The crew joined the 100th Group in Thorpe
Abbotts on 5 October 1944.
Joseph Greigo,
the tailgunner wrote: "These are a few of the
thoughts and experiences encountered by us (The
survivors) during our tour of duty, cut short on
our 31st mission.
After our 10th mission our (original)
Bombardier, Lt. Stewart Laidlaw, was made Group
Bombardier. He was replaced by Sgt. David
Ackerman. Sometime in February 1945 the Ball
Turret Gunner, Sgt. Earl Hamilon was grounded
for medical reasons and was replaced by Sgt.
Charles Koon.
Recollections of Donald H. Reichel: The
Co-Pilot
Upon arriving in England in late September 1944,
we were assigned to the 100th Bomb Group, 351st
Sqd. Everyone told us it was called "The Bloody
Hundredth" because of all the losses it had
incurred. They said we didn't have a chance of
finishing all of our missions. What a way to
start a tour! We were also told we would have to
drop one waist gunner. Ed Gwin and I talked it
over and decided it would be Charles Meadel, as
he was the youngest, having just turned eighteen
(18). He was shipped out and we lost track of
him.
We were assigned to fly "The All American Girl",
a plane that had already seen many, many
missions. Our first mission was on October 30,
1944. It was to be Merseburg, but we bombed the
alternate. Just so we wouldn't be disappointed,
our next mission was also Merseburg. I guess the
first mission is always the most memorable, and
this certainly was. As we approached the target
we thought it was clouded over. How wrong we
were. It was flak from all the flak. We we got
close enough, we could see the red bursts and
hear the "WHUMP WHUMP", and also feel the jolts
from exploding shells. We didn't take any
serious hits, but still had quite a few holes in
the
ship. I remember vividly seeing an anti-aircraft
shell coming up from under the nose of the
plane. It must have been near the top of its
trajectory and slowing down. Ed Gwin and I
watched it go above us and explode. We spoke if
that many times after. We hoped that would be as
close as a shell ever got to us.
Missions from then on never seemed quite as bad,
until December 31, 1944. Hamburg was the target.
It was out 13th mission. Flak was heavy and
coming off the target we had a head wind of
about one hundred (100) MPH (Miles per hour). It
seemed like we stopped. That's
when the Me 109's hit. Our P-51 escort was
nowhere around. The attack of the 109s seemed to
go on forever. Just before the attack broke off
a 20MM shell hit the plane, exploding right
behind me. It wounded me slightly but knocked me
unconscious. Gwin told me later that I was 'out'
for about twenty (20) minutes. Our plane had
over three hundred (300) holes in it. One in the
left wing was big enough for the Crew Chief
(M/Sgt L. Holland) to crawl through. (That's the
day the 100th lost 12 planes) I spent only three
(3) days in the hospital and since we had a
stand-down of three (3) days, I was able to join
the crew for our next mission.
After about ten (10) missions our Bombardier
Stew Laidlaw was made a lead crew Bombardier.
David Ackerman joined the crew as Togglier.
About the same time, Earl Hamilton was grounded
with a bad back. Charles Koons replaced him.
Sometime in January 1945 our plane "The All
American Girl" was lost in action, and a new
plane was assigned to us. Ed Gwin named it the
"Sweet Nancy" after his wife.
"We had our tail shot off"
Our next most memorable missions was on March
18, 1945. This was our 31st, and final mission
although we didn't know it that morning. Berlin
was our target. Our C.O. (Commanding Officer),
Major Harry F. Cruver, was leading the group
that day and the Gwin crew was in the high
flight. We were all relaxed and figured we would
have our 35 missions in within the next two
weeks. Everything started out fine.
Ed Gwin and I
always took turns flying, thirty (30) minutes of
flying and thirty minutes to relax. I had just
taken over the controls when someone yelled
'Bandits'. I saw tracers going past our plane. I
remember thinking "watch it guys, don't hit us."
Suddenly the nose of the plane came up and it
shuddered; it then 'mushed' and fell off on the
right wing. I gave it full left rudder and
aileron, but the controls were gone. I then cut
both left engines and put full power on the two
right ones which kept us from going into a tight
spin by bringing the right wing up somewhat. I
looked at Gwin and he said, "Let's go," and
motioned with his hand to get out. I got our of
my
seat and grabbed my chute. I looked back and saw
Herb Hamann, the engineer, was out of the top
turret. He was on his hands and knees feeling
around. I found out later that he had forgotten
to take off his sun glasses and couldn't see. He
was feeling for his chute. Bob Landino, the
navigator and Dave Ackerman, the togglier were
already by the hatch. I looked up at Gwin and he
had his chute in his hand ready to put on. Just
then Landino opened the hatch and he and
Ackerman bailed out. Hamann was all set to go by
then and he poked me in the back. Since I was in
his way I bailed out and he bailed out right
after me. Gwin was right behind him. Why he
didn't get out I don't know. The only thing I
can figure out is that he went back in the plane
to check on the rest of the crew. We were going
down too fast for him to have time to do that.
