On June 6^th, 2000 some of us were privileged to take part in a fly-over and dedication of the new National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. We arrived mid-afternoon on Monday the 5^th and we were quartered in the Park St. Charles Hotel along with a large number of D-Day Navy Veterans and their families. This was the largest gathering of WW II Vets since the war ended and boy howdy were they having a good time.

While the Museum itself was closed for a private party and the National News Networks. The daring duo of B-17 Man and Jerry "The Hobbs Meter Man" talked their way past the guards, past the Hostess, right up to the Director of Visitors who took pity and personally gave them a brief tour of parts of the Museum not occupied by Tom Brokaw, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and the Secretary of Defense.

Later that evening, after dinner at Rick Sharpe’s favorite French Quarter restaurant, our crew, Len Root, his guest Linda Dowling (she’s a keeper), Dean Robnett, Rick Sharpe and the "Daring Duo" explored Bourbon Street. The Daring duo proceeded to sell B-17 postcards to anyone they ran into. Total Sales of $83.00. They also were able to trade post cards for entrance into Pat O’Brien’s and a couple of ‘Ahem, Ahem" more exotic business establishments.

Some contacts were made that may help us with B-17 Rides later in the year.

ó Col Dellon Baumgardner flew his first mission on D-Day. Bombed St. Lo.

ó Col Rudder of Point du Hoc fame went on to become President of Texas A & M.

ó The actual guns at Point du Hoc were hidden in a clump of trees one-mile inland.

One of our Wing Members from Great Britain, Ron Mackay, has just published his newest book, Ridgewell’s Flying Fortresses, The 381^st Bombardment Group (H) in World War II . It traces the history of the 381^st from : Rattlesnake Field" in Peyote, Texas to war’s end in England. This is a large book, 258 pages with lots of pictures, and well written. If you can’t find it at an area bookstore it can be ordered from Schiffer Publishing LTD, 4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310-9717. Phone 610-593-1777 Fax 610-593-2062

Web site: www.schifferbooks.com

Another good summer read is The War Journal OF Major Damon "Rocky" Gause. Major Gause was a pilot stationed in the Philippines. This is a story of a man who escaped from the Bataan Death March, swam three miles through shark infested waters to Corrigedor. When Corrigedor fell he escaped again and along with another escapee sailed a 20-ft. wooden fishing boat 3200 miles to Australia in a 159-day voyage. It’s a real page-turner, published by Hyperion and carried by Barnes and Nobles.

And, if you are still looking for something to read, try Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley, a Bantam Book publication. This is the story of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who raised the flag on Iwo Jima and were immortalized in Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. This book is very factual and clears up a lot of myths and misinformation surrounding the picture, the moment, and the lives of the three survivors.

We made it into Nacogdoches Texas on June 3 & 4. We dodged a few storms both days which put a damper on the attendance, and the winds put a damper on some of the planes flying. But, as usual, the hospitality was OUTSTANDING!! Col Ken Hyman and Col Al Maxwell brought the plane safely into Nacogdoches and on board were Dean Robnett, Scott Kindall, Cadet Kevin Coker, Cadet Chris Cummings, Col Shirley Hyman, Lauretta Maxwell and Debbie Driver. Then our two Wing Members who arrive in their Y O’s, Col Ed Higgins and Col Karen Brinkley!! B-17 man and the PX Babe arrived by land, as did H. D. Butler!!

Then June 15, 16, 17 & 18 we invaded Oklahoma City!! Piloting T R into Indian Territory was Col Ken Hyman and Col Al Feltis with Cols Scott Rodkey, Gary Hines, Dennis Mark, Steve Monigal, Scott Kindall, Ken English, Craig Mooty, and Everett Gibson with Shirley Hyman, Art & Barbara Johnston arriving by commercial air. Also had our newest Cadet Allen Glaubetz from Irving arrived by wheeled vehicle. Then, of course, several of our members from other Wings and Squadron: Graham and Linda Robertson, Tom Rush and Bill Van Osdol. Anyway since they had let someone do a "RAIN DANCE" one day of the air show was canceled and several of us decided to go for some culture. There was a car show, a gun show, and then a few of us went to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this Museum – you really have missed an experience!!

T R is going to be off in Ohio and points in between so let’s all get together to share food, fun, and camaraderie!! There isn’t a private dining room, so it will be open seating. Several of us will get there early and save tables so the rest of you can join in. Come early and help save a table!! Come one - - come all!!

Via the Gulf Coast Wing web site Webmaster Col Sharp sends the following warm message received in our Guest Book:

"Dear Reader(s),

You sure have a nice looking site which contains a lot of information about the famous B17. I wish I could fly a bird like that because this plane and above all, the crews that flew them, paid an enormous tribute to the liberation of my country. Thanks to all American soldiers I could grow up in a free country. I’m born in 1957. It is probably the combination of liking aircraft and an interest in the Second World War that makes me realize what all those young achieved not only for me but for millions of other people throughout Europe. I often think of that matter and if there exists a way of saying thanks or express my gratitude to the generation who gave their lives for me.

