Personnel

CREW

     MACR # 11744, Microfiche # 4313   A/C #42-37939   "THE ALL AMERICAN GIRL"



2ND LT JOHN J. DODRILL P KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

2ND LT DAVID S. WILLIAMS CP KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

F/O JOHN D. GROSS NAV POW 10 JAN 45  COLOGNE

2ND LT MELVIN D. SNYDER BOM NOC

CPL GEORGE R. BENNETT ROG KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

CPL HARRY E. MITCHELL TTE KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

CPL MYRON E. WARNER BTG KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

CPL GARLAND L. JOSEPH WG KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE

CPL ROY E. TOLL  TG KIA 10 JAN 45 COLOGNE



351ST SQDN..   CREW AS ABOVE JOINED THE 100TH ON 28 OCT 1944



ON 10 JAN 45, LT RANDOLPH W. BAYER, FROM THE CREW OF GERALD BROWN, WAS FLYING AS NAVIGATOR AND WAS KIA.  SGT DAVID W. PITMAN (gunnery insturctor) WAS FLYING AS NOSE GUNNER AND WAS KIA.

 



EYEWITNESS: "A/C #42-37936 was last seen at 1228 headed toward Belgium with bomb bay doors open.  The doors had been open since the target.  All engines were operating and the aircraft did  not appear to be having difficulties."



Story of the Century  Page 95 states: "..... All American Girl (named by Seymour Eichen, who flew it's first 35 missions) was flown on it's 99th , Jan 10, 1945, by John Dodrill of Puente, Cal.  One engine out, he was in control when he left the formation and flew down through the clouds, but no one knows the mysterious fate that overcame  the "All American Girl."  Afterwards a rumor spread she was on the a German Airfield."   (This was unfounded....pw)



All nine of her crew are memorialized on the WALL OF THE MISSING  at Cambridge.



Subj: Re: 100thBG Feedback Form  

Date: 10/2/2002 3:35:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

From: wlivingstone@earthlink.net 

To: MPFaley@aol.com 

Sent from the Internet (Details) 

 





Dear Michael, 

    I can't  believe it, after all these years I finally learn the fate of my old friend Dave.  I was sure his name was Putnam, and he lived in Quincy, MA, but when you said his father was a doctor, that pretty much confirmed it.  I had him placed in Quincy, MA, and as it turns out, Wollaston is a suburb of Quincy.  Dave was in pre-med at Tufts University in Medford, MA, about 20 miles from Quincy, before he went into the service.  Everything but the name rings true. 

    The day he went MIA, Jan. 10th, 1945, I was stomping my feet on the frozen ground at Stalag Luft IVA, near Stettin, Poland, trying to warm them up -- as were the other 3,000 or so POWs there.  And to think Dave was flying the same position I had, togglier, a couple of months before.  Some of us were just plain lucky. 

    I'm satisfied you found the right guy, but I am so sure his name was Putnam, I suspect the Air Force may have misspelled his name.  Dave told us Putnam was an old New England name, and there seem to be hundreds of them in Massachusetts 

    I've been writing my memoirs for about 10 years now, and one of the many stories I've written is about Dave Putnam (or maybe Pitman?).  I wrote it about 5 years ago.  I thought you have a few minutes to read it, so it's attached 

    Thank you for your quick response, sad as it is.  The 100th is very fortunate to have you aboard, Michael. 

    I'll try to contact a member of his family in through switchboard.com. 

Bill 

  

MPFaley@aol.com wrote: 



In a message dated 9/29/2002 3:41:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time, wlivingstone@earthlink.net writes: 

  

  

UNAME = Bill Livingstone 

CONNECTION = I am a friend of a 100th veteran 

COMMENTS = I would like to learn the fate of David Putnam, of Quincy, MA.  Dave and I went to England on the Queen Elizebeth in September, 1944 -- he was assigned to the 100th BG, and I to the 95th, as gunnery instructors.  I flew one mission as  fill-in on Nov 2nd, 1944 and got shot down.  My parents learned Dave Putnam was MIA in Dec '44, or Jan, or maybe Feb '45.  He probably flew as a fill-in also, because he wasn't assinged to a regular crew, as far as I know. 

