Personnel

CREW

                          1ST LT THOMAS E. MURPHY

                          ORGINAL 100TH PILOT



CREW #22   A/C #42-5864  "PICCADILLY LILY"  PROABLY THE 100TH MOST FAMOUS A/C



1ST LT  THOMAS E. MURPHY                P;  KIA     8 OCT 43 BREMEN

2ND LT  MARSHALL F. LEE                   CP;  KIA     8 OCT 43 BREMEN   

2ND LT  CHARLES C. SARABUN          NAV;  POW   8 OCT 43 BREMEN

2ND LT  FLOYD C. PETERSON           BOM;  POW    8 OCT 43 BREMEN

T/SGT   JOHN J. EHLEN                    TTE;  POW    8 OCT 43 BREMEN   TAPS: 1978

S/SGT   ALBERT C. DAVIS                 WG;  CPT 4 OCT 43 HANAU (WON DFC)

SGT     EMMETT H. EVANS               ROG;  CPT 4 OCT 43 HANAU

S/SGT   CLEVELAND D. JARVIS          BTG;  X-FERRED TO ARMAMENT, JULY 1943

S/SGT   MICHAEL ROTZ                     WG;  POW  28 MAY 44 MADGEBURG

S/SGT   GERALD O. ROBINSON           TG;  POW  8 OCT 43 BREMEN



ALBERT DAVIS AND EMMETT EVANS, HAVING COMPLETED TOURS WERE REPLACED ON THE 8 OCT 43 BREMEN MISSION BY DERRELL PIEL (ROG OF CREW #26) AND ELDER DICKERSON THE REGULAR WG OF CREW #25.  BOTH PIEL AND DICKERSON (ON HIS 25TH MISSION) WERE KILLED BY FLAK. JARVIS'S PLACE IN THE BALL TURRET WAS TAKEN BY S/SGT REED A. HUFFORD WHO BECAME A POW. MICHAIL ROTZ, HAVING BEEN HOSPITALIZED FROM INJURIES SUSTAINED IN A JEEP/TRUCK ACCIDENT WAS REPLACED BY S/SGT AARON A. DAVID, WHO WAS KILLED.  THERE IS CONFUSION AS TO WHETHER DAVID WAS BLOWN OUT OF THE AIRCRAFT WITHOUT A CHUTE OR HIS CHUTE FAILED TO OPEN.



THIS CREW LED THE 100TH ON THE MISSION TO BREMEN AND CAPT  ALVIN L. BARKER. 351ST OPERATIONS OFFICER, FLEW IN THE RIGHT SEAT. MARSHALL LEE THE REGULAR CO-PILOT FLEW AS BTG TO ISSUE REPORTS TO MURPHY AND BARKER. LEE WAS APPARENTLY KILLED AFTER LEAVING THE BALL TURRET IN HOPES OF RENDERING AID TO THE TWO PILOTS, BOTH OF WHOM WERE ALSO KILLED.



SOON AFTER BOMB RELEASE THE PICCADILLY LILY WAS HIT BY FLAK NEAR THE NAVIGATORS STATION CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE FLIGHT DECK AREA AS WELL.  THIS SHELL OR OTHERS STARTED A FIRE IN THE #3 ENGINE AND DESTROYED THE

SHIPS OXYGEN SYSTEM. WITNESSES INDICATE THE LILY ENTERED A NEAR VERTICAL NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE AND EXPLODED WITH ONLY FOUR CHUTES OBSERVED.



ON 15 OCT 43 AT THE POST CEMETERY, WESERMUENDE, GERMANY, THE REMAINS OF MURPHY, BARKER, LEE, PIEL AND DICKERSON WERE INTERRED IN GRAVES #103 THROUGH 3107.



THE PICCADILLY LILY WAS IMMORTALIZED BY SY BARLETT AND BEIRNE LAY'S "TWELVE O' CLOCK HIGH."  WITHOUT A DOUBT SHE IS THE MOST REMEMBERED BOMBER  OF WWII.



