very strongly implies that the entire crew evaded capture.
How? With who assisting? I don’t know, but I suppose a relevant account exists, somewhere.
As for Lt. Winograd, he was born in New York State on December 15, 1924 to Morris (5/20/95-10/74) and Miriam “Minnie” (Shrybman) (3/23/98-6/87) Winograd, of 106 Laburnum Crescent in the city of Rochester. His brother Solomon served as a Private in the Army. Though his missing in action and returned-to-duty status was reported upon in the Rochester Times Union on 4/18/45 and 4/19/45 respectively, his name (like that of so very many other servicemen) is absent from American Jews in World War II.
Rochester Times-Union, April 18, 1945…
…same newspaper, April 19.
Leonard Winograd passed away on May 10, 1987, and is buried in a city known as Palo Alto, in a land once thought of as California. But, it’s a different California now.
Another Incident; Eyewitness to the loss of B-17
15th Air Force
463rd Bomb Group, 773rd Bomb Squadron
(This example of the 773rd Bomb Squadron insignia was found at US Wings.)
Togglier (enlisted bombardier) T/Sgt. Bernard Feldman (12063820) was one of three eyewitnesses to the loss of B-17G 43-38488, an aircraft of the 463rd Bomb Group’s 773rd Bomb Squadron, which was covered in Missing Air Crew Report 12468.
Piloted by 1 Lt. Donald U. Bissonnette and 2 Lt. Ralph W. Bender, nine members of the un-nicknamed bomber’s crew of ten ultimately survived the loss of their aircraft, during a mission to (…once again…) Linz, Austria. The crew parachuted from 2,000 feet near (as described by Lt. Bissonnette) Tetnang, Germany, or (as described by navigator 1 Lt. William C. Bister) 10 miles east of Lake Constance, landed uninjured, and were captured.
Luftgaukommando Report KSU 2921 includes an English-language transcript of a (not-too-voluntary?!) statement by right waist gunner S/Sgt. Israel R. Phillips, who evaded capture for a brief while until he was arrested in Lindau. Then, he escaped, only to be re-arrested in Sustenau. Here’s his statement…
S T A T E M E N T
S/Sgt. of the U S A Air Force, Phillips R. Israel, A S No. 38452531 A. S.W. born: 24 February 1924 in Texas made the following statement:
Sunday 25 February 1945 we flew into German territory with a 4 engined bomber. (Crew of 10 men.) We were forced to make an emergency landing because of a motor defect, caused by the German Air Defence. I am unable to name the area where we landed, however, it was not very far away from the Swiss border. Without caring for my other mates of the crew, I left the machine immediately after the landing and went away alone.
By means of a compass and a map I went by foot to Lindau where I was arrested by a Police-man. After a short interrogation a guard of the Army was ordered to bring me away, I didn’t know where.
Again I tried to escape and ran away from the sentries, reached Sustenau, from where I intended to cross the border. In Sustenau I was arrested a second time, carefully examined and escorted by two guards to the “Markt Pengau”. At my first arrest in Lindau the compass, and maps and the amount of $48.00 was taken away from me.
N i e d e r s c h r i f t
S / Sgt. der U.S.A. Luftwaffe, P h i l l i p s R. I s r a e l, Armee Nr. 38462531 A.S.W. geb. am 24.2.1925 in Texas, gibt folgendes an.
Am Sonntag den 25.2.1945 flogen wir (10 Mann Besatzung) mit einin 4 motorigen Bomber in das Reichsgebiet ein. Infolge eines Motordefektes, durch einen Treffer der deutschen Abwehr waren wir gezwungen eine Notlandung vorzunehmen. Die Gegend wo wir landeten, weiss ich nicht zu nennen, allenfalls aber nicht sehr weit von der Schweizer Grenze enrfernt. Ohne mich um meine anderen Kamerdan der Besatzung zu kümmern, verliess ich sofort nach der Landung die Maschiene und entfernte mich allein. Mittels eines Kompasses und einer Karte ging ich zu Fuss bis nach Lindau wo ich durch ein Polizeiorgan verhaftet wurde. Nach einen kurzen Verhör, hatte ein Wehrmachtsposten den Befehl mich wegzubringen, wohin ist mir unbekannt. Abermals versuchte ich zu entkommen und lief den Posten davon, kam bis nach Lustenau, von we aus ich über die Grenze wollte. In Lustenau wurde ich neuerlich festgenommen, eigehend verhört und in Begleitung zweier Posten nach Markt Pongau überstellt. Kompass und Karte, sowie ein Betrag von Dolars 48, – wuden mir bei der ersten Festnahme in Lindau abgenommen.
… and here’s the original German document…
Left waist gunner S/Sgt. Leonard A. Strong never returned. As found in documentation at FindAGrave, and, described by William Bister in his Casualty Questionnaire, the sergeant was with his fellow crewmen when the group was being taken to an interrogation center “just north of Frankfurt on Main”, on March 1, 1945. Just after the ten men A.M. were taken to a German Red Cross center in Brucksal, a few blocks from the city’s railroad station. About two in the afternoon, bombs began to fall upon the station, with the crew making for the building’s cellar. The building received a direct hit, and then another bomb struck just outside, blowing in a wall, and causing many casualties among German soldiers already in the basement. The crew searched for Strong among the debris but could not find him, and were forced to abandon their search upon the arrival of another wave of bombers. Sergeant Strong remains missing, and is commemorated at the Hutchinson Eastside Cemetery, in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Though NARA’s Enlistment Record database confirms that T/Sgt. Feldman was born in New York State in 1920 and resided in Brooklyn, other information about him is unknown. His name may (?) be found on page 307 of American Jews in World War II, but this is uncertain. (A middle initial would help, but in his case, it’s lacking.)
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
Harbour, Ken, and Harris, Peter, A Chronicle of the 351st Bomb Group (H), 1942-1945, B. Kennedy, St. Petersburg, Fl., 1980
Stapfer, Hans-Heiri, and Künzle, Gino, Strangers in a Strange Land Vol. II Escape to Neutrality, Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Tx., 1992
As part of my ongoing series of posts about the military service of Jewish soldiers in the Second World War – based on news reports in The New York Times – this post covers February 25, 1945, its basis being articles about Second Lieutenant Alfred Kupferschmidt and Private First Class Herbert Joel Rosencrans, who were both killed in action on that date.
Given the relatively large number of military casualties that occurred on this date for whom I have information, historical accounts for this late-February-day will be presented as three posts: One for ground forces, one for the United States Marine Corps and Navy, and the last for the United States Army Air Force, the latter including information about two men who became prisoners of war.
