| 2nd Lt Howard Keel |
P |
CPT |
-- |
AWARDED DFC |
| 2nd Lt Robert K. Edgley |
CP |
CPT |
-- |
AWARDED DFC |
| 2nd Lt Alexander G. Park |
NAV |
CPT |
25 FEB 44 |
REGENSBURG |
| 2nd Lt Ruben C. Kelsey |
BOM |
CPT |
25 FEB 44 |
REGENSBURG |
| S/Sgt Thomas P. Hastings |
ROG |
CPT |
-- |
AWARDED DFC |
| S/Sgt George L. Ferron |
LWG |
CPT |
-- |
AWARDED DFC |
| S/Sgt Claire J. Phelan |
BTG |
CPT |
-- |
-- |
| S/Sgt Harry A. Koerner |
TG |
RFS |
-- |
MEDICAL REASONS
AFTER RJUKAN MISSION |
| S/Sgt Frederick A. Kornblum |
TTE |
RFS |
-- |
MEDICAL REASONSAFTER RJUKAN MISSION |
| S/Sgt Andrew J. Guglieri |
RWG |
CPT |
-- |
AWARDED DFC |
351st Sqdn. Crew 25, Crew as above joined the 100th Bomb Group on
25/9/43. This was an original 100th Bomb Group crew.
A/C flown: Holy Terror EP-D 230723 (lost over Munster October 10, 1943
with Lt William Beddow Crew), Holy Terror II EP-D 231062, Holy Terror III
EP-F 240056 lost on March 8, 1944 over BERLIN with Lt Norman Chapman Crew
who referred to this plane as "Katie's Boys"
After Nov 16 Mission to Rjukan (which Koerner and Kornblum flew with
another crew) the crew had the following changes: mpf
S/Sgt George Ferron TTE (from LWG)
S/Sgt Loren G. Johnson LWG (see crew list and note below)
S/Sgt Robert D. Abney TG (from the Helmick Crew)
MISSIONS AND TARGETS OF 1ST LT RUBEN CLIFFORD KELSEY sn# 0-676292 (mpf
nov 2000):
| NBR |
DATE |
TARGET |
| 01 |
26/9/43 |
PARIS-FLEW WITH ANOTHER CREW |
| 01 |
27/9/43 |
EMDEN-FLEW WITH ANOTHER CREW |
| 03 |
4/10/43 |
HANAU-1st Mission with KEEL CREW |
| 04 |
8/10/43 |
BREMEN-shot at Me109 that crashed
into Marie Helena. The crew was given a weekend pass to London when
we returned to base so we missed the next two missions, fortunately.
It was so quiet at Thorpe Abbotts when we returned, it was almost
spooky. We had met some guys from the 95th BG at the train station
at Diss when we returned from London and they gave us the bad news
about the Munster Raid (10/10/43-12 B-17's failed to return) so we
were aware of what to expect at base. However, it was still a shock" |
| 05 |
14/10/43 |
SCHWEINFURT-"Black Thursday", flew
with the 95th BG that day because 100th could only put up 8 aircraft
after the Munster Mission. We "flew Heaven Can Wait" I have memories
of seeing more B-17's shot down than I had ever seen or would ever
see again. Both myself and BTG got credit for shooting down 2 enemy
fighters. Mine was a FW190 |
| 06 |
20/10/43 |
DUREN |
| 07 |
3/11/43 |
WILHELMSHAVEN |
| 08 |
7/11/43 |
DUREN |
| 09 |
13/11/43 |
BREMEN |
| 10 |
26/11/43 |
BREMEN |
| 11 |
13/12/43 |
KIEL |
| 12 |
16/12/43 |
BREMEN |
| 13 |
20/12/43 |
BREMEN |
| 14 |
22/12/43 |
MUNSTER |
| 15 |
24/12/43 |
NO BALL (V-1 ROCKET SITES) |
| 16 |
5/1/44 |
NEUSS |
| 17 |
11/1/44 |
BRUNSWICK |
| 18 |
14/1/44 |
NO BALL |
| 19 |
29/1/44 |
FRANKFURT |
| 20 |
30/1/44 |
BRUNSWICK |
| 21 |
4/2/44 |
FRANKFURT |
| 22 |
13/2/44 |
NO BALL (ROCKET SITES) |
| 23 |
20/2/44 |
ROSTOCK LISTED IN DIARY (GROUP HIT
POSEN THIS DAY, START OF BIG WEEK) |
| 24 |
21/2/44 |
VORDEN |
| 25 |
25/2/44 |
REGENSBURG |
351st Sqdn. Crew 25, Crew appears on roster of 3/3/44 with some changes
as below:
| Capt H. E. Keel |
P |
-- |
-- |
| 2nd Lt R. K. Edgley |
CP |
-- |
-- |
| 1st Lt Frederick D. Fuller |
NAV |
CPT |
From crew of C. A. Jansen |
| T/Sgt Dorsett C. Bennett |
NG |
CPT |
From crew of J. R. Swartout |
| T/Sgt Thomas P. Hastings |
ROG |
CPT |
-- |
| S/Sgt Geroge L. Ferron |
TTE |
CPT |
-- |
| S/Sgt Charley
L. Anglin |
BTG |
KIA |
11/5/44 with
J. Hunter crew |
| S/Sgt Andrew J. Guglieri |
RWG |
CPT |
-- |
| S/Sgt Loren G. Johnson |
LWG |
CPT |
20/4/44 (see note below) |
| S/Sgt Robert D. Abney |
TG |
CPT |
1/4/44 from R. H. Helmick crew |
Keel went to 3rd Air Division and stayed in service after WW II. He was
killed in the crash of a transport plane (as a passenger) on 3 Nov. 1948.
See letter from Mark H. Brown in 349th file.
Loren G. Johnson:
Loren G. Johnson 351st Squadron , passed away on July 14, 2004, at the
age of 82 years old. Loren joined the service on Nov 6th 1942 and was
assigned to Army Intelligence, due to the shortage of mechanic's he was
reassigned as a B-24 maintenance mechanic. Upon completion of mechanic's
training, Loren was reassigned once more to the 100th Bomb Group as
spare waist gunner on a B-17 , with his first combat mission to
Wilhelmshaven on Nov.3,1943. Loren flew eight combat missions in "Holy
Terror III " with the remaining 17 missions flown with eight different
crews/planes as a spare gunner. On March 8th 1944 on the Berlin - Erkner
raid, Loren was assigned to another crew as a spare gunner , he watched
as the "Holy Terror III " was shot down in the area of Magdeburg,
Germany . He completed his 25 combat missions on April 21, 1944 .
Loren's service in the 100th for ever changed his life , in spite of
these experiences he went on with his life and attended college ,
married his wife Betty and had three children , Julie, Mary Jo, & Jerry
. Words can not describe nor will we ever fully appreciate what
hardships and suffering Loren and his fellow airmen went through during
their service with the 100th during WWII .
Respectfully submitted by his son Jerry (9 Mar 2006) |
