COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
2nd Lt Oren E. Hopkins P POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
2nd Lt Foy E. Read CP POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
2nd Lt Forrest Gordon NAV POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
2nd Lt Eugene E. Lockhart BOM KIA 3 FEB 45 BERLIN with the Ernst PFF crew; see below
Cpl Henry B. Marlette TTE POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
Sgt Kenneth E. Yeater ROG POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE see below
Cpl Arthur B. Crush, Jr. BTG POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
Cpl Harold Farlow WG POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
Cpl Charles W. Koons, Jr. WG CPT 15 MAR 45 (Crew unknown..pw)
Cpl Eugene E. Jamison TG POW 5 NOV 44 THIONVILLE
351st Sqdn. Crew , as above, joined the 100th Group on 4/8/44. On 5/11/44. Lt Robert J. Doucette, BOM from
the crew of J.P.Ernst (see below), was flying with this crew and became a POW. Lt Eugene E. Lockhart was flying with the Pathfinder crew of J.P.Ernst on 3/2/45 when he was KIA. Charles W. Koons, Jr. was removed at the crew reduction to nine men..
EYEWITNESS: "A/C #520 appeared to be in trouble shortly after leaving the I.P. at 1102 hours. Bombs were salvoed and one engine feathered. The A/C stayed in formation to the R.P. (rally point...pw) where another engine was feathered and the aircraft began a gradual controlled descent. When last seen the aircraft was below the cloud level at six or seven thousand feet,
\heading in a westerly direction under apparent control."
German report in the MACR is to the effect this aircraft, badly damaged by flak, made an emergency landing and seven (7) crew members were captured. Other documents list all nine of the crew as captured and Sgt. Kenneth E. Yeater in the hospital.
From: Kenneth E. Yeater
To: Paul West
Dear Paul,
The following is information you requested about the missions I flew with the 100th, taken from Bomb Tags I had along with information received from other members of our crew.
Crew members were:
Oren E. Hopkins, Pilot
James Farlow, WG
Kenneth E. Yeater, Radio Operator
Forest Gordon, Navigator
Eugene Jamison, Tail Gunner
Arthur Crush, BTG
Henry Marlette, TTG
Robert Doucette, Bombardier
Foy E. Read, Co Pilot
Charles Koons, 10th man.
Eugene Lockhart, Bombardier, was originally with the crew, but was replaced after a few missions by Robert Doucette who flew the remainder of our missions.
Beginning with our first mission, the following is the record I have, and is to the best of my knowledge accurate.
24 Aug. 1944, our first mission. Ruhland, Ger. 26,000 Ft. 10 hours
500# Bombs. No fighters heavy flak. Plane #126 "The Latest Rumor"
25 Aug. 1944: Politz, Ger. 25,000 Ft. 9 hours 10 500# Bombs. No
fighters, heavy flak. Plane #047 "Fever Beaver"
30 Aug. 1944: Bremen, Ger. 26,000 Ft. 6.5 hours 6 1000# Bombs. No fighters
medium flak, accurate. Plane #126 "The Latest Rumor"
3 Sept. 1944: Brest, France 11,000 Ft. First run. 8,000 Ft. Second run, 7 hours
no fighters no flak "Milk Run". Plane #126
8 Sept. 1944: Mainz, Ger. 28,000 Ft. 7.5 hours 10 500# Bombs. No fighters
medium flak though accurate. Ken Yeater hit in helmet
by flak entering radio room. Plane #530 "Quittin' Time"
9 Sept. 1944: Dusseldorf, Ger. 28,000 Ft. 8.5 hours 10 500#
Bombs. No fighters heavy flak. No bombs dropped. Plane #530 "Quittin Time"
10 Sept. 1944: Nurnberg, Ger. 28,000 Ft. 9 hours 10 500# Bombs. No fighters
heavy flak. Plane #708 "SKIPPER"
11 Sept. 1944: Ruhland, Ger. 25,000 Ft. 9 hours 10 500# Bombs. Heavy flak,
many fighters, very rough. Plane #867G "Boeing Belle"
12 Sept. 1944: Magdeburg, Ger. 24,000 Ft. 8 hours 10 500# Bombs. Fighters,
heavy flak. Plane #867G "Boeing Belle"
On September 18, 1944, the crew of Pilot, J.R. Ransom, needed a
radio operator and ball turret gunner to fly the Warsaw Mission
with them. Ken YeaterJ Radio Operator and Arthur Crush, BTG
volunteered from our crew, those missions were as follows:
