Dreambook - 384th Bomb Group

Welcome to the 384^th Bomb Group Log Book

Please take a moment to add your questions or comments to those below by signing the Log Book.
Older messages may be viewed at the 384^th Log Book Archive.

Additional websites recommended for research support are
384^th Bomb Group Forum on ArmyAirForces.com, provided by Scott Burris, and
Mighty Eighth Message Board created by Stephen Mosca.

Name:	Leonard Niemiec
E-mail address:	mniemiec@cox.net
Comments:	Great to see this web site, bring back memories. I served fro the Fall of 44 till the Spring of 45. Thanks for all your efforts keeping the Show on the Road alive. Len Niemiec

Name:	Jeff Selesky
E-mail address:	jssel@charter.net
Comments:	October 14, 1943. In memory of the William R Harry crew. B-17F 42-29800, Me and My Gal, 546BS

Name:	Ed Innis
E-mail address:	deville2@wowway.com
Comments:	I served with the 384th from 1961 to 1963 when it was a SAC B-47Wing. I was profoundly proud to serve in the 384th, your valliant and brave service in WWII was a lesson to us all. I wore the "Presidential Unit Citation" which you bravely earned, with pride & dignity. Thank You all, for your honor, courage and service to this great country.

Name:	Dan Masters
E-mail address:	Dam1941@aol.com
Comments:	My step-father's dad Master Segeant George Arnold "Pappy" Watterson served on a ground crew for B-17s of the 546th Squadron, 384th Bomb Group from 1942-1945. He served as the maintenance crew chief of the Challenger (42-102501) and was awarded a Bronze Star for his efforts with that particular ship. He left the service in 1945 as a Master Sergeant. Yesterday, we found an entire cigar box full of 150-200 pictures that Arnold took during his war time service. I will be scanning those in to the computer over the next few weeks. There are a large number of identified pictures of crews, nose art, maintenance shots, in flight shots, etc. He also wrote notes on several of the pictures describing or explaining what the picture depicted. Will be glad to share or post on this website. Please contact me if you knew Arnold during his service as I would love to learn as much about him as I can.

Name:	Kirby Z. Smithe
E-mail address:	ksmithe@hbci.com
Comments:	To my brothers (long-removed)a heart-felt salute. The things you did are amazing, I am proud to have followed your footsteps when we were flying B1-B's out of Kansas. If I can find a patch from then, I'll share it.

Name:	Jim
E-mail address:	JVL478@aol.com
Comments:	IN MEMORY OF SSgt James B. Murray, tailgunner with the 384th Bomb Gp., 546th Bomb Sq., who on this date 66 years ago, nineteen days after his 22nd birthday, flew his third and final mission joining the Honor Roll of those who made the ultimate sacrafice. You, and your brothers in arms, are not, and will not, ever be forgotten.

Name:	Gregory Judd
E-mail address:	melissangreg@yahoo.com
Comments:	Anyone that may have pictures of any of the crews from the 546th in Grafton from May-August 1944, please e-mail me or Melissa. I am attempting to complete a archieve on LT James A Gibson who piloted B-17's Thank-you

Name:	Fred Preller
E-mail address:	f3red@preller.us
Homepage URL:	http://384thBombGroup.com
Comments:	To all of Ken and Pat Decker's many friends, I would like to report that they are making progress on their recent serious health issues. They both still face challenges, but the prognosis is hopeful. Our thoughts and prayers on their behalf can only help. Cards and letters may be sent to them at: Ken & Pat Decker 410 Cloverdale Road Chenango Forks, NY 13746-1130 Ken has been a stalwart friend of the 384th. His history of the Group, "Memories of the 384th Bombbardment Group (H)", now being moved to the web, is a standard reference. He truly is committed to "KEEP THE SHOW ON THE ROAD".

