Personnel

COL NEIL B. "CHICK" HARDING 

Commanding Officer 

100th Bomb Group (H)

Station 139    

USAAF Serial # 0-16930 

USAF   Serial # 322A.





THE 100TH REVERED COLONEL NEIL BOSWORTH. "CHICK" HARDING; COMMANDER OF THE 100TH DURING THE EARLY PHASE OF THE AIR WAR OVER EUROPE.  HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM BY THE EARLY 100TH MEMBERS, CARRIED ON UNDER SEVERE PHYSICALLY DISTRESS, WAS THE COMMANDER DURING THE PERIOD THE 100TH BECAME LEGENDARY.  PROBABLY NO 100TH C.O. WAS MORE RESPECTED THAN COL. CHICK HARDING. HE IS A LARGER THAN LIFE FIGURE IN 100TH HISTORY. 



Date of Service: June 14, 1927 to August 1, 1957



West Point:       July 2, 1923, to Jun 14, 1927

Kelly Field:         Advanced Flying School-Graduated in 1928 

Assignments:

                    USA:     1928-1930 Selfridge Field, Michigan

                    USA:     Kelly Field-5 years as Instructor of Pursuit Training

Panama Canal Zone:    Spent 2 years there 

                    USA:     Langley Field, Virginia, Pilot- 20th Bombardment Squadron,  General HQ Air Force (Maj Gen. Frank Andrews C.O.) 

          Puerto Rico:     In Charge of Training B-17 Pilots

                   Africa      Dec 7, 1941 to Aug 1942  Air Transport Command (checking supply routes)

                   USA:      Sept. 1942  C.O. Morrison Field Air Base, West Palm Beach Florida

                   USA:      April 1, 1943-June, 1943 - First Commanding Officer of the 401st Bomb Group (H) at Fort George Wright Field in Spokane

                                Washington. On May 27, 1943 the Group was ordered to Geiger Field, Spokane WA. In Early June 1943 Col Harding is 

                                relieved of command and sent to England to take over command of the 100th Bomb Group (H) at Thorpe Abbotts. 

               England      June 26, 1943 to April 1944 (CO of 100th Bomb Group starting July 2, 1943)*

                    USA:     May 1945  Chief of Staff, 3rd Air Force, McDill Field)

                    USA:     Armed Forces Staff College for Six Months

                    Hawaii   Sept 3, 1947 to Sept 30, 1949 (CO of Hickam AFB)

                    Peru     May 27, 1953 to April 16, 1956  



*In April 1944 Col Harding was sent Stateside for a gal stone operation at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. After Spending Six Weeks recuperating, he was sent to McDill Field as Chief of Staff to Gen Joseph Atkinson, HQ of the Third Air Force.  



Rank Timeline:  2nd Lt   Permanent Rank   June 14, 1927

                      1st Lt    Permanent Rank   Sept 1, 1933

                      Capt     Temporary Rank    Mar 15, 1935

                      Capt     Permanent Rank   Jun   14, 1937

                      Maj       Temporary Rank   Jan   31, 1941

                      Lt Col    Temporary Rank   Jan    5, 1942

                      Col        Temporary Rank   Mar   1, 1942

                     Maj.       Permanent Rank   Jun 14, 1944

                     Col        Permanent Rank    Apr   2, 1948





Langley Field VA. Feb 14, 1938: AP

Six "Flying Fortress" bombers and 49 officers and men will take off from Langley Field tomorrow enroute to Miami Fla from where they will "officially depart" for Buenos Aires…The giant four-engined B-17 planes will be in charge of Lt Col Robert Olds, commanding officer of the second bombardment group, who will be at the controls of the lead bomber…Capt Neil B. Harding, Beverly W. Va., will command one of the planes.    



Miami Fla. Feb 17, 1938: Six huge Army bombers on a nonstop goodwill flight from Miami to Buenos Aries.  Commanded by Lt Col Robert Olds (C.O. Second Bombardment Group) took off at 12:55 am today for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Forty-nine officers and men were on the flight, their most ambitious nonstop mass formation the army has ever undertaken. 



Buenos Aires, Feb 18, 1938: Five "flying fortresses" of the United States Army landed shortly after 11 a.m. EST after a record breaking one-stop (Lima, Peru) flight from Miami, Fla…The sixth plane (flown by Maj J.V. Meloy) had to stay in Lima, Peru due to propeller problems but took off at 6:20 a.m. EST to join the other five bombers in Argentina.        