18 Sept. 1944: Warsaw, Poland 14,000 Ft. 11 hours. 12 Supply Containers.
Ample fighters, heavy flak.
19 Sept. 1944: Szolnok, Hungary 21,000 Ft. 10 hours. 10 500# Russian Bombs. No
fighters, heavy flak.
22 Sept. 1944: From Foggia, Italy 8,000 Ft. 9 hours. No bombs, no fighters,
no flak no target. Just going home.. (nice trip)
Other members of J.R. Ransom crew were: K. Lamb, F. Waldman, J. Wood, R. Felce, C. Alban, W. Bywaters. (Crew 61 a/c #2106935) This information was supplied by Ken Everett of UK from Microfilm, which also credited Lt. J.R. Ransom with completing his tour on Sept. 19, 1944.
Continuing missions of our crew:
25 Sept. 1944: Ludwigshafen, Ger. 26,000 Ft. 7 hours. 12 500# Bombs. No
fighters, heavy flak inaccurate. Plane "Our Gal Sal" #767.
26 Sept. 1944: Bremen, Ger. 25,000 Ft. 6 hours. 6 1000# Bombs. No fighters,
medium flak~ inaccurate. Plane #767 "Our Gal Sal".
28 Sept. 1944: Merseberg, Ger. 27,000 Ft. 8 hours. 10 500# Bombs. Fighters in
area, very heavy flak. Plane #767 "Our Gal Sal".
2 Oct. 1944: Kassel, Ger. 26,000 Ft. 8 hours. 10 500# Bombs. No fighters,
heavy flak. Plane "Fools Rush In" #066.
6 Oct. 1944: Berlin, Ger. 26,000 Ft. 8 hours. 5 1000# Bombs. No fighters,
very heavy flak. Plane New one "Going My Way" #520.
7 Oct. 1944: Leipzig, Ger. 25,000 Ft. 9 hours. 10 500# Bombs. Fighters in
area, heavy flak accurate. Plane #520 "Going My Way".
9 Oct. 1944: Mainz, Ger. 24,000 Ft. 7 hours. 5 1000# Bombs.
No fighters, light flak. Plane #520 "Going My Way".
12 Oct. 1944: Bremen, Ger. 26.000 Ft. 6.5 hours. 5 1000#
Bombs. Few Jets (no attacks), heavy flak. Plane # 520 "Going My Way"
15 Oct. 1944: Cologne, Ger. 16 250# Bombs. 4 500# Incindiaries. No fighters,
very heavy flak - accurate. Plane # 520 "Going My Way"
18 Oct. 1944: Kassel, Ger. Prop Wash Bomb fell off rack. Plane #520 "Going My Way"
22 Oct. 1944: Munster, Ger. No info. Plane #520 "Going My Way".
25 Oct. 1944 to 31 Oct. 1944: All crew flak leave.
5 Nov. 1944: Ludwigshafen, Ger. Plane #520 "Going My Way". Intense flak hits forced us down to a crash landing. Ken Yeater, Radio Operator hit by flak, only crew member hurt. All crew taken prisoner by German soldiers. (My recollections of that time on separate sheet.)
Adding the following to the above from notes written by Oren E. Hopkins, Pilot. Oren stated in his notes that when he pulled away from formation, he discovered that his wing man was still following us. He either realized that our plane was not going to be able to return to formation, or Oren was able to contact them to return to group. I had an unexpected surprise and opportunity to meet Tom Hughes of Copperas Cove, Texas at a mini reunion held in Plano, Texas in January, 1993 He was our right wing man' It was his plane that Oren told of in his notes.
