418th Sqdn. This crew joined the 100th on 22 Mar 45.
A/C #43-37636 -- MACR #13849 -- FICHE #5055

EYEWITNESS REPORT:  
"This A/C was last seen near Liege on the route from the target; formation dispersed going through clouds. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the A/C, may have been a fuel problem. Nothing was seen or heard from this A/C after it entered the clouds.  The body of F/O Dale W. Giebelhaus was washed ashore sometime later."

The following burial information courtesy of Jack O'Leary (12/18/04)

• William R. Lewis is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge, England.
• Frank J. Marchun and Robert A. Crawford are buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery.
• Bernard Slavkin is buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery.
• Floyd C. Mitchell was buried in Liege, Belgium. His remains were returned to the United States and reburied in a family plot near his hometown in Calhoun County, Arkansas (According to Mitchell's sister)

Re: Frank Marchun, 351st Squadron
Posted by Michael Faley on 7/6/2001, 7:09 pm, in reply to "Frank Marchun, 351st squadron"

Hi Joe. We also have very little information on the events surrounding the loss of this aircraft and crew. Everything we have on this crew can be found on our website by entering Lt Estes in the Search engine on the front page. I can tell you that the crew did hit the target and the group did encounter flak. The last time this plane was sighted was going into the clouds and never being seen again. The A/C appeared to be under control and showed no visible signs of damage before entering the cloud cover. There were no bright flashes or explosions witnessed by members of the group during let down through the clouds. My best guess would be that the pilot became disoriented in the clouds and plunged into the North Sea or a fuel problem as speculated below. Your relative was part of the 418th Bomb Squadron not the 351st. Now I did get an interesting bit of info from another relative's family from the crew, She said the plane was named "Malfunction Junction".

A/C 43-37636 was a B-17G built by Boeing. She was natural finish (Silver) and her call sign was LD (for 418th Bomb Squadron) W (call sign). She was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts on June 20, 1944. She completed a tour of duty with the Crew of Lt Schaffhausen in November 1944 (unconfirmed reports say that the this crew called her "Miss Conduct". We have no other info as to which Crews flew the plane up until your Brother's (F/O Dale Giebelhaus) Crew took her.

Letter from Bob Estes, son of Robert L. Estes, March 2011

Thank you very much for sharing your messages to Cindy Goodman and the Marchuns. After reviewing the materials about the 100th which I hadn't seen for many years, a flood of information came back to my consciousness, and I think I may have a few things to share with others. My mother and I visited the American Memorial and Cemetery at Cambridge, England with a group from the 100th Bomb Group Association in 1990.  Our visit there was frought with emotion. Unlimited kindness was shown us by all members of the Group. They allowed me to assist in laying a wreath during a ceremony at the memorial flagpole. I took extensive photographs of the mosaic that adorns the interior of the memorial building. It was overwhelming.

In looking through my things, I took a photo of one of the markers for another member of our tour group.  The cross had been erected in honor of Lt. Richard Curran.  A scan of the photo is attached.  According to your web site, Lt. Curran was a member of the Lt. Ralph W. Wright crew.

I'm also attaching a scan of two other photos, of my Dad. These are the only two I have of him in Air Corp uniform, with wings. One is from his wedding to my Mom taken 9 August 1944. My Mom is wearing her wedding dress, which was sewn by my grandmother from my Dad's silk parachute. He had started in the infantry and was disqualified from parachute school when he injured his neck. I think it was then he signed up for flight school. He's not wearing a hat so I suppose it's not suitable for the web site. The other is of him with three of his crew. The original is very small (2.5"x3.5") so the images are indistinct. I don't know where it was taken. The names are on the back. It is from a scrapbook. I don't have any other photo of the Crew - only photos taken of he and others during flight training. I suppose he never had a formal portrait taken in his Air Corp uniform as I've had numerous friends and acquaintances provide memorabilia over the years, and none has surfaced from anyone.

I would be pleased to have you share the crew picture with any others who might be interested. I also have numerous letters from fellow Airmen, relatives, and acquaintances, including an amazingly comprehensive packet from Wm. L. Stoelzel of Winston, Salem, NC, who also flew the 5 April mission (Navigator). The collection includes a letter from Robert Black of Hendricksonville, NC, which enclosed a copy of your letter to him of 3 May 1990 (after having seen his letter in the Spring 90 issue of Splasher Six) along with a copy of Gris Smith's log entry describing his experiences during the 5 April mission. Sgt. Black wrote a compelling description of having heard the planes approach and the bombs falling on Nurnburg from his position as a P.O.W. prisoner nearby: "I ask you to picture the smiles - and tears - on thousands of G.I.'s faces as the planes slowly flew overhead, circled, and began the long flight home."