And so, to begin ground forces: Here are records for Jewish military casualties in the United States Army, and a relative few soldiers from the armed forces of Canada, England, Poland (specifically, the Polish Army East) and the Soviet Union.
______________________________
Second Lieutenant Alfred Kupferschmidt
An appointment in America. An appointment in Germany. An appointment in Samarra?
_____ _____
If, as John Donne wrote…
“No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main,”
…so is every event:
Not an island in time, Unto itself; But a child of the past; And father to a future.
_____ _____
Such was the life of United States Army Second Lieutenant Alfred Kupferschmidt (0-552513), whose death in combat was reported in The New York Times on May 6, 1945. An exploration of his past reached into an event eleven years before his birth, which has resonance even today.
Born in Berlin on September 29, 1922, he was the son of Clara Kupferschmidt (12/27/01-10/24/72), whose wartime address was 991 President Street in Brooklyn. Sadly, his father’s name has disappeared into the mists of the past. Having resided for a time in Philadelphia, Alfred Kupferschmidt’s secondary wartime “contact” was Harry M. Bass, who lived a 2745 North Front Street in that city.
Via Apartments.com, here’s a contemporary image of 991 President Street.
Assigned to the 116th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 101st Cavalry Group, he served in the Squadron’s IPW (Interrogation Prisoners of War) Team due to his fluency in German. It was in this capacity that he was killed in action on February 25, 1945. Though notice of his death appeared in three publications during that year – Aufbau, on March 30; The Jewish Exponent, on June 29; The New York Times, in a full obituary on May 6 – like many WW II American Jewish servicemen chronicled in this series of posts, his name never appeared in the 1947 compilation American Jews in World War Two.
His sole military award was the Purple Heart.
Here’s the account from the Times:
BERLIN-BORN SOLDIER CASUALTY IN GERMANY
Second Lieut. Alfred Kupferschmidt, 22-year-old paratrooper, who lived at 991 President Street, Brooklyn, before entering the Army in February, 1943, was killed in action in Germany Feb. 25. His mother, Clara, is a private nurse.
A native of Berlin and an only son, he was sent to this country six years ago, as an emigrant, and his mother followed a year later. Being a Pole, he had been taken from his home by the Gestapo one morning in 1938 and sent to Poland, but his American visa had been issued and his mother got him back and sent him to America with the aid of our consul. He went to school in Philadelphia, winning scholastic and sports honors, and after entering the Army studied languages in Boston University. He was promoted from private to second lieutenant last year.
Mrs. Kupferschmidt, whose husband died eighteen years ago, said her son had tried to enlist and was happy when he was drafted because, he said, “I remember the Gestapo.”
And, the obituary as published in the Times.
Aufbau‘s article inevitably parallels that of the Times, but presents details not revealed in the “paper of record”:
2nd Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt died in Germany on February 25 at the age of 23. In 1938, when he was 16 years old, the Nazis deported him from his native Berlin to Poland because he was the son of Polish citizens. At the intervention of his mother, who in the meantime had received the immigration visas for America for herself and for him, he was brought back to Berlin after seven weeks. Since the outbreak of war, Lt. Kupferschmidt had no more ardent desire than to be accepted into the army and settle accounts with the Nazis. Before joining the army, he studied aerotechnical engineering. A cousin of his, also named Alfred Kupferschmidt, serves in the R.A.F.
2nd Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt ist am 25. Februar im Alter von 23 Jahren in Deutschland gefallen. 1938, als er 16 Jahre alt war, haben ihn die Nazis aus seiner Geburtsstadt Berlin nach Polen abgeschoben, weil er der Sohn polnischer Staatsbürger war. Auf Intervention seiner Mutter, die inzwischen für sich und für ihn die Einwanderungsvisen nach Amerika erhalten hatte, wurde er jedoch nach Sieben Wochen wieder nach Berlin gebracht. Lt. Kupferschmidt hatte seit Ausbruch des Krieges keinen glühenderen Wunsch, als in die Armee aufgenommen zu warden und mit den Nazis abzurechnen. Vor seinem Eintritt in die Armee hare er “aerotechnical engineer” studiert. Ein Vetter vo ihm, der ebenfalls Alfred Kupferschmidt heist, dient in der R.A.F.
The actual, as it appeared in Aufbau.
Though inevitably – given their wartime publication – these brief articles reveal little to nothing about the events of February 25, Lt. Kupferschmidt’s military service is described and placed in a clearer context in Terry Trautman’s Clippings From A Cluttered Mind, and, Melaney Welch Moisan’s Tracking The 101st Cavalry, passages from which respectively follow:
From Clippings From A Cluttered Mind…
By this time [late 1944 to early 1945], the allied juggernaut was rolling across Europe after the D-Day invasion and German Prisoners of War (Prisoner of War) were being captured in increasing quantities. What the Allied Command soon learned was that the German-born soldiers were not only fluent in the German language, they also knew the culture and psyche of Germans better than anyone else, a deep intimate knowledge born from the small details of their lives growing up in Germany. As children they had gone to school and played sports with boys who were now soldiers in the German army. As interrogators of Prisoner of War they would be familiar with the workings of German minds, the habits of German life and the influences of Nazi doctrine upon German soldiers and civilians alike. They also knew regional dialects and accents, something that could not be taught to American soldiers who knew only school book German. The German-born soldiers used this innate knowledge to great advantage.
Their infiltration among American soldiers and officers in command was not without some difficulty. Surprised by the interrogators’ heavy accents and fearful of German spies in their midst, regional officers often debated among themselves whether to disarm them and assign them to permanent KP duty. It usually took the Officer in Charge of the IPW team … to assure the antsy regional officers that these guys were on our side. Before long it became apparent the German-born soldiers were performing admirably and once word got around, there were a lot of demands and requests for “Ritchie Boys.”
The IPW teams were initially ensconced behind the front lines and Prisoner of Wars were transported to them for interrogation. The information the interrogators sought included enemy locations, manpower size, troop movements, etc. They used maps and aerial photos in their interrogations. While this worked fine for a while, it became apparent that the intel the IPW teams was getting was too slow to be of immediate value. A recommendation from Major Leo J. Nawn changed that. He recommended to “…attach one member of the IPW team to each intelligence section (at the front) for prompt interrogation on matters pertaining to the unit’s immediate situation.” This meant that while the information was timely and extremely valuable, it also put the IPW soldiers in harm’s way. In one report, Uncle Fred (now Capt. Hellman) wrote that as their team advanced on the front, “…we kept moving ever onward, our travels spiced with the usual ingredients of war – bombing, strafing, sniping, artillery.” In fact, Uncle Fred reported that his second in command, Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt “was killed in action 25 February 1945 in the vicinity of Lauterbach, Germany. Lt. Karl H. Schafer replaced Lt. Kupferschmidt on 4 March 1945.” Both of these soldiers were natives of Germany.
In Tracking The 101st Cavalry…
On the afternoon of February 25, 2nd Lt. Charles Pierce, Troop A, 116th Squadron, and 2nd Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt, of the IPW team, were at Troop A’s outpost near Werbeln with a prisoner of war who had been captured earlier that day. The prisoner pointed out specific installations in Schaffhausen, and then he told Pierce and Kupferschmidt that he and the second prisoner had thrown away their weapons about fifty yards inside the wood, near the spot where they exited to surrender. Pierce and Kupferschmidt asked the prisoner to show them the location, and, at about 5:30 that evening, the group headed down the hill. At the bottom, they met up with other members of the 116th: 1st Lt. Robert Schafer, S/Sgt. Walter Mennel, and Pvt. Earl Geiger, all of Troop C; and S/Sgt. John Schnalzer, Troop A. At the base of the hill, the men, with the prisoner in the lead, walked cautiously in the dark of early evening along the edge of a marked mine field that followed the line of the woods. They moved slowly, as one false step would mean disaster. Instead, disaster fell out of the sky when, without warning, a concentration of mortar fire fell all around them.
The blast killed 2nd Lt. Pierce instantly, and S/Sgt. Schnalzer jumped or was thrown into a nearby ditch. Lt. Schafer jumped into the same ditch, falling on top of Schnalzer. No sooner had they landed than a second mortar shell flew through the air and landed almost directly on top of them, killing Schafer instantly and hurling his body from the ditch to the edge of the mine field.
Wounded in the hands and legs, Sgt. Schnalzer managed to jump up and run back the way they had come to take cover in a small brick building. While running, he noticed the panicked prisoner run directly into the mine field. There was nothing Schnalzer could do but watch as the fleeing prisoner tripped a land mine and flew into the air. Also killed were 2nd Lt. Kupferschmidt, who died within an hour of being wounded, and S/Sgt Mennel, who died later the day. Pvt. Geiger was seriously wounded. (pp. 29-30)
The full names of the soldiers who were killed in this incident were:
Though PFC Earl Geiger (10/18/22-12/16/67) survived the mortar attack, it sadly seems – based on information at FindAGrave – that he was permanently disabled, for he passed away not long after his 45th birthday.
Lt. Karl H. Schafer, mentioned in Clippings From A Cluttered Mind as Lt. Kupferschmidt’s replacement, arrived with his family in the United States in 1929 at the age of seven. He survived the war, and passed away in Illinois in 2013 at the age of 91.
But, there’s more, and this is where the past intersects the future, in a way best suited to fiction.
And so…
…while searching for information about Alfred Kupferschmidt via FultonHistory, I discovered this article, published in The Brooklyn Eagle on October 18, 1942.
Somber Rites Recall Triangle Fire Tragedy
A number of Brooklyn residents will participate late today at a somber ceremony reviving memories of an old tragedy. In Mount Richmond Cemetery, Staten Island, a headstone will be unveiled over the grave of a victim of the historic Triangle fire.
Reposing in the hitherto unmarked grave is the body of Tillie Kupferschmidt, who was 16 when in March of 1911 she and 147 other employees perished in the burning Triangle Waist Company factory, 23 Washington Place, Manhattan. An elder sister, Clara, a European refugee, is now living at 10 Saratoga Ave.
Friendless Immigrant
Tillie was a friendless immigrant, according to the story told by Mrs. Solomon Altenhaus of 686 E. 7th St. She had come to this country from a little town in Poland and, like so many other immigrants, was drawn into the then booming sweatshop needlework industry. After the fire her charred body, unclaimed by relatives or friends, was buried in Agudath Achim Chesed Shel Emeth, the Jewish Potter’s Field.
Several months ago, said Mrs. Altenhaus, Clara met Mr. Altenhaus, whom she had known as a leading citizen of their native town in Poland. Mr. Altenhaus provided her with details of the Triangle tragedy and Clara Kupferschmidt was shocked to learn that no marker had been placed on her sister’s grave.
Mrs. Altenhaus spoke to Mrs. Samuel Kramer of 1025 St. John’s Place, president of the Peczenyszyner Ladies Auxiliary, an organization named after the Polish town from which its member emigrated.
Through the efforts of the two, funds were raised for the purchase of the stone which will be unveiled today. Members of a number of organizations of former Peczenyszyner residents will be present.
The article itself…
Old Newspapers
… and, as it appeared in the newspaper. Specifically, page A3, lower left.
Old Newspapers
So, Clara Kupferschmidt had a sister.
So, Alfred Kupferschmidt had an aunt who, having been born in 1895, he would never know, though I assume he knew “of”.
This image of Tillie Kupferschmidt, at her FindAGrave biographical profile, is via Robert DiTolla, who from 2013 through 2014 contributed photographs and / or biographical information of 21 Triangle fire victims to FindAGrave. Three of these images, comprising those of Tillie Kupferschmidt, Julia “Yutta/Ita” Oberstein, and Bessie Viviano, appear to have been among a compilation of images published in a newspaper, but the title and date of that periodical are unknown.
A list of Triangle Fire victims at History on the Net lists information for Tillie as follows: “KUPFERSMITH, Tillie, 16, multiple injuries and burns. 750 E. Second Street. Identified by her uncle, Morris Schwartz. Name also given as Cupersmith/Kupersmith. Multiple newspapers, March 27.”
Information at the list of the 146 victims of the Triangle Fire, via Cornell University, differs from that at HistoryNet. Though Tillie’s age is identical, her full name is given as “Tillie Kupferschmidt”; her place of birth as Austria; her residence as 750 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. Her place of burial is listed as “Mount Richmond Cemetery”.
Though there doesn’t appear to be any “750 2nd Avenue” in Manhattan, within that borough there is a 750 East Second Street – where that street intersects with Essex Street – as indicated on the list of names at the HistoryNet article. This location is shown in the Oogle map below…
…while this map shows that address in a larger perspective.
Oddly, her death certificate lists her parents as “Golideo Borranai and Marris Schwartz”, which is impossible to square with the surname “Kupferschmidt”.
Curiously, neither source indicates that Tillie was married, which is evident via information at Ancestry.com. There, her husband is listed as Israel Teiksler. They were married on November 6, 1910, a mere month-and-a-half before the fire at 23-29 Washington Place in Manhattan.
And in the story of the Kupferschmidt family, I’m reminded of the ancient literary epigraph – known from both Judaism and Islam – as the “Appointment in Samarra”, which is the title and underlying theme – a sense of inevitability – of John O’Hara’s 1934 novel by that name.
