| Willow
Run
2010 Mini-Reunion/Air Show
Detroit, Michigan
THE THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN EVENT
August 5-9, 2010
The 100thBG along with the 8thAF Historical Society
At Willow Run, Michigan
By Scott & Joe Urice |
It was call letter TOM for short as Jack O’Leary labeled this
Thunder Over Michigan 8thAF Historical Society event---that name
became very appropriately descriptive after hearing and seeing the
low level fly-over on Saturday by the Alabama National Guard F-16
jet with its Square D markings. It was flown and named by Major
Brian Vaughn to honor his 100thBG grandfather, Harry Vaughn.
This F-16 was also supported by T/Sgt [Harry S] Shane Scroggins
who had marked the jet’s opposite side with the name “Superstitious
Aloysius” to also honor his grandfather’s {Lt. A.R. Scroggins}
95thBG plane. That WW2 plane was shot down and ditched on 4 January
1944 in the North Sea where Lt Scroggins was fortunately picked up
by the British Destroyer, the H.M.S. Verdun.
Additional aircraft that buzzed the Saturday crowd were eight B-17s,
in trail, all of which were adorned with eye catching nose art and
markings. Then nine P-51s with their splendid Merlin engines roared
across the huge audience’s view at a height of what seemed only 10
feet above the ground. Armored ground troops supported by several
half tracks, jeeps, personnel carriers, tanks, and several similar
other vehicles were the simulated targets. Other fly-overs were by a
B-24 Liberator and afterwards came ten low flying AT6s in elements
and also in full formation while each trailed smoke reminiscent of a
B-17’s contrail when at high altitude. Finally, a stunt pilot in a
death defying open cockpit bi-wing Stinson thrilled the appreciative
audience. It was an unforgettable performance on the flight line by
these classic aircraft and crews that took place in front of the
twin Willow Run hangers of WW2 vintage. At the facility’s peak,
B-24s were rolled out every hour in an effort to supply the US & its
Allies with its great wartime needs.
The 100thBG Saturday attendees were provided with a sizeable VIP
tent that was well stocked with cold bottled water and numerous
chairs. Cameras were flashing from all corners, but picture count of
275 by Joe O’Leary is highest now known. Notables present included
immediate 8thAFHS past President Mark Copeland and his
successor, Harry {Sheriff} Doug Tanner {and spouse, Lorene}.
Mike Faley of “High Noon Over Haseluenne” book authorship
fame was also there. Nancy Putnam was being crisply helpful
and efficient in her many duties that included seeing that vets got
immediate access to walk-thru tours of B-17s. She also got drafted
as a “Bus Boss” of one of the eight 55 passenger bases that carried
the group to their flight line tents on that Saturday. John
and Carol Tallichet arranged to have their renamed “Memphis
Belle” available for touring and viewing. Their crew member, Joe,
had a wild hard-to-accept version flak story involving the stars
that had been placed above the ship’s mission bomb count on the
A/C’s nose --- but when pressed he will tell a different version.
Aircraft “reconstructer” Tom Wilson had his newly assembled B-17
tail section on display. It was the beginning of a new A/C intended
to replicate Rosie Rosenthal’s WW2 famous “Rosie’s Riveters”
B-17. Major Rosenthal’s son, Dan, was present to review the
progress.
However, it was on Thursday afternoon when many of the100th vets,
families and friends actually arrived at the host hotel Crowne Plaza
[of Romulus, MI] and they had travelled from many directions
including both coasts of America and several Southern states such as
Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. Additionally several attendees came
all the way from England--across the pond as English lady Vera
Miller declared. Association members such as Colleen M. King
& her sister, Susan, & their Norwich, England born war bride
mother, Vera, were here and all now live in nearby Michigan
homes. Colleen and Vera’s “roll in the aisle” stories of wartime
civilian female life in England would be a splendid feature story
all would enjoy. As a 17 year old, Vera was thrilled to go dance at
the large LIDO dance hall in Norwich where the military and
civilians in the area gathered to socialize. Vera was highly
concerned when she was called for an interview with 100thBG Chaplain
Glenn Teska when her G.I. intended husband [Norman J
Miller} wanted to marry her during war-time WW2.