Name:	john spencer
E-mail address:	kellyspencer@starband.net
Comments:	hello i am trying to find any members of the group who knew my great uncle lieutenant william h. wilson bombardier on patches lost on october 14th 1943 on a mission to schweinfurt, he was killed in action on that mission. we only have one or two pictures of him and none in the service til i found a couple on this website for which i am greatful. everyone here in the states called him by his middle name Hollis but i was told by captain ogilvie years back some people called him bill if there is more information out there or possibly pictures of him or anything we would really appreciate any leads. thank you john spencer

Name:	michael Baber
E-mail address:	mike.baber@bell.blackberry.net
Comments:	hello i am looking for any information you all might have on Ardell Bollinger or possible where he is today. My uncle helped the two surivors of the B17 that went down in the Netherlands and would like to try to reunite a few of the folks hes found. If you have any information it would be greatly appreciated. Mike Baber 416 524 4250

Name:	Michael Hayes
E-mail address:	texasfiremike@yahoo.com
Comments:	My Grandfather, Junior D. Hayes, passed away last year and was a MSgt in the USAF serving in WWII and the Korean War. His unit was the 415 Bomber Group. I am trying to research him a bit and all I can get from the Military is he has a purple heart and 6 bronze stars. Looking for any links to find out more about him and his awards or anyone who served with him. Any help is much appreciated! Mike Hayes

Name:	Christine Line
E-mail address:	ChristineLine@comcast.net
Comments:	Hello. My great uncle was Guy A. Myers, and I'm trying to find out any info I can about him. What I've found so far says he was with the 546th BS, assigned Sept. 11, 1943, and was KIA October 4, 1943. What I read said he was a waist gunner, pilot's last name was Wilson. Lastly, I read that his ranking was Sgt. I'm looking for any info about his crew mates, how he died, and where he is buried. I have a letter from Dick Crown that was written to my great grandparents after his death, who says he was buried in England, and that he was with him when he died. Most members of my family have died, and this part of my family's history will die soon. I'm trying to preserve it. And I'd like to visit his grave in England. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Name:	Bob Lenon
E-mail address:	rl3andco@cox.net
Comments:	Looking for any info on William H. Sears, Bedford IN. Shot down 25 July 1943, over Hamburg, in 42-3088 Sugar Puss. He was my 5th and 6th grade teacher in Patagonia AZ. I do remember some of his stories, but, have forgotten some over the years. One I do recall was his 'interview' with the interrogator. After giving his name, rank, and serial number, he said that the interrogator said... "Sears,eh,we had Roebuck in here last week!", and proceeded to tell him (Sears) all kinds of stuff about Bedford IN.

Name:	James K. Kangas
E-mail address:	jjkang@earthlink.net
Comments:	Was only 18 when arrived at Grafton Underwood with crew - ball turret gunner with Lucky Bastard Club completion - am now living in Sarasota FL and wonder if there is a group there - or anyone to meet up with from the 284th. We are full time residents relocated from a life in MN as contractor/builder now retired. Please contact me at the above email address. Crew Member: Ray Cook - pilot; Phillip Leavitt - co-pilot; Roy Walker - navigator (deceased); Houston (Pete) Dosset - flight enginner upper turret; Thomas Hannis - radio man (deceased in war); Howard Krupsky - waist gunner; Forrest (Barrell) Green - tailgunner - James Kangas - ball turret; Clarence Gustivus - togglier (bombadier short timer -changed out)

Name:	Tom Sparks
E-mail address:	tjsparks@shortsnorter.org
Homepage URL:	http://www.shortsnorter.org
Comments:	My uncle, Kenneth Sparks, was a Navigator in the 547th Bomb Squadron. His short snorter is posted on The Short Snorter Project web site at... http://www.shortsnorter.org/Kenneth_Sparks_Short_Snorter.html. If anyone else has a short snorter and would like it posted to my web site please send me an email. Thank you veterans for your service! Regards, Tom Sparks

Name:	morris shaw (warshawsky)
E-mail address:	shaw384@sbcglobal.net
Comments:	6/29/09 I just discovered this website and I was in awe and amazed that so many people are keeping 384 alive and kicking in 2009. I finished one tour and started another but did not complete as I was sent home to Ft. Logon army rehab hospital in Colorado. Any members of Wahoo 1 or Wahoo 2 please contact me.

Name:	Don Price
E-mail address:	don_price56@hotmail.com
Homepage URL:	http://www.gulfcoastwing.org
Comments:	Published in the body of another fellow's Dad's recollection from Sudberry... After one mission a 384 B17G ship landed on one engine, and after rolling to a stop on the taxiway at Sudberry the one engine that was still running fell off..... Literally, it fell off!!!!!! On the damn ground.......... Lest We Forget, Don Price- Wing Leader Commemorative Air Force- Gulf Coast Wing

Name:	Rick Giancarlo
E-mail address:	rgiancarlo1@comcast.net
Comments:	Hi, Lt. Charles "Ted" Zitnik was the original Damn Yankee Co-Pilot when they formed the crew in the U.S. He flew 12 missions as Co-Pilot before receiving his own crew. On his 13th mission, his B-17, Chaplain's Office, went down on the mission to Bremen. All survived except Sgt. Robert Rimmer. Lt. McGovern and Sgt. Curtiss were also members of the original Damn Yankee crew but did not fly the 12-01-43 mission. Both completed their tours and rotated back to the U.S. I have a lot of documentation on both crews.