We were already below 10,000 feet when I bailed
out.
Floating down, I could hear the firing of
machine guns and the sound of the planes fading
off into the distance. The quiet after that gave
me the loneliest feeling of my life. I came down
in a plowed field and took off my chute. There
was a small clump of trees and bushes near me. I
ran into the bushes and looked around. There
were about twenty (20) or thirty (30) Wehrmacht
soldiers coming toward me from one direction,
and about twenty (20) from the other direction.
There was nowhere to go. The one group already
had Landino and Ackerman. I thought of my .45
automatic and figured I didn't want the Nazis to
get it and shoot some Americans with it. I saw a
pile of rocks, so I pulled some away and buried
the gun. I walked out of the bushes then and
gave myself up. They searched me and found my
holster with no gun in it. I told them it must
have fallen out when I bailed out. One of them
said I was a bad soldier for not taking
better care of it.
The marched me back to the town of Braatsch and
one old man kept yelling at them to shoot us. I
could speak German so I understood what he said.
He ran up and hit me in the back. Some of the
soldiers pushed him away and told me that a
month before they would have shot us
all, but they had gotten orders not to harm
anymore POW's.
They brought us together and put us in an old
building which had at one time been a firehouse.
There was Landino, Ackerman, Hamann, Heilbuth,
Griego and myself. This is when I found out why
the plane's controls went out. Joe Griego told
me that the tail of the plane was completely
shot off. They kept us there overnight and the
next day put us in a truck and drove us to the
town of Stendal. On the way they stopped where
our plane had crashed. They showed us what they
said were four (4) bodies and told us it was
Gwin, Danielson, Disher, and Uhler. That was the
first we knew of Gwin being killed.
In Stendal they put us in a jail and kept us
there several days. It was here I found out we
had the 'distinction' of being one of the first
planes shot down by the new ME-262 jet.
Landino and I were put on a train and sent to
Oflag 79 at Brunswick. It was a British camp.
There were only thirty (30) to forty (40)
American POW's there. Landino and I were the
only Air Force officers. The rest were Infantry,
most having been captured in the Battle of the
Bulge. We were given a wooden stool each (every
POW had one). We kept it with us at all times so
it wouldn't be stolen. We were also given a
small stove which had been made out of a large
tin can. This was to be used to cook our own
food and boil our own water for tea. Once a week
we were allocated fish. On that day all the fish
were taken to a main mess hall and made into a
soup with potatoes. The British called it fish
kedgeree.
We all had free run of the camp, and we spent
out time exercising, reading books, (they had a
good sized library), and talking about food. We
also swapped recipes. There was a British Indian
officer there, who had been a chef at a large
hotel in Bombay, India. He gave us some recipes
for curried food and Indian desserts.
I found there were a lot of dandelions growing
around the camp so I started picking the greens
to make soup. It took about two days for the
word to get around that they were nourishing,
and from then on, you couldn't find a single
dandelion in the camp. The second week we were
there, the British put on a stage play which
they had been rehearsing for a month or more. It
was very good and extremely funny; especially
funny were the men dresses as women.
The British called the German guards "Goons".
When any guard was walking around camp, the cry
would go out "Goon up". This was especially true
in the late afternoon. That's when we got the
daily radio news. The British had a radio hidden
somewhere in camp and would keep up with the war
news. The radio had been smuggled in piece by
piece by one of the guards. Every afternoon one
of the Brits came around with the news report,
along with a map of Europe, so we could see the
armies progress.
Days, for the most part, passed slowly. There
was a British Major in our barracks who had
spent four (4) years of WW I in a POW camp, and
had been captured at Dunkirk in WW II. That
meant he had spent almost nine (9) years as
German POW.