Sincerely,
Ken Yeater
351st Sqdn. lO0th Bomb Group
5 Nov. 1944: Ludwigshafen, Ger. Plane #520 "Going My Way"
The events that took place after we crossed the target are in the notes of Oren E. Hopkins, Pilot. I has hit by flak that spun through my left leg at my knee. When the flak hit, I was thrown to the other side of the radio room. Didn't realize I was hit until I saw my leg. The left leg of my heated suit was cut off when I received the hit. I have few recollections of our crash landing, except remembering being pulled over a mound of dirt where the ball turret had been, when we all were evacuating the plane. Then nothing until the rest of the crew said farewell to me at the German hospital where German soldiers took all of us following our capture. The rest of the crew were taken by the soldiers, separated, and taken on to prison camps. I was kept on at the hospital, somewhere near the Moselle River (town of Trier may have been location), for several days. When allied troops, began crossing the Moselle River, the hospital was evacuated. All were put on a train on the other side of the town. The train stopped at Stuttgart where I was placed on a stretcher at the station, guarded by 2 German soldiers until a truck from Stalag VA picked me up.
I was the only member of the Air Force of the 17 Americans there at Stalag VA. It was located at Ludwigsburg, about 14 kilometers from Stuttgart. It had been an Infantry Barracks during WWI. One three story structure, was the hospital where I was placed. There were quanset type buildings where Russian, Polish, French, Belgian and others were held prisoner.
I remember a German Guard singing to us in the evening, and a French Priest making the rounds with a large can full of tea, offering sips to us then too.
A Belgian Doctor, a prisoner also, took care of us as best he could, had determined that my leg could not be saved, and had scheduled amputation. God was with me, as allied planes bombed out the water supply in the whole area. Miracles do happen, my leg began to turn back to normal gradually after that. I still have my leg'
I was liberated on April 21, 1945 by a French Armored Tank Division.
Must relate a bit of humor regarding our liberation by the French. They had lobbed artillery into the town for about 2 weeks prior to coming in. What a sight they were. Tanks had laundry hanging from the guns their women were with them, also their dogs. When they came to the 3rd floor where I was, they asked us what we wanted most. We told them a radio so we could hear what was happening in the world. When theyasked what else we needed, we all told them something to drink. Shortly after our request was made,a horse drawn water tank used for sprinkling the streets appeared, full of wine, along with 14 radios!
One of the most spectacular sights at the Stalag occurred about 3 days prior to the French coming in. A group of P 51's flying single file came down to my 3rd floor level, departing, they dipped their wings to let us know help was coming. The Germans had all departed several days after the artillery started coming in.
We were taken by truck several days later to Ludwigshaven, put on a hospital train to Nancy, France. I stayed in a hospital there for 6 weeks.I finally caught a B 17 from the 94th Group flying back to England. Then a ride back to the 100th at Thorpe Abbotts. Found everyone who was going back to the States had already left. I then went to the 8th Air Force Headquarters, and was sent to Southhampton to await passage home. Spent 6 weeks there. My name finally appeared to go to Liverpool to board a ship for home. 22 days after leaving Liverpool on "The Nishmaha", arrived at New York harbor, then on to Newark,N.J. where we docked in the USA July 20, 1945.
Sometime after we all arrived home, Gene Jamison stopped in Michigan City to visit, and told me of one of the miracles that did happen just prior to our being taken prisoner. The crew had popped a parachute and placed me on it. All the while rifle and mortars were being fired at me and the rest of the crew. Not a
single shot hit me or the chute, or any of the other crew members, who were spread out on a sloping hill where our plane came to rest. Shortly thereafter, we all were taken prisoner.
Kenneth E. Yeater, 351st Sqdn. 100th Bomb Group
MEMO 2:
