Mission

From December 23 to December 27, the weather had favored the Americans in both the air and on the ground. However on the 28th, the sky was once again overcast.

At the morning’s briefing, the crews learned that the primary target for the day would be the communication center at Prum, Germany. Secondary targets would be any military targets east of Prum and their target of last resort was the sorting siding in the Koblenz marshaling yards.

The 13CBW would be flying third in the Division line, led by the 95BG, under the call name of Fireball Able.  The 100BG would contribute one element of three ships to fly again in a composite squadron with the 95th, flying as the high element in their low squadron.

The 100th’s main formation would fly as the Wing’s ‘B’ group while the 390th would fly as its ‘C’ group, under the call names of Hotshot Dog and Hotshot Easy, respectively.

Loaded with twenty 250 pound bombs, thirty-nine fortresses plus two PFF aircraft took off between 0856-0930 hours. The 100th’s main formation was led by Lt Colonel Sam Barr who flew with Donald Jones.

The wing’s assembly was made with the 95BG arriving three minutes early. At Felixstowe, the Division's assembly was completed at 1130 hours.

On the route in to the target, a large gap was reported between the 95th and 100th’s formations, caused by the 390BG flying out of formation and to the right of the 95BG.

As the B-17s neared the briefed flak areas, the crews donned their heavy flak suits; forty pounds of body armor made of steel plates nestled in a padded covering. Most of the engineers would assist their pilots with the heavy and awkward body armor. Twenty-three year old Gordon A. Parsons was flying his #10 combat mission over Germany, far away from his quiet farming days that he left behind in Grandview, Washington. As the formation neared the flak corridor over France, disaster struck his twenty-three year old engineer and top turret gunner, Charles Bodenheimer from San Angelo, Texas. Bodenheimer “left his position to help the pilots with their flak suits. When he climbed out of his turret, his glove caught on the switch, causing the turret to spin, crushing him between the turret and the oxygen bottles. As the crew attempted to revive him, the pilot dropped to a lower altitude and tried to land at an emergency field, but the field was closed - Bodenheimer was dead by then.”  

With a 10/10 undercast at the primary target in Prum, a visual attack was prohibited, so the wing leader led the formation of bombers on to Koblenz, a target of opportunity but fifty miles further into Germany.

Five minutes prior to arriving at the new IP, the 100th’s lead Pathfinder’s equipment failed and the lead position was turned over to the deputy lead aircraft, flown by John Robinson and John Ernst flying in the high squadron. Able to make the change in the lead position without any difficulty, the formation continued on to the new target, turning onto the bomb run, where again, there was reported interference from the 390th’s formation. However, at 1324 hours, bombs were away using Micro H and H2X. Following the same route home, the men encountered little flak and no fighters, crossing the Continental coast at 1441 hours.

After close to seven hours in the air, the 100BG returned to Thorpe Abbotts, in formation between 1535 and 1615 hours. Grateful to be home safely once again, waist gunner, James Smith recorded into this diary, “This one was a good mission as far as we were concerned but we bombed Koblenz, our ‘C’ target, through 10/10 overcast. It's really the truth about ‘the more missions, the more sweat ‘. Stand down tomorrow for 351st crews.”

None of the 100th’s B-17s would return with battle damage and although the mission cost Sgt. Bodenheimer his life, most of the crews agreed that they would mark this one a milk run.

T/SGT Charles E. Bodenheimer had enlisted just after finishing High School in San Angelo, Texas. He had arrived at Thorpe Abbotts with his crew, three months earlier after flying across the Atlantic. Newly married for six months, his parents were having a welcome lunch for their new daughter-in-law the day before he was killed. Originally buried in the Cambridge Cemetery in England after the tragic accident, his body was repatriated back to the United States in July 1948 where his body was laid to rest at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.