D-Day remeberances 65 years later

I mentioned in an earlier post that 2009 is the 65th anniversary of Dad's service in England during WW-II.Today being the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day invasions on Normandy, I thought I would include an excerpt from the history of Dad's service record. Dad flew June 5th, June 6th and June 7th as part of the D-Day offensive. One item of interest, Dad told me once that the Bomb Crews did not know that this was the "big" invasion, until after they had returned to base. Also the June 7th mission, he commented that there were so many watercraft in the English Channel, that it looked like "ants on the ground" from flying at 22,000 feet. Can you imagine being awakened at midnight for briefing, engines running at 4:00 am, taking off a 4:30 in the morning, into the darkness, forming up as a formation, using ground beacons and the lights from the other B-17s, then flying wing tip to wing tip across a dark sky over the English Channel to deliver your bomb load near Juno Beach 19,000 feet below. All in preparation for the Canadian troops to make their heroic invasion onto French soil.These men were and are hero's, and I hope we never forget what they did for our freedoms. Thanks Dad..we love you.

8th Combat Mission 6/5/44 1 5:45
Trouville France, Costal defenses at Trouville 37 aircraft, no losses, not known at the time but was in preparation for D-Day invasion.

From Journal of S/Sgt Ellsworth Wright, Ball Turret Gunner.

Mission #8 – June 5, 1944
Trouville, France. Hrs. 5:00. Alt. 27,000 ft. Target Gun Emplacements. No flak or enemy fighters. Bomb load 12 – 500 GP bombs.

9th Combat Mission 6/6/44 D-Day 1 6:00
Courselles France, 39 Aircraft preparing the beachhead at Juno Beach for Canadian forces to land, take off was 0430, all aircraft completed their mission and returned to base.

From Journal of S/Sgt Ellsworth Wright, Ball Turret Gunner.
Mission # 9 – “D-Day” June 6, 1944
Courselles, France. Hrs. 6:00. Alt. 19,000 ft. Target – Transportation and road center. Woke up at midnight for important Briefing. Started engines at 4:00 a.m. Heavy clouds obstructed any observation of operations. Sky constantly filled with bombers and fighters. No flak. Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. GP bombs. All available planes were flying today. We bombed through clouds.

10th Combat Mission 6/7/44 1 7:30
Kerlin Bastard France, 36 Aircraft, no losses and landed late at night.

From Journal of S/Sgt Ellsworth Wright, Ball Turret Gunner.
Mission #10 - June 7, 1944
Kerlin Bastard, France. Hrs. 7:30 Alt. 22,000 ft. Target – Air Base. Light but accurate flak. One hole in left wing. No enemy fighters. Great fires seen. Target completely destroyed. Bomb load 12 – 500 lb. bombs.

A fighter pilot remembers D-Day

I received this email from Frank Birtciel, a fighter pilot with the 55th Fighter Group. Frank is a wonderful gentlemen and a true WW-II hero!!

Hi Kevin,
Coincidence, I also flew on the 5, 6, 7 plus the 10th. Had a front row seat in my P-38 as they shelled the coast and formed up the invasion craft and made the run in to the beaches. Quite a sight from 2,000 feet and thought about taking pictures with my gun camera but did not. Have kicked my butt ever since for not doing it. We knew it was the invasion due to the stripe being painted on our aircraft and the base being locked down. All of us had waited a long time for the occasion, but did not envy the grunts who rode the ships and made the trip on to the beaches.

Regards,Frank

Shanna graduates from the U of U!!

Today was a great day!! And I wanted to share just a portion of the days events. Our youngest daughter Shanna, graduated from the University of Utah, College of Humanities, with a degree in Communications and a minor in Business Management. She has worked hard to accomplish this milestone, and graduated with honors, having consistently made the Deans List, and was just a fraction of a GPA point from being Cum Laude. Not bad for being married and working full time. She did this all on her own, and we are very proud of her accomplishments.

Shanna has always set her goals high, and worked hard to achieve them. In High School, she would turn in her assignments well ahead of their deadlines, and yes, she did not get that trait from me. One fond memory I have of her High School experience, is the day we went down to the DMV to get Shanna a drivers license. She began filling out the form.....Last Name.....Marsh......First Name......Shanna.....Middle Name......Nicole.......Title.....Title? "Dad, what does Title mean?" I explained that "Title is if you are a Junior or a Senior." She completed the form, and without my review, cause gee, it seemed so easy, she returned it to the gentlemen behind the counter.

He began his review, going entry by entry to assure accuracy,.... .....Last Name.....Marsh......First Name......Shanna.....Middle Name......Nicole.....I observed a slight smile in his expression as he read....Title.......Sophomore!!!!! He nonchalantly crossed out sophomore, and continued.....Eye Color....Blue......Hair.....Blond....to which he placed a large circle around Blond!!!

Well, needless to say, this little incident has been fodder for teasing, for many years now.

Today's commencement ceremony consisted of the traditional long winded introductions of Dignitaries, Faculty and honored Alumni. Awards were given for Faculty receiving emeritus status, Alumni who have shown distinction in their respective fields, each introduction seemed longer than the last. Eventually, the candidates receiving Doctorates were honored, and embellishments added to their robes. Next, those obtaining their Masters Degrees were recognized, and finally the Baccalaureates were to be presented. After the required speech, the graduates were presented, from two sides of the arena, row by row, they negotiated the stairs to the arena floor. Presenting a card with their names, they were announced over the public address system, each name followed by varying degrees of applause, whistles and shouts of approval.

We watched patiently trying to find Shanna as she made her way to the floor. Eventually we spotted her, and in spite of her greatest fear, she made it down the stairs to the arena floor, without tripping. There were hugs shared with two of her friends, a quick pose for photographs together. And finally she presented her card to the professor, who with great distinction, was reading the names of each graduate. Shanna seemed to take some time explaining the writing on the card, we soon heard him say ....Shanna......Nicole.....Myers.........Sophomore!!!

Our tears of pride and happiness were now joined by laughter, and a delayed round of applause, cheers and "woo hoos", as we realized.....Shanna had just gotten the last laugh!!!

We are so very proud of her, and blessed that she is a part of our family....Well done Shanna!!!!Love from Mom and Dad....

Check out Shanna's side of the story at www.adamandshanna.blogspot.com

65 years ago in Nuthampstead England

2009 marks the 65th anniversary of my father, Walter E. Marsh's tour of duty in England. April 23rd is my mothers birthday, and for some reason, all that day I remembered there was another special event on that occured on April 23rd, but I just could not remember what it was. I decided to look in my fathers Air Force history that I have been compiling, and there it was. April 23 1944 was the day that dad left Rapid City, South Dakota, for Nuthampstead England.

This photo was taken March 1944 at Rapid City, dad is back row, 2nd from left.

This was such a pivotal time in dads life, so I feel we should celebrate and remember the sacrifice that all those young men who fought in WW-II. So let me give a special "Thank You"!! To all those who left home and family to fight for our freedoms. And also say that we as the 2nd and 3rd generations will never know, or understand all you went through, but we will never forget what you did for us.

Here is an excerpt from my dads military history.

April 1944, Transfer to Station 131 Nuthampstead England

Transferred to Station 131, APO #557 Nuthampstead England
8th Air Force, 1st Division, 1st Combat Wing, 398th Bomb Group 603rd Sqdn.
Date of Departure to service outside US, April 23, 1944,
Arrival in England April 27, 1944. Assigned to fly A/C #42-97357 the “Railroader”, as a “Shipment” flight to England, in the 398th Air Echelon.
Airial view of Nuthampstead Air Base
It took four days to make the trans-Atlantic flight to England. Colonel Frank Hunter left Rapid City on April 7, 1944 leading the Air Echelon. Remainder of original 72 Crews followed. Railroader is shown in at Nuthampstead May 3, 1944.

Majority of the Aircraft that the 398th flew to England were reassigned to other Bomb Groups after going to Base Air Depot, Langford Lodge, Northern Ireland for modifications to make combat ready. “The Railroader” went to the Base Air Depot on May 6, 1944 and from there was assigned to the 381st Bomb Group. The Railroader flew over 49 Combat mission before it was damaged on mission a to Germersheim Germany, January 13,1945, went to salvage that date.

In the beginning

Following some encouragement from my daughter Shanna, here is my official blogspot. Hopefully a place for personal and family history. World War II remembrances and old car stuff.