In fact, I carry all them boys in my heart which is wrapped in a Star Spangled Banner, maybe that is a way. . .

Goodbye, Dutch."

Ed Note: We appreciate your comments and interest in our B-17, Dutch. We are sending you an Associate Member Application and some items from our PX.

Hello B17-Man and PX Babe,

Just wanted to say Hi to everyone from Switzerland, and let them know that I plan on being with you all for Wings Over Houston!! Really enjoy keeping up to date via the REBEL LEADER!! The Quiz-questions you come up with every month are a challenge. My respect for those with a perfect score through May!

Carl and Suellen Schwobel writes of their Aviation Museum tour - - West Coast to East Coast. Put 12,000 miles on their motorhome and saw some really great Air Museums!!

Thanks for the pictures!! You know, Carl and Suellen live up in Oregon most of the time, but they do get back through Houston on occasion and especially during Wings Over Houston, thank goodness!!

I have been asked to write an article about my experiences in World War II, as a member of the 100^th Bomb Group. I have read several excellent articles by our members of their experiences including details of how missions were set up and run, so to avoid repeating this I will skip to the point where our plane was hit by several simultaneous bursts of flak.

The mission for the day was the marshaling RR yards at Wiesbaden, Germany. It was expected to be a relatively light mission and it seemed as so it really was going to be. However after turning on the IP and heading toward the target, our leader aborted and we were ordered to fill in the spot vacated by the alternate lead. No sooner had we moved into place when we were hit by several bursts of flack. Numbers 1, 3 and 4 engines were hit at one time and we were unable to feather any of the props. The vibration was severe and it was hard to read any of the instruments, we told the crew to throw out anything they could to lighten the plane, increased the manifold pressure on No. 2, and headed east towards occupied France. Our navigator, James Goss, was killed by the same bursts that knocked out the engines, so we didn’t know the shortest heading to take, but knew that France was east. Our altitude was about 30,000, so we headed east and were only loosing about 300 to 400 feet per minute and felt that we had a fighting chance of making France. We had flown about fifteen or twenty minutes when No. 2 caught fire and the order to bail out was given.

It was my first (and last) parachute jump, but after the chute opened it was rather nice and peaceful. The view was great with no scary feeling of height. As I floated down, I could see a small town at the base of a hill that was covered with woods. I landed in a clearing at the top of the hill and at the edge of the woods – gathering my chute up I hid it under some branches and leaves and headed into the woods. It wasn’t long before I could hear people yelling and shouting, so I picked out a good clump of bushes, away from a path, and got under them. We had been told that if possible don’t be taken by civilians or SS Troops, so I stayed in my bush until dark and headed out in an easterly direction. I continued for three days, first traveling by night and then by night and day with small rest breaks. The time of year was November, it was cold with occasional snow flurries, misty and not the kind of weather for an electric heated flying suit without electricity. During my third day, I was crossing an open field, when two German soldiers came around a bend in the road and saw me. They called me over and asked if I was an American. I thought it was pretty obvious from my flight suit, but said "Ja wohl". I told them I hadn’t eaten for three days and they each gave me a sandwich from their packs. They were like our GIs and not SS, in fact after supper, seeing my condition, one of them gave me his air mattress and he slept on the floor.

During the following days I was transferred from one outpost to another, ending up in a fairly large city in a civilian prison in a cell all to myself for about a week. During that time I had made friends with a German civilian prisoner and we played chess to pass the time. Finally some Luftwaffe people picked me up and took me to the interrogation center. I was only there a few days as I was the last of our crew and they didn’t seem too interested except to ask "With such a fine German name, what are you fighting against the Fatherland for?"

My next stop was at the Red Cross center where we were issued a complete set of GI clothing, including hat and overcoat. I would be remiss if at this point I did not give credit to the Red Cross. Not that the clothing we received wasn’t great, but the Red Cross food parcels that were furnished us to fill out the German rations kept us reasonably healthy. The German civilians were short of food and the Red Cross trucks from Switzerland were often waylaid yet they kept coming.

