Dear Mom

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sambt
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Posts: 141
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Location: Virginia

Dear Mom

Post by sambt »

The story of "Dear Mom" starts with the image you see below. The scene you see is from the Baltimore National Cemetary, Baltimore Maryland ,USA. As you look over all the headstones they appear almost as a blur and seem to be nothing more than whiteness in a well kept garden. If you were to walk among them they begin to take on a more personal nature that arouses a curiousity in you and you want those stones to talk. Most of them probably have a pretty good story to tell.

I am going to share the story of one of those stones in this image. Now I plan to add a little at a time and in order to keep it together I''ll do it with quotes. So for those of you who may have an interest in this stay tuned as the next post will focus on a name and how I became interested in doing this. I am trying to learn to post photos as I do have a few that you may be interested in seeing that will I'm sure add to this . So if I goof with photos or an img give me a hand.


Sam






[img][img]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f264/ ... f4609d.jpg[/img][/img]
Last edited by sambt on 15 Mar 2006, 20:22, edited 1 time in total.

sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Re: Dear Mom

Post by sambt »

sambt wrote:The story of "Dear Mom" starts with the image you see below. The scene you see is from the Baltimore National Cemetary, Baltimore Maryland ,USA. As you look over all the headstones they appear almost as a blur and seem to be nothing more than whiteness in a well kept garden. If you were to walk among them they begin to take on a more personal nature that arouses a curiousity in you and you want those stones to talk. Most of them probably have a pretty good story to tell.

I am going to share the story of one of those stones in this image. Now I plan to add a little at a time and in order to keep it together I''ll do it with quotes. So for those of you who may have an interest in this stay tuned as the next post will focus on a name and how I became interested in doing this. I am trying to learn to post photos as I do have a few that you may be interested in seeing that will I'm sure add to this . So if I goof with photos or an img give me a hand.


Sam






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Point-man
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Post by Point-man »

You certainly have me hooked!!! I can't wait to hear more!!! I'll even take it in e-mail form...
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sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Re: Dear Mom

Post by sambt »

sambt wrote:
sambt wrote:The story of "Dear Mom" starts with the image you see below. The scene you see is from the Baltimore National Cemetary, Baltimore Maryland ,USA. As you look over all the headstones they appear almost as a blur and seem to be nothing more than whiteness in a well kept garden. If you were to walk among them they begin to take on a more personal nature that arouses a curiousity in you and you want those stones to talk. Most of them probably have a pretty good story to tell.

I am going to share the story of one of those stones in this image. Now I plan to add a little at a time and in order to keep it together I''ll do it with quotes. So for those of you who may have an interest in this stay tuned as the next post will focus on a name and how I became interested in doing this. I am trying to learn to post photos as I do have a few that you may be interested in seeing that will I'm sure add to this . So if I goof with photos or an img give me a hand.


Sam






Image
Image[/img]
Below is a picture of the crew taken prior to their departure from Grand Island, Nebraska and their trip to England. The B-17 in the Background is not the "Dear Mom", however they did ferry a plane to England I belived under operation Bolerol.

Now let me introduce them to you.


Front row, left to right



Lt. Lee A Bevers, pilot-Watertown, South Dakota

Lt. Willis L Jones, co-pilot- McCook, Nebraska

Lt. John Tellefsen, navigator-New Jersey

Lt. Mack Long, bombadier-Ohio


Back row, left to right


Sgt. Joe Miskel, engineer and top turret gunner-Sugarnotch, Pa.

Sgt. Marvin Smith, waist gunner and asst.engineer-Winner, South Dakota

Sgt. Herbert Fleming, radio operator- Texarkana, Texas

Sgt. Winston C Collier,waist gunner and asst.r/o- Baltimore, Maryland

Sgt. Herbert Johnson, tail gunner-Boston, Ma.

Sgt. Guy Kennedy, ball turret gunner-Pittsburg, Pa.


The next post will be another crew shot. This one will show the stress of

combat on a veteran crew.


Sam


Image[/img]
Last edited by sambt on 11 Feb 2006, 19:42, edited 1 time in total.

