May 08, 2010
Volume II, Issue 7
www.303rdBG.com
VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY — May 8, 1945
GERMANY QUITS - Tall black headlines in the "Stars and Stripes" announced the end of hostilities in
Europe. In the background is a chart showing the operational record of the "Hell's Angels."
London Daily Mail - May 8, 1945
- click the newspaper pages to view them full sized -
Besieged on all fronts, representatives of Nazi Germany signed the surrender documents ending the greatest conflict ever to envelope Europe on May 7 in the French city of Reims. The fighting was to cease at 11:01 AM the next day. Six years of bloodshed were over.
Word of the anticipated surrender had been circling for days. There were two celebratory false starts – one on April 28, another on the morning of May 7. Finally, the official announcement of the cessation of fighting was broadcast on the evening of May 7 and the world erupted in spontaneous joy.
In London, the following day, the streets were filled with people and street parties. Bands played, flags flew and the air was filled with fireworks. At Buckingham Palace, Prime Minister Winston Churchill appeared with the Royal Family on a balcony overlooking an ecstatic crowd that packed the square below. The city brimmed with unbridled joy.
Mollie Panter-Downes was an English novelist who wrote about life in London for the New Yorker Magazine. She filed this description of London celebrating the end of the war in Europe:
May 12, 1945
When the day finally came, it was like no other day that anyone can remember. It had a flavor of its own, an extemporaneousness which gave it something of the quality of a vast, happy village fete as people wandered about, sat, sang, and slept against a summer background of trees, grass, flowers, and water...Apparently the desire to assist in London's celebration combusted spontaneously in the bosom of every member of every family, from the smallest babies, with their hair done up in red-white-and-blue ribbons, to beaming elderly couples who, utterly without self-consciousness, strolled up and down the streets arm in arm in red-white-and-blue paper hats. Even the dogs wore immense tricolored bows...The bells had begun to peal and, after the night's storm, London was having that perfect, hot, English summer's day which, one sometimes feels, is to be found only in the imaginations of the lyric poets.
The girls in their thin, bright dresses heightened the impression that the city had been taken over by an enormous family picnic. The number of extraordinarily pretty young girls, who presumably are hidden on working days inside the factories' and government offices, was astonishing...Strolling with their uniformed boys, arms candidly about each other, they provided a constant, gay, simple marginal decoration to the big, solemn moments of the day. The crowds milled back and forth between the Palace, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus, and when they got tired they simply sat down wherever they happened to be - on the grass, on doorsteps, or on the curb - and watched the other people or spread handkerchiefs over their faces and took a nap. Everybody appeared determined to see the King and Queen and Mr. Churchill at least once, and few could have been disappointed.By lunchtime, in the Circus, the buses had to slow to a crawl in order to get through the tightly packed, laughing people. A lad in the black beret of the Tank Corps was the first to climb the little pyramidal Angkor Vat of scaffolding and sandbags which was erected early in the war to protect the pedestal of the Eros statue after the figure had been removed to safekeeping. The boy shinnied up to the top and took a tiptoe Eros pose, aiming an imaginary bow, while the crowd roared. He was followed by a paratrooper in a maroon beret, who, after getting up to the top, reached down and hauled up a blond young woman in a very tight pair of green slacks. When she got to the top, the Tank Corps soldier promptly grabbed her in his arms and, encouraged by ecstatic cheers from the whole Circus, seemed about to enact the classic role of Eros right on the top of the monument. Nothing came of it, because a moment later a couple of G.I.s joined them and before long the pyramid was covered with boys and girls. They sat jammed together in an affectionate mass, swinging their legs over the sides, wearing each other's uniform caps, and calling down wisecracks to the crowd. 'My God,' someone said, 'think of a flying bomb coming down on this!' When a firecracker went off, a hawker with a tray of tin brooches of Monty's head happily yelled that comforting, sometimes fallacious phrase of the blitz nights, 'All right, mates, it's one of ours!'
All day long, the deadly past was for most people only just under the surface of the beautiful, safe present, so much so that the Government decided against sounding the sirens in a triumphant 'all clear' for fear that the noise would revive too many painful memories. For the same reason, there were no salutes of guns-only the pealing of the bells, and the whistles of tugs on the Thames sounding the doot, doot, doot, dooooot of the 'V,' and the roar of the planes, which swooped back and forth over the city, dropping red and green signals toward the blur of smiling, upturned faces.
It was without any doubt Churchill's day. Thousands of King George's subjects wedged themselves in front of the Palace throughout the day, chanting ceaselessly 'We want the King' and cheering themselves hoarse when he and the Queen and their daughters appeared, but when the crowd saw Churchill there was a deep, full-throated, almost reverent roar. He was at the head of a procession of Members of Parliament, walking back to the House of Commons from the traditional St. Margaret's Thanksgiving Service. Instantly, he was surrounded by people - people running, standing on tiptoe, holding up babies so that they could be told later they had seen him, and shouting affectionately the absurd little nurserymaid name, 'Winnie, Winnie!' One of two happily sozzled, very old, and incredibly dirty cockneys who had been engaged in a slow, shuffling dance, like a couple of Shakespearean clowns, bellowed, 'That's 'im, that's 'is little old lovely bald 'ead!'
...American sailors and laughing girls formed a conga line down the middle of Piccadilly and cockneys linked arms in the Lambeth Walk. It was a day and night of no fixed plan and no organized merriment. Each group danced its own dance, sang its own song, and went its own way as the spirit moved it. The most tolerant, self-effacing people in London on V-E Day were the police, who simply stood by, smiling benignly, while soldiers swung by one arm from lamp standards and laughing groups tore down hoardings to build the evening's bonfires...The young service men and women who swung arm in arm down the middle of every street, singing and swarming over the few cars rash enough to come out, were simply happy with an immense holiday happiness. They were the liberated people who, like their counterparts in every celebrating capital that night, were young enough to outlive the past and to look forward to an unspoilt future. Their gaiety was very moving.
May 8, 1945 -- Members of the 303rd Bomb Group march in review during V-E Day Ceremonies.
V-E Day, May 8, 1945 -- 358th BS Ground Crewman relax and enjoy the day. (L-R) M/Sgt Raymond E. Holland,
Sgt Harry B. Neilson, Sgt Joseph L. Steen, unknown, unknown, unknown, Sgt Charles E. Williams.
(photo courtesy of Christ M. Christoff)
Though the Memories will Never Die . . .
(Back L-R) 1Lt Orville S. Witt (P)(KIA), 2Lt George C. Woodman (CP),
2Lt Donald H. Brightbill (N)(KIA), 2Lt Wilmer E. Dyar (B)(KIA)
(Front - not in order)
S/Sgt Lyle C. Woods (E)(KIA),
Cpl Edmund R. Thornton (R)(2nd from left),
S/Sgt Warner E. Renner (BTG)(KIA)(middle),
S/Sgt Lawrence W. Thomas (TG)(KIA)
Sgt Thomas F. "Dude" Bachom (Assistant Radio)(KIA)(not in photo)
303rd BG Mission #7, 20 December 1942:
The primary target was Romilly-sur-Seine, France, the secondary target was Villacoublay, and the last resort target was Rouen. Twenty-one aircraft took off and seven aborted due to mechanical failures. Fourteen B-17s bombed the primary target from 22,500 feet with 500 pound M-43 H.E. bombs. Photographs confirmed direct hits on the target. Every airplane encountered German fighters, and gunners claimed fifteen destroyed and fifteen probables. Light anti-aircraft fire was observed.B-17F #41-24566, Zombie, piloted by 1Lt Orville S. Witt, was shot down by enemy fighters and ditched in the English Channel. All ten crew members were lost. 2Lt Donald H. Brightbill's body was recovered and returned to his family in Reading, PA. T/Sgt Lyle C. Woods is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery near Liege, Belgium. S/Sgt Harold A. Kinsey is buried in Normandy American Cemetery near Coleville-sur-Mer, France. The body of S/Sgt Warner E. Renner washed ashore near Dieppe, France on 1 February 1943 and was returned to his family. 1Lt Orville S. Witt, 2Lt Francis M. McMurty, Jr., T/Sgt Thomas F. "Dude" Bachom and S/Sgt Lawrence W. Thomas are listed on the Wall of Missing at Ardennes American Cemetery. 2Lt Wilmer E. Dyar and Sgt Bernard W. Millett are on the Wall of Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery in England.
In Memory of T/Sgt Thomas F. "Dude" Bachom
by Barry Udoff
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Dude was tall and broad with meandering waves of red hair. Friends joked that his laugh could raise seismic rings in a cup of coffee. Dude and his older brother Jack were raised in Los Angeles, where their father worked for the phone company while their mother looked after the boys and her elderly parents. Two months after Pearl Harbor, Dude signed up with the Army Air Corps; Jack had joined the Navy the week before. Now a mother with two sons in service, a local veteran's group presented her with two 'Blue Star' flags to hang from her porch. A gold star replaced the blue when a family member was lost to the war.
Briggs Field lies near El Paso on the flat Texas border that seems to hold New Mexico on a shelf. Dude arrived at Briggs in August of 1942 to begin advanced training as a member of the 303 Bomb Group. Dude trained for 60 days learning to become a B-17 radio operator. It was a role that included the mastery of complicated aeronautic radio equipment, competency in air-to-ground photography and when necessary, the ability to fire the 50 Caliber machine gun mounted in the top turret aft of the cramped radio room.
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The tail gunner's position on a B-17 isn't the safest seat in the house, but it does offer a spectacular view. It's a greenhouse with a gun, a perch to observe the awesome geometric formation of a 100 flying battleships sailing through a vast sea of sky. But the vista changes as the bombers approach their target. The sky begins to explode in black blooms of flak that can rattle a ship to its rivets and threaten to toss it from the air. Some airmen were more fearful of flak than the German fighters. Fighters could be fought off with their machine guns. Flak could not be shot down.
When the flak stopped, the Luftwaffe fighters took up the battle. They gathered in clusters ahead and behind the bombers and began their charges, aiming for front or tail shots, ripping the sky with their 20 MM machine guns at 15 rounds per second. Frontal attacks could shatter the flight deck killing both pilots, sending the bomber down in an uncontrolled spin. A few parachutes might pop out from the hatches or the bomb bay doors, but not often. Bailing out of a bomber in a tight spin must be like trying to crawl out of a rolling barrel.
There are three official versions of the Zombie's last minutes in the air. One pilot wrote: "B-17 went down apparently under reasonable control…Part of # 2 motor shot away."
From a different witness, "…B-17 circling near coast of France…being attacked by several enemy aircraft." And another "…saw this ship go down--5 chutes seen to open." This was a wishful report, none of the Zombie's crew survived.
There's a tail gunner's account that doesn't appear in the official records. It was written in a letter to Dude's niece, 60 years after the Zombie was lost. He wrote, "I knew your Uncle Dude, he was the squad comedian, he kept everybody laughing ...When the Zombie was hit, I followed it down to the water. When it ditched I think the top turret gunner was still firing." The flier who had taken the picture of Dude in his Mohawk wrote the letter.
On December 25th, a War Department telegram arrived informing his family that Dude was 'Missing in Action'. As terrible as it sounded, the phrase conveyed a hope that the words, 'Killed in Action' would have obliterated. Dude's mother clung to this distinction, awaiting news from the Red Cross that her son had been captured or found wounded in some remote French village. This news never came, yet she continued to believe that Dude would come home. Her hope persisted beyond the end of the war, beyond any reasonable chance of his return and beyond the birth of her first granddaughter on October 14, 1948.
On this day, she visited the Bulocks Department store on Wilshire Blvd. She chose a silver rattle and had it engraved with her granddaughter's name, the date of her birth and the name of the man who would give it as a gift. It was from her Uncle Dude, a gift from the uncle she never had.
A mother can give her child life only once. And so to deny the death of her son was the only means she had to protect him from harm. The intractable terms of her refusal were engraved in graceful script on a silver rattle. It didn't bring Dude back to life, but it kept him in memory and brought him back from the missing. Today, his niece keeps the rattle near the framed photo of her 'Uncle Dude' in the Mohawk hair cut.
Then and Now
358th Bomb Squadron Brothers-In-Arms at Molesworth with a P-47
(L-R) Sgt William R. Weaver (Ground Crew),
T/Sgt James R. Welch (Flight Engineer), Sgt James E. Wylde (Squadron Operations)
(photo courtesy of the James E. Wylde Family)
WWII Brothers-In-Arms Visit the WWII Memorial
(L-R) Henry Keding (US Army Artillery),
Al Dussliere (USAAF, 303rd BG, 427th BS), Dale Scott (US Navy Submarine Service)
(photo courtesy of Al Dussliere)
On April 24, 2010, 303rd Bomb Group veteran Al Dussliere (center) enjoyed an "Honor Flight" to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington DC, along with about 100 other WWII veterans from the Quad City area of Illinois and Iowa. With Al are veterans Henry Keding and Dale Scott. Al's son Phil volunteered as their guardian for the trip. Al writes, "WOW, what an experience. The most humbling part was the crowds of people at our send-off and return. Even at Dulles there was a crowd of greeters. In Washington, men, women and children stopped us to shake hands and thank us for our service. It was nearly overwhelming and many in our group replied, 'We were just doing our job.' If any of our 303rd men have not gone on one of these flights, they should." Information on "Honor Flights" can be found here: http://www.honorflight.org/
Artist's Rendition of the Memorial Wall and Fountain Area
Gowen Field Memorial Park, Boise, Idaho
The Purpose of the Gowen Field Memorial Park is "To plan, build, and maintain a memorial to honor Idaho's military veterans and families whose units’ lineage traces their unit to the Idaho National Guard or Gowen Field. To honor their duty, loyalty, service, and commitment with the utmost dignity, gratitude, remembrance and reflection deserving of the men and women who, throughout Idaho's history, gave so much and asked for so little in return." The project is undertaken in cooperation with the Idaho Military Historical Society.Many Idahoans and others from past and current military conflicts are linked to the State of Idaho, perhaps because they trained in our state or their military units were based in our state. This memorial will honor those men and women and their commitment to duty, their loyalty, their service and their commitment with dignity and gratitude. They gave so much and asked for so little in return.
We live in the Land of the Free because of the men and women in uniform who defended America in her time of need. We can't do enough to thank those who sacrificed so much on our behalf.
Our purpose is to provide a relaxing park for quiet reflection honoring those from the State of Idaho who answered the call to duty.
The site will be in a park setting and will consist of a Memorial Wall honoring those from the State of Idaho who have served in the military. It will list the many conflicts in which our State has participated. A fountain will be placed in front of the wall on a circular paved area. Sandstone boulders will be placed around the perimeter of the paved area to honor the men and women, with a connection to the Idaho military, who have been lost since September 11.
There will be an archway at the south entrance of the park. Additionally, there will be a small amphitheater at the north end for sitting, outdoor classes, award and retirement ceremonies, lunches or other small gatherings.
The description above is from the Gowen Field Memorial Park website here:http://museum.mil.idaho.gov/GFMemorial/index.htm The website has much more information about the project. As a fund raising effort, commemorative coins and etched commemorative bricks are available for purchase.
The 303rd Bombardment Group (H) was constituted on January 28, 1942 at Savannah, Georgia. They received their initial staff and training at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho from February to June of 1942. In 1992 the 303rd Bomb Group Association placed a Memorial at Gowen Field, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the 303rd BG's service there. The 303rd BG Memorial, currently located near the new park, will soon be moved to a prominent place in the WWII section of the new park.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on May 27, 2010 at 10:15 AM with the Governor of Idaho in attendance. The Gowan Field Memorial Park is just south of the Boise Air Terminal at the intersection of South Farman Street and West Guard Street. Any 303rd Bomb Group veterans, family or friends would be most welcome at the ceremony.
Mothers Day – May 9, 2010
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Men are what their mothers made them." We are thankful for the special ladies who gave us birth, gave us love, raised our children, and stood by us in good times and in bad. If you are blessed to have your mother or wife with you this day, give her a smile and a hug. If that cannot be, do it anyway — she'll know.
Memorial Day – May 31, 2010
As you visit the graves of our veterans, or attend any of the hundreds of Memorial Day Ceremonies, please take some photographs and send them to me. I'll include them in a future issue of "The Molesworth Pilot."
Eighth Air Force Reunion – Tucson, Arizona – July 21-25, 2010
Registration is now underway for the 2010 8th Air Force Reunion this July in Tucson, Arizona. Registration information is in the March 2010 issue of the 8th AF News or online here: http://www.8thafhs.org/reunions.htm. We're looking for a good turnout from our 303rd Bomb Group veterans, families and friends.
"Thunder over Michigan"
The Largest Gathering of Heavy Bombers in the World
The 8th Air Force Historical Society is hosting veterans, family members, and their guests at the Willow Run Air Show, located just outside Detroit, August 5 thru 8, 2010. The Air Show organizers are expecting 8 to 10 B-17's to attend , 2 B-24's, 12 P-51's, the usual cadre of other WWII aircraft, as well as a flying ME-262 and an ME-109. More information is available here: http://www.8thafhs.org/detroit.htm
Charles Robert "Chuck" Terry, 88, Rapid City, SD, died Saturday, April 24, 2010, at the Veterans Affairs Black Hills Health Care Center at Fort Meade. Chuck was born Sept. 24, 1921, at Rochester, N.Y., to Burt Snyder and Frances Allison (Metzgar) Terry. He grew up in Dryden, N.Y., and graduated from high school in Rochester.
Following graduation, Chuck enlisted in the U.S. Army and served his county in the Army Air Corps. He was assigned to the 303 Bomb Group in Molesworth, England, as a radio operator and gunner on a B-17. After 26 successful missions and a Distinguished Flying Cross, he returned to the States where he was an instructor trainer at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Chuck met Dorthy Lange and the couple wed on April 16, 1945 in Deadwood.
Chuck worked as a repo man for Commercial Credit until he started working for First Federal Savings and Loan. After 30 years of service he retired as a branch manager and loan officer. Dottie and Chuck enjoyed traveling, especially cruises. Chuck was an avid sportsman and enjoyed many hunts. He loved a good game of cards whether it was cribbage or poker. He also liked a trip to Deadwood. Chuck was a member of Kiwanis and the American Legion. Survivors include his son, Glen and Nancy Terry, Gillette, Wyo.; daughter Carol and Ron Spielmann, Sioux Falls; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren; and special friend, Doris Wagner, Parachute, Colo. He was preceded in death by his wife Dorthy in 1992; one son, Bruce; one brother, Don; and two sisters, Lucille and Jane. Visitation will be from noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, with the family present from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 29, at the chapel, with Pastor Denzel Nonhof officiating. Burial will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, with military honors by the Belle Fourche Veteran's Honor Guard.
Russell M. Daley, Jr., 90, a native of Dublin, GA, passed away January 17, 2010.
T/Sgt Daley was the Radio Operator on the 359th BS 1Lt Victor J. Loughnan Crew. His burial was in Poplarville, Mississippi.
On Mission #74, October 4, 1944, their B-17 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. It was last seen flying under control on three engines about 12 miles South of Achen. The crewmen had tossed out their guns and one had hit the #3 engine propeller. The crew parachuted from the damaged B-17 southwest of Achen, close to the Belgian lines. All ten crewmen were captured and made POWs.
Roy Vincent Wolford, 88, of Kearney, NE, died Monday, April 12, 2010, at Good Samaritan Hospital.
He was born Feb. 10, 1922, in Kearney to Cecil and Olive (Hollingsworth) Wolford.
On April 5, 1942, he married Ruby Snyder in Kearney. She died in 2001.
On Oct. 29, 2001, he married Wilma (Huffstutter) Hendrickson in Kearney.
Survivors include his wife; son, Roger Wolford and his wife, Kay, of Kearney; daughter, Janet Pohlman and her husband, Dale, of Kearney; brother, Wayne Wolford of Cozad; daughter-in-law, Jill Johnson and her husband, Keith, of Kearney; brother-in-law, Wayne Olson of Minden; sister-in-law, Mary Snyder of Kearney; grandchildren, Camie West of Elm Creek, Julie Keaschall of Pleasanton, Holly Thyne, Jenny Wolford, Gail Whalen and Geri Jasnoch, all of Kearney, Brian Wolford of Lincoln, Shari Wolford of New York City, Gina Gerlach of Omaha and Glen Wolford of Beebe, Ark.; 22 great-grandchildren; stepson, Kevin Hendrickson and his wife, Connie, of Denver; stepdaughter, Kathleen Colburn of Phoenix; four stepgrandchildren; and six stepgreat-grandchildren.
His mother died and he was raised by his father and stepmother, Leanda, on their farm east of Kearney. He attended Stone School and graduated from Kearney High School in 1939. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for two years.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on Sept. 19, 1942, and served until Oct. 1, 1945. While in the Army, he trained as a B-17 pilot and served during World War II in England. He was honorably discharged as a second lieutenant. After the service, he farmed east of Kearney for 42 years and moved in to Kearney in 1988.
He served on a rural school board, worked on Gateway Farm Expo and was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee. From 1973 to 1978, he served on the Federal Land Bank Board of Directors. He was on the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for three years.