After the Red Cross center we were put on a troop train and sent to Stalag Luft III, at Sagan. This was an older original Luftwaffe camp for Airmen. It seems the Luftwaffe got the best of everything, and the camp showed it. There was a library with English books, a theatre for the prisoners to put on plays, athletic field and equipment. It was still a prison camp, and the one that the movie "The Great Escape" was based on. On arrival in the camp and after entrance to our section we were walked between rows of prisoners to see if any of them recognized us. Those not recognized were interviewed in an attempt to be sure we were really prisoners. The camp was divided into four separate compounds, which originally were separated by Nationality, but as the camp became filled this was not done and I ended in the British Compound. I believe there were about 10,000 prisoners in the camp. The camp was run by the "X" organization, which kept the secret radio, received and approved escape plans, and held meetings in each barracks to inform us of the latest news from BBC, and other items. Life at Sagan was not too bad, the main problem was food. The German rations were very meager, as I am sure so were the rations to the German populace. German rations consisted of thin soup, a few potatoes and an occasional rutabaga. If it were not for the Red Cross parcels to supplement the German food, we would all have been in bad shape. A parcel weighed 10 pounds and contained butter or oleo, coffee, canned meat, biscuits, jam, chocolate, powdered whole milk in each box. We were all given notebooks and pencils by the Red Cross, and we kept lists of recommended restaurants, recipes, anything to do with food. Food above all else was the main topic of conversation in the camp.

In early January, about midnight, we were told to break up camp. The Russians were on the move and the Germans were moving us west. The camp at Sagan was about ½ way between Berlin and Breslau. The barracks were divided in rooms of about 10 men to a room, and each room knocked down the beds, bed slats etc. and made crude sleds or toboggans on which to put bedding and to make a pass by the Red Cross warehouse to pick up extra Red Cross parcels. Ropes were made from sheets to pull the sled. Fortunately there was plenty of snow for the sleds. The march was a forced march with short breaks for two or three days until we were loaded in small freight cars and finally we ended up at Nuremberg.

The camp at Nuremberg was empty and anything but plush. The barracks contained bunk beds, three high – but the problem was that there were no bed slats. We used the sled ropes and tore up more sheets for rope and made slings to put our blankets on. The idea worked and held, but I was still glad I was not on the bottom bunk! Toilet facilities were bad, there were only two water spigots for the whole group, and the main food was thin maggot infested soup. After a month or two at this resort, Gen. Patton’s Armored Divisions were making a push in our direction and we were on the march again.

The second march was much different from the first one. The weather was early spring, there was no forced marching-everything was relaxed. Our guards were old Wehrmacht soldiers who realized the war was all but over, our commanding officers ordered us to stay together and not try to escape as we would only screw up the war effort. The pace was slow, sometimes we would spend a day or two at some place to allow troop movements to go by. Although we did not have food with us, we had all kinds of cigarettes from the Red Cross packages and we would trade for food with the civilians. Cooking was done singularly, or in groups of various sizes. My friend and I were a cooking team and I can remember one time when we were camped for several days near a town to allow a troop movement, that the food trading became more difficult as the natives were traded out. So my buddy and I took a hike away from camp, stopping at farmhouses to trade. As we were walking along the road, one of our German guards came by on a bike and he waved to us and we waved back! At one farm the farmer was fixing a bike and we helped him and then he took us in and gave us a nice meal. Overall it was a pleasant time. The weather was mild, we ate well (I even remember fresh eggs), but eventually it was over and we arrived at Mooseberg, several miles east of Munich.

Mooseberg was the final destination for many of the prison camps located throughout Germany. The first ones to arrive were housed in barracks, but they soon filled up, and by the time we arrived there was a large and growing tent city. Our crew was finally together with the exception of one of the gunners, but we had reports that he had made it OK and was probably in another camp. We were only there a few weeks when Patton’s 13^th Armored arrived late in April and had a skirmish with some German SS troops. But the fighting was soon over, and from the camp we could look down on a small town and see the American Flag raised from the tallest building. It was the most spine tingling experience that I have had, and to this day, the sight of our flag being raised brings back this memory. General Patton himself came into camp with his troops. He was all spit and polish and gave a speech to all the prisoners.

We were flown out on C-47’s, put on ships at Camp Lucky Strike and entered New York harbor, past the Statue of Liberty with fire boats spraying water and whistles blowing. It was quite a homecoming!

Ed Note: And it was a much deserved homecoming!! We say "Thank You" to Clark for his efforts and sacrifices so we might enjoy today’s freedom!

Col Gene Dickinson has returned to work. Most of you know that Gene has been out for many months with back surgery!! Glad to hear he’s back at work!

We were certainly saddened to hear of the passing of one of our newest members. Donna Lance of the 3^rd Coast Squadron in Corpus Christi had joined the GCW about 3 months ago after spending some time around TEXAS RAIDERS in Burnet. Our sympathies go to her family as well as to the Corpus Squadron.

Word has reached us that Jane Rowe (Curt Rowe’s mother) is hospitalized from the effects of a stroke. Many of us have met Curt's mother, as she has come to Texas to be sure Curt is actually spending all that time with planes!! We wish her the very best and a real speedy recovery!!

