Personnel

CREW



2ND LT ANDREW J. DOWNING             P CPT   29 JAN 45 KASSEL TAPS 1995

2ND LT EDMOND J. ST GEORGE         CP CPT   29 JAN 45 KASSEL 

F/O JOHN C. FIELDS                       NAV CPT   29 JAN 45 KASSEL

T/SGT CARL C. NEELY, JR               TTE CPT   29 JAN 45 KASSEL

T/SGT WALTER E. LaBEDZ              ROG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL    sn# 16099326

CPL NORMAN D. SMITH                   BTG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL   (MOVED TO TAIL GUNNER)

CPT LAWRENCE J. McGARR              WG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL   (nicknamed "Boozer McGarr" MOVED TO BALL TURRET GUNNER)

CPT CALVIN B. KORPELA                  WG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL   (MOVED TO TOG/NG)

S/SGT JAMES L. STAFFORD              TG CPT  11 DEC 44 GIESSEN  



418TH SQDN.. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH ON 22 AUG 1944.



IN AN APRIL 1945 LIST OF "HAPPY WARRIORS", M/SGT JAMES L. STAFFORD IS NOTED WITH 24 SORTIES ON HIS SECOND TOUR.



 The following are individual sorties as flown by the crew of 1st Lt. Andrew J. Downing in Boeing B-17 - G #2102649, squadron markings LD-T (Lady Geraldine) based at Thorpe Abbotts Airfield, home of the 100th Bomb Gp..418th Squadron..



 Mission # Date    Target

 1    13 Sep 44  Sindelfingen, Germany

 2    18 Sep 44  Warsaw, Poland (Delivered supplies to the Polish underground, and landed in Mirgorod, Russia (Ukraine)

 3    19 Sep 44  Szolnik, Hungary

 4    25 Sep 44  Lugwigshaven, Germany

 5    30 Sep 44  Bielefeld, Germany

 6    02 Oct 44  Kassel, Germany

 7    03 Oct 44  Nurnberg, Germany

 8    05 Oct 44  Handorf, Germany

 9    06 Oct 44  Berlin, Germany

 10  07 Oct 44  Bohlen, Germany (birthday of Carl Neely)

 11  12 Oct 44  Bremen, Germany

 12  18 Oct 44  Kassel, Germany

 13  19 Oct 44  Ludwigshaven, Germany

 14  22 Oct 44  Munster, Germany

 15  26 Oct 44  Hanover, Germany

 16  02 Nov 44  Merseburg,  Germany

 17  05 Nov 44  Ludwigshaven, Germany

 18  09 Nov 44  Saarbrucken, Germany

 19  10 Nov 44  Mainz, Germany

 20  21 Nov 44  Osnabruck, Germany

 21  26 Nov 44  Hamm, Germany

 22  29 Nov 44  Hamm, Germany

 23  30 Nov 44  Merseburg, Germany

 24  02 Dec 44  Coblenz, Germany

 25  02 Dec 44  Coblenz, Germany ????

 26  12 Dec 44  Darmstadt, Germany

 27  24 Dec 44  Biblis & Babenhausen, Germany

 28  27 Dec 44  Fulda, Germany

 29  10 Jan 45  Cologne, Germany

 30  14 Jan 45  Derben, Germany

 31  17 Jan 45  Hamburg, Germany

 32  20 Jan 45  Heilbronn, Germany

 33  21 Jan 45  Mannheim, Germany

 34  28 Jan 45  Duisburg, Germany

 35  29 Jan 45  Kassel, Germany



Data supplied by Carl Neely at the 1993 Little Rock Reunion....pw







CREW (THIS LISTING IS IN DOUBT?)



2ND LT ANDREW J. DOWNING             P CPT 29 JAN 45 KASSEL TAPS 1995

2ND LT EDMOND J. ST GEORGE           CP CPT   29 JAN 45 KASSEL 

F/O JOHN C. FIELDS                       NAV CPT 29 JAN 45 KASSEL

T/SGT CARL C. NEELY, JR               TTE CPT 29 JAN 45 KASSEL

CPL WALTER E. LaBEDZ                  ROG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL

CPL NORMAN D. SMITH                   BTG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL

CPT LAWRENCE J. McGARR                 WG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL

CPT CALVIN B. KORPELA                   NG CPT  29 JAN 45 KASSEL

S/SGT JAMES L. STAFFORD               TG CPT 11 DEC 44 (UNKNOWN)





Some memories of Calvin Korpela --- from Summer 1991 Splasher Six

 Cal was on Andrew Downing's 418th crew, which had two especially rough missions.  Once, when they were flying "Lady Geraldine" on her 67th mission, they got hit and had to land in No Man's land with her engines wilted down like lettuce. They left the plane and it never flew again. They were listed a MIA and lost all their GI issue, including their A-2 jackets. On the Shuttle mission to Russia, they got hit again in Poland and barely made it alone to Russia. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to bomb the enemy, they loaded up again for the return trip, with some 500 pound demos, fused with no pins. A Russian boy, maybe 12 years old, brought the bombs,  so small he had to chin himself on the truck's steering wheel. He rolled the bombs off the truck by backing up swiftly and jamming on the brakes, forcing the loaded bombs to roll of onto the ground.

 On the way to Bari, Italy, they got hit by 205's operating from German railroad trains and landed at Foggia with their plane full of holes.  Cal sums it up with, "Its great to be a survivor."