349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, apparently joined the 100th Group in Nov 1943, as this is believed to be their first mission. According to Glasmeier (31/3/90) Lt George W. Ford who had arrived at the 100th with his own crew on 12/9/43 was pilot of the above crew on 26/11/43 and became a POW.

2ND LT WILLIAMS FLEW AS CP ON THE JANSSEN CREW ON 3 MARCH 44 AND WAS MOST LIKELY WITH THEM ON 4 MARCH 44 WHEN THEY COMPLETED THEIR 25TH MISSION. THE TARGET WAS BERLIN.

CREW on 26 NOV 43 mission to BREMEN

349th Sqdn. Crew, as above, apparently joined the 100th Group in Nov 1943, as this is believed to be their first mission. MACR # 1394, Microfiche # 464, A/C # 42-31215

EYEWITNESS:
A/C # 215 was hit in # 2 engine when two FW 190s attacked the low squadron at 1045 hrs. Fell out of formation and dived for cloud cover. E/A followed but P-47s came to the rescue. A/C was seen from time to time flying below the formation. At 1048 hrs one chute was seen and at 1103 hrs nine more chutes were seen. At 1105 hrs it hit the ground and exploded, near 49 32N and 02 00E. During the last few minutes of flight fire spread over the entire left wing.

That Pitner and Plischke were successful evadees is evidenced by signing a report to the Adjutant General's office dated 5 Feb 44. This same report indicates Andrew Hathaway also returned to duty also evading. The record for Delton King is not clear; he may have been an evadee rather than a POW.

There remains some difficulty in determining G. W Ford's role with this crew. (Letter to Jim Brown from Jean Pitner regarding this matter follows. .
Dear Jim: ( 26 November 1990)

Forty-seven years ago today, I was shot down. Twenty-seven days before that I signed in at the 100th. First, let me answer your specific question regarding Earl Williams and George Ford. Earl was first pilot on my crew. I met him, as well as my navigator and bombardier, at Walla Walla, Washington. Earl was an "old timer". He had been an enlisted radio operator in Hawaii before the peacetime draft and during the attack of December 7, 1941. When I met him he was a 1st Lt. , married and no children. The rest of us had just graduated from flying schools; in my case "travel time" from Blackland AAB, Waco, Texas, to Moses Lake, Washington, then on to Walla Walla.

Earl and I flew a couple of local flights after we arrived at the 100th. He, as well as all of the crew (except me), flew combat missions shortly after we arrived at the 100th. Each of them flew with different crews at different times as substitutes on various crews

Our crew was scheduled to fly together for the first time on 26 November 1943. I was not included. An experienced multi missioned pilot would "check out the crew and sign off Earl as combat ready. I do not know what happened during the night to change the plans, but I was awakened early in the morning and told that I would fly and Earl would not. Earl was as surprised as I.

I met George Ford at briefing. He was a captain, said very little, mentioned that he had flown fourteen (I think) missions. He also told me that this was a good starting mission for me (my first) and that it would be a "piece of cake" and a "milk run". The last time I saw George was as we were bailing out. I never believed, nor was I told, that George was a "new crew member" who would continue to fly with us. I thought he was sort of a "check ride" for a new crew. So much for George now back to Earl. The last time I saw Earl was when he came to London to make a personal identification of me for Army Intelligence. I recall that Earl had changed. I thought he was "flak happy", and for a little while I thought he either did not know me, or would not make the identification. He did, but the intelligence officers weren't satisfied. Intelligence demanded two other officers from the 100th to come and make the identification. To shorten this phase, Intelligence had to accept Earl's ID because there were no officers in the 100th who knew me!

I haven't said anything about my escape from France, and that is not an oversight. There are two reasons:

(1) It has been proven that the longer the time from the combat experience, the greater the distortion in the way the person describes that experience. If the action is told frequently, that too will alter the facts. Often truth becomes fantasy. Most are unaware of what has happened and actually believe they are recalling the combat experience exactly as it happened.

(2) Even if I could recount my escape in accurate detail, there is no way that I can separate a part from the whole. I am certain that it would be effortless for me to write hundreds of pages, single spaced with narrow margins, and probably leave out something. Even worse, I probably would exaggerate the facts. It would be nothing but historical fiction at best.

Now you can understand why I opened this letter with those two observations, especially the forty-seven years remark. Come to think of it, I wonder what kind of a story I would tell about my last combat flying three years in Vietnam, including all campaigns of the entire conflict? This time I was shot up frequently, but not shot down.

I think that you have a difficult task before you in your research. I suspect that time is running out. Oddly, in my 33 years of service, I've met only one person who was in the 100th. I was lecturing at Brown University, Providence, RI, in the Fall of 1964, when I met a man named Brown. He told me that he had been the historian of the 100th. Coincidence? We talked at length, but we were not at the 100th at the same time.

I congratulate you on the work you are doing and hope you can bring the account to an end soon. I know from personal experience how frustrating, tiring, and sometimes-expensive research can be, especially oral and first person. I know, too, the great satisfaction of completion. I hope you experience that soon.

Sincerely Yours,
Jean Pitner