Personnel

CREW



Lt Clifton M.Williams               P   KIA   31/12/44 HAMBURG

Lt Kenneth W.Newkirk         CP  KIA 31/12/44 HAMBURG

Lt Richard F.Williams         NAV  KIA 31/12/44 HAMBURG                         A/C #43 38124

Lt Lawrence W.Ward       BOM  POW  31/12/44 HAMBURG                      MACR #11363,Fiche #4182

T/S/Sgt Charles J.McGinley  ROG  KIA 31/12/44 HAMBURG

T/Sgt .Alvin H. Petteys      TTE  KIA 31/12/44 HAMBURG

S/Sgt Lee F.Carpenter      BTG  KIA 31/12/44 HAMBURG

S/Sgt  James H.Murphy        WG  POW 31/12/44 HAMBURG

Sgt Harvey J. Lehman            WG   CPT   17/2/45   FRANKFURT & GIESSEN  (Transferred to Lt Streich Crew as BTG)     

  Cpl  Gordon R.Sinclair         TG   CPT  15/3/45 ORANIENBURG /WITH THE S. JOHNSON CREW AS NAV (see note)



351st Sqdn. Sqdn Diary of Sept.1944 notes this crew as joining the 100th Group in Sept.  Cpl.Harvey J.Lehman was 

on the crew at that time but was put on the crew of Lt Frank Streich as BTG when crew was reduced to 9 men.   Sgt Harvey J. Lehman (from Lt Clifton Williams Crew) was transferred to this Crew as BTG and completed tour on 17/2/45 mission to Frankfurt & Giessen.



On 31/12/44, S/Sgt Roland L.Douglas,from the crew of Gerald Brown,was flying in place of Gordon Sinclair and was 

made a POW.



Note

Gordon Sinclair was removed from Navigator's school one day short of graduation for some unknown infraction, proably the Training Command acted  a bit over zealous in view of the need for trained Navigators.  The 351st Sqdn. Commander (Harry Cruver, a man known to have had some disagreement with training command personnel during his cadet days) corrected this bit of over zealousness by immediately promoting Sinclair to M/Sgt and  making him the Navigator for the Sidney Johnson crew, where he completed a tour.  This from Charles M. Beck, of the Sidney Johnson crew..pw



MISSIONS FLOWN BY LT LAWRENCE W. WARD.  (mpf…2003)  (flew Skyway Chariot)



1.   30/09/44   BIELEFELD

2.   02/10/44   KASSEL

3.   05/10/44   HANDORF

4.   06/10/44   BERLIN

5.   07/10/44   BOHLEN

6.   09/10/44   MANINZ

7.   13/10/44   BREMEN

8.   17/10/44   COLOGNE

9.   18/10/44   KASSEL

10. 22/10/44   MUNSTER

11. 26/10/44   HANOVER

12. 02/11/44   MERSEBURG

13. 09/11/44   SAAR BRUCKEN

14. 16/11/44   LANGERWEKE (AACHEN AREA)

15. 21/11/44   OSNABRUCK  

16. 26/11/44   HAMM

17. 02/12/44   KOBLENZ

18. 04/12/44   FRIEDBURG 

19. 05/12/44   BERLIN

20. 11/12/44   KOBLENZ

21. 12/12/44   DARMSTADT

22. 27/12/44   FULDA

23. 28/12/44   KOBLENZ

24. 30/12/44   KASSEL

25. 31/12/44   HAMBURG-MISSING IN ACTION    



EYEWITNESS:  ""A/C #38124 was broken in two by coilision with A/C #42-31066

                      which fell on it after A/C 42-31066 was hit by flak. Both A/C

                       went down in flames.One chute was seen.""



A/C 42-31066 was flown by the crew of Floyd E. Henderson. See below for Henderson crew roster..



The following is Lt Lawrence Ward's recollection of what occurred (written probably in late 1945):



""While we were on the bomb run the tail gunner called out an enemy jet high at six o'clock.In answer 

I checked the crew for oxygen and gave orders to all the gunners to be especially alert for enemy fighters.

All action began just as the squadron dropped their bombs.I only had time to say ""Bombs Away"" when

two terri fic explosions took place;one under the nose in the chin turret,the other some where around 

the center of the ship. The one under the nose was flak,and pieces of metal seemed to fill the air as they

tore thru the plexiglass and aluminum. It was at this moment that I received a hit over the left eye that stunned me. 

From then on,nothing is clear in my mind as to what happened.



We immediately went into a spin and I remember trying to climb to the escape hatch but I didn't have strength

to overcome the other forces.The plane straightened into a dive and as I disentangled myself from all the 

debris I pulled the red cord on my flak suit,and started again for the hatch. In that one quick moment I

glimpsed the navigator lying on the catwalk on his elbows looking in my direction. This covered a fraction

of a second and then the nose seemed to disintegrate and I passed out.



When I came to I was in the open air and just automatically pulled the ripcord of my parachute. But nothing 

happened except the red handle came out - I threw it away and opened the chute by pulling the flaps 

open.I never remember the jolt of the chute opening - the next thing I knew was that I was dangling by one strap

It was a habit of mine to hook one side of the harness to the chute on the bomb run and it never occurred 

to me to fasten the other side before opening it. By this time,the bleeding of my wound had stopped - evidently

because the blood over my face had frozen. However,hanging by one strap prevented me from having any control

over myself and I whirled around and around like a top,making me very sick at my stomach.



I made hasty plans as to evading,but when I landed it was within a fenced-in estate on the edge of Hamburg.

I was immediately surrounded by soldiers and civilians  They took me to the Luftwaffe base where three 

others from our squadron were being searched and held. One was my waist gunner and he is the one who 

told me the story of our plane.The other explosion I heard was another plane colliding with us,

slicing our plane in half at the ball turret.



When I was a prisioner,the wound over my eye thawed out and began to bleed again  I tried to get it 

bandaged but to no avail,so I bandaged it with a handkerchief, and it was over a month before it finally healed.""



2ND LT FLOYD E. HENDERSON   P        KIA 31 DEC 44    HAMBURG

2nd  Lt   Richard W. King             CP        KIA 31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

2nd   Lt   George J. Smigo, Jr    NAV      POW 31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

S/Sgt  Elmer L. Kovach         TOGG        KIA 31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

S/Sgt George J.Robinson          ROG       KIA  31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

 S/Sgt James W.Shepard          TTE       KIA  31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

   Sgt Leo O.Murphy                BTG     POW    31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

   Sgt Fred Horcasitas                 WG      KIA    31 DEC 44  HAMBURG

   Sgt Frank S.Sauls                    TG     POW   31 DEC 44  HAMBURG



NOTE:



2nd Lt Sidney C. Johnson         P            CPT      15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

2nd Lt Williarn J. Duggan         CP          CPT       15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

1st Lt Chester Romanowski     NAV        NOC

    F/O Harry M. Thompson     BOM        CPT      21/3/45 RUHLAND & PLAUEN

    T/Sgt Charles M. Beck, Jr.    ROG        CPT       15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

    Cpl Harry E. Menter           TTE        CPT       15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

    Cpl William G. Weeks         BTG        CPT        15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

    Cpl Edwin R. Hodgson         WG        CPT       15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY

    Cpl Francis W. Manser          TG         CPT      15/3/45 ORANIENBURG, MY



351st Sqdn.  Crew, as above, joined the 100th Group on 28 OCT 44.



This crew flew 35 missions. For most of the tour the Navigator was  M/Sgt  Gordon Sinclair, only a frew  NCO'S served As  Navigators"