One day a group of A-20's bombed Brunswick. We
saw one shot down by flak. We were afraid they
would bomb us by mistake, they were so close,
but we lucked out. It was agreed upon by the
British and American Senior Officers, that if
the British forces liberated the camp, then the
Brits would leave first. If the Americans did,
then the Americans would be first out. I believe
it was on the morning of April 19, 1945 that a
cheer went up. The gates were thrown open and a
U.S. Army jeep drove into camp. The Sergeant on
the jeep asked if there was anyone there from
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I said, "Yes." He told me
that he had been a Brewmaster at Schlitz
Brewery, and that they had just liberated the
Brunswick Brewery. He invited me and the other
Americans to a "Liberation party" at the German
Commandant's house. That was quite a party.
Two days later we were flown to Camp Lucky
Strike in France. Landino and I tried to get
back to the 100th but were told we couldn't go.
I understand that about two weeks later they
allowed it. By that time, however, we were
aboard a ship homeward bound. We spent one month
as POW's.
The surprise of my life came after we made a
stop in England to pick up others being sent
home. As I was walking down the deck someone
yelled, "My God Reichal you're dead. I saw your
plane go down." It was Capt. Tom Hughes. He
brought us up to date on the 100th.
Our ship was the first ship to land in Boston
Harbor after Germany's surrender. American soil
never felt so good.
On our 31st and final mission Sgt. Raymond Uhler
had replaced Sgt. Charles Koons who was ill.
Sgt. Uhler was from the crew of J.L. Wofford.
Sgt. John Disher was from the crew of H.S,
Bucklew and assigned to us for that one mission
as Spot Jammer.
Sgt. Koons was reassigned after we were shot
down and went on to complete his tour.
Recollections of Joseph M. Griego: Tail
Gunner
Upon reaching the IP on March 18, 1945 mission
to Berlin, we were attacked by ME-262's. They
approached from 3 o'clock high. Suddenly
everything got very quiet and I couldn't hear
the planes engines. I turned around and saw that
the tail section had been shot off, and I was
floating down alone. I had to shed my flak vest,
get my chute from beneath my guns, snap it on,
and head for the exit, which was not the gaping
hole created by the tail separation from the
rest of the fuselage. After I cleared the tail I
pulled the rip cord but my chute failed to open.
I had to rip off the cover and pull it out like
a sheet. It finally opened and I had just enough
time to choose a patch of forest between three
villages. I chose the forest patch to come down
in because I had heard the villagers were
mistreating captured airmen. My canopy got
caught in the tree tops and I was hanging forty
(40) feet off the ground, and unable to get
down. I was suspended between two trees, and
couldn't reach either one. I hung there until
soldiers from the Wehrmacht sent one of their
group up to pull me over to one of the trees.
Upon reaching the ground, I was stripped and
searched. I was then marched into a village
where I was placed
in a little garage where the rest of the
survivors of our crew were being held. The next
day we were all put into a truck and taken to
Stendal where I was placed in a cell and held
until I was interrogated three days later. After
that I was taken from my cell with three other
flyers, not members of our crew and marched
around for five (5) days until I was placed in a
Stalag with American ground troops. About thirty
(30) days later our entire camp was evacuated,
and from then until April 25th the Germans kept
marching us around. On that date we were
liberated by the 104th Division (USA). We were
sent to Camp Lucky Strike (France), and from
there we were sent home.
Recollections of Robert B. Landino; Navigator
March 18, 1945: As Navigator in B-17 #338861,
Sweet Nancy, it was my 31st mission. The target
was Berlin. There were about twelve hundred
(1200) bombers up that day. It was a smooth
flight until we neared Salzwedel (Germany) at
about 11:15 AM, when all hell broke loose. We
peeled off in what seemed like a flat spiral or
spin. We were at about 28,000 feet. I
immediately went to the hatch below the pilot.
Realizing we were too high to bail out I
returned to my Navigator's position where I
watched the altimeter until we were down to
10,000 feet. I then went to the escape hatch
which I opened and rolled out. As my chute
opened, the plane passed over me. I was between
two layers of clouds. As I descended I saw other
chutes. I finally broke through the lower clouds
and could see I would land in a farmer's plowed
field. As I landed, there was a farmer waiting
for me with a rifle aimed at me. As I pulled my
chute together I noticed that it had fifty (50)
to one hundred (100) holes in it. The farmer did
not seem hostile to me, but he locked me in a
chicken coop until two Luftwaffe officers got me
and marched me off to a small building which I
believe was their headquarters. They asked me if
I was hungry, and I said, "Yes." They gave me a
plate of stew. I was put into a small room with
no windows, and was interrogated by a German
officer who spoke with a British accent. He said
that he had gone to college at Oxford, England.