Thank you, Bill Livingsotne, Santa Barbara

Hi Bill, 

You have the first name correct, but the family name was Pitman.  The friend you are looking for is Sgt David. W. Pitman of Wollaston, Mass (father was Dr. Paul Pitman, 378 Belmont Ave). On Jan 10, 1945 he was a replacement gunner (nose gunner, togglier) on Lt John Dodrill Crew, 351st Squadron, 100th Bomb Group.  I am truly sorry to inform you that that whole crew was listed as missing in action and your friends name along with that of the Crew is on the Wall of the Missing in Cambridge, England.  None of the Crew were ever found.  Our condolences for the loss of your friend. 

Regards, 

Michael Faley 

100th Bomb Group Photo Archives 

100th Bomb Group Historian 



Go to this page on our website for all information on this crew and photos of the plane and Crew minus David. 



https://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/crews4/dodrill.htm 

  

 







Dave Putnam



    "No, no, Bill.  Always play second hand low."

    "But I have the ace, Dave.  Why not just take the trick?"

    "Because your partner may have the singleton king."

    "Oh, I get it."

    And so it went.  Dave Putnam taught Jim Murray and me to 

play bridge, while Jim Murphy, who had played some bridge in 

college, played along too.  Most of our bridge sessions took 

place in the shade on the back stoop of our barrack.  It was the 

summer of 1944 during World War II, and we were in gunnery 

instructor's school in Loredo, Texas.  Dave, from Quincy, 

Massachusetts, learned his bridge at Tufts University.

    After gunnery school we shipped out to Army Air Bases in 

England.  We played bridge on the train to Greensboro Relocation 

Center, North Carolina, on the train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, 

and we played bridge on the Queen Elizabeth on the way to 

Edinburgh, Scotland.  There we separated, each to his own base.

    I was assigned to the 95th Bomb Group in Norwich, and Dave 

went to the 100th in Ipswich.  I don't recall where the two Jims 

were assigned, but in the middle of October I contacted Dave and 

we made arrangements to meet at his base.  Because of the almost 

rain that day, the most convenient place to talk seemed to be in 

the cab of a GI truck at the base motor pool.  We talked about 

"the good old days" back in Texas, on the Rio Grande, where the 

temperature and the humidity both hovered around 90.  We laughed 

about the day we had our picture taken for two dollars by a 

street photographer in Greensboro.

    That was the last time I ever saw Dave, but we seemed to 

have a special bond that comes with the loneliness of military 

life.  A couple of weeks later my B-17 was shot down over 

Germany, and I became a Prisoner of War.  At first, of course, I 

was listed as Missing in Action, "MIA."

    When the war was over, and I was home, my Mom told me she 

had received a letter from Dave the previous December.  He said 

a letter he wrote to me was returned, marked MIA, and he wanted 

to know if there was any other news.  About the time Mom and Dad 

got Dave's letter, they had received notice from the War 

Department that I was a POW.  Mom told me she wrote back to Dave 

to tell him that, but a couple of weeks later she got her letter 

back.  It was stamped MIA.  I'm ashamed to say, what with 

college, marriage, and work, I never tried to find out what 

happened to Dave Putnam.

    In 1989 I was on a business trip that took me to Boston.  

Quincy is almost like a suburb of Boston, so with several hours 

on my hands before plane time, I found a phone book and looked 

up "Putnam."  Holy mackerel!  There must have been three dozen 

of them in Quincy -- but none of them was named David.

    In one of our photo albums I still have that picture of 

Dave and me, big smiles on our faces, striding down the main 

street of Greensboro in our khaki uniforms.  I'll always 

remember Dave like that -- smiling.  And I always think of him 

when I'm tempted to play second hand high.