As presented at the SubSubLibrarian, the tale goes as follows:
The Gemara relates with regard to these two Cushites who would stand before Solomon: “Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha” (I Kings 4:3), and they were scribes of Solomon. One day Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was sad. He said to him: Why are you sad? He said to him: They are asking me to take the lives of these two Cushites who are sitting here. Solomon handed them to the demons in his service, and sent them to the district of Luz, where the Angel of Death has no dominion. When they arrived at the district of Luz, they died.
The following day, Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was happy. He said to him: Why are you happy? He replied: In the place that they asked me to take them, there you sent them. The Angel of Death was instructed to take their lives in the district of Luz. Since they resided in Solomon’s palace and never went to Luz, he was unable to complete his mission. That saddened him. Ultimately, Solomon dispatched them to Luz, enabling the angel to accomplish his mission. That pleased him. Immediately, Solomon began to speak and said: The feet of a person are responsible for him; to the place where he is in demand, there they lead him.
The ultimate written source of the story is almost certainly the Babylonian Talmud, specifically, Sukkah 53a5-6, which you can read at Sefaria.org.
But, where is the justice – where is the fairness – in the tale? Is there justice in the tale? Is, there justice?
But, where is free will in the tale? Is there free will in the tale? Is, there free will?
As described in the Times’ account of October 20, 1945 (probably based on the original award citation), PFC Herbert Joel Rosencrans (16105945) was awarded the Silver Star (and inevitably, the Purple Heart) for his actions as an infantry squad leader. Here’s the article:
Pfc. Herbert J. Rosencrans, Company C, 415th Infantry, 104th Division, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin J. Rosencrans of Woodmere, L.I., who died of wounds last Feb. 25 in Arnoldsweiler, Germany, has received posthumously the Silver Star Medal, it was announced yesterday.
On Feb. 25 Private Rosencrans, leading his squad forward in a fight for an enemy town, met a large force of enemy troops preparing to launch a counter-attack the citation said. Exposing himself to enemy artillery fire to determine the location of the enemy, he the organized a strong defense. When the enemy attacked, he led his men in a furious fight, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. He was fatally wounded.
Private Rosencrans was born in this city Oct. 13, 1923, was graduated with honors from Woodmere Academy in 1941 and completed two years work at the University of Michigan. He entered the Army in March, 1943, and went overseas in August, 1944. Besides his parents, he leaves a brother, Robert M. Rosencrans of the Army Air Forces.
The full article…
Private Rosencrans’ mother was Eva (Green) Rosencrans. His family resided at 7 Willow Road in Woodmere. His name appeared in a casualty list published in the Long Island Star Journal on March 12, 1945, a similar list in the Nassau Daily Review Star on April 6, and in the “In Memoriam” section of The New York Times on February 24, 1946. His name does appear in American Jews in World War II; specifically, on page 418. He’s buried at Plot A, Row 1, Grave 7, at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.
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Here‘s biographical information about other Jewish soldiers who were casualties on the 25th of February 1945…
For those who lost their lives on this date… Sunday, February 25, 1945 / Adar 13, 5705 – .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. – …Tehé Nafshó Tzrurá Bitzrór Haḥayím May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.
8th Infantry Division
Cowen, Carl, Pvt., 39722606, Purple Heart 28th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Brooklyn, N.Y. 10/12/11 Mrs. Thelma Tillie “Gigi” (Cowen) Rittenberg Flapan (wife) (6/4/17-12/26/13) 248 North Chicago, St, / 2737 1/2 Fairmont Ave., Los Angeles, Ca. Mrs. Bessie Cohen (mother) (5/8/90-5/20/67), Los Angeles, Ca. Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Ca. – Mausoleum, Corridor of Remembrance, Crypt 310 NW American Jews in World War II – 41
Fidler, Louis, PFC, 42127210, Purple Heart (in Germany) 28th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Brooklyn, N.Y. 11/16/12 Mrs. Vivian (Hoffman) Fidler (wife) (1920-?), 2081 Wallace Ave., Bronx, N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. Frank (1870-?) and Mary (1883-?) Fidler (parents) Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium – Plot F, Row 9, Grave 51 American Jews in World War II – 308
Stern, Horst “Horace” Alexander, Sgt., 36735406, Purple Heart (near Firenze, Toscana, Italy) 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment, I Company Killed in Action Born Kassel, Germany 1/17/24 Mr. and Mrs. Julius Jacob (4/10/94-5/2/83) and Lenora “Nora” (Kosman) (4/2/01-10/21/82) Stern (parents); Peter Jacob (brother) (5/21/28-7/10/66) 3314 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Il. Student at Northwestern University Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy – Plot F, Row 2, Grave 18 Chicago Tribune 3/21/45 American Jews in World War II – 118
Ferber, John Hanns, Pvt., 33750697, Purple Heart, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster (in Germany) 330th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Vienna, Austria 2/5/13 Mrs. Birdie (Ratner) Ferber (wife) (12/23/14-9/4/74), 1820 Clydesdale Place, Washington, D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Jacques (12/25/87-11/30/45) and Jeanne (Dolivet) (11/25/88-11/73) Ferber (parents) Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Holland – Plot G, Row 6, Grave 3 American Jews in World War II – 76
94th Infantry Division
Kramer, Jack (Yakov bar Zeruel), PFC, 42038488, Purple Heart (in Germany) 302nd Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born 6/14/24 Mr. and Mrs. Sol (10/18/93-6/13/71) and Lena (?-7/25/83) Kramer (parents), 1372 Franklin Ave., Bronx, N.Y. Mildred (Kramer) Fishman (sister) City College of New York Class of 1944 Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, N.Y. – Block 139/S – First Independent Rishkaner Besserabier, Young Men’s & Young Ladies’ B.A., Row 011R, Grave 3 Casualty List 4/3/45 American Jews in World War II – 367
Wittenberg, Melvin Eugene, PFC, 31299189, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart 405th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Boston, Ma. 4/24/23 Mr. and Mrs. Myer and Rose Wittenberg (parents), 16 Verrill St., Boston, Ma. Tablets of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Holland American Jews in World War II – 185
Weinstein, Sander Mayer, PFC, 42118028, Purple Heart (in Germany) 406th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Caldwell, N.J. 4/15/25 Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Anna Weinstein (parents), 19 Sander St., Morris Plains, N.J. Hannah Blum (sister), Samuel Hollander (brother); Robert A. Matthews (friend), Morristown, N.J. Rutgers University Class of 1946 Beth Israel Cemetery, Cedar Knolls, N.J. American Jews in World War II – 258
Edelman, Jack, Sgt., 33469528, BSM, Purple Heart (in Germany) 407th Infantry Regiment, D Company Killed in Action Born Philadelphia, Pa. 6/6/22 Mr. and Mrs. Morris (6/19/58-74) and Eva (10/2/69-83) Edelman (parents), 4837 Larchwood Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Benjamin, Isadore, Samuel, Mrs. Marion Forman and Mrs. Edythe Sacks (brothers and sisters) Occupation: Worked at Edelman Company Wholesale Fruit Dealers Mount Jacob Cemetery, Glenolden, Pa. – Section L, Lot 408, Grave 1; Buried 10/31/48 Jewish Exponent 4/6/45, 10/29/48 Philadelphia Inquirer 10/29/48 Philadelphia Record 3/29/45 American Jews in World War II – 518
Here’s Jack Edelman’s portrait from West Philadelphia High School’s class of 1940 yearbook.