Point-man
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Post by Point-man »

I think it is totally great that you are sharing this story with all of us!!! Without people like you taking the time to do this the story would never be told. Our WW2 vets are sadly disappearing at a very fast rate. I can't wait to hear more.
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sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Re: Dear Mom

Post by sambt »

sambt wrote:
sambt wrote:
sambt wrote:The story of "Dear Mom" starts with the image you see below. The scene you see is from the Baltimore National Cemetary, Baltimore Maryland ,USA. As you look over all the headstones they appear almost as a blur and seem to be nothing more than whiteness in a well kept garden. If you were to walk among them they begin to take on a more personal nature that arouses a curiousity in you and you want those stones to talk. Most of them probably have a pretty good story to tell.

I am going to share the story of one of those stones in this image. Now I plan to add a little at a time and in order to keep it together I''ll do it with quotes. So for those of you who may have an interest in this stay tuned as the next post will focus on a name and how I became interested in doing this. I am trying to learn to post photos as I do have a few that you may be interested in seeing that will I'm sure add to this . So if I goof with photos or an img give me a hand.


Sam






Image
Image[/img]
Below is a picture of the crew taken prior to their departure from Grand Island, Nebraska and their trip to England. The B-17 in the Background is not the "Dear Mom", however they did ferry a plane to England I belived under operation Bolerol.

Now let me introduce them to you.


Front row, left to right



Lt. Lee A Bevers, pilot-Watertown, South Dakota

Lt. Willis L Jones, co-pilot- McCook, Nebraska

Lt. John Tellefsen, navigator-New Jersey

Lt. Mack Long, bombadier-Ohio


Back row, left to right


Sgt. Joe Miskel, engineer and top turret gunner-Sugarnotch, Pa.

Sgt. Marvin Smith, waist gunner and asst.engineer-Winner, South Dakota

Sgt. Herbert Fleming, radio operator- Texarkana, Texas

Sgt. Winston C Collier,waist gunner and asst.r/o- Baltimore, Maryland

Sgt. Herbert Johnson, tail gunner-Boston, Ma.

Sgt. Guy Kennedy, ball turret gunner-Pittsburg, Pa.


The next post will be another crew shot. This one will show the stress of

combat on a veteran crew.


Sam


Image[/img]

The pilot in this photo is a Lt. Bold. He was temporarily assigned to Bevers' crew. They flew six missions with him while Bevers was away. When you compare the two crew pictures you can see that aerial combat is starting to take it's toll. This shot was probably taken early '44. By mid Feb. this crew had half of their 25 mission completed. It was on 13 Feb. '44 over France where they encountered sheer combat terror. This is when they lost Sgt. Collier.

In the next post you will see photos of "Dear Mom". The plane that brought her crew back one more time.

I will try to post a clearer photo of the first crew picture and maybe a little on mission 13 flown on 13 Feb.1944.

Sam


Image[/img]

sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Re: Dear Mom

Post by sambt »

sambt wrote:
sambt wrote:
sambt wrote:Image[/img]
Below is a picture of the crew taken prior to their departure from Grand Island, Nebraska and their trip to England. The B-17 in the Background is not the "Dear Mom", however they did ferry a plane to England I belived under operation Bolerol.

Now let me introduce them to you.


Front row, left to right



Lt. Lee A Bevers, pilot-Watertown, South Dakota

Lt. Willis L Jones, co-pilot- McCook, Nebraska

Lt. John Tellefsen, navigator-New Jersey

Lt. Mack Long, bombadier-Ohio


Back row, left to right


Sgt. Joe Miskel, engineer and top turret gunner-Sugarnotch, Pa.

Sgt. Marvin Smith, waist gunner and asst.engineer-Winner, South Dakota

Sgt. Herbert Fleming, radio operator- Texarkana, Texas

Sgt. Winston C Collier,waist gunner and asst.r/o- Baltimore, Maryland

Sgt. Herbert Johnson, tail gunner-Boston, Ma.

Sgt. Guy Kennedy, ball turret gunner-Pittsburg, Pa.


The next post will be another crew shot. This one will show the stress of

combat on a veteran crew.


Sam
Image

]


The pilot in this photo is a Lt. Bold. He was temporarily assigned to Bevers' crew. They flew six missions with him while Bevers was away. When you compare the two crew pictures you can see that aerial combat is starting to take it's toll. This shot was probably taken early '44. By mid Feb. this crew had half of their 25 mission completed. It was on 13 Feb. '44 over France where they encountered sheer combat terror. This is when they lost Sgt. Collier.

In the next post you will see photos of "Dear Mom". The plane that brought her crew back one more time.

I will try to post a clearer photo of the first crew picture and maybe a little on mission 13 flown on 13 Feb.1944.

Sam


Image[/img]

jkcook28
Airman First Class
Posts: 76
Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 20:55
Location: IL.

Post by jkcook28 »

hey Sam,

This is very intersting sequence you got going here and I find it facinating and appreciate the effort. Can I make a suggestion on your updates not to repost prior "chapters" with each update for the page is getting unwieldly now and will only get worse unless you are nearly done. Again, not being critical just my opinion.
Thanks for your work,
John

sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Post by sambt »

jkcook28 wrote:hey Sam,

This is very intersting sequence you got going here and I find it facinating and appreciate the effort. Can I make a suggestion on your updates not to repost prior "chapters" with each update for the page is getting unwieldly now and will only get worse unless you are nearly done. Again, not being critical just my opinion.
Thanks for your work,
John
I am glad you are enjoying the story. My reasoning for using quotes was to keep it all together. I thought it would be easier for someone coming in the middle of the thing to just scroll through the mess. I will do as you suggest. I have a few more photos and then the story.

And thanks for jumping in with the comments. That is what makes it worthwhile doing.

Sam

Point-man
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Joined: 28 May 2005, 01:34
Location: Ft. Worth
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Post by Point-man »

These are great photos that you are posting. Cant wait for the story and more pics.
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sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Post by sambt »

Below is a picture of the "Dear Mom". She was a war weary "fort" as the guys called them. Lt. Bevers was assigned this plane, 556 as they liked to use the last three numbers on the tail, when he finished his co-pilot tour. After flying co- pilot on combat missions pilots went back to their regular crews. That is why in the last crew shot Lt. Walter Bald was flying with Bevers' crew.

He got this plane because the previous crew had put in their 25. The name was already there and all they had to do was move in. On 22 Jan.'44 Bevers makes an entry in his diary," Guess I'm a full fledged pilot now", and after a practice mission on 23 Jan, he writes in his diary,"I did pretty good so I feel I'm quite ready to take my crew into combat now".

They flew their first mission as a crew the next day. They were on their way to Frankfurt and a hundred miles into France when they were recalled, to the relief of Bevers. He said in his diary," What a relief that was because it would have been plenty tough and on my first mission as pilot too".

Now, for everyone that has been reading this little tid bit on the war let me say this. Tomorrow is the 13th of Feb., and we are going to re-fly the 13th mission with Bevers. It was on this mission on 13 Feb. '44 that my dad's friend Sgt W C Collier was KIA. I did not plan this and all I can say is this . It is kind of spooky.


Sam



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Point-man
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Post by Point-man »

This is very sad and very well I'm not really sure how to put it. This is a great story!!! I'm really looking forward to it. I said it before and I'll say it again. I think it's great that you are taking the time to do this!!!
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sambt
Senior Airman
Posts: 141
Joined: 18 Jan 2006, 17:37
Location: Virginia

Post by sambt »

Dedicated to Sgt. WC Collier and the crew of "Dear Mom", and to all who flew during WW2.


96th BG, 338 BS ,Snetterton Heath, UK


Mission 13 for Bevers' crew on this date 13 Feb. '44 was supposed to be a milk run. The target was the V rocket pads located in the Pais de Calais area in France. Onboard in the bombay were two, one ton bombs as the pads were of heavy concrete and previous missions had failed to take them out. Also onboard for this mission was an aerial photographer sent along to record bomb damage on the rocket pads. He took up position in Sgt. Collier's waist gunner station.

After Bevers turned on his IP and started his bomb run they started to meet with very accurate flak. Mack Long had just opened the bombay when the "Dear Mom" received two direct flak hits. One went through the right wing without exploding rupturing fuel tanks and taking out control cables. The other shell hit the catwalk between the bombay and the radio room bulkhead. The explosion blew in the bulkhead and seriously wounded the R/O Sgt. Fleming and waist gunner Sgt. Collier.

High octane fuel was pouring out of the stricken plane and miraculously there was no fire or explosion. Lt. Willis Jones was at the controls when they were hit and he immediately lost control and Bevers found he had controls on his side and took over trying to fly the plane. The "Dear Mom"was to the left in the formation and that is why Jones was flying at the time as he could see better from his position. Bevers at this time has his hands full of a severely damaged airplane.

