Personnel

CREW



2ND LT ORVILLE C. EVERITT             P KIA  11 SEP 44       RUHLAND

2ND LT JOHN B. MANNIELLO           CP POW  11 SEP 44     RUHLAND

2ND LT WARRENL. SODEN            NAV POW  11 SEP 44     RUHLAND

2ND LT WILLIAM H. TITLEY          BOM CPT  29 JAN 45      KASSEL         (with Lt G. Brown Crew)  SEE BELOW

CPL JAMES V. ARMSTRONG             ROG WIA  05 AUG 44     MAGDEBURG, (in 65th Gen. Hospital)

CPL ROBERT L. WILLIAMS             TTE KIA  11 SEP 44       RUHLAND

CPL ROBERT A. HOWARD              BTG KIA   11 SEP44       RUHLAND

CPL HOMER K. HIRSCH                   WG KIA   11 SEP 44      RUHLAND

CPL WILLIAM E. KENNEY                 TG POW    11 SEP 44   RUHLAND

CPL EDWARD G. MINTON, SR.            NG KIA    11 SEP 44     RUHLAND



349TH SQDN.. Crew, as above, joined the 100th on 17 Jul 1944.  

On the 11 Sep 44 Ruhland mission Cpl Lawrence A. Radka, from the crew of W. Marmorine, flew in place of James Armstrong and was KIA.

Sgt.D.H. Crozier(togg/NG) flew with this Crew on 5 AUG 44



CREW

 DATE: 11 Sept.1944  349th Sqdn             A/C #42-97834 "Mud In Yer Eye"



 MISSION: RUHLAND                                   MACR #8819,Micro-fiche 3237



1st Lt Orville C.Everitt         P          KIA

2nd Lt John B.Manniello      CP         POW/WIA

2nd Lt Warren L.Soden        NAV     POW

Sgt Edward G.Minton,Sr   . NG        Died of Wounds in POW hospital

Cpl Lawrence A.Radka      ROG        KIA

T/Sgt Robert L.Williams     TTE        KIA

S/Sgt Robert A.Howard      BTG      KIA

S/Sgt Homer K.Hirsch        WG         KIA

S/Sgt William E.Kenney      TG         POW/WIA





A statement made 2/8/45 by Sgt.Kenney is as follows:  "We were flying a mission

to Ruhland,Germany in Sept.1944.At about 12:10 English time we were hit by F.W.

190s.Due to oxygen system which was shot out and also serious lung wounds,I was

unconsclous and don't remember how I got out.  I have no knowledge of what happ-

ened at all except hearsay.  I heard in Germany from a fellow flyer that the ship

blew up.Then when I got to France I saw the Navigator Lt.Soden. He said he saw a

ship explode after he bailed out, but he couldn't tell if it was ours."



Lt.Manniello received injuries to the skull and had no memory of any events occur-

ring betwean 5 and 16 Sept.  However, he said as follows in August 1945:   "The

Toggalier,Minton, Edward, Sgt.,occupied the other bed in my room (in Ger. Hosp,)

and gave me the following information.

      1.The pilot, Everitt,Orville C.  Was killed in the plane but everyone else

        bailed out.

      2. We were strafed while floating earthward.

      3. We were attacked by civilians at railroad station in Kemotan, Sudeten-

         land,Germany.

      4. Minton had no knowledge of fate of other members of our crew.  (Minton

         was later officially reported by the German Govt. to have died as a

         result of a fractured spine."



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CREW

          BROWN'S CLOWNS



  Lt Gerald Brown           P CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND

  Lt Arthur L. Jacobson CP POW 3/2/45 BERLIN         (With crew of  J..P. Ernst) SEE BELOW

  Lt Ralph W. Bayer    NAV KIA 10/1/45 COLOGNE     (With crew of J.J. Dodrill)   SEE BELOW

  Lt Joseph J. Dye     BOM CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND  (With crew of T. Hughes)

 Sgt Gifford D. Vieth  ROG CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND

 Sgt Walter R. Peters TTE CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND

 Cpl Roland L. Douglas BTG POW 31/12/44HAMBURG (With crew of C.M. Williams)

 Cpl Wayne E. Page     WG CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND

 Cpl Clarence S. Kellogg TG CPT 10/3/45 DORTMUND



351st Sqdn.  Crew appears on Crew Roster of 4/8/44 as above.  See S.O.C. 