 

1. Name the British city that Churchill could not warn that it was about to be bombed for fear the Germans would figure out that their code had been broken. ___________________________________________________________________________________

 

2. What was the name of the code breaking machine that the British used to break the German code? _____________________________________________________________________

 

3. The British said that the Americans were over paid, over sexed and over here. What was the G I’s reply? ___________________________________________________________

 

4. The War Cabinet Rooms were located where in London? _____________________________

 

5. Where was the main telephone exchange located in London? _______________________

 

6. What was Black Thursday? _____________________________________________________

 

7. What did Big Week mean in the air war? _________________________________________

 

8. In what part of England were most of the bomber bases located? _________________

 

9. What ancient city in Eastern Germany was bombed by the RAF and the 8^th Air Force resulting in approximately 140,000 deaths? ___________________________________

 

10. What was the fate of the SS and Gestapo Officers that executed 50 Allied Airmen for escaping from Stalag Luft III? _______________________________________________

 

11. What were the Squadron Numbers of the 381^st Bomb Group? ___________________________

 

12. Who was the first Commanding Officer of the 381^st? _____________________________

 

13. Who was the last war time Commanding Officer of the 381^st? _______________________

 

14. What was Splasher? ___________________________________________________________
15. 
    What did I. P. mean? ___________________________________________________________

Some notes on the WW II Quiz for May and June. Question #2 asked what was a Tatenbuch? Barbara couldn’t ready my writing and used an "a" instead of an "o". The computer spellcheck doesn’t read German. Everyone got credit for a correct answer. A Totenbuch was a book of the dead. It was a record of deaths in the concentration camps.

Question 9 in the June Quiz was incomplete. The Field Marshall in question was Monty and his brother-in-law was Major Gen. Percy Hobart and his contraptions were called Hobarts Funnies. Again, everyone received credit for a correct answer. The Old Perfesser will do better, I promise. Note: Only if he tried printing!!

The pictures of General Omar Bradley taken at D-Day are all either an angle shot from his left or a profile from his left. Do you know why?

Only three responses to the JUNE TRIVIA – - two were The plant was milkweed and they gathered the seed pods. This fiber inside the seed pod was used for filling in life jackets!!

So congratulations to Bob Cason from the State of Texas, and Dick Shaeffer from Ohio. Thanks for playing the game!!

Ed Note: Remember – - you can also submit Trivia Questions!! Just remember to send the answer along!!

Greetings to all. The 2000 Roster is at the printer’s. I hope we have everyone.

I know we don’t. So when/if you don’t see your name or the name of someone you are "certain" is a member, it is because I do not have a renewal form for you or the other "certain member.".

Please e:mail or regular mail me a renewal form with your current info so I can "put you on the list." The forms were mailed, we also put it in the REBEL LEADER a couple of times. But, if you need one just give me a call or send me an e:mail and we’ll get one to you!!

by Bill Van Osdol

Back in the MARCH 2000 REBEL LEADER, we reported that Col Bill Van Osdol had "joined" the Navy for a couple of months. Well . . . he’s back and shares the following with us.

Time does change lots of things – the one obvious extreme was the noise! The Navy contract was at a Lt. Cdr status, so we were bunked in the pilot level, which was the first deck below the catapult. Flight Ops went from 1100 hrs to midnight which meant 13 hours of noise!!

We had access to the entire ship except for the nuclear compartments. It was an awesome sight to stand on the bridge and watch those night landings. We had the first F18A Super Hornet Instructor qualifications, which now opens the fleet up for the plane as they are received by the Navy. We also had F18s, Se Vikings, and EA6B Prowlers. There was one old Intruder that the flight deck hands used for tow practice and boy was it a wreck.

The F18As approached at 140 knots and they kept 28 knots into the flight deck either by wind or cruise speed.

This darn ship cruised at 35 knots with a top speed classified. We did torpedo evasion and with a 90 degree turn the ship would list to the outside up to 15 degrees. The flight deck was equal to 4½ acres – no that isn’t a mis-print – four and one-half acres. The bridge was about 14 stories up!!

It is certainly a different Navy from the one I served in on a little CVE carrier!!

Discipline is NOT in WW II character. My first indication of this was in the wardroom when a Commander asked a girl sailor for something from the kitchen and she turned around and said loud and clear, "HUH?"

Boom boxes and cell phones were the most obvious – they were all over the ship! I jerked the damn plug on a few of them across the hangar deck, but they got replugged.

All in all it was a good tour. I could go back in August when they leave for deployment to the Gulf via Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. I may pick it up on the way back from the Persian Gulf.

Had the pleasure of staying overnight with Jack and Mary Lou Adney in Port Townsend Washington when we came through port.

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

- - George Bernard Shaw

Check out the up-date Tour Schedule for TEXAS RAIDERS on the back page!! If there’s a tour you want to make as a part of the Crew, contact John Hess.

His new phone number is: 281-338-6240
His e;Mail is: jhess10222@aol.com