His matzeva; my own photograph.
104th Infantry Division
(This 104th Division shoulder patch is from Paratrooper.fr.)
Blumenthal, Robert Lewis, PFC, 34787488, Purple Heart (at Ellen, Germany) 415th Infantry Regiment, I Company Killed in Action (Wounded (in jaw) previously – on 12/1/44) Born in New York 3/9/25 Mr. and Mrs. Nathan and Martha Blumenthal (parents); Edward (brother), 1045 Pennsylvania Ave., Miami Beach, Fl. Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Miami, Fl. American Jews in World War II – 82
Probably a portrait from his high school yearbook, this photo of PFC Blumenthal is via Robert Blumenthal.
This news article about PFC Blumenthal is via Jaap Vermeer, Netherlands-based WW II RAF and USAAF historian.
Blumenthal
Pfc. R.C. Blumenthal, 20, was killed in action in Germany Feb. 25, the War Department has informed his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Blumenthal, 1045 Pennsylvania Ave., Miami Beach.
Shortly before his death Pvt. Blumenthal wrote his parents: “I don’t want you to worry. I want you to force yourselves to be brave. I am coming home, and I’m coming home with two arms and two legs, but if anything should happen I want you to take it like soldiers.”
Pvt. Blumenthal was awarded the Purple Heart for a jaw wound last Dec. 1. His company also received the Presidential Unit Citation. He was returned to combat Dec. 21.
Graduate of Miami High School, where he was president of the senior class, he attended Georgia Tech for a year before entering service in June, 1943.
Surviving Pvt. Blumenthal besides his parents is a brother, Edward, 17, senior at Miami Beach High School.
This photo of PFC Blumenthal’s matzeva is also via Robert Blumenthal. Note that the insignia of the 104th Infantry Division has been engraved into the upper center of the stone.
1st Cavalry Division
(This example of the 1st Cavalry Division’s shoulder patch is also from Paratrooper.fr.)
Wertheim, Erich Seligman, PFC, 32908959, Purple Heart, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster 8th Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born Burgeln bei Marburg, Germany 5/29/22 Mr. Albert Hess (uncle), 2211 Whitter Ave., Baltimore, Md. Mr. Julius Katz (?), 279 Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, N.Y. Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines – Plot D, Row 14, Grave 37 Aufbau 5/18/45 American Jews in World War II – 146
PFC Wertheim arrived in the United States in mid-November of 1938. Here’s the very brief new item about him that appeared in Aufbau in mid-1945…
Pfc. Eric Wertheim died on February 27th at the age of 22 during the liberation of Manila. He was born in Bürgeln near Marburg and lived in Baltimore, Md. until he enlisted in the army. His parents and sister are in London.
Pfc. Eric Wertheim ist am 27. Februar im Alter von 22 Jahren bei der Befreiung von Manila gefallen. Er wurde in Bürgeln bei Marburg geboren und hat bis zu seinem Einrücken in die Armee in Baltimore, Md., gelebt. Seine Eltern und seine Schwester sind in London.
…and, the news item itself…
… followed by an image of the full sheet while where the article (at center right) was published.
Americal Division
(An example of the Americal Division shoulder patch, from Dutch WW 2 Collector.)
Woliansky, Harry, 1 Lt., 0-1301399, DSC, SS, BSM, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart (at Bougainville, New Guinea) 182nd Infantry Regiment Killed in Action Born New York, N.Y. 3/15/15 Mrs. Elizabeth (Dobis) Woliansky (wife) (1918-?), 576 15th Ave., Newark, N.J. Mr. and Mrs. Morris (1881-?) and Dora (1885-?) Woliansky (parents); Bertha (sister) (1918-6/13/00) Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines – Plot N, Row 9, Grave 50 Casualty List 4/3/45 American Jews in World War II – 259
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740th Tank Battalion, C Company, First Platoon (attached to 121st Infantry Regiment of 8th Infantry Division)
(The emblem of the 740th Tank Battalion – a devil atop a WW I tank, hurling a thunderbolt – adorns the cover of Lt. Col. George Kenneth Rubel’s 1947 Daredevil Tankers – The Story of the 740th Tank Battalion, United States Army.)
“…one Infantry Officer even went so far as to state that it took over twenty years to make a soldier but only two months to make a tank; that if a tank was knocked out, what the Hell of it — all that would be required would be to have another tank and crew sent up. When it was explained to him that there were no replacement tanks and that tankers were regarded by most people as human beings, it still failed to register.”
***
“Lieutenant Oglensky, the platoon leader, had asked for smoke and artillery fire on these AT [anti-tank] positions but this was refused and he was given a direct order to attack. In order for him to take his objective it was necessary for him to advance over a flat, open field some 3,000 yards long, directly into this battery of 88 mm guns that were firing from about the center of the field on a slight mound.”
During the Second World War the United States Army created 72 separate tank battalions, primarily for use in the European Theater. As described at Wikipedia,“These battalions were temporarily attached to infantry, armored, or airborne divisions according to need… They were also known as general headquarters (“GHQ”) tank battalions.”
“The Invasion of Normandy and the subsequent breakout confirmed the need for tanks to support infantry. Infantry units found that tank support was essential in defeating German formations entrenched in towns and amongst the bocage. From that moment on, until the end of the war in Europe, separate tank battalions were attached to as many infantry divisions as possible. While armored divisions were expected to perform the massed breakout thrusts that were increasingly commonplace in Europe, the smaller battalions were essential in supporting and maintaining smaller infantry advances. Armored and airborne divisions also received separate tank battalions when they were needed to successfully complete their objectives.”
“Separate tank battalions were rarely, if ever, used as a single formation in combat, and spent most of their time attached to infantry divisions. The U.S. infantry division of World War II contained three infantry regiments, and each medium tank company was usually assigned to a regiment for close support operations. This could be broken down even further when required, with each of the three tank platoons of a medium tank company being assigned to one of the regiment’s three infantry battalions.”
