COMMENTS & NOTES
MEMO 1:
CREW
DATE: 24 June 1944 418th Sqdn. A/C#42-97065 "Return Ticket"
MISSION: Rouen,France MACR #6543,Micro-fiche #2368
1st Lt George L.Roth P KIA (possibly killed on ground by Germans) see note below
1st Lt Warren F.LeBaron CP KIA (possibly killed on ground by Germans) see note below
2nd Lt David Shoss NAV EVADEE
S/Sgt Joseph W.Schultz TOG EVADEE
T/Sgt Willie B.Yates ROG EVADEE
T/Sgt Burl L.Reynolds TTE POW/ WIA
S/Sgt Paul E.Hunter BTG POW
T/Sgt Carl R.Carlson RWG POW sn# 18067567
S/Sgt Glen J.Allen LWG POW
S/Sgt Harry E.Rulong TG POW
This crew joined the 100th on 12/4/44. Assigned to 418th BS. At that time, 2nd Lt Carl H.Svendsen was the bombardier. Page 61 of STORY OF THE CENTURY says, "Svendsen's jugular vein was severed on the bomb run."
was looking thru my dad scrap book and found a news paper article, titled "Jugular cut,bombardier grips end of vein, bombs the target. May 7 1944 holding his severed jugular vein w/ one hand & adjusting his instruments w/ the other, the bombardier on Messie Bessie (2nd Lt Carl H.Svendsen…mpf) loosed his lethal load on the target & then was saved from death by fellow crew men, the story of the bombardier heroism was brought to light when the plane landed here & the physicians relieved lt. Lt. David Shoss, of houston,tx,navagator of Messie Bessie, who held the vein all the way back from the target. The bombardier's name was not disclosed, in the attack on the french coast flak ripped thru the forts nose a minute before target, Shoss said. We were riding thru flak so thick you could reach out and grab a piece "About the time a jagged chunk tore thru the bombers nose. I went to the front of the ship to investigate& found the bombardier holding his jugular vein,. Blood was covering hid face, hands& upper part of his flak suit. But he was calm & cool as ice. In a few seconds he dropped his bombs."
Lt Svendsen WENT ON TO BECOME LEAD CREW BOMBARDIER after recovery from his wounds.
24 Dec 1944: "556 men flew against Germany from Thorpe Abbotts as navigators Lts. E. Wilcox, L. Kimball, L. Chappell, J. Krepismann, A. Juhlin and F/0 C. Benyunes led the formations. Bombs were dropped by Lts. E. Lockhart, W. Titley, A. Tong, C. Svendsen and T. Barrett with excellent results on the Biblis and Babenhausen airdromes and on the Kaiserslautern marshalling yards." Contrails, pp. 90-91. "
(from Brown's Clowns page 3: http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/history/history3/brownsclowns3.htm) 23 Mar 1945: "Colonel Sutterlin led the outfit to Unna………where Carl Svendsen in the lead ship, dropped his bombs on the marshalling yards….."
(from "Century Bombers" page 190)When Roth's Crew went down on 24 Jun 1944 they had a Toggler, Joseph W. Schultz. Svendsen was no longer on the crew.
Main A/C flown "MESSIE BESSIE" 42-30152
MISSIONS OF T/SGT CARL CARLSON: mpf 2002
1. 26/04/44 BRUNSWICK
2. 27/04/44 NO BALL
3. 01/05/44 SAARGUEMINES
4. 07/05/44 BERLIN
5. 09/05/44 LAON, FRANCE
6. 11/05/44 LIEGE, BELGIUM
7. 12/05/44 BRUX
8. 19/05/44 BERLIN
9. 20/05/44 BRUSSELS
10. 23/05/44 TROYES
11. 25/05/44 BRUSSELS
12. 27/05/44 STRASSBOURG
13 28/05/44 MAGDEBURG
14. 29/05/44 LEIPZIG
15. 30/05/44 TROYES
16. 02/06/44 PARIS
17. 04/06/44 BOULOGNE
18. 05/06/44 BOULOGNE
19. 06/06/44 FRENCH COAST D-DAY
20. 07/06/44 NANTES
21. 11/06/44 BERCK sur MER?
22. 14/06/44 LeCULOT
23. 18/06/44 BRUNSBUTTELKOOG
24. 20/06/44 FALLERSLEBEN
25. 24/06/44 ROUEN (MILK RUN, SHOT DOWN)
DATE: 24 June 1944
TARGET: ROUEN
A/C#42-97065 "Return Ticket"
EYEWITNESS: "At 1156 hours near 4932-0045E #3 engine was hit by flak.The engine caught fire and fell off the wing.The right landing gear also dropped off.The pilot recovered control and 4 to 6 chutes were counted coming out.When last seen the A/C was headed back toward the coast flying under control."
A/C crashed at"Longuel near Dieppe" and Lt Roth was buried in the French cemetary at that place. He and LeBaron now lie at Omaha Beach.
According to David Shoss' statement in MACR, the target (Luzz Bomb Emplacements) was obscured by cloud -26,000 ft. - and they flew around for 40 minutes looking for a hole. He further states: Our toggalier,Schultz,refused to jump and I threw him out the escape hatch in the nose of the B-17. He got back to Allied control safely. The A/C struck the ground about 1 mile inland on French coast from English Channel." I saw T/Sgt Yates,Radio operator and Toggalier S/Sgt Shultz in England 2 1/2 months later"
NOTE:
Information from the papers of Lt LeBaron sold on ebay 3/2003
"Nothing better illustrates the ironies of war than 2 letters from 1946 from the War Dept. The first dated 22 April 1946 states that "First Lieutenant George L. Roth and First Lieutenant Warren F. LeBaron, who crashed in the vicinity of Longueil, France on 24 June 1944, were on that date and after surrendering, alleged to have been shot to death by the German guards named above as the defendants in this case". The second letter, dated 23 April 1946 states "These records also state that two bodies were recovered at the scene of the crash, and one man was identified as a member of your son's crew, First Lieutenant George L. Roth……. It may be presumed that your son was the unidentified airman."
MISSION MEMORIES FROM T/SGT CARLSON
#2 BOMBARDIER SEVERLY INJURED WHEN FLAK HIT IN HIS JUGULAR VEIN. HIS LIFE WAS PROBABLY SAVED BY LT DAVID SHOSS HOLDING HIS HAND OVER THE WOUND AND STOPPING THE BLOOD FLOW.
#7 WAS THE LONGEST MISSION THIS CREW FLEW, IT WAS OVER 9 HOURS
#8 FLAK WAS VERY HEAVY OVER THE TARGET AND WE HAD TROUBLE WITH FW FIGHTERS COMING BACK. ONE 20MM SHELL EXPLODED IN THE RADIO ROOM. MISSION TIME WAS 8 HRS AND 45 MIN. THE TEMPERATURE WAS 36 DEGREES BELOW ZERO.
#12 FLAK MODERATE OVER TARGET WITH MUCH FLAK IN AND OUT OF GERMANY. WEATHER WAS CLEAR AND I SAW THE ALPS IN THE DISTANCE. TIME ON MISSIONS WAS 7 HRS 55 MIN.
#13 FLAK WAS HEAVY OVER THE TARGET AND IN MANY OTHER LOCATIONS GOING IN AND BACK OUT. WEATHER WAS CLEAR BUT WE HAD TROUBLE WITH ME109'S AND FW 190 FIGHTERS. TIME ON MISSION WAS 8 HRS AND 4O MIN.
#14 FLAK WAS VERY HEAVY OVER THE TARGET AND BOTH COMING AND GOING IN GERMANY. SAW FIGHTERS BUT THEY DIDN'T CLOSE IN ON US.
#16 HEAVY FLAK WITH SEVERAL HITS OVER THE TARGET--WEATHER WAS BAD, BUT THE TARGET WAS VISIBLE. TIME ON MISSION WAS 6 HRS AND 10 MIN.
#19 D-DAY WE HAD NO BATTLE DAMAGE. WE WOKE UP AT 11:00 PM THE NIGHT BEFOR D-DAY. THE TAXI TIME WAS 3:30AM AND WE WERE BACK AT THE BASE AT 11:00AM. TIME ON MISSION WAS 7HRS AND 30 MIN. WE BOMBED THE GERMAN INSTILLATIONS ON THE COAST OF FRANCE.
#23 FLAK WAS VERY ACCURATE W/MORE THAN 12 HOLES IN THE PLANE. ONE WENT THROUGH THE WAIST FLOOR WHERE I HAD BEEN STANDING A MOMENT BEFORE. EXTRA LARGE HOLE IN THE LEFT WING. OTHER HITS SCATTERED OVER THE PLANE.
WE HAD OTHER MISSIONS WITH FLAK DAMAGE BUT THEY ARE TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION
SHOT DOWN OVER ROUEN, FRANCE FLYING IN ANOTHER PLANE, "RETURN TICKET", OUR PLANE WAS IN REPAIR. I WAS INTERROGATED IN ERREUX THEN WENT TO STALAG LUFT IV AND LATER STALAG LUFT 1. I WAS NOT ON MOOSEBURG MARCH BUT WAS TRANSPORTED BY TRAIN SINCE I WAS INJURED IN BAIL OUT."
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BASE MEMORIES OF T/SGT CARLSON mpf 2002
I SAW SEVERAL ACCIDENTS, TWO B-24'S TOUCHED WINGS AND THEY BOTH CRASHED KILLING ALL THE CREW MEMBERS. THEY WERE NOT A PART OF OUR BASE. I SAW ONE PLANE CRASH AND EXPLODE AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY ON "TAKE OFF" AND ALL WERE KILLED.
I REMEMBER VERY WELL GOING TO CHAPEL BEFORE EACH MISSION. THIS GAVE ME COMFORT. A SMALL PER CENT OF THE AIRMEN ATTENDED CHAPEL.
I THOUGHT THE MESS HALL FOOD WAS GOOD AND WE HAD A GOOD BREAKFAST BEFORE EACH MISSION.
ONE SAD MEMORY WAS THAT SEVERAL OF THE CREWS IN OUR HUT DID NOT RETURN AFTER THEIR MISSION, THEY WOULD BE REPLACED WITH ANOTHER CREW. I HAVE MANY SAD MEMORIES….
MEMO 2:
