Personnel

CREW

               1ST LT EDGAR F. WOODWARD, JR.



CREW #33   A/C #42-5860 "Escape Kit"                  MACR #688



1ST LT  EDGAR F. WOODWARD, JR                  P; INT      6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

F/O     JOHN H., THOMPSON                          CP; POW   6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

2ND LT  EMANUEL A. "Manny"CASSIMATIS NAV; POW   6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

2ND LT  ROBERT E. DIBBLE                         BOM; KIA   15 AUG 43 MERVILLE AF

S/SGT   FRANK DANELLA                              TTE; POW   6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

T/SGT   MELVIN E. GAIDE                             ROG; POW    6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

S/SGT   CHARLES J. GRIFFIN                        WG; POW     6 SEP 43 STUTTGART    

S/SGT   GEORGE A. JANOS                          BTG; POW     6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

S/SGT   WILLIAM D. BROOKS                          TG; POW     6 SEP 43 STUTTGART

S/SGT   DONALD H. FLETCHER                     WG; POW      6 SEP 43 STUTTGART



NOTES:  THIS IS AN "ORIGINAL CREW" OF THE 100TH BOMB GROUP.



1ST LT EDGAR F. WOODWARD, JR. Missions



           Date.        SN#.    Target.      A/C Name

June 26, 1943 25860 LeMans     Escape Kit

June 28, 1943 25860 St Nazaire Escape Kit

June 29, 1944 25860 LeMans     Escape Kit

July 4,  1943 25860 LaPallice     Escape Kit

July 10, 1943 229931 LeBourget Jaybird

July 14, 1943 25860 LeBourget  Escape Kit

July 17, 1943 25860 Hamburg    Escape Kit

July 24, 1943 25860 Trondheim  Escape Kit

July 25, 1943 25860 Warnemunde Escape Kit

July 26, 1943 25860 Hanover    Escape Kit

July 28, 1943 25860 Oschersleben Escape Kit

July 30, 1943 25860 Kassel     Escape Kit

Aug 15, 1943  25860 Merville & Lille Escape Kit

Aug 24, 1943  230402 Conches, Evreux-Fauville The Poontang

Sept 3, 1943  230402 Kerlin-Bastard The Poontang

Sept 6, 1943  Stuttgart 230402 The Poontang

                SHOT DOWN                  



ON 6 SEP 43, LT PAUL L. ENGLERT WHOSE CREW (#30 Lt William Flesh) WAS LOST ON THE 17 AUG 43 REGENSBURG MISSION AS BOMBARDIER AND BECAME A POW.



Crew #33 418th Sqdn.       MACR #688 Microfiche #227



 Mission: Stuttgart       A/C#'42-30402 (POONTANG)

 Date: 6 Sept.1943

 Time. 0930



Capt.Edgar F.Woodward,Jr.                    P  INTERNEE 

F/O John H.Thompson                         CP  POW 

2nd Lt Emanuel A.Cassimatis               NAV  POW

1st Lt Paul L,Englert                          BOM  POW

  T/Sgt Frank Danella                         TTE   POW

  T/Sgt Melvin E.Gaide                       ROG   POW

  S/Sgt George A.Janos                      BTG   POW

  S/Sgt Donald H.Fletcher                   RWG  POW

  S/Sgt Charles J.Griffin                     LWG  POW

  S/Sgt William D.Brooks                    TG  POW



Eyewitness accounts:



"Saw Woodward's ship going down at 4830N-0803E at 0929  #2 engine was windmilling. Everything else seemed to be OK."

                                                     Walter U. "Chief" Moreno  1st Lt.



"Saw Capt. Woodward's A/C turned out of formation under control and headed for Switzerland. Nothing seemed wrong with A/C,"

                                                     John D. Brady, 1st Lt.



"A/C #402 at 0930 approximately 2 miles north of Strasbourg salvoed bombs into a woods. Headed south and went under cloud deck.All engines turning over. No E/A or AA at this time."

                                                     Gale W.Cleven,Major, 350th BS C.O.



A letter from D.H.Fletcher of 25/1/84 states that on the way into the target, an oil leak in #2 engine. Woodward could then have aborted,but decided to press on.Somewhere near the IP oil pressure went to zero and prop would not feather - cylinder head temp. went sky high. If engine seized and prop came off it could have been disastrous to ship.It was decided to head south for Switzerland. When they believed themselves over Switzerland,the crew bailed. It turned out that only Woodward, who remained with aircraft until the crew had successfully bailed out, landed in Switzerland,the others in Germany.