As described by Patrick J. Chaisson in his article “Daredevil Tankers Turn the Tide at the Bulge“, and secondarily at the 70th Infantry Division Association, one of these armored formations was the 740th Tank Battalion, which was activated on March 1, 1943, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, under the command of Major Harry C. Anderson. The battalion was reorganized on September 10 of that year as a special battalion to be issued CDL (Canal Defence Light) searchlight tanks, intended to illuminate battlefields at night. Constructed on the chassis of M3A1 medium tanks, these vehicles, “…used a high-intensity carbon arc lamp inside the turret to light up the night sky while blinding enemy defenders.” Despite intensive training, through a combination of issues involving leadership, performance, and morale, which coincided with a simple lack of CDL equipment, Major Anderson was relieved, and on November 12, the Battalion was placed under command of Lt. Col. George K. Rubel. Under his command the unit’s proficiency dramatically improved.
Here’s the Colonel’s portrait, from Daredevil Tankers…
Departing the United States in July of 1944, the 740th reached France in September, joining the First Army in November. Within one month, it was directly involved in halting the advance of Kampfgruppe Peiper, “the German spearhead at Stoumont during the Battle of the Bulge”.
As described in Chaisson’s article… On December21, 1944, American forces captured the Belgian hamlet of Targnon, with some men occupying Saint Edouard’s Sanatorium – a large brick building situated on a steep hill on the eastern edge of the municipality of Stoumont – and thus dominating the battlefield.
“The enemy knew this and around 11 pm launched a fanatical counterattack. Between 50 and 100 SS panzergrenadiers, many screaming “Heil Hitler,” stormed St. Edouard’s and pushed the GIs out. Held up by a sharp cliff, the Daredevil tankers could do nothing to help. They had to wait for daylight to resume their attack.”
One of the 740th’s Shermans was commanded by 1 Lt. David Oglensky:“At 4 am on December 21, [his M-4] crawled cautiously forward into the murk. Suddenly, according to driver Technician 4th Grade Robert Russo, “All hell broke loose.” Shells from a hidden antitank gun pierced Oglensky’s tank, forcing his crew to bail out. As the lieutenant boarded the next Sherman in line a panzerfaust rocket hit that tank, causing it to burst into flames. German panzerfausts then blasted two more M4s. In an instant, four tanks were destroyed, three of them burning fiercely. With the road blocked and St. Edouard’s Sanatorium in Peiper’s hands, the American attack bogged down almost before it started.”
Or… As recorded by Lt. Col. Rubel in his book Daredevil Tankers:
On the 21st the attack was resumed at 0400 hours. It moved forward about 100 yards when an AT [anti-tank] gun knocked out the lead tank. Lt. Oglensky, who was riding the tank, found that his gun had been rendered useless, and fearing that Jerry was about to begin a tank attack he placed his own tank crosswise in the road to form a road block. As he was doing this another shot hit his tank. He ordered his crew to get out and go to the rear, while he took over the tank immediately in the rear. He had hardly got aboard when an enemy Panzerfaust hit the tank and the machine started to burn. He and his new crew dismounted and almost at the same instant two more tanks were hit by Panzerfausts. That left four tanks in the road — three of them afire.
The attack had now definitely bogged down. The three tanks that had been hit by bazookas were burning fiercely and made a perfect road block. Moreover, the heat was so intense that it was impossible to get close enough to them to fasten a towing cable.
During the day the enemy made several more fanatical counter-attacks but the Infantry stood their ground on each attack. Casualties were running high. We had lost five tanks and the Infantry battalion had lost nearly 200 men. The chateau was a source of great trouble to us. It had to be taken before we could take Stoumont. That night Captain Berry crawled through the enemy lines and made a circle of the chateau to find out if there was any possibility of getting tanks up off the road to attack the chateau from the northwest. He found a place where he thought he could build a corduroy road to lead from the main highway up over the embankment to this building.
Upon his return to friendly troops he asked for volunteers to help build the road. At about midnight he got four tanks up there and personally directed their fire by running from one tank to another. Before morning he had knocked out two enemy tanks, had captured the chateau, and had rescued 22 infantrymen who were trapped there. This feat cleared the way for the capture of Stoumont, which we then planned to take early on the morning of the 22nd.
During the day, while on reconnaissance, I found an excellent place at Targnon to use a self-propelled 155 mm gun. I sent my S-4 out to look for one and also made a request to Colonel Sutherland and General Harrison for one. During the same day I had picked up a slight wound when a high velocity round came in while I was standing on the road a few hundred yards east of Targnon. Just before sundown on the 21st the 155 gun came in. We fired about 50 rounds direct fire with it before darkness forced us to quit. We arranged for the gun to be back on the morning of the 22nd for the attack on the town of Stoumont.
Before the attack could be resumed, however, the four tanks that had been knocked out near the chateau had to be removed. We decided to lay a smoke screen and under cover of it send the recovery vehicle forward, attach a line, and tow the tanks off the road. Lt. Oglensky’s tank, which had not burned, was believed to be in running condition, and T/5 James E. Flowers volunteered to drive it off the road. It stuck out like a sore thumb and any movement toward it brought down all kinds of fire. Flowers somehow made it, entered through the escape hatch, and drove it back into our lines. In the meantime, Captain Walter Williams and his Battalion maintenance section with their recovery vehicles had removed the three burned out tanks, and before morning of the 22nd the way was cleared for the attack.
Lt. Oglensky received Silver Star for his actions on December 20. His citation reads: “Lt. Oglensky distinguished himself by leading a platoon of tanks in an attack against the enemy. His tank was hit to such an extent that his gun was put out of action. After evacuating the crew he reentered the tank and placed it across the road as a block. Taking over command of the tank immediately behind this roadblock, he continued to fire at the enemy until the second tank was also knocked out of action by enemy fire. The inspiring fortitude, courage and outstanding devotion to duty demonstrated by Lieutenant Oglensky reflect great credit to himself and are in keeping with the traditions of the armed forces.”
From Daredevil Tankers, this map shows the position of the 740th in late December 1944: Moving west to east, from the vicinity of Lorce (on 19 December) through Stavelot (on 25 December). The Battalion’s position on the 22nd, just west of Stoumont and the Chateau (“where 22 doughs were trapped”), is just left of the map’s center
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Lieutenant Oglensky was killed in action a little over two months later. This occurred on February 25, in the context of an attack of the 8th Infantry Division’s 121st Infantry Regiment in the direction of the German towns of Binsfeld and Girbelsrath, which lie between Duren – just to the southwest – and the city of Koln, to the northeast. Against his advice, the five tanks under his command, comprising the 1st Platoon of C Company, were ordered to advance across an open field between Düren and Girbelsrath. As a result, three tanks were quickly destroyed by 88mm anti-tank guns, resulting not only in Oglensky’s death, but that of tank commander Sergeant Ira M. Case and five other 1st Platoon tank crewmen.