I was unaware of the web site until yesterday. I must say - it is a magnificent tribute to the 100th.

The final attachment is in three parts, comprising an item in the July 6, 1945 issue of the Walton Reporter. It chronicles my Dad's service history with reasonable accuracy, except I believe Nurnburg was his first combat mission.

July 6, 1945 article from the Walton Reporter

LIEUT. ROBERT ESTES REPORTED KILLED - Official Notification Received by Wife Monday

Had Officer Training in Infantry and Paratroopers Before Joining Air Force

"The secretary of war has asked me to express his deep regret that your husband, Second Lieutenant Robert L. Estes, was killed in action in the European area on April 5, 1945.  He had previously been reported missing in action.  Confirming letter follows.  Ulio, the adjutant general of the army."

This message was received Tuesday, July 3 by Mrs. Gracia Estes of 29 Liberty street, Walton.  The family is anxiously awaiting further details, feeling there is still a faint hope that Lieutenant Estes may be alive, owing to conflicting reports received. 

On Sunday, April 22, Mrs. Estes received a message from the war department that Lieutenant Estes had been missing in action in Germany since April 5.  About the first of June a letter, dated May 29, was received from Major E. A. Bradunas, headquarters of the Army Air Forces in Washington.  In this letter the major stated: "Your husband was the pilot of a B-17 (Flying Fortress) which participated in a bombardment mission to Nurnburg, Germany, on April 5, 1945.  While returning from the target, near Liege, Germany, your husband's bomber was separated from the formation as it entered clouds and it was neither seen nor contacted by radio thereafter."  Liege is in Belgium, not Germany, as stated in the letter.

On Sunday, June 24, the family of the bombardier, Flight Officer Dale Giebelhaus of Lincoln, Nebraska, was notified that he had been "killed in England."

It is a comparatively short flight from Liege, Belgium, to Stave in southern England, where the bomber is based.  The bomber is believed to have had 800 gallons of gasoline aboard when it was last seen.

Mrs. Gracia Estes received a letter Thursday, July, from the mother of Sergeant Robert Crawford, a gunner on the bomber, stating that she had been notified on June 27 that Sergeant Crawford had been killed on April 5 in northern Ireland.

Robert Lee Estes was the second son of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Estes, Quarry street.  He attended the Walton school and graduated in 1939, and during the following year worked as a sign painter and at various jobs until going to Fort McClellan, Alabama, with Company F in October, 1940.  He left here as a private and rose through the ranks to private first class, corporal to sergeant in Company F, 106th Infantry, 27th Division, and then was returned from Hawaii to the states for officer training.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in infantry at the Officer Candidate school at Fort Benning, Georgia, on Nov. 25, 1942, and then was assigned for a time to the 83rd Infantry Division at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.  He volunteered for the paratroopers and was returned to the Paratroop school at Fort Benning.  In a parachute jump there he received an injury to his neck which made him ineligible for further service in the paratroopers.

It was then that he applied for aviation cadet training and was accepted.  He received his pilot's wings at Turner Field in Georgia in July, 1944, and shortly thereafter, on August 9, 1944, while home on leave married Miss Gracia Depuy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Churchill.  He was stationed at Hendricks Field in Florida, Biggs Field in Texas, and at Lincoln, Nebraska, before flying overseas.  His bomber passed over Walton on February 24 and at the time Lieutenant Estes circled his ship above his wife's home to let her know he was on his way overseas.

Lieutenant Estes was probably on his second or third mission on the day he was reported missing.  The last letter received by his wife was dated April 3.

Lieutenant Estes has two brothers and a brother-in-law in service.  First Lieutenant Lionel Estes, an older brother, is now with the military police, after being three times wounded in action.  Gerald Estes RDM 3/c U. S. navy, a younger brother, was wounded in a fight between his ship and a submarine.  Bert Wayman, husband of June Estes, is in the navy.

Bob Estes had a natural talent for art and planned after the war to continue his training along this line to better fit himself for it as his life's work.  While at Fort McClellan and in Hawaii he made many interesting sketches of army life and in Hawaii created a cartoon character, "Rusty Springfield, " for the Hawaiian Defender, army publication.  His return to the states for officer training interrupted Rusty's career.

He was 24 years of age on Feb. 22, 1945.  Most of his life had been spent in Walton, where he attended high school.  He was a youth of fine principles, whose talent in art promised him a career of usefulness in civil life.