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        "       "       "

2ND LT  CHARLES C. SARABUN            NAV;  POW  "       "       " 

2ND LT  FLOYD C. PETERSON              BOM;  POW  "       "       "

T/SGT   JOHN J. EHLEN                       TTE;  POW  "       "       " 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)



Michael,

 

We may have traded emails or spoke by phone some years back. My name is Steven Dream Weaver and I am writing from Portland, Oregon. I hosted a talk radio show in town for 12 years.

 

I am writing as my Uncle Jack..He will be listed as John Ehlen...was a member of crew 22 on the Piccadilly Lily. After the October 8Th 1943 raid on Bremen he spent the rest of the war in Stalag 17. I always thought it was a bit ironic that both is plane and stalag were made famous in movies.

 

I am trying to find a copy of or reprint of the "I Saw Regensburg Destroyed" that was published in the Saturday Evening Post November 6, 1943 edition.

 

I can remember my grandmother talking about that article when I was a kid but never saw it myself.

 

I have searched in old mag shops in a variety of cities and come up with nothing. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

By the way I appreciate and admire your work as a historian for the 100Th.

 

Steven Dream Weaver

10019 SW Quail Post Road

Portland, Oregon 97219

dwtrain@yahoo.com

503-245-1493-h