Jim Gintner of Cambridge, England joined staff members
Cindy Goodman and Jan Riddling as they “manned” the 100th
PX and hospitality room. One story to hear about travelling is Jan’s
dilemma with her car’s lost tail lights. The 100th PX was the only
one staffed and items displayed were books, shirts, new 100th caps,
and Square D carry sacks. Also from England were uniform “reactors”
Clive David Stevens and Shaun Beeching---Clive
was in full flight uniform including parachute and was one of the
very first to be on the flight line Friday for a B-17 ride. Other
uniform “reactors” at this event were Chicago based George
Bruckert and Chip Buerger who also had displayed their
superior equipment collection at the 2009 100th reunion in
Albuquerque, NM. Satellite organizations represented were the Kassel
Mission Group and a Stalag Luft lll POW group.
Perhaps the largest family group in attendance was that of the
Buschmeiers. One picture taken of the group totaled 14 people;
all dressed in their personal family-identified white crew shirts.
Frank W Buschmeier {LWG---Gibbons Crew} became a POW while in
the 350th Sqd. and while at this event he participated on the
Saturday night forum panel for the March, 1944 Berlin missions.
Ed Blanchard made the event a dual purpose trip with his
100th attendance that followed a visit with a former Navy shipmate
living in Northern Michigan. One attendee brought his kinsman’s
short-snorter {approximately five foot long} for display and it had
been almost completely covered by veterans’ signatures from all war
theatres. So many outstanding individuals and stories were available
that no words can adequately describe this outstanding scene.
Opportunities to sign pictures, books, jackets, posters, A/Cs and
metal parts abounded. Major Vaughn {F-16 pilot} introduced a new
signing “fad” by requesting WW2 veterans’ signatures on the lining
of his grandfather’s WW2 A-2 leather jacket. T/Sgt Scroggins was
collecting signatures in his personal leather log book. But no one
got to sign Jack & Joe O’Leary’s personally designed
Willow Run crewneck shirts. Ex-Marine Larry Simeone, of the
O’Leary’s Boston-area four-man entourage {which also included Rod
Bowles}, made available to several persons, his series of
extremely well executed photos of the nose art on the B-17s on the
line. Also seated at the O’Leary table were Scott Urice,
Dorothy Sisson and Alyece Urice. The 8th’s hospitality
room was a popular meeting room and well run---interestingly, on
display there was the marvelous wall sized picture of an in-flight
German Messerschmitt 109 that had been presented to Mark Copeland
by Hap Chandler.
Vivacious Pattie Anne Brand, Director of Finance/Membership
of the Michigan Education Association, and her sister, Janet
Scheetz, along with their 349 Sqd. veteran father, Joseph D.
Bohrer [2nd Lt. & originally a Nav. on the John Carroll
Crew but later he became a Radar Operator on Wilford Murray
Crew}, all made a happy entrance at the Friday breakfast sporting
their new design black 100thBG caps. Adrian & Robert
Caldwell, of the Mississippi Chapter of the 8th AFHS, made
several copies available of their excellent news bulletin,
appropriately named “Contrails & Propwash”. Adrian is the Editor and
Treasurer while Robert is 3rd VP of the Chapter. Also there was
Brian {Bear} Anderson.
That Friday many visited the enormous Ford Museum while many others
took private transportation to the Willow Run flight line to see the
numerous A/C on display. One of the very interesting WW2 aircraft
seen that day was the beautiful B-25 Mitchell bomber from the
Tomball, TX, of the Texas Raider chapter of the Commerative AF--
{formerly The Confederate AF}. Doc Heckert and Sandy
Thompson of that chapter were most gracious in displaying and
expounding on the merits and history of the plane. As is well
documented, B-25s were chosen by General Jimmy Doolittle to
take off from the deck of the carrier USS Hornet in April, 1942 to
bomb Tokyo shortly after the infamous Pearl Harbor attack by Japan’s
Naval Forces. That chapter also had a B-17 on display.
