Voices From The Past

Count the missions

This picture was taken after the aircraft had flown 11 combat missions (see bomb symbols on the armor plate below the pilot's side window). It was not necessarily flown by the Forsyth crew on all of these. It is likely that it was flown occasionally by other crews in the same way as the Forsyth crew flew B-24J-80 CO 42-100190 J+ "Princess Konocti" on Mar 9 (coincidentally, this also landed in Sweden but at Halmstad on Jun 20 when the target was again Politz).

It was the custom at the time that the pilot and the navigator would take an "experienced" crew when they went out on their first mission. This put John Forsyth and Brenard Prueher one mission ahead of the rest of their crew. Then somewhere around Prueher's 18th or 20th mission they were all given a 3-day pass because their waist gunner, Rod Kellis, had been wounded on a mission with Naughty Norma. They went into the town of Norwic. They had just fallen to sleep when some guy came in and woke Prueher up telling him that he was needed at the base to fill in for a sick navigator. That extra mission put Prueher one ahead of Forsyth.

On May 28, 1944 Naughty Norma was hit hard. They completely lost one engine and the rest of the plane was not in good shape. It was "crippled up" real bad. Never the less they made it back to England. This made the 30th and final mission for Prueher. (Click here to see Prueher's personal mission log.)

At one point you were finished after 25 missions. When Gen. Dolittle took over the 8th Air Force, he changed the requirements to 30. Before the war would be over that number would go up to 35. Because of all of the heavy losses, Prueher was the first man in a long time to complete 30 missions. That was cause for celebration. Everyone knew Prueher and wanted to buy him a drink. He didn't refuse.

Because some of the crew had been replaced with other men, there were a total of 4 that only had one more mission to go. Prueher would have liked to gone up again to be with Forsyth and the other 3 to be with them on their last mission but Forsyth would not hear of it. He said there were just too many men that had died going up on just one more and he didn't want anything to happen to Prueher. According to Prueher he was not in any condition to go up that next morning anyway.

To go to first 28 missions.      Home      To go to 29th mission.
May 29, 1944


One last look at the target.

(From left to right; Bob, Harold, Bernard, Joe, Tomas, John, Dick, Rod, George.)

The regular bombardier was sick the morning of May 29th. Jack Hayden was on standby and became their "pick up" bombardier. Jack only had one more mission to go and he wanted to get home. So he would be part of the crew that day. This was his first time flying with the Forsyth crew. Forsyth later said of Jack, "He was a nice guy and a good bombardier." According to Jack, the pilot he normally flew with got the idea he wanted to be a big shot somewhere around their 15th mission. "He wanted to be a pilot who would get 'em," said Jack. Jack later saw that pilot in Miami.

The crew woke up at 3:00 AM and were on the flight line at 3:30. At that time they were assigned to 42-94973. The plane did not have a name at that time but went by the letters on the tail, RR. As soon as dawn broke, somewhere around 5:00 AM, they took off for Politz, Germany to bomb the shipping harbor. According to John Forsyth, "It flew good. We didn't have any problems with it". This was my Dad's 29th mission.

            
In formation

Little did they realize that this was going to be their last mission together.

They took their "usual" route which they referred to as the Lincoln Hwy. over the Zider Sea, Doomer Lake south of Hanover, south of Berlin, turned north and were bombing the port of Stenton on the Baltic seaport just north of Berlin.


"Little Friend" on the right      

Flak fills the air

There was heavy ground fire and flak took out the supercharger on the number 2 engine enroute to the target. It wasn't far to the target so they feathered the engine and continued on. They reached their target and were able to drop their bombs.


Bombs away

After dropping their bombs they turned back over the Baltic Sea for Hethel, Norfolk. Because of the loss of the one engine, they were trailing the other planes in their flight. They had no sooner made their turn for home when they were surrounded by 18 Me210's German fighters. Every gunner was in position and firing their machine guns. The tail gunner reported that at least 3 of the Me210's were shot down before they were hit themselves. Jack Hayden said he had seen 5 go down. Three of them right away and two that were smoking but turned back to Germany. He didn't see how they could have made it. The remaining fighters continued their pursuit of the larger group of bombers. According to Hayden, Mulqueeny, the tail gunner, saved them.

Going down

The No. 3 engine was hit and caught on fire but they were able to get it extinguished. The prop on that engine was also feathered. The left stabilizer was almost totally demolished and a wheel was shot. The hydraulic system was shot out so the flaps and landing gear all came down. The rest of the plane was full of holes. They were hit by 20 mm shells and a couple of rockets.

S/Sgt. Richard Sawyer, the left waist gunner, was wounded quite badly in the right arm by a 20 mm shell.

When Sawyer was hit it blew him onto Kellis knocking them both down. While Kellis was trying to get Sawyer off of him he was hit in the back and some metal hit him in the right eye so he could not see very well. Jack Hayden made his way out of his position to go administering first aid to Sawyer. It was about that time that the top gun turret was hit.