Lt Oglensky’s body was never recovered.
Something particularly notable about the historical record of this brief event is the way it is described in the 740th Tank Battalion’s After Action Report, versus Lt. Col. Rubel’s independent (and I think much more personal) account in Daredevil Tankers. The differences between the accounts, which I’ve italicized for emphasis, are striking and not at all subtle. Perhaps Daredevil Tankers – published by the Colonel in Germany on September 19, 1945, independently of the Army – allowed him to give vent to aspects of the historical record that are not at all laudatory, and would otherwise have remained forgotten.
Here’s the After Action Report:
C Company, attached to 121st Infantry, attacked towards towns of Binsfeld and Girbelsrath at 250200 [0200 hours; 2 A.M.] with 1st and 2nd Platoons. The towns were taken approximately by 251400 [1400 hours; 2 P.M.]. The 3rd Platoon remained in Regimental Reserve at Duren. The 2nd Platoon of C Co was split into 2 sections, 1st Section supporting A Co., 1st Battalion and 2nd Section supporting C Co, 1st Battalion. The 1st Platoon had three tanks destroyed by 88mm fire at 1310 [1:10 P.M.] as they were approaching Girbelsrath across an open field. The platoon had been ordered to advance across the field against the platoon leader’s advice. The 3 tanks were commanded by Lt. Oglensky, Sgt. Case, and Sgt. Keen. Lt. Oglensky was killed in addition to 8 other casualties in the 3 tanks. S/Sgt. Nemnich took command of the remaining two tanks and stayed under cover until darkness and then withdrew to Duren. Lt. Powers (3rd Platoon) was hit by mortar fire and evacuated at approximately 251100 February [1100 hours]. S/Sgt. Looper took command of the 3rd Platoon at this time.
This is from Daredevil Tankers:
“C” Company, attached to the 121st Infantry, attacked toward the towns of Binsfeld and Girbelsrath at 0200 hours, with the First and Second Platoon. The fight was rough but the towns were taken at about 1400 hours that afternoon. The Third Platoon remained in Regimental reserve at Duren. The Second Platoon had been split into two sections, the first section supporting “A” Company of the 121st Infantry, and the second section supporting “C” Company of the 121st Infantry. The First Platoon had three tanks destroyed by 88 mm AT fire at 1310 hours as they were approaching Girbelsrath across an open field. Lieutenant Oglensky, the platoon leader, had asked for smoke and artillery fire on these AT positions but this was refused and he was given a direct order to attack. In order for him to take his objective it was necessary for him to advance over a flat, open field some 3,000 yards [1.7 miles; 2.8 km] long, directly into this battery of 88 mm guns that were firing from about the center of the field on a slight mound. The platoon had advanced about 500 yards [0.28 miles; 0.47 km] when the AT guns opened up from the front and right flank. Three of Oglensky’s five tanks were hit and burned. Lieutenant Oglensky, Sergeant Case, and Sergeant Keen were killed and eight other men were wounded.
Given that the First Platoon was attached to (and under command of?) the 121st Infantry Regiment, the question arises as to why there was a refusal to provide smoke and artillery fire on the German anti-tank position. Assuming there even was a reason, to begin with.
From Daredevil Tankers, this map shows the main line of advance (MLA) of the 740th from February 23 (at Duren) through March 9, 1945 (south of Koln). Note that the MLA is specifically indicated for every day (except March 1?) of this 12-day time interval. The MLA for 25 February is oriented north to south from Merzenich to Stochheimm, ending that day a little more than halfway between Duren and Girbelsrath.
At roughly the same scale at the above map, this Apple map gives a contemporary view of the geography of this part of Germany.
The relative locations of Duren and Girbelsrath are readily visible in this map. (Note the scale at upper left.) Though I’ve no idea of the geographic extent of Duren in 1945 versus the city’s size now in 2023, what is apparent is the farmland separating that city and Girbelsrath.
At the same scale at the above map, this photo reveals the farmland situated between the two locales. Though I don’t have a topographic map of the area, one gets the general impression that the terrain is essentially, well… Like the book says: Flat.
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1 Lt. David Oglensky (David bar Shmuel Shlema ha Levi) (0-1016415), also – well, inevitably, the recipient of the Purple Heart – was born in Colchester, Connecticut, on December 25, 1944 to Sam (3/15/79-1/6/44) and Rose (Seigal) (1885-8/4/56) Oglensky (parents). He was married, his wife, Helen (Ides) Oglensky, resided at 17 West Front Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. He had a brother, Bernard (3/26/20-9/16/95). His name appeared in articles in the Asbury Park Press on 3/1/45, 6/8/45, and, 5/5/85 (that’s ’85, not just ’45!), and on page 248 of American Jews in World War II. He is commemorated on theTablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery, in Margraten, Holland.
This photo of Lt. Oglensky, the only one I’ve thus far discovered, appears in the Lieutenant’s biographical profile at FindAGrave, c/o lemaire.sergejean@gmail.com.
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The 740th’s After Action Report and Daredevil Tankers are both vague or incorrect about the casualties incurred by the battalion on February 25, 1945. In reality, tank commander Sergeant Keen (J.D. Keen) survived the war unwounded. Of the eight casualties noted in both the After Action Report and Daredevil Tankers, two men were wounded and six killed. The men’s names are listed below:
A monument in honor of Lieutenant Oglensky, dedicated in 1966 by the Oglensky Jackson Post of the Jewish War Veterans, stands at the Freehold Hebrew Cemetery in New Jersey. The Post still existed as of 2018. (These three images are by wharfrat.)
Come the year 2066, will the monument still exist?