                 

Col Neil "Chick" Harding was a Graduate of West Point and a famed football coach for the Army.  He took over Command of the 100th Bomb Group from July 2, 1943, from Col Huglin and remained C.O. until March 7, 1944, when he was sent Stateside for gall stones.  He had been suffering for weeks but simply refused to report to the medics.  He arrived home in April 1944 and spent six weeks in Walter Reed hospital.  He was CO at the most difficult time in the Groups History and is beloved by all who served under him.  There is no official biography on Chick but he did receive the Silver Star in August 1943 for gallantry leading 24 July 43 mission to Trondheim.  His partial list of missions he lead with the 100th Bomb Group are as follows:



July 4, 1943    LaPallice                a/c 23307   "Skipper"            (flying with Lt Swartout Crew)

July 14, 1943  Le Bourget            a/c 230305 "Flak Shack"        (flying with Lt Barnhill Crew)

July 24, 1943  Trondheim            a/c 230061  "Just-A-Snappin" (flying with Eve Blakely Crew)         

July 26, 1943  Warnemunde        a/c  230047 "Sweater Girl"     (flying with Mark Carnell Crew)

Aug 12, 1943  Wessling              a/c  23393    Just-A-Snappin   (flying with Eve Blakely Crew)

Sept. 9, 1943  Arth (Scrubbed)

Sept 27, 1943 Emden                a/c 23357     Detached sevice from 482nd BG (pathfinder Crew)   

Oct. 9, 1943   Marienburg           a/c 230830  "M'lle Zig Zig"       (flying with John Brady Crew)

Nov 13, 1943  Bremen

Feb 25, 1943  Regensburg



His personnel record shows 16 Aerial Missions and 113 Combat Hours (Europe B-17)



Comments from Gen Ira Eaker to a reporter about "his team", the 8th Air Force and Chick Harding in particular.  These were comments made after the Group lost 4 aircraft , 40 men over Paris on September 3, 1943 and the spirits were low on the base….



"Well, the command officer of that Station is Col Chick Harding, who used to play football at West Point and later helped coach the team.  He had to face his deflated boys when  they came back. He had to get them ready for the next mission which was tougher.  He did it as a grid coach would nurse a team back to health, reinspire men who had been gravely hurt by the horror of seeing their friends go down, not in defeat, but death." 



List of awards and Medals include: 

Silver Star (for leading July 24, 1943 mission to Trondheim, Norway,)

Distinguished Flying Cross (for supply route survey flights to Africa June 5-July 20, 1942) with OLC (for Posen mission Feb 24, 1944)

Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters

American Defense Ribbon with One Star

American Theater Ribbon w/One Star

ETO Ribbon with two Battle Stars

Mackay Trophy Ribbon 

Croix de Guerre w/ Palm

Distinguished Unit Ribbon (Regensburg Mission) with OLC (Berlin Missions Mar 4,6,8, 1944)



Basically........Air Medal (do not know how many Oak Leaf Clusters.....Silver Star (I think twice but do not know for sure). DFC with Oak Leaf Clusters (do not know how many)..… Helen Harding Wynne 



Here is some information provided by Chick Harding Daughter Helen:



So let us just begin and then take this up in segments...

 

1.  I only remember Dad saying he had been on 16 missions before he was sent home with the impacted stones that almost killed him (when it all was over at Walter Reed, he weighed 115 lbs).  He was more "sick" not to be with his precious 100th than he was from his near-fatal condition.  I do remember it well....I was 12 at that time.

 

2.  When WWII broke out, we were at Borinquen Field (will check sp) Puerto Rico...later Ramey AFB.  Dad was immediately called to survey oil routes in Africa and was there for quite a few months after which he was named CO of Morrison AFB (FL) and we were there for about a year before he was sent to England and the 8th.  As well as I can remember (but will check the best that I can ...with so many records gone south) he went immediately to the 100th upon arriving in England.

 

Trivia:  Dad's plane's name was: "DORHELCLA" for Doris (mom...Dodie; me, Helen; and my sister Clare (ie Kay).... The two brothers were not on the scene yet.

 

Blessings,

Helen Harding Wynne



According to Christine Urich (Chicks Granddaughter) Col Harding flew the 3rd B17 out of the Boeing factory and put to rest the last one.

 

COL NEIL "CHICK" HARDING STAYED IN THE AIR FORCE AFTER THE WAR, RETIRING IN 1957.  OUR BELOVED CO PASSED AWAY APRIL 22 1978 AND IS BURIED IN ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY ALONG WITH HIS WIFE DORIS DALE HARDING. 