MISSIONS for SGT ALBERT C DAVIS & SGT EMMETT H. EVANS    

1943

June 25    Bremen, Ger 

June 26    Le Mans, Fr

June 28    St. Nazaire, Fr

June 29    Le Mans, Fr

July 4      La Pallice, Fr

July 10    Le Bourget, Fr

July 24    Trondheim, Nor

July 25    Warenmunde, Nor

July 26    Hanover, Ger

July 28    Oschersleben, Ger

July 29    Warenmunde, Nor

July 30    Kassel, Ger

Aug 12    Bonn, Ger  (T.O. Wesseling)

Aug 17    Regensburg, Ger

Aug 24    Bordeaux, Fr

Sept 3      Paris, Fr

Sept 6      Conches, Ger  (Stuttgart, Conches, Evreux)

Sept 7      Watton, Fr

Sept 9      Beduvais Tille, Fr

Sept 15    Renault, Fr

Sept 16    La Pallice, Fr  (Bordeaux, Merignac, La Pallice)

Sept 26    Paris, Fr

Sept 27    Emden, Ger

Oct 3       Emden, Ger

Oct 4       Hanau, Ger  (Saarluis, Hanau)





 



With a heavy heart, I regret to inform you that my father, Albert C. Davis, one of the original members of the 100 th Bomb Group (“Picadilly Lilly”), passed away last week.



I have attached his obituary if you wish to use any of it in the Splasher Six.  He loved the memories of the 100 th in England and his last reunion in Omaha with the 100 th. Archives in KiA/TAPS. 



 



Regards, 



 



Al Davis, P.E.



Supervisor, Process Technologies Group



AEC Engineering



5540 Falmouth Street, Suite 300



Richmond, Virginia 23230



Direct line:  (804)545-7906



Phone:   (804)282-3811



Fax:       (804)282-3652

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Albert Carl Davis, 351st Squadron, June 7, 2007.  Albert was the waist gunner on the Thomas E Murphy crew, who went to England in the 100th original cadre.  Al’s pilot, Ole’ Murph, as he was called, was a well loved by all and his crew went through a lot together.  Al had flown two missions on an other crew and had completed his missions and was on leave in London when Murphy decided to fly the Bremen mission on the 8th of October, he was killed along with the CP, the crew became POW’s. They flew one of the 8th famous aircraft “Piccadilly Lily”. Al was heart broken by the loss and 60 plus years late still had tears in his eyes when he talked about his crew and his pilot.  Al continued to serve in the military for 37 years, retiring from the Air National Guard in 1984.  His list of medals is long and distinguished.  He married the love of his life, Adonna.  They were married 44 years until her death.  They have three sons, Albert Jr., Steve and Glenn and nine grandchildren.  Al was proud of his boys and his love for them and Adonna was with him everyday.  He was proud of his service to his country and the 100th.  We will miss his laugh and spontaneity.  (Al Jr., Steve and Glenn, proud sons) 

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Michael Faley I sent you an email with the supporting diary entries showing all his missions with both the 8th AF / 100th BG/ 351st SQ and the 15th AF/ 463rd Bomb Group / 775th SQ in '44-45. There was a year between his last mission with the 100th and his first mission with the  15th AF/ 463rd BG. He did do gunnery instructor for a short time back in the states and then decided to go back into combat. I  have an interesting story about what he said when I asked him " Why the hell did you go back into combat after completing your 25 missions? And what did Mom say to you about that? " Looks like he flew a total of 54 missions , not the 52 I thought he did. I know that by the end of these missions , he was getting combat fatigue . He once told me that he a  couple other buddies were basically told that they had seen enough combat and they needed to go home. He admitted to doing some things that could have gotten him courtmartialed in a non war situation. He also told me the story of when he was being shipped out from Bari, Italy and the Germans bombed Bari while he was in a building and trying to get out. He told me about the walls of the building staring to crack and pieces falling out. He got out and jumped into a truck that must have had Ghurkas because he said they had turbans  on and carried swords. The bombs were going off and the truck driver lost control and the truck went into the water ( bay? ) and they had to get out. He described one of the 'turban guys' taking his sword out and slicing open the canvas top of the truck so they could swim out. Wild stuff. If they made a movie of that, the critics would say " Its all Hollywood!"….steve Davis-son of Albert Davis