351ST SQDN.. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH GP ON 14 JUL 43; THIS WAS THE 351ST'S FIRST REPLACEMENT CREW.

JIM BOYLE WAS KILLED BY A FLAK SHARD OVER GELSENKIRCHEN. A BURST ABOVE THE A/C SENT A SLIVER DOWNWARD JUST GRAZING THE TOP STEEL LINING OF HIS FLAK SUIT AND PIERCED HIS HEART. HE IS BURIED AT CAMBRIDGE IN PLOT B ROW 3, GRAVE 51.

H. L. HUGHES RETIRED AS LT. COLONEL AFTER 27 YEARS. BARNUM MADE A CAREER OUT OF THE AIR FORCE, RETIRING IN 1968. The RWG, BUNTIN, ALSO STAYED IN THE SERVICE RETIRING AS A MASTER SGT SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THIS FROM JIM BROWN IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES.

AFTER THE CHRONIC AIRSICKNESS FINALLY GROUNDED ANGEL, DESPITE HIS PROTESTS, HE SERVED ON THE GROUND CREW.

A/C FLOWN BY THIS CREW WAS "NINE LITTLE YANKS AND A JERK"

"My crew was the first replacement crew in the 351st Squadron of the 100th BG(H). We finished our tour in and in all our leads we left but one man over enemy territory. (Big Frank Valesh had his tail gunner shot from his aircraft over the coast of France. The tail gunner was reported as a POW in good health. Frank flew his plane back and landed at Manston Air Field, minus his Tail Gunner and tail compartment.) He was flying my right wing and in close at the time."

October 10, 1943

"I remember the very young Robert Rosenthal as he returned from Bloody Munster; I had been debriefed and was holding fast for the return of the rest of the crews. Without saying a word, his face told the entire story, but he did say a few words."

"Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk aborted on the end of the runway on take-off, a large piece of flak was found to have cut the Magneto harness and shorted out our ignition. We took old 604 and after scrubbing cosomline off the guns rendezvous with Major Egan and the 100th BG(H) was made at the English Coast as the 13th Combat Wing headed for the French Coast. ...test fired our guns as soon a possible after clearing the English Coastline. Six guns were inoperative. Major Egan was advised and we were instructed to continue working on them. As we were nearing the French Coast we test fired again and had lost one gun for a total of seven inoperative .50 caliber guns. We had penetrated inland of the French Coast and were contemplating going on when Major Egan instructed us to take it home, because of the probability of the rest of the guns seizing up after continued firing. As I recall, top and ball turrets guns were inoperative, Tail guns were frozen and one of the nose guns was inoperative. We swung back out to sea and headed for England after wishing John (Major Egan) good luck (which he never received). We later discovered that Armament had brought our new guns to #604 and that they had just been slipped into place without the usual GI soap and hot water bath required before the guns could be put into service. We did not ask credit for this mission, especially after seeing our returns...."

"Naming the plane - When we were assigned our B-17 at Grand Island Nebraska, we named her "NINE LITTLE YANKS AND A JERK". After we crossed the Atlantic and were approaching Preswick, Scottland, Joe Boyle ROG forgot to pull in the trailing wire antenna, which created havoc with the Scottish countryside. Now we thought we knew who was the "JERK" on the crew. However, when we flew our first missions on other crews to get experience, we found we had another "JERK" on the crew. When the crew I drew with Captain Murphy as pilot had trouble with its plane, Piccadilly Lily, we went to another aircraft. I left live ammunition in the chambers of the ball turret guns on the "Lily". When I got a severe but just reprimand from Capt. Murphy, we thought maybe we should have called our aircraft "Eight Little Yanks and Two Jerks"-

"On my fifth mission, to Regensburg on Aug 17, 1943, I was with Lt Tom Murphy's Crew in Piccadilly Lily again and Joe Boyle was in another plane. We thought we saw each other shot down but when we arrived in Africa we really rejoiced because we were both alive.

We bombed Bordeaux on our way back to England from Africa and as we approached England Lt Col Bierne Lay Jr. called a RAF base asking for permission to land and get gas. The answer came back that they had no gas because they used petrol. They tried to divert us to another base forty miles away but Col. Lay said, "Forty miles, hell! We're coming in". Our batteries were so dry of electrolite that we had to fly on to Thorpe Abbotts with the landing gear down to conserve electrical power"