                                                                                                                          (BUCKY FRAME, CHICK HARDINGS NEPHEW)





Subj: re:lost treasures ...and primarily Neil"Chick"Harding 11/29/03 Liz  

Date: 12/10/2003 5:16:37 PM Pacific Standard Time 

From: cwurick@msn.com 

To: MPFaley@aol.com 

File: heroes1copy.jpg (550838 bytes) DL Time (31200 bps): < 5 minutes 

Sent from the Internet (Details) 

 



I would like to send this article that my Mom (Chick's oldest daughter- Helen Harding Wynne)mentioned in her response to:Neil"Chick"Harding - 11/29/03.  I will send it in 6 jpg attachments for I do not want to take this article out of the house.  The magazines were great large in those days!  I believe in quoting this article for my nephew (who recently got home from Iraq)in one of our correspondences...that it was quite the moral booster!  He shared it with fellow soliders-as you might with the relatives mentioned in this article.  I am sure you might be able to draft this up from The Woman's Home Campanion Archives where ever they may be? ..crediting the authoress of course.

 

I also have an excellent book lent to me by Mom ( I have to give it back) it is a priceless piece -Jablonski, Edward,Flying Fortress,Doubleday Inc.,Garden City, NY, 1965.  Based upon personal interviews, Army records and the Boeing Corp's data...Incrediable photo essays, plane blue prints, mission arial shots etc.

 

Please let my Mom know if you post this - she would be delighted wyndonelen@att.net. Additionally if you might post my grandfather's death date -04/22/1978.  He is buried at Arlington with his wife Doris Dale. 

 

My grandfather was much loved in and out of the "Army Air Force".  We were so excited by this website, thankyou so much!

(Chick's eldest granddaughter)

Christine Wynne Urick





Did I ever tell you (think I did) that I flew with Dad.  In the "olden days" dependents could go up every six months in peacetime, that is.  The best of all was the trip from California to Aberdeen, MD when Dad's 17 was scheduled MATS to afford my concurrent travel back from college.  I donned a flight suit and slept on parachutes in the bombay after "playing" co-pilot for a while. Had flown from Hickam to San Francisco on the MARS.

 

Blessings  helen Harding Wynn

*********************************************************************************************************



Dear Mike...

You just made my day and Christmas Season with this e-letter from General Mason. Was with

 my folks at Aberdeen during his first tour and this was his 2nd upon return from Peru.

Married at that time, I only visited while my husband (USNA)  was at sea.... thus  wasn't there for Dad's retirement

as a new grandson was only days old.  

You must know that Gen. Mason's remembrance of that ceremony, which had never been described to me, fills a blessed

page from the past. As on the first tour when I was just a young student nurse and whole-heartedly in love with one of Dad's crew,

do remember a return from Churchill.  Had been asked what I wanted to be brought back and I said SNOW.  Well Dad and Russ

did bring me a big box of snow and we had one heck of a snow-ball fight in front of the quarters that night. 

Had been blessed as well to fly with Dad in those days when one could take up a dependent every six months....first flight in a

B-25 our of Ramey (then Boinquen Field)....last when he had his return flight redesignated as MATS as I had concurrent travel...to

bring me home from college in Calif. to Aberdeen....B-17....slept in the bomb-bay on top of the chutes.  

 

So thank you again for memories Mike and Gen. Mason.  

 

Blessings and gratitude,

Helen Harding Wynne

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: sumnerassoc@aol.com

To: mpfaley@aol.com

Sent: 12/10/2010 10:42:29 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

Subj: Memories of Col. Harding, version 2



 

As a very young lieutenant navigator I had the privilege of serving 

under his command in 1955-1957.  During that period he was commander of 

the 6570th Test Group (Chemical and Ordnance) at the Aberdeen Proving 

Ground, Maryland.  The group consisted of a squadron at Aberdeen, 

another at the nearby Army Chemical Center, Edgewood, MD, and a 

detachment at the Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.  Our missions were 

testing of ordnance being developed for the USAF by the US Army, and 

transport of special cargo related to the testing.



I was his navigator on a couple of long flights, one to Ramey AFB in 

Puerto Rico, and the other to RCAF Churchill on Hudson's Bay.  He was 

most gracious in complimenting me for getting the headings and ETAs 

correct.  Even better was his insistence that all of the crew be given 

the best available billets at those locations.  At Churchill I was in 

the VOQ next door to him.



I knew he was a very special person when I observed that whenever he 

arrived at any USAF base, he was likely to be greeted by a general 

officer with obvious warmth and respect.



At the time of his retirement ceremony, I was the adjutant of the 

squadron at Aberdeen and read his retirement orders.  It was an effort 

to avoid breaking up during the reading, but I got through it OK.



I consder that his example was a significant factor in whatever success 

I have had in both military and civilian life.



I should have written this years ago, but better late than never.



Allen S. Mason

BGEN, USAFR (Ret)