After that I was taken to another building and
reunited with the rest of the crew. The next day
we were put into a truck and transported to
Stendal. I remember walking through the town to
a train station. Enroute the German soldiers had
to protect us from the civilians who swore at
us, and called us every filthy cuss word in the
English
language.
Don Reichal, the Co-pilot, and I were put on a
train and taken to Braunschweig, where the two
of us ended up in Oflag 79. My POW number was
#2225. We were liberated a month later by the
125 Infantry Division, USA.
Recollections of Norman Heilbuth: Waist
Gunner
It was March 18, 1945. The target was Berlin.
One minute we were sailing along smoothly, and
the then there was a big explosion, and our tail
was gone. An ME-262 had shot it off between Joe
Griego, the Tail Gunner, and myself. I thought
for sure Joe had it. I had my chute in the spent
cartridge bag, and when we went into the spin it
fell out and slipped along the floor. I started
after it fearing it was going to fall out of the
plane where the tail had been shot off.
Thankfully it slid until it hit the housing for
the tail wheel. I grabbed it and snapped it onto
my harness. I pulled the red door handle and
immediately the door was gone. I tried to get
out but got caught half in and half out by the
slip stream. I got my foot behind the door
casing and got myself back into the plane. The
next time I threw myself through the open door.
By that time we were so close to the ground that
I broke my ankle upon landing. A French slave
worker working on the farm got to me first. I
gave him my .45, figuring they weren't going to
shoot me with my own gun. Soldiers and the
farmer whose farm I landed on, came up and told
me to pick up my chute, and we headed into town.
I took about three steps and the pain in my foot
was so great, that I sat down and told them I
couldn't walk. The farmer went over to a nearby
tree, cut off a limb, trimmed it, and gave it to
me for a crutch and carried my chute. When we
got into town I saw Joe Griego and was really
happy to see he had made it down OK. After they
got the six of us who survived together, they
asked our names. When the heard Heilbut, Reichel,
Hamann and Ackerman, one of the soldiers said,
"Ach du lieber, how come your fighting us with
German names like that?"
When we were in Black Pool on flak leave, I won
a celluloid matchbox cover with picture of
Hitler being held in a fist, and the fingers on
the fist had the names of the United States,
England, France and Russia printed on them with
the caption 'In the Allies grip'. The soldiers
made me empty my pockets and when they saw the
matchbox, one of them yelled out, "Der Fürher."
I thought they were going to do something to me,
instead they all laughed about it and kept it.
They took me to a hospital and fixed up my foot
and then sent me to a Stalag. When I got there
someone yelled my name. I didn't recognize him
and so I asked him who he was. It was a fellow
who had was in gunnery school with me. He
weighed over 200 lbs. at school, and was down to
about 130 lbs. That scared the hell out of me.
My stay in Stalag I was routine, except when the
Russians liberated us. Another fellow and I went
into town and were asked by the Germans whether
the Russians or Americans were coming. The had
flags to wave for whomever showed up. We walked
down to the shores of the Baltic Sea to get an
idea about how far it was to Sweden. At the
shore we came across a family that had been
killed. It looked like a grandmother, mother, a
girl about two, and a baby in a pram. They had
all been shot through the head. We couldn't tell
who had done it, whether the Germans or the
Russians. We were sure they had not committed
suicide because there was no gun there.
After the war I mentioned to a friend of mine
that I had been in Stalag I. I found out then
that he was one of the Pilots that flew us out
of the camp.
Mission Log Edward P. Gwin Crew
Date
Nbr.Target Comments
10/30/44 01 Merseburg Bombed alternate
11/02/44 02 Merseburg Very heavily defended
11/09/44 03 Saarbrucken
11/29/44 04 Hamm
12/02/44 05 Coblenz
12/04/44 06 Freilburg
12/05/44 07 Berlin Flak filled skies & fighers
12/24/44 08 Kaiserlauten - Bibkus Aerodrome
12/25/44 09 Kaiserlauten
12/24/44 10 Fulda
12/28/44 11 Coblenz
12/30/44 12 Kassel
12/31/44 13 Hamburg Reichel wounded, Gp lost 12
01/07/45 14 Cologne
01/21/45 15 Mannheim
02/03/45 16 Berlin
02/06/45 17 Chemnitz
02/22/45 18 Dresden
02/23/45 19 Treuchtlingen
02/25/45 20 Munich
02/26/45 21 Berlin Heavy flak as usual
02/28/45 22 Kassel
03/02/45 23 Ruhland
03/07/45 24 Siegen
03/08/45 25 Frankfurt
03/10/45 26 Dortmund
03/11/45 27 Hamburg Nothing like the last time
03/12/45 28 Swinemunde
03/14/45 29 Oranienburg
03/17/45 30 Ulm
03/18/45 31 Berlin Final Mission - they shot our
tail off!!!
The following are excerpts from statements of
Lt. Robert B. Landino taken from MACR No# 13144
As to Lt. Gwin, ". . . from enlisted men who
were working near where we were shot down; they
claim one man bailed out below the clouds, then
they heard shooting, his chute collasped and he
fell to the ground presumably dead."
As to Sgt Disher, " . . . S/Sgt Heilbuth saw him
just before he bailed out. He was crawling out
of the radio room with blood all over himself,
but he (Heilbuth) did not have time to help him
as the aircraft was below the clouds which were
not more than 500 feet, so he had to jump.
Disher probably never go to the door to jump as
the plane must have hit only a few seconds
later."
As to Sgt. Uhler, ". . . I believe he was
trapped in the ball turret by emeny shell fire.
His body was seen on the ground along side of
the plane.
As to T/Sgt Danielson, ". . .He must have been
killed by the fire from the two ME - 262s that
shot us down. They sprayed the back part of our
plane as it was shot in half just in front of
the tail wheel.
TARGET BERLIN 18 MARCH 1945
BERLIN-Big B-that was the target hidden behind
the curtain until the dramatic uncovering that
started every briefing. Our group was No 2 in
the second task force. Our position w 1S No. 3
in the low squadron. Page 3 shows an overhead
view of the entire 13 planes in our box. We were
assigned the task of monitoring the fighter
frequency. The group leader was Harry Cruver.
Maj. Rosenthal was at the briefing, having just
returned from Russia.
After an uneventful take-off and climb to
altitude, the pilots had to monitor number one
engine very closely as the prop tended to
overspeed. As soon as the main tanks had
sufficient space, fuel from the Tokyo tanks
located in the wing tips was transferred to the
mains; this allowed time for the vapors to be
vented prior to the bomb run. The pilot and
copilot alternated flying every fifteen minutes;
as they did on all missions. It was Jensens'
turn as we neared the IP at Salzwedel (52 52N-12
23E). At about 1120 hours, less than five
minutes from the IP, the aircraft started to
shake. No one had to ask why- our guns were
firing. There had been no warning. The sky was
clear, but we were leaving heavy contrails which
hid the attackers. A hole appeared in the lead
plane's wing just aft of the number one engine.
Flames and smoke poured from the hole, causing
them to aborted the formation in a sharp bank to
the left, taking us with them. We had not
progressed very far into the turn when it became
obvious that we had to clear ourselves from the
lead plane. The smoke and flames had increased
to the point where we were also enveloped. The
task was to get above the fire and to slide from
left to right so as to get far enough away that
we would not be caught in any explosion. It was
necessary for the pilots to switch controls
twice during this brief maneuver. As we passed
over the lead plane, we could see some of their
crew bailing out. These actions caused those in
the other planes to make a mistake in reporting
the damage; our plane was reported as being on
fire and out of control while the lead plane was
reported as going down, but in control. This
mistake is easy to understand as everyone was
concerned about firing at the bandits, not about
the fate of the other planes. Two additional
B-17s were hit in the attack so we had all
assumed that four planes had been in the attack.
In 1994, we learned that the attack had been by
six planes. They were from the III/JG Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 7 and were led by Oberleutnant
Guenther Wegmann. For the first time in combat,
they were armed with R4M air-to-air rockets.
Each plane carried 24 of these 5.5 cm
impact-fused missiles on wooden racks. In
all, 37 ME262s engaged 1221 heavy bombers which
were escorted by 632 fighters that day. 12
bombers and two fighters were lost. A summary of
Allied efforts against Berlin lists 1329 bombers
dispatched with 1184 being effective.-They
dropped 3374 tons of bombs.
After breaking clear of the ill-fated lead
plane, we were some distance to the left and
below the squadron when we added max climb power
and turned right to rejoin the squadron.
Lt. Gwin's B17
was possibly shot down by Rudolf "Rudi"
Rademacher of 11./JG7. He claimed a B17 shot
down on 18 March 1945 11:14 near Salzwedel.
1Lt Edward P.
Gwin is Buried at Margraten Plot P Row 20 Grave
8.
