Personnel

Originally listed as Ordanance…



I've been interviewing John for a little history of the residents here at our senior housing facility in Dallas, Texas. I am about half-way through with transcribing the interview and will send it to you as an attachment to e-mail when complete - probably today. 

 

John has given me some information that he doesn't want included in this story, so I will not reveal that unless you come up with it independently. Otherwise, John seems to be an unknown war hero except to the Bluegrass musicians of Garland, Texas. They collected enough money to send John and his brother to see the WWII Memorial in D.C. John says that all of his records burned in his father's house many years ago. 

 

Currently John is deaf - REALLY deaf. It is exhausting to try to ask him questions, and I'm not sure he always gets the question. I am often confused by his answers. He has had a very disfiguring cancer surgery on his mouth, but he was a very fit, handsome man until this surgery just a year ago. John is an Honorary Colonet in the former Confederate Air Force - now called the Commemorative Air Force. He has been willing to let everyone call him "Colonel" and does nothing to indicate that he wasn't a colonel in the USAF. Frankly, only during my interview did it come to light that he was discharged as a Staff Sgt. John has been eager to show us his medals mounted in a frame by his daughter, Carlene. I also have some newspaper clippings of articles written about his war experiences; however, they contain some minor errors which he has corrected in my interview.

 

John is a beloved member of our residence, always helpful and generous to all. His current address is 11851 High Dale Dr Apt. 215B, Dallas TX 75234. I have a cell number for him, but he isn't good about using that cell except in an emergency. I doubt that he ever checks for messages. 

 

I'm going to send my transcript to you with the understanding that John has not had a chance to correct anything I may have misunderstood or mis-stated. John spends a lot of time in Garland and Canton, Texas, so I might be weeks getting him to go over my transcript.

 

My husband was a pilot in the CBI flying The Hump. He is dying of emphysema, but he has written a nice little history for his sons that I hope to get placed on the Internet with his fellow CBIers. Unlike John, he has never wanted to talk about his medals or experiences… except the fun ones - like owning a leopard in India.

 

Thank you for your work for the 100th.

 

Eulaine Hall (Mrs. Wallace R. Hall)

eulainehall@aol.com

11851 High Dale Dr Apt. 201A

Dallas TX 75234-7929

972-484-1115

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November 30, 2006



JOHN CARL THOMPSON was born in the country near Garland, Texas, on December 15, 1927. There were 6 children in the family. A sister born July 16, 1925, died August 10th, less than a month old. His mother died during childbirth in 1932. His oldest brother died in 1997. John has two sisters and a brother still living. John’s father was a railroad man, and times were hard for the motherless family. Taking advantage of hard feelings between John’s father and his brother in Happy, Texas, near Amarillo, John dropped out of Garland High School telling his father that he was going to work for that brother. He counted on the fact that the two men would not be communicating, because John was forging his father’s name to enlist in the Army Air Corps at age 16, saying that he was 17 years old.



Basic training was at Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita Falls where John asked for Gunnery training. He had loved hunting all of his life, and excelled when sent to Harlingen for gunnery school. Advanced training continued at Eglin AFB in Florida and Camp Kilmer, NJ. A side story he told: a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) was towing targets for the gunner’s practice. John shot off the tow cable. On the ground the WASP called him every bad word in the book, and she continued to chew him out mercilessly. It finally made him mad, so when she said, “Why did you do that?” He answered untruthfully, “I just wanted to see if I could do it.” This amused a colonel nearby who couldn’t resist coming over to ask him privately, “Did you really try to hit it?” No sir. It was a pure accident. That was the truth!



At long last he was processed for service overseas and sent to Thorpe-Abbotts Air Base in Diss, England. Here he was trained as a relief B-17 pilot, in case of emergencies. John says his combat service began January 30, 1944. John flew combat missions over Germany as a right waist gunner - 52 missions in all. He shot down 11 fighters himself: Focke-Wulf FW190 and Messerschmidt. During February and March of ’45, John went to Burtonwood Air Base, serving as Flight Engineer, Relief gunner and/or Top Turret gunner. He was back at Thorpe-Abbotts from March until his combat service ended May 9, 1945. His friends know that his hearing was seriously impaired during those days.



