COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
MACR # 1023, Micro-fiche #339
2ND LT CHARLES H. THOMPSON P POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER A/C #42-30374 "SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS"
2ND LT ROSS McEUEN CP POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER TAPS:
2ND LT EDWARD R. JONES NAV KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER
2ND LT WILLIAM J. SPROW, JR BOM POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER TAPS: 1963
S/SGT JACK STERN ROG POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER
S/SGT RICHARD E. DERBY TTE POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER
S/SGT JESSE W. COOK, JR BTG POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER TAPS: 1988
S/SGT CHARLES L. NESSEL RWG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER
S/SGT FLOYD M. CAHALL LWG KIA 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER (possibly TG according to S/Sgt Stern)
S/SGT DONALD E. LEECH TG POW 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER (possibly LWG according to S/Sgt Stern)
351ST SQDN.. CREW JOINED THE 100TH IN AUGUST 1943, A VERY EARLY REPLACEMENT CREW. THEY WERE FLYING THEIR SIXTH MISSION ON 10 OCT 43.
see page 154/155 of "MUNSTER: THE WAY IT WAS" BY IAN HAWKINGS.
MISSION LIST FOR LT CHARLES H. THOMPSON CREW:
1. 23 SEP 43 VANNES A/C 42-3234 LITTLE MIKE (may have been spare a/c on this misison)
2. 26 SEP 43 PARIS A/C 42-30734 SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS
3. 27 SEP 43 EMDEN A/C 42-30734 SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS
4. 04 OCT 43 HANAU A/C 42-30734 SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS
5. 09 OCT 43 MARIENBURG A/C 42-30734 SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS
6. 10 OCT 43 MUNSTER A/C 42-30734 SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS (SHOT DOWN)
This crew was on its sixth mission. Apparently after reaching the I.P. this A/C received a head-on attack by enemy a/c and Edward Jones was severely wounded by a 20mm. Almost simultaneously there was a direct flak hid in the waist and both waist gunners killed or severelY wounded.
Bail out order given but evidently not all got our before ship exploded.
Lt.Sprow shoved Lt.Jones out of nose escape hatch after pulling his rip cord. Several men blown out when plane exploded and their chutes opened.
One crewman later reported as follows: "The Germans threw his body (Jones') into a truck transporting us to a jail. He was all shot up and he was white-I presume he had bled to death."
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"On the crew of Charles H.Thompson you have Donald Leech listed as tail gunner. Actually he was the left waist gunner and Floyd M. Cahall was the tail gunner. You have me listed as Sgt. Actually all enlisted men were S/Sgt, so as for more details when our plane reached the I.P. our number 4 engine burst into flames.
We dropped out of formation and dropped our bombs. Our number one engine burst into flames whereupon our pilot Lt Charles H. Thompson sounded the abort signal. Seeing the ball turret gunner still rotating and he would not hear the signal, I grabbed a handfull of casings and my chest chute. I threw the casings on the turret and when he looked up at me, I put on my chest chute and pointed at it and indicated bail out.
I returned to my gun to give him cover and saw him bail out of the waist door. I had not seen the tail gunner and started to throw casings at his position when I saw both waist gunners lying on the floor,and non responsive. A FW-109 seeing us all alone and on fire closed in for a easy kill. I fired first and saw him go down. There was a loud noise and I blacked out. When I came to, I found myself swaying in the air. Our plane had exploded and the force of the explosion had opened my chute. I was immediately surrounded by German soldiers when I landed.
I was reunited with Richard E. Derby and Jesse W. Cook and sent to Stalag 17. We spent 20 months there and were on a 300 mile death march at the end of the war. I would appreciate it if you would send me a corrected listing.
S/Sgt. Jack Stern-ROG,
Michael,
I guess we all hate to admit it, but as the years fly by , memories grow dimmer. I do not remember the Sept.23,1943 raid on Vannes. Paris was
the first raid that I recall,the others are the same. It is true that the Air Medal is awarded after five completed missions.I received credit, and the American Campaign Medal, for the Kiska,Aleutian Island bombing raid on 8/15/43. This was thought to be an attack against a Japanese outpost on U.S. soil. I was part of the B-17 crew of Lt Richard Johnson.
I was chosen to go to pilot training school before that crew left for Europe. Because of high losses, before I could start training, I was assigned to the crew of Lt. Charles H. Thompson. I left with them as replacements. We arrived at the 100th Airfield base in August 1943, after an unexpectaded, approx.2 days sojourn in Northern Ireland. As far as the crew is concerned, my recolletion is that the tail gunner was Cahill, and Leech was the left waist gunner. It would not be the first time people who were not there, inadvertenly switched crew positions.As you know I was listed as Sgt. And not my actual rank of S/Sgt.
This is my memory, in fact it is vivid at this time because after 60 years, I finally gave into my grandsons insistance that I write down my
W.W.II service experiences. I guess what finally forced me to face bringing up all these repressed experiences, was a phone call from from
the son of a fellow Prisoner of War held in Stalag l7, wanting to know any memories of his father. I suddenly realized , if I did not tell them
what occurred to me, he might be one of my family in the future.
Sincerely
Jack Stern ROG
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MEMO 2:
POW/KIA notes: Crews 5th Mission.