As previously stated, the Saturday was a full day’s viewing of The
Thunder Over Michigan program at the Willow Run facility. Saturday
night started with another excelling meal and service at the Crowne
Plaza’s main ball room. It was followed by a program similar in
nature to one at the 100th BG Reunion in Albuquerque in 2009. The
theme was the series of four missions made to Berlin, Germany on
March 3, 4, 6 and 8th in 1944. This Berlin mission series was a
vital bench mark in carrying the war deeply into Germany and
preparing for D-Day Channel invasion on June 6th, 1944. A 45 minute
video {developed by Julie Gerische] was shown and the program
was further high-lighted by a panel discussion featuring several
members of two of the crews on those missions. The pilots of those
crews were Robert “Bob” Shoens and John P Gibbons and
featured their B-17s, “Our Gal Sal” and “Miss Irish”, respectively,
who shared the discussion along with Frank Buschmeier and
Ed Stone. The “Our Gal Sal” name was the plane’s resulting name
after each crew member put a name in a hat and the lucky one drawn
was that from the crew’s Navigator---he originally had inserted “My
Gal Sal” but, by consent, the accepted name became “Our Gal Sal”.
“Miss Irish” came back all the way from one of its mission’s with
the entire right side of the radio room area blown away by a flak
burst. Amazing!! Three members of that Saturday panel were honored
with gratis rides on B-17s that day. Among the other notables
attending were some members of the 99thAF Red Tail P-51 Fighter
Group Association as also was the 8thAF Museum President.
One of the truly good historical documents was shown that Saturday
night by Earl & Barbara Rudolph of Maumee, OH. Earl’s father
(also Earl) had been in a 351st Sqd. ground armorer unit since the beginning
stages of the 100thBG arrival at Station #139 {Thorpe Abbotts}. Earl
had just recently discovered his late father’s day by day log book
dairy that showed the detailed bomb load specifics and other factual
data on every ship he serviced to go on a mission. The dairy ended
only when he was sent home on 3 September 1945. The book even
detailed the 10 January 1945 A/C crash at 10:30 AM into the 100thBG
bomb dump. It was a remarkable 100thBG historical document and has
the potential of being the basis of an outstanding book.
Sunday was a mixed tour schedule. Breakfast was the last event meal
for several individuals that needed to get return home for work
requirements---for example such was the case for Houston attorney
A. Benjamin Ramsey. It was just one day too long for some
persons. Afterwards some people revisited the flight line while
others toured the Ford Museum. The 100thBG was provided with a
sizeable VIP tent that was well stocked with bottled water and
numerous chairs. Later, Sunday night’s Gala was another excellent
dinner followed by music by the Jump Street Big Band of 16
performers playing many of the famous and popular songs of the WW2
era. This night actually became the last opportunity to visit with
several of old-time and the many newly made friends.
Monday could be best described as departure day for the great
majority of attendees. Jane and Bud Vieth caught an early
flight back to Washington DC. Joe Urice and Bud most
likely were the only two veterans here who actually shared the same
barracks at the 100th—it was hut #6 of the 351st Sqd. Alyece
Urice was headed to Florida for a national sorority/fraternity
convention. An interesting breakfast attendee was the webmaster of
the 401st BG, Rick Kaufman, of Ames, Iowa. He highly
praised the 100th web site,
www.100thBG.com.
Please remember to contact our 100th treasurer, David Distelrath,
if you are hopefully inclined to assist the 100th BG with much
needed donations as well as regular or past due membership dues that
are so vital for maintaining the Group and its excellent efforts to
serve members in so many ways.
The next large 100th events will be in Palm Springs, CA in January,
2011 and in Cleveland, OH in September, 2011. But just now everyone was
focused on heading home and all realized we had attended an
outstanding and historic event at the 2010 Willow Run spectacular. |
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Reunion Photos ► |