Name:	Johan R Ryheul
E-mail address:	regulusone@gmail.com
Homepage URL:	http://jabbeke-remembers.skynetblogs.be/
Comments:	Also recently discovered this site due to the Jabbeke Remembers events. It was a wonderfull discovery to me ! Keep up the good work. I still have a few questions I hope you can help me with. Does anyone know when Lt. Charles 'Ted' Zitnik moved from Damn Yankee II to Chaplain's Office ? What happened with Lt. Vincent McGovern ? Is he the same Lt. and later Capt. I found flying helicopters after WW II ? And the same one acting in the movie Battle Taxi from 1955 ? Sgt. William Curtis, when was he a member of the crew of Damn Yankee II ? Thanks, Best regards, Johan R. Ryheul - Belgium

Name:	Warrant Officer Patrick Brion
E-mail address:	patrickbrion@hotmail.com
Comments:	Ken, This is a site I only recently discovered. Your support in my research, even on short notice, is very appreciated. Continue with your work of remembrance. Warmest regards from Belgium, Patrick

Name:	Oscar N. Gore
E-mail address:	ongore@hotmail.com
Comments:	Flew 33 missions from Grafton/Underwood as a radio-operator gunner, assigned to 544th. squadron of the 384th. bomb group.

Name:	Eugene Spearman
E-mail address:	eSpearman@netbci.com
Homepage URL:	http://384th BombGroup.com
Comments:	Dear Fred, While flying in the Ed Nicolai crew on the March 30 1945 Bremen mission in B-17 No. 448772, our plane lost two engines. and we dove down into some clouds and came back across the continent "on the deck". Pilot, waist Gunner, were wounded and Tail Gunner was killed. Plane suffered severe flak damage. Reports were that there were over 200 holes in plane. Tail was in bad shape and right wing flaps were hit as well as left wing just outside the radio comp. I was told that the plane was scrapped. I would like to know if anyone has pictures of the plane.

Name:	Ken Decker
E-mail address:	kdecker19@stny.rr.com
Comments:	I am still very much interested in the research of the 384th Bomb Group, though due to a severe ilness in the family I have not been able to spend much time other than answer a few e-mail messages. Most recently I was contacted by the Belgian Armed Forces in regards to the crash of "Damn Yankee" on 12/1/43. I was asked to aid in the project of a memorial service to be held there on 25 April 2009. This is being done with the USAF providing support along with a color guard for the event. Unfortunately, locating family members since the research project I conducted ten years ago has been very difficult. Pilot, Bruce Sundlun was contacted via e-mail and still no reply received from him. The son and daughter of copilot Andrew Boles has also been a no callback situation. Two nephews of Navigator Reno Jylkka have been contacted and have shown great interest and cooperation. Non family members who are interested in research have provided somme new photos and excellent cooperation. Anyone who has any information regarding the families of crew members is asked to please write me at the e-mail address shown here. The limited eddition painting of "Damn Yankee" has also been offered at a generous discount by the artist to family members. You can contact me regarding this as well. I apologize to all who tried to contact me over the past two years. There was just no time for me to even turn on my computer. Finally, I have started to get back to my project of adding to the history of the 384th, though still a limited basis. Thanks to Fred Preller and all of you who have shown concern and have sent letters, e-mail and cards.