See S.O.C. p.19





EDGAR WOODWARD WAS ON THE "ADDRESS UNKNOWN"  V.A. LIST FOR MANY YEARS, BUT AS OF 1993 HE RESIDES IN ALEXANDER, VA .  HE WAS CONTACTED  BY THE 100TH SPLASHER SIX EDITIOR  HARRY H. CROSBY.CREW



From Splasher Six, E. A. Cassimatis obituary:

Mr. Cassimatis told his family that German fighter planes had shot down his B-17 bomber, which had no fighter escort of its own. He bailed out and was making his way to Switzerland, where a farmer first took him in, but then betrayed him to German Gestapo agents. They sent him to Stalag Luft III, a German prisoner of war camp in Poland that housed captured Air Force servicemen.



The Germans planned the camp to be impervious from escape. But the prisoners organized two major escapes by tunneling, as depicted in the 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen.



Mr. Cassimatis was transferred along with other prisoners to another camp that was liberated in 1945. He had weighed 210 pounds when he was captured; two years later, he emerged a free man at 117 pounds. 

Cindy Goodman, Splasher Six Editor





In Memory of

Edgar F Woodward Jr.

May 11, 1919 - October 13, 2011

Obituary



Col. EDGAR FREEMAN WOODWARD, Jr., USAF (ret.) We are saddened to announce the death of our dear father on October 13, 2011, of pneumonia, in Alexandria, VA. Col. Woodward was born in Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 1919, and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. In 1927 at age eight, he watched in amazement with his father as Charles Lindbergh lifted off Long Island's Roosevelt Field in the "Spirit of St. Louis" en route to Paris, the first-ever non-stop transatlantic flight. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and Wesleyan University in Connecticut before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps. in 1940. His 31-year military career included... 



We are saddened to announce the death of our dear father on October 13, 2011, of pneumonia, in Alexandria, VA. 

Col. Woodward was born in Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 1919, and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. In 1927 at age eight, he watched in amazement with his father as Charles Lindbergh lifted off Long Island's Roosevelt Field in the "Spirit of St. Louis" en route to Paris, the first-ever non-stop transatlantic flight. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and Wesleyan University in Connecticut before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps. in 1940. 

His 31-year military career included serving with the 418th Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he flew B17 bombers in Europe during World War II. Col. Woodward's plane was shot down over the French border on his 13th mission. With typical "dumb luck," as he called it, he parachuted into Switzerland, where he served as Acting Commanding Officer in a Swiss Internment Camp for a year and a half. His entire crew survived as well. Following a prisoner exchange arranged by the Swiss with the United States, Col. Woodward returned to Britain. 

He also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was a U.S. Air Force special envoy with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization when he was stationed in Hawaii. Col. Woodward and his family moved to Alexandria, VA in 1962, where he held various posts at the Pentagon. After retiring from the Air Force in 1971, he worked for Marriott and Honeywell Security Systems in the Washington, D.C. area. 

Among awards: the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Col. Woodward was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years Dorothy Cisin Woodward, who died January 26, 2010. He will be greatly missed by his four children, Edgar III, Douglas, Patricia, and Tracy, and 12 grandchildren. 

Services will be held on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 11:00am at the Old Post Chapel, Ft. Myer. Burial with Full Military Honors will follow at Arlington National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be given to the

Mike, (FALEY)



I don't have any videos or diaries. All I can offer is what he told me over the years.



I saw that letter from Don Fletcher in '84. Don and my dad remained good friends after the war and kept in touch but I didn't finally get to meet him until the reunion here in Cincinnati. The only thing I can add over Fletcher's letter about the plane was that my dad said that the engine was hit by flak and that's what caused the oil leak. He also said that the pilot waited too long to try to feather the prop.



The navigator, Cassimatis, was the one who said that they were in Switzerland but he ended up being a little off. They were bailing out when Woodward went back to destroy the bombsite and that's why he ended up being the only one to make it to Switzerland.

Fletcher and my dad both ended up in Stalag 17B. After 18 months my dad and a few of his friends escaped. Fletcher did not go with him. They exchanged dog tags with a bunch of Welsh guys who were being taken out on work parties. My dad's new name was Benny Kitsen (not sure of that spelling). They went out on the work party and at night they made their escape and all survived the trip back to Hungary which was quite an adventure. They passed through Russian lines on the way and had interesting stories about the Russians.



His memories of the camp were mainly the lack of food and the rats and all the weight he lost.



He never told me that his crew was part of the original group. That's interesting.

Thanks for those links. Somehow I missed the bottom picture of the crew in the States.



Frank







On 7/19/18, 9:01 AM, "Frank Danella III"  wrote:



    Frank Danella Jr. passed away on May 15, 2018 at the age of 96.

    

    I am his son:

    Frank Danella III

    11656 Symmes Valley Drive

    Loveland, OH 45140

    

    frankd3@fuse.net