Personnel

CREW



1st Lt John K. Justice              P EVADEE  10/10/43 MUNSTER

2nd Lt John F. Shields           CP KIA  10/10/43 " "

2nd Lt Peter Battisti            NAV POW  10/10/43 " "

2nd Lt William C. Brothers     BOM POW  10/10/43 " "

  T/Sgt Richard E. Whitlock   ROG POW  10/10/43 " "

  T/Sgt John F. McDonough  TTE POW  10/10/43 " "

  S/Sgt Stanley S. Stopa      BTG POW  10/10/43 " "

  S/Sgt Harry Hafko              RWG POW  10/10/43 " "

  S/Sgt Robert E. Bergendahl LWG POW  10/10/43 " "

  S/Sgt Gaetano D. Sportelli      TG KIA  10/10/43 " "



349th Sqdn.  Crew, as above, jolned the 100th Group in June 26, 1943.  It was one of the first four replacement crews of the Group.  The other three were Lt Henry Henington, F/O Owen "Cowboy" Roane, and Lt Walter "Chief" Moreno.  Medals Awarded Lt Justice: DFC, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart  



MACR #1021, Microfiche #338, A/C #42 3229 "PASADENA NENA" XR-A.  



This mission to Munster on 10/13/43 was the 17th for thls crew; its first was to Kiel on 25/7/43.  Lt. Shields was wounded about the head by 20mm fire but did bail out.  A notation on a German report in MACR says his body was found about 100 meters from the crash point on 10 November.  Jack Justice is of the belief that, if the German report is factual, Shields was sheltered by frlendly Dutch in the area immediately after he landed but that he finally died of his wounds and the Dutch, fearing the Germans would discover they had aided him placed his body near the crash site to be found by the Germans.  Sportelli's remains were apparently found in the a/c debris   he had not bailed out.  It is probable that he was killed or very badly wounded by 20 mm fire.  He and Shields were buried at Ede Cemetary in Row C, Graves #1 & 2.  Justice was taken in by the Dutch Resistence forces and, after many months, returned to Thorpe Abbotts.  He has written a very interesting account of his life as an evadee.  See also Ian Hawkins book on Munster raid…pw



  MISSIONS OF LT JOHN K. JUSTICE (mpf 2001)





1. 25/07/43 WAREMUNDE (KIEL)

2. 28/07/43 OSCHERSLEBEN

3.  17/08/43 REGENSBURG

4. 24/08/43 BORDEAUX

5. 31/08/43 Les MERUEAUX

6.   3/09/43 PARIS

7.    7/09/43 WATTEN

8.    9/09/43 BEAUVAIS-TILLE

9. 15/09/43 RENAULT

10. 16/09/43 La PALLICE

11. 23/09/43 VANNES

12. 26/09/43 PARIS

13. 27/09/43 EMDEN

14.   4/10/43 HANAU

15.   8/10/43 BREMEN

16.   9/10/43 MARIENBURG

17. 10/10/43 MUNSTER (SHOT DOWN)





NOTES FROM LT JOHN "JACK" JUSTICE:



Our plane was named Pasadena Nena by William Brothers, Bombardier because I had lived in Pasadena, California and "Pasadena Nena" was his lucky word for the number "Nine" when he played craps"  The wound in my neck continued to fester throughout my excape. X-Rays showed ti was a metal object.  I thought it was a piece of shell fragment, but when I had it removed several years later, it was a piece of my airplane.  (mpf 2001)



Mike 

       Thanks for the help.It brought back a lot of memories I had forgotten.I was looking at Lt. Justice,s crew and 

       saw s/sgt. Sportelli,s name.Let me tell you a little story about Sport.one day at base he came over to me 

       and say,s hey Tan, I got a pass and im a little short can you lend a few pounds.Of course I gave it to him,

       we were pretty good friends.Well you know he was killed on that Munster mission.He was a nice guy Mike.

       About that mission,wasn’t that the first time the me 110,s and 210,s laid back out of range of our 50,s and 

      lobbed in there long range rockets, and wiped out the group!? Boy how did I miss that one!!!! And wasn’t

      this one the beginning of Rosies legend?

      

     Mike I got to tell you this is a great new website .Got to go now.

                                                                                                           Take care  Rich Tangradi, TG Amiero/Henington crews

     

    PS if you thought Steve McQueen had a Great Escape, wait till you read mine!!!!!