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208th Combat Engineer Battalion (Signal Corps)
Levinson, Moses, Pvt., 34648465, Purple Heart (in Germany) Killed in Action Born 1925 Mrs. Carmellia Levinson (wife), 8 Felson / Folsom Place / 38 Fountain Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Possibly from South Carolina Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Holland – Plot J, Row 11, Grave 4 Casualty List 3/27/45 American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
Levitt, Paul David, T/5, 32296314, Purple Heart (at Iwo Jima) Killed in Action Born Brooklyn, N.Y. 12/29/11 Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Maye (Mamie) Levitt (parents) , 227 Linden Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Mortimer H. and Raymond I. Levitt (brothers) Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section J, Grave 16560 Casualty List 4/12/45 American Jews in World War II – 379
Brown, Morris, Gunner, 3775495 Royal Artillery, 81st (The Glamorgan Yeomanry) Field Regiment Born 1919 Mr. and Mrs. Wolf and Lena Brown (parents), Liverpool, England Uden War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands – 6,E,13 We Will Remember Them Volume I – 68 (incorrectly lists unit as “The Welch Regiment”)
Judka, Albin, Pvt., at Wieloboki, Poland 18th Infantry Regiment Born Nowosiolki (d. Zaleszczyki), Poland, 1907 Mr. Lejb Judka (father) JMCPAWW2 I – 89
Lewkowicz, Grzegorz, Pvt., at Walcz, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland 23rd Light Artillery Regiment Born Bedzin, Slaskie, Poland 1912 Mr. Jozef Lewkowicz (father) JMCPAWW2 I – 45 Mizibrocki, Izydor, Pvt., at Wieloboki, Poland 18th Infantry Regiment Born Szczytowce (Zaleszczyki), Poland 1900 Mr. Eliasz Mizibrocki (father) JMCPAWW2 I – 93
Polish Army East
Kudysiewicz, Henryk, Capt. (Died in the Yishuv, at Tel-Aviv) Physician Born Radom, Poland 1/4/87 Buried somewhere in Israel JMCPAWW2 II – 106
Soviet Union / U.S.S.R. (C.C.C.Р.) Red Army [РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)]
Barman, Gennadiy Aleksandrovich (Барман, Геннадий Александрович), Junior Lieutenant (Младший Лейтенант) Tank Commander 517th Autonomous Tank Regiment Killed in Action Born 1921 or 1923, city of Dzerzhinsk Buried in Poland
Davidson, Yakov Abramovich (Давидсон, Яков Абрамович), Lieutenant (Лейтенант) Company Commander (Командир Роты) / Rifle Platoon Commander (Командир Стрелкового Взвода) 37th Rifle Regiment, 1st Shock Army Born 1910 or 1911
Markovich, Aleksandr Yakovlevich (Маркович, Александр Яковлевич), Guards Sergeant (Гвардии Сержант) Cannon Commander (Командир Орудия) 1st Tank Battalion, 3rd Guards Tank Brigade Killed in Action Born 1925, city of Stavropol Buried in Poland
Adler, Harry, PFC, Purple Heart (in Germany) Wounded in Action (wounded by bomb, in left arm) Born Kinsk (Swietokrzyskie), Poland 9/1/09 – Died 4/24/85 Mrs. Ruth (Schor) Adler (wife) (6/16/14-7/9/99); Barbara Carol Adler (daughter – YOB 1943) 68-27 75th St., Middle Village, Queens, N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. Herschel “Harry” Szmedra-Adler (1879-5/14/09) and Ida Cyna (1882-6/18/54) Adler (parents) Casualty List 3/27/45 Long Island Star Journal 3/27/45 American Jews in World War II – 264
Glazer, Morton Sawyer, Pvt., 33815157, Purple Heart (in Germany) Wounded in Action Born Philadelphia, Pa. 4/24/26 – Died 1/28/82 Mr. and Mrs. Eugene (10/12/93-5/1/78) and Irene (Lipsitz) (7/15/94-4/1/84) Glazer (parents), 5535 Pine St., Philadelphia, Pa. Home of Peace Cemetery, Sacramento, Ca. Jewish Exponent 4/13/45, 4/27/45 Philadelphia Record 4/3/45 American Jews in World War II – 523
Morton Glazer’s portrait from Temple University’s class of 1949 yearbook, via Ancestry.com.
Nathan, Norvin, 2 Lt., 0-1315349, Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, PUC, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster 116th Infantry Regiment, I Company Wounded in Action (Wounded previously, approximately 8/1/44) Born Bronx, N.Y. 12/6/22 – Died 4/25/06 Mrs. Janice (Fried) Nathan (wife) (2/2/28-6/22/98) Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Maurice (7/4/98-5/11/59) and Dorothy (Bushansky) (1/1/04-2004) Nathan (parents) 1625 S. 58th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. – Section 68, Grave 4883 War Department News Releases 9/30/44, 1/4/45 Jewish Exponent 10/13/44, 4/6/45 Philadelphia Inquirer 3/29/45 Philadelphia Record 10/1/44, 3/29/45 American Jews in World War II – 541
Nathan Norvin’s high school graduation portrait, from the 1940 Yonkers High School yearbook, via Ancestry.com.
Tannenbaum, Samuel E., PFC. 33470399, Purple Heart (in Germany) Wounded in Action Born Philadelphia, Pa. 9/21/16 – Died 6/20/03 Mrs. Esther (Fishman) Tannenbaum (wife) (12/25/23-9/8/18); Mark Harris Tannenbaum (son) 309 S. 4th St. / 818 Gainsboro Road, Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Max (1879-11/6/36) and Rebecca (Leahy) (Sudgalter) (5/8/82-9/9/73) Tannenbaum (parents) 2545 South Sixth St., Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 4/13/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 4/5/45 American Jews in World War II – 556
Ackerman, Harry Sternberg, Sgt., 37605043, Purple Heart (in Germany) Wounded in Action Born St. Louis, Mo. 11/16/24 – Died 7/24/02 Mr. and Mrs. Lester Patrick, Sr. (3/17/91-11/23/66) and Helen (K. Sternberg) (6/14/95-2/20/59) Ackerman (parents); Emily and Lester (sister and brother) 7246 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, Mo. New Mount Sinai Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Mo. Saint Louis Post Dispatch 3/9/45 American Jews in World War II – 207
Canada
(Emblem of the North Shore New Brunswick Regiment)
Blank, Harry, Pvt., D/141305 Wounded in Action Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment Born May 14, 1915 Mr. U. Blank (father), 5358 Hutchison St., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Canadian Jews in World War II – Part II: Casualties – 87
References
Books
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
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 [“JMCPAWW2 I”], World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1994
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: II – Jewish Military Casualties in September 1939 Campaign – Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armed Forces in Exile Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 [“JMCPAWW2 II”], World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1995
Moisan, Melaney Welch, Tracking the 101st Cavalry, Wheat Field Press, 2008 (via lulu.com; ISBN 0615250408)
Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
Rubel, George Kenneth, Lt. Col., Daredevil Tankers – The Story of the 740th Tank Battalion, United States Army, printed and bound at “Muster Schmidt”, Ltd., Werk Gottingen (Germany), 1945 (OCLC Number / Unique Identifier: 624759899)
Trautman, Terry, Clippings From A Cluttered Mind, AuthorHouse, 2022 (ISBN 9781665565608, 1665565608)
(No Specific Author)
Canadian Jews in World War II – Part II: Casualties, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1948
Sites on the Web
ETO Tank Battalion Histories, at yeide.net (Harry Yeide)
