Personnel

CREW:



2nd Lt Howard E. Keel                 P  CPT AWARDED DFC

2nd Lt Robert K.Edgley           CP  CPT AWARDED DFC 

2nd Lt Alexander G.Park       NAV  CPT 25 FEB 44 REGENSBURG 

2nd Lt Ruben Clifford.Kelsey    BOM  CPT 25 FEB 44 REGENSBURG  

 S/Sgt Thomas P. Hastings        ROG  CPT  AWARDED DFC

 S/Sgt George L.Ferron            LWG  CPT  AWARDED DFC

 S/Sgt Claire J.Phelan               BTG   CPT

 S/Sgt Harry A. Koerner            TG    GROUNDED DUE TO MEDICAL REASONS AFTER RJUKAN MISSION

 S/Sgt Frederick A.Kornblum     TTE   GROUNDED DUE TO MEDICAL REASONS AFTER RJUKAN MISSION

 S/Sgt Andrew J.Guglieri          RWG  CPT   AWARDED DFC



351st Sqdn. Crew 25,  Crew as above joined the 100th Bomb Group on 25/9/43.  A/C flown: Holy Terror EP-D 230723 (lost over Munster October 10, 1943 with Lt William Beddow Crew), Holy Terror II EP-D 231062, Holy Terror III EP-F 240056  lost on March 8, 1944 over BERLIN with Lt Norman Chapman Crew who referred to this plane as "Katie's Boys"

 

After Nov 16 Mission to Rjukan (which Koerner and Kornblum flew with another crew) the crew had the following changes: mpf



S/Sgt George Ferron     TTE (from LWG)

S/Sgt Loren G. Johnson LWG

S/Sgt Robert D. Abney  TG (from the Helmick Crew)

S/Sgt Fred Kornblum was re-assigned as an aircraft mechanic to a ground crew.

 

MISSIONS AND TARGETS OF 1ST LT RUDEN CLIFFORD KELSEY sn# 0-676292 (mpf nov 2000)



1. 26/9/43  PARIS-FLEW WITH ANOTHER CREW

2. 27/9/43  EMDEN-FLEW WITH ANOTHER CREW

3. 4/10/43  HANAU-1st Mission with KEEL CREW

4. 8/10/43  BREMEN-shot at Me109 that crashed into Marie Helena. The crew was given a weekend pass to London when we returned to base so we missed the next two missions, fortunately.  It was so quiet at Thorpe  Abbotts when we returned, it was almost spooky. We had met some guys from the 95th BG at the train station at Diss when we returned from London and they gave us the bad news about the  Munster Raid (10/10/43-12 B-17's failed to return) so we were aware of what to expect at base. However, it was still a shock"

5. 14/10/43 SCHWEINFURT-"Black Thursday", flew with the 95th BG that day because 100th could only put up 8 aircraft after the Munster Mission.  We "flew Heaven Can Wait"  I have memories of seeing more B-17's shot down than I had ever seen or would ever see again. Both myself and BTG got credit for shooting down 2 enemy fighters.  Mine was a FW190.

6. 20/10/43 DUREN

7.   3/11/43 WILHELMSHAVEN

8.   7/11/43 DUREN

9. 13/11/43 BREMEN

10. 26/11/43 BREMEN

11. 13/12/43 KIEL

12. 16/12/43 BREMEN

13. 20/12/43 BREMEN

14. 22/12/43 MUNSTER

15. 24/12/43 NO BALL (V-1 ROCKET SITES)

16.    5/1/44 NEUSS

17.  11/1/44  BRUNSWICK

18.  14/1/44  NO BALL 

19.  29/1/44  FRANKFURT

20.  30/1/44  BRUNSWICK

21.    4/2/44 FRANKFURT

22.  13/2/44  NO BALL (ROCKET SITES)

23.  20/2/44  ROSTOCK LISTED IN DIARY (GROUP HIT POSEN THIS DAY, START OF BIG WEEK)

24.  21/2/44  VORDEN

25.  25/2/44  REGENSBURG



351st Sqdn. Crew 25,  Crew appears on roster of 3/3/44 with some changes as below:



 Capt H.E.Keel  P

 2nd Lt R.K.Edgley CP

 1st Lt F.D.Fuller  NAV           CPT (Frederick) from crew of C.A.Jansen

 T/Sgt D.C.Bennett NG/TOG    CPT (Dorsett) from crew of J.R.Swartout

 T/Sgt T.P.Hastings ROG          CPT (Thomas)

 S/Sgt G.L.Ferron TTE             CPT (George)

 S/Sgt C.L.Anglin BTG              KIA (Charley) 11/5/44 with J.Hunter crew

 S/Sgt A.J.Guglieri RWG           CPT (Andrew)

 S/Sgt L.G.Johnson LWG          CPT (Loren) 20/4/44

 S/Sgt R.D.Abney TG               CPT (Robert) 1/4/44 from R.H.Helmick crew



Keel went to 3rd Air Division and stayed in service after WW II. He was killed in the crash of a transport plane (as a passenger) on 3 Nov.1948. 

See letter from Mark H.Brown in 349th file.





VETERAN: LOREN G. JOHNSON

VETERAN'S DATE OF DEATH: 7/24/2004

FAMILY CONTACT INFORMATION: I am the son of Loren, all family memembers have been informed, Thank You

:::::::::: END OF TAPS REPORT SECTION ::::::::::GERALD C. JOHNSON (gcj@dairynet.com)



:::::::::::::::::::: MESSAGE :::::::::::::::::::

Message:  Please accept following description of my Father's passing away and entry into "TAPS"



Loren G. Johnson 351st Squadron , passed away on July 14, 2004, at the age of 82 years old. Loren joined the service on Nov 6th 1942 and was assigned to  Army Intelligence, due to the shortage of mechanic's he was reassigned as a B-24 maintenance mechanic. Upon completion of mechanic's training, Loren was reassigned once more to the 100th Bomb Group as spare waist gunner on a B-17 , with his first combat  mission to Wilhelmshaven on Nov.3,1943. Loren flew eight combat missions in "Holy Terror III " with the remaining 17 missions flown with eight different crews/planes as a spare gunner.  On March 8th 1944 on the Berlin - Erkner raid, Loren was assigned to another crew (Lt Helmick) as a spare gunner , he watched as the "Holy Terror III " was shot down in the area of Magdeburg, Germany . He completed his 25 combat missions on April 21, 1944 . Loren's service in the 100th for ever changed his life , in spite of these experiences he went on with his life and attended college , married his wife Betty and had three children , Julie, Mary Jo, & Jerry . Words can not describe nor will we ever fully appreciate what hardships and suffering Loren and his fellow airmen went through during their service with the 100th during WWII .  ( Respectfully submitted by his son Jerry )