Name:	Charles Barr
E-mail address:	charles.j.barr@us.army.mil
Comments:	This is a great web site about the 384th Bomb Group. I am interested in it because my neighbor's brother, 2LT Walter Humphreys, was Bombardier on the Pie Eyed Piper of the 547th Bomb Squadron. His plane, Pie Eyed Piper, tail # 42-29686, was shot down on 12 August 1943 on the mission to bomb a synthetic fuel plant at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Walter and the Top Turret gunner/engineer, William L. Hamilton were killed on this mission. The other eight crewmembers were taken prisoner. Walter's brother, Kenneth Humphreys, told me that one of the crewmembers taken prisoner, William Bartels, visited his parent's home near Wymore, Nebraska after the war. He told of the terrible conditions they endured as POW's after their fateful bombing mission and shoot-down. Walter Humphrey's remains were returned to the United States after WW II ended and he is buried in the Bethel Cemetery four miles southeast of Wymore, Nebraska along US Highway 77. There is a memorial in Walter's name at the Wymore Presbyterian Church in Wymore, NE.

Name:	Diane Needelman Miller
E-mail address:	ladyteach@comcast.net
Comments:	Please make a correction in your taps section. MY mother Marjorie Needelman did not pass away. It was my dad Benjamin Needelman a member of your bomb group who passed away on december 10,2008.

Name:	Henk Bredewolt
E-mail address:	henkpolarbear@home.nl
Comments:	Hi, My name is Henk Bredewolt, I'm 48 years old, and I'm resident in Roosendaal, The Netherlands. I have a very important question. First I will tell that the 384th. Bombergroup website is a very good one, with a lot of very good information. On may 31th. 1944, my hometown Roosendaal was bombed trough 13 B-17 Bombers, Squadron-Leader Lt-Col. Tom Beckett. For many years I have got contact with the Lead Navigator Lt. Alfred Colarusso, and I have got a lot of very good information and photographs from him, also a lot of documents. Now I'm looking for some other crew from the 544th / 545 Squadron who also bombed my hometown Roosendaal on May 31th. 1944. I will gladly come in contact with this crew for information, photographs etc. etc.. This is very important for my archives in Roosendaal. By the way, I would also tell that I have got a ,lot of good information from my friend Mr. Fred Preller, (384th.Website-homepage), he is very helpfull. For years I organize exhibitions, and I tell the schoolchildren about May 31th. 1944. I hope somebody can and will help me, please it's very important. Greetings from a friend who lives in Roosendaal, The Netherlands. Henk Bredewolt.

Name:	Steve Grand Pre
E-mail address:	grandpre@enteract.com
Comments:	Please help me contact relatives of 2LT Douglas Haig Turner. He and my father, 2LT Richard Grand Pre were members of Crew 17, 545th BS, Fort #42-30076. Their plane was one of two that was lost on the 384th�s first operational mission to Antwerp Belgium on 22 June 1943. LT Turner sacrificed his own life while saving my father�s by heroically helping my father escape the doomed plane. He was unable to escape the plane before it crashed. Lt Turner�s mother, Mrs. Richard Turner, was living on Kern Avenue in Los Angeles at the time of her son�s death. Please help me locate the family of this amazing man. Thank you!

Name:	Susan Garrett
E-mail address:	susanm.garrett@yahoo.ie
Comments:	Could anyone please help me with the following, A USAAF Ferry Flight Crash landed in Johnstown Co. Kilkenny Rep. of Ireland on 23rd January 1944. The crew had abandoned aircraft over Northern ireland and aircraft carried on un-manned until crashing in Kilkenny. The Crew were Charles G Smith, John M Hanning, Ralph H Stanley, Garven F Williams, Sgt Stanley C Burton, Kenmore E Rowe, Robert F Wise, George Avilez jr, Raymond Niday and Vernon D Gardner. After this all but Stanley went on to the 384th Bomb Group. Does anyone have any information on the above crew. I have seen Kenmore Rowe photos on this site and would love to know are any of the above in those photos. Best wishes to all for 09

Name:	Brian Miller
E-mail address:	Roofmill@aol.com
Comments:	I had the honor to meet and interview Ed Ladendorff,Jr. who flew 29 missions as a navigator with the 545th Squadron. I have been asked to write a short story about his experiences and have found your web site very helpful. As part of this story I had the opportunity to fly with him on the Collings Foundation's B-17. His first since the war. Upon completion of this story I could forward a copy to the Webmaster for your Association's use, however you see fit. I am neither getting paid to write this story or am asking to get paid for its use by others. My only goal is to honor Ed and all the others who made these sacrifices for this great country. Send me an email if you would like to have a copy on the story

Name:	John Grimaldi
E-mail address:	gggrimaldi@comcast.net
Comments:	Dear Fred: Thank you for providing such a wonderful web site. "Keep The Show On The Road"