P. 95.  Crew joined 100th Group on 25/7/44.     



Lt Ralph Bayer is memorialized on the WALL OF THE MISSING at Cambridge. 

Letter from G. Brown (30/4/84) Jacobsen died of cancer 1981 Seattle.  

Ralph Bayer left the crew in late 1944..  Went to J.J. Dodrill crew. He was replaced on the Crew by  LT KIMBALL from Lt D.L. Thompson Crew 

Joe Dye left the crew Sept/Oct 1944 and finished his tour with Lt Tom Hughes Crew.  

Dye replaced by William Titley, from the crew of O.C. Everltt, who CPT 29/1/45. 

Gifford Vieth now (1984) a prominent attorney in Washington, D.C. 

Roland Douglas left crew in Aug 1944 when it became a lead crew and no longer had a BTG position. 



Bill Titley had joined our crew on our seventh mission -- to Cologne on October 15, 1944 -- after Joe Dye had been hospitalized during our days of lead crew training at the 95th Bomb Group. At the time, Titley had already logged twelve missions, so he completed his thirty-mission tour of duty on the Brown crew's Mission 25 to Kassel. Our bombardier on the Brown crew's last five missions was Maj. Don Ventriss, the Group bombardier. 



A Cpl. George Vogiatzis was a WG on crew when it arrived at 100th.  He was removed to 

make a 9 man crew and went to the 9th Air Force as a B 26 gunner.  Was 

KIA after a few missions. "Originally a member of Gerald Brown's Crew. Cpl Vogiatzis Transferred to a B-26 unit 

upon arrival in England after Crews were reduced from 10 to 9 men. He was assigned to

 the 554th Bomb Squadron, 386th Bomb Group (M). He died 16 Sep 1944 and is buried

 in the Cambridge American Cemetery (Plot D, Row 6, Grave 56)"  



Lt. Erwin A. Lentz assigned to crew as Mickey Operator and CT.



MISSIONS FLOWN by "BROWN'S CLOWNS"



8/4/44 Hamburg

8/8/44 St.Silvain

8/11/44 Villa Coublay

8/13/44 Nantes-Gassicourt 

9/5/44 Stuttgart   

10/2/44 Kassel

10/15/44 Cologne

10/18/44 Kassel

10/22/44 Munster

10/30/44 Merseburg

11/5/44 Ludwigshaven

11/26/44 Hamm

12/2/44 Koblentz

12/4/44 Friedburg

12/5/44 Berlin

12/ 18/44 Mainz

12/24/44 Biblis

12/27/44 Fulda

12/29/44 Frankfurt

12/30/44 Kassel

1/3/45     Fulda

1/7/45    Cologne

1/21/45  Mannheim

1/28/45  Duisburg

1/29/45 Kassel

2/17/45  Frankfurt

2/21/45  Nurnburg

2/23/45  Treuchtlingen

3/3/45    Brunswick

3/10/45  Dortmund 





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"I was the bombardier on Capt. Jerry Brown's good, solid B-17,"  recalls William "Bill" Titley.  "The 100th was leading the 8th AF in a maximum effort to smash the German railroads marshalling yards and the hundreds of freight cars that were in because the rail bridges had been destroyed.



 "We made our approach from the east with a hundred mile an hour tail wind. I soon noticed that while the tail wind, which was speeding us towards our target, was welcome to shorten the trip, we were not flying straight.  Actually, we were crabbed 30 degrees to the right.  Luckily I communicated my panic on the intercom and Tony Lentz (Mickey Operator Edward A. Lentz), who was following his radar screen hollered back that he had the same reading as I.



 "We proceeded to drop our bombs and turned off the run.  All was clear below and we had a good sight of the marshalling yards and the hundreds of freight cars.  Because of the clear view, the bombing was excellent.  



 "As we came to expect, the operators of the anti-aircraft  had just as good a view of us.  The flak was so think we could walk on it.  



 "As we turned off, the B-17 on our left (A/C 44-8514, Lassie Come Home) took a 'few' hits and the rest is history, made by Furrer and Evans.

William Titley 349th Squadron Feb 13, 2016  William was Bombardier assigned to Orville Everitt crew, but not flying with them on its ill-fated Sept 11, 1944 mission to Ruhland.  He subsequently joined the Gerald Brown crew and completed 35 combat missions.