When the shell exploded in the bombay it knocked one bomb out and blew the fins off the other and it remained stuck in the bombay. Sgt. Joe Miskel, the engineer, crawled into the open bombay and somehow freed it and kicked it into the channel where it exploded. Joe Miskel then went in the cockpit and informed Bevers that "Dear Mom" in his opinion would not survive a landing. As Bevers was trying to keep the plane in the air he sent his co-pilot back aft of the bombay to check as to what had happen to them damage wise. In the rear of the plane Jones found that the wounded men were being attended to by the crew. The intercom was gone so no one could communicate. Herb Johnson, tail gunner, was there almost immediately to help his buddies.

The crew knew at this time that they could not stay with the plane and they tied cords to the D rings on the parachutes of the wounded men with the intention of pushing them out when the order to bail was given. Bevers was over the coast of England at this time and ordered the men in the front of the plane to jump.Tellefsen, Miskel and Mack Long in that order left the plane on Lt. Bevers orders. Now as they were over the coast, Lt. Jones the co-pilot went back to the rear to check one more time.


I talked to Jones recently. He is now 89 years old and this is his account of what happened next. " I went back to the rear of the plane and had to be very careful as the catwalk was gone. I went over to the wounded men to check on them. Collier wanted a cigarette and I had to say no we could not give him one due to all the high octane fuel throughout the plane. Fleming said to me,' Don't push me out as I will not make it'. I realized then they were too badly wounded to survive a jump. I went forward and advised the pilot of this and I said to him. You go ahead and jump if you want and I'll try and bring the plane in. Lt. Bevers then said, 'No. We are in this together and we will go in together'. After this we started to look for a field to try and set her down".

The rest of the crew stayed and attended to their wounded buddies the best they could. All they could do for Collier and Fleming was give them a shot of Morphine and hope for the best. They found an airfield and headed in. It was West Malling, an RAF fighter base.

Bevers dropped his gear and eased "Dear Mom" onto the runway in a near perfect landing. Bevers had Jones cut all switches just before touch down to prevent the chance of fire or explosion. People on the ground marveled at the skill of the pilot in bringing the battle damaged plane in. Someone remarked, " It was just some skin and framework floating around in the sky". The whole right side aft of the right wing was blown out. The main spars were broken and the bombay and radio room were shattered. All bomb racks along with the catwalk was destroyed. Bevers later said, "The 'Dear Mom' is a total loss". The plane was salvaged on that field and never flew again.

Lt. Bevers brought the "Dear Mom" in with just elevators and one aileron working. He also had one dead engine. Unfortunally Sgt. Collier died minutes before touch down. Sgt. Fleming survived and I have a copy of a wonderful letter he wrote to Colliers Mom while in the hospital in Texas.

I also have talked to Lt. Bevers recently. He is now 86 and was kind enough to send me by email his account of mission 13. He has given me his permission to share it and I will try and post it along with another picture of "Dear Mom". His crew flew 13 more mission after the one on 13 Feb. '44 for a total of 26. He and his co-pilot Jones consider 13 Feb. '44 their worse . On their 26th mission they were shot down over Germany by a FW-190. Jones said they were beat up by flak and finished off by the fighter. They spent 13 months as POW's. All of the crew except for Collier survived the war.

Well, there you have it. As I said somewhere else on these boards, exciting times if you were not there, and beyond scary if you were. I have a few more pictures and maybe a little follow up I could share or have you had enough combat for now?


Sam
Last edited by sambt on 13 Feb 2006, 18:08, edited 2 times in total.

jkcook28
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Posts: 76
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Post by jkcook28 »

Heck yes Sam, post all the pics and war stories you got. I for one am always interested in these. Especially 1st person "was there" info.
Thanks again,
John

Point-man
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Posts: 344
Joined: 28 May 2005, 01:34
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Post by Point-man »

I'm not going to say that was a great story because in truth it isn't. It's hard to have to imagine living through something like that. The fact of them giving permission to share this story and let people know what really happened is great and you can tell them for me, that I personally thank them all for everything that they did and sacrificed to give us the freedom that we have today and to be here posting in these forums. That goes to all military personel!!!

Without people sharing these stories they would die with the people that lived them. Without the stories it never happened. If it never happened how do we learn what it is we have to be thankful for?
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