As with any of us who lived through WWII, John’s memory grows fuzzy about exact dates, but suffice it to say that he remembers 4 emergencies and 3 Purple Heart citations. On a mission from Thorpe-Abbots, his B-17 aircraft was shot down in Northern France. He talks about “The Caterpillar Club” or “hitting the silk.”  All 10 in parachutes were rescued by the Free French and returned to their base. Purple Heart #1. 



#2 Bailed out of B-17 over the English Channel. The British retrieved all, but 2 were dead. 



#3 Shot down over Germany. Patton’s 3rd Army near the Rhine River were able to rescue John’s crew. He was wounded by flak in his hip bone, and won Purple Heart #2.



#4 Received Purple Heart #3 when flak hit his face and nose. 



To hit Berlin without running into on-coming traffic (from some base other than Thorpe-Abbotts), it was customary to fly over the North Sea. In ’45, as Waist gunner, John took a turn on the “relief pot” during a quiet spell. He heard gunfire and immediately jumped up to return to his position. Good thing, because enemy shell casings were all over the floor around “the pot.” He was sliding on them.



All in all, John reports that he received the following medals:

  4 Bronze star (or 1 with 3 Oak Clusters)

  1 Silver star

  4 Distinguished Flying Cross (1 with 3 Oak Clusters)

  1 Air Medal

  Legion of Merit – (European combat award for France, England and USA)

  British Commendation

  Unit Citation.



Although John puts himself in the 8th Air Force, 100th Bomb Group, 350th Squadron, 13th Wing, it appears that somewhere along the way he served all over and wherever a gunner was needed. He asked for and received extra assignments, he says.



At this point in his life, he was wanting out of flying. He joined a peace-keeping mission near Frankfort, Germany, helping to build the Rein/Main AFB - once again fudging the truth. They asked if he could drive tractor equipment. He said “yes,” not mentioning that he had only a very little experience on a John Deere tractor. He found himself in the 446th Air Service Group (Utility) driving a large Caterpiller scraping out earth for a runway. Suddenly he rolled up a bomb on the blade. Not caring to know anymore about whose bomb it was, he ran away at top speed, leaving the tractor running wide open. A demolition crew with protective suits and a giant crane came to lift it away.



John next found himself back at Shepherd AFB in Wichita Falls as an instructor in gunnery, lasting until 1946 when he was separated from service as a Staff Sergeant, serving in the Houston reserves as a drill sergeant, of all things. A total of 9 years in the military. It was in Houston where he joined the Confederate Air Force – now called the Commemorative Air Force – and became an honorary colonel. “The Colonel” has been a name attached to John ever since.



As a civilian, John joined Hughes Tool as a maintenance pipe fitter and plumber, spending the next 30 years with Hughes in Houston. On his father’s birthday, September 19, 1956, John married Omie Lee White whom he had met at church in Josephine, TX, near Wylie. Their first daughter was born in 1957. “Robbie Elaine was my huntin’ buddy” John says. “She was a big ole tomboy and my pal until that Navy man came along and she fell for the uniform.” Their second daughter, Carlene, was born November 15, 1958. Robbie died in her sleep on August 2nd, 2005 of Diabetes and heart problems, just as her mother died had died on April 2nd, 1988.  



John has been a faithful fan and follower of the Bluegrass performers on the Garland Square and elsewhere. In 2005, those Saturday-night pickers raised enough money to send John to Washington, D. C. to visit the WWII Memorial. Quite an honor.



Carlene currently manages a major truck stop in Sweetwater, Texas, and she tries to persuade her father to move from Forest Dale to join her. Omie Lee’s brother has a ranch outside of Sweetwater, and when John went to visit, he discovered that the favorite pastime on the ranch was shooting rattlesnakes. John had a ball and decided then and there that he could be happy in Sweetwater. There is also good hunting in that part of the country. Tempting, but John has a home at Forest Dale Apartments.



      ###     January 20, 2007

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I gave John a copy of my transcript to make corrections. He said there was only one mistake: didn't fly over China, but only the North Sea. Otherwise, he is sticking with the Silver Star and everything else.

 

He postponed another interview scheduled for today because he forgot a doctor's appt. I gave him some things I had printed from the Internet about the 100th Bomb Group and that story about the piggyback crash in mid-air. He saw the pilot's name and immediately started telling me that story and all details of it without reading what I gave him. He also said that the 100th was holding their reunion this year in Nashville, and he would be going. Said he usually goes if he can.

 

Do you have any idea how many Silver Stars were awarded in WWII? I would think there should be a list somewhere. 

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Eulaine Hall

eulainehall@aol.com



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Dear John,



            I have been reluctant to write this letter to you but based on the info I have received from write-ups and photographs, it can no longer be left alone or dismissed. Sir, if you are the same John C. Thompson that is in our directory, then you served with the 100th Bomb Group, 350th BS in a Ground capacity only.   The story you are perpetrating here is false!  Not only that but you supposedly used your position as a “war hero” to raise funds for you to go to Washington for the dedication of the World War II memorial, very disappointing if that is the case. 



 



You say you flew your first mission with Capt. Elton in January 1944, didn’t happen, Capt Elton was Major Elton in Jan 1944.   Then you say you got a regular crew with Jim Misch, but Misch did not join the group until January 1945 so what happened in-between?   You say you completed 25 missions and shot down 6 fighters during this time with Misch, well the completion of missions mark by the time Misch came to the 100th Bomb Group was 35 not 25!   You didn’t want to stop flying so you went to Col Bennett and Jimmy Doolittle, all you had to do in order to fly more missions was to put in a request with the group adjutant and he would pass on the paperwork.  You may have seen Col Bennett around base, or Jimmy Doolittle at the 200th Mission Party but you sure as hell did not get an audience with them.  As for being transferred to Burtonwood and flying more missions, Burtonwood was the 1 BAD Sub-Depot base to repair aircraft, not fly missions.  Shot down 3 times, wounded 3 times, shot down 11 enemy planes, was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, DFC, and Air Medal etc.  The picture of your shadowbox medal case has the DSC, Legion of Merit, Lt Col leafs, gunners and pilots wings (nice feat, never heard of that), a DUC with 2 OLC’s (that only happened to ONE group in the whole 8th Air Force and it was not the 100th).  The only medal I did not see in that shadow box was the Medal of Honor and you can’t legally buy that medal.    





I have all the flying records for the 100th BG during which you say you flew and your name does not appear ONCE in those records.  If you had flown all of those missions and been awarded those medals you would be one of the biggest heroes the 100th BG has ever seen much less the whole 8th Air Force.  I know every recipient of the DSC in the 100th BG from Memory that is how few there are.  Flew 52 missions, that happened all right, but to Robert Rosenthal.  You would have been written up in every book on the 8th Air Force especially Roger Freeman’s book “The Mighty Eighth” and “Flying Fortress” by Jablonski to name but a few.  I have 350th Squadron CO Major Cleven’s medals, he was awarded the DSC, DFC, AM with Clusters, I have Gen William Veal’s medals (349th Squadron CO), he was awarded the Legion of Merit twice, DFC, Air Medal, etc, so I know the real McCoy when I see it.  The only John C. Thompson anywhere in our records is for 350th BS Ordnance.  If that is you, there is no disgrace in being a ground pounder.  Without their service those boys would not have succeeded in the air.  Why you felt it necessary to perpetrate this hoax is beyond me and frankly I don’t care. 

 



But when you do so using the 100th Bomb Group name, then it is.   We do not conduct ourselves in such a manor.  If you have citations for all these medals, I would love to be proven wrong and eat crow, but I don’t think you can Sir.  You have passed yourself off to a lot of people under this false pretense that you are some kind of “war hero” and as of the beginning of the New Year; it is a federal offense to impersonate someone of valor using medals like this.  I don’t agree with the way the law is outlined but it exists.  I am not looking to bring the law down upon you or anything of that nature, but I do not want to see anymore of these articles surfacing about this great hero from Texas who was in the 100th Bomb Group. You should have enough pride in whatever you did and not try to be someone else.  You were honorably discharged so you served your country well, be proud of that.  This letter and conversation will go no further within the Group unless you continue this lie. This hoax needs to stops here and stop now!

 



Regards,



Michael P. Faley



100th Bomb Group Historian



100th Bomb Group Photo Archives