T/Sgt. Harold N. Rhodes, the engineer and top gunner, was hit in the neck knocking him out of the turret. He fell to the floor of the plane landing on the bomb bay doors, which just minutes before had closed. About that time 4 or 5 more bullets went right on through between Hayden and Rhodes. According to Hayden, Rhodes had a close call. Although Rhodes was "bleeding like a stuck pig" it was soon determined that he was going to be all right. He was quickly given some morphine for the pain. Forsyth had little control of the plane so Rhodes crawled to the back of the badly shot up tail section and found the cables for the vertical and horizontal stabilizers shot in two. He tried to repair them using his belt but was unsuccessful. The left router was pretty well shot off. Forsyth does not know how he was able to get enough control to keep it in the air.

They were loosing altitude and fuel fast. Forsyth asked 2/Lt. Francis Giardiello if they would be able to make it back to England. He said there was no way. Forsyth asked him for a route to Sweden but Giardiello did not have the sectional maps for that area. At this time Forsyth was wishing he had taken Prueher after all. This was Giardiello's first mission. Forsyth made a turn and "guessed". Giardiello later gave Forsyth a heading that would have taken them to occupied Denmark! Forsyth told him, "If and when we get on the ground, stay out of my way!" He did.

The crew knew they were going down too fast to make it to Sweden. They also knew that landing in the Baltic Sea would be disaster and landing in Germany would mean being prisoners of war. In an attempt to keep the plane in the air as long as possible, they threw overboard all not strictly necessary equipment including their guns, ammunition, their flack suits and the bomb site. With the flaps down to 30 degrees, they made their way to what they hoped would be Sweden.




This was a Swedish news photo.


Damaged tail of B-24H-20 FO 42-94973 F+

Sometime around 2:30 or 3:00 PM, they were able to get the plane landed. I believe they landed in a field and hit a fence. The plane was immediately surrounded by men with machine guns. This led them to believe that they were in Norway which was occupied by the Germans. About that time a tall blond man stepped forward and said "Welcome to Sweden." John Forsyth shouted out, "Could you point those guns the other way." The Swede replied, "Don't worry. They're not loaded." They had actually landed at Bulltofta A/F near Malmo, Sweden.

An ambulance took Sawyer and Rhodes immediately to the hospital. The base commander welcomed Forsyth and the rest of his crew. There had been 5 planes land there that day. Forsyth was the oldest so the base commander made him in charge. He asked Forsyth what he could do for them. Forsyth asked if they could have some food. He said, "I know these men are hungry". They marched to the mess hall and were served the only thing they had left; soup and biscuits. The commander asked if they wanted any milk. They were not allowed to drink the milk in England so Forsyth asked if it was pasteurized. The commander looked at Forsyth as if he was out of his mind and said, "Of course it's pasteurized." Forsyth reports "So they brought out pitcher after pitcher of milk. You never saw guys go through milk so fast in all you're life. They hadn't had any for months."

Meanwhile, Prueher was back in England standing at the end of the runway when 21 of the 22 planes that went out that day came back in. The crew that he had been with for so many missions did not return. He had no idea what had happened to them at this time. Later the base Chaplain told him that they were 99% sure that they had made it safely to Sweden. Three days later Prueher was flown to Ireland where he stayed for three months as a radar instructor. He was sent back to the States around September 1st. "I never did see the boys," said Prueher. Years later he was able to locate Sawyer in Buffalo, NY. Mulqueeny came to visit him in Norwich, CT and Burroughs came to see him in Dover, DL.

Back in Sweden, the crew were given rooms for the night and the next morning they boarded a train and headed north. Rhodes and Sawyer were in the hospital. The rest of the crew went up to Loka Brunn which is an old Swedish spa in the mountains. They were given temporary passports. They were not allowed to go into town until they got civilian clothes. They picked up some "crummy looking" civilian clothing. None of them had a full military uniform. There were certain towns that they could not go into.

Because it was so cold while flying, they never wore a complete uniform. They would put on long johns, a heated suit that plugged into electric but most of the time it didn't work. Then an old jean shirt, field jacket which was over sized and fur lined boots.

They didn't have much to do during this time. "It wasn't bad other than it was boring." They played soccer and rode bikes. It seems that there was a charcoal taxi that they would take into a bigger town about 20 or 25 miles away from Loka Brunn. Sometimes when they got to a big hill they had to get out and push.


Richard Sawyer

There is a note on the back that says that is a cookie in his mouth. I don't know where the picture was taken but you can see his right arm is in a sling. The 20 mm shell had taken a piece of bone out of his arm. Forsyth said if it wasn't for the skills of the Swedish doctors, he would have lost the use of his arm.

The crew that day was

Pilot	Forsyth, John C., 1/Lt.	0-680199	30th mission
Co-Pilot	Burroughs, George 1/Lt.	0-683961	30th mission
Navigator	Giardiello, Francis R., 2/Lt.	0-712096	1st mission
Bombardier	Hayden, Jack W., 1/Lt.	0-734454	30th mission
Radio Operator	Meads, Robert W., T/Sgt.	20415422
Engineer/Top Gunner	Rhodes, Harold N. T/Sgt.	13136596	29th mission
Ball Gunner	Carrigan