Beginning in 1978, he served 14 years on the First National Bank Board of Directors. He also served on the First Commerce Bank board. From 1976 to 1982, he served as chairman of the Good Samaritan Hospital Board of Directors and served on the Health Systems Board and Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation.
He was a member of First Christian Church, Kearney American Legion Post 52 and Kearney VFW Post 759. He was able to be part of the Hero Flight to Washington, D.C., in May 2008.
Vincent was always involved in local organizations centered on cattle and farming. His joy in life was his family, the farm and many friends. Following his move to town, he would drive to the farm daily to see the men and the work going on that day.
Harvie Lecil Collins, 90, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, beloved husband, father, grandpa and uncle, went to be with the Lord Sunday, March 21, 2010, at St. Bernard’s Village.
Harvie was born on October 29, 1919, in Etowah, Arkansas, to the late Gordie and Julia Veach Collins. He and the former Lela Mae Barker of Milligan Ridge, AR, were married March 30, 1944. He served our country in the 8th Air Force from 1941-1962, retiring after 21 years. He served during W.W. II in England, making the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. He lived much of his life after retiring from the Air Force in Huntsville, AL.
In civilian life, Harvie worked for the Space Division of Chrysler Corporation in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville on the Saturn I missile. He also worked for Barber Colman Company from 1969-1982. The next ten years of his life were spent in Florida doing volunteer work for Word of Life Fellowship. The last years of his life were spent gardening and fishing in Alabama and his final four years were spent living in St. Bernard’s Village in Jonesboro, AR. Harvie was preceded in death by 4 sisters and 9 brothers.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Lela M. Collins of St. Bernard’s Village; 1 daughter, Patty (Highland) Goodman of Buffalo, Minnesota; 2 sons, Donny (Cooky) Collins of Jonesboro, AR and David (Jeanie) Collins of Huntsville, AL; 8 grandchildren: Julie (Dan) Orlando of Ramsey, MN, Spring (Keith) Sneed of Caraway, AR, Phil (Rachel) Goodman of Redmond, WA, Summer Collins of Caraway, AR, Sonny Collins of Caraway, AR, Chris Collins of Huntsville, Al, Kyle Dowless of Caraway, AR, and Shane (Sherry) Dowless of Jonesboro, AR.; and 8 great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and many friends.
Funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 11:30 in Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL with Pastor Ron Madison and Mr. Highland Goodman officiating. Burial will follow in Mt. Zion Cemetery with Emerson Funeral Home of Jonesboro in charge of arrangements. Visitation will be held Saturday from 10:00 until service time at the church.
Joseph Ciglar was born on November 22, 1923 and passed away on Monday, April 19, 2010 in San Diego, California. (Flew 31 missions, most of them as a waist gunner on the 358th BS 1Lt Harlan J. Johnson Crew.)
I love getting the newsletter. My father is listed with photos on your site, Charles L. Gould, POW at Stalag Luft 1, shot down on Sept. 28, 1944. He died in 1974 when I was only 19 years old. I never appreciated what he went through in the war and he wouldn't talk about it very much. My brothers and I cherish what few photos, his journal, medals etc. he left behind. We've been to the museum in Pooler and placed a memorial stone there and have taken my 87 year old mom there twice but it is too difficult for her now that she is in assisted living. Anyway, thank you so much for your years of dedication to this web site and all the families who connect through it, especially the grand children and great-grand children who never knew what heroes they were. Patricia GouldThe Molesworth Pilot is in need of 303rd BG related stories and articles for future issues. If you have an article, or would like to write an article, please contact me.
Gary, Thank you so much for the wonderful job you did of putting the article I wrote about Lt. McClellan together. I cannot find the words to express my gratitude of your willingness to put this article into your newsletter. You do such a great job of keeping the memory of the 303rd alive for the present generation and the generations to come. I am thankful you allowed Lt. George Sterling McClellan to become a part of your efforts so that we won’t forget what true sacrifice means in keeping our country free. Thank you again Gary, I will be forever grateful to you for allowing Sterling to be made known to many who would have never known him without your hard work and diligence you put into the 303rd website and newsletter. Sincerely, Rick Collier
Gary, Our association with the 303 site has meant so much to us. While it's true that Dude's mom kept his memory alive, it was your site that brought it to light. There aren't enough ways to express our thanks for the enormous effort you put into the project. It's nearly every day I think of the men of the 8th. Their courage and bravery leave me in awe. Barry Udoff
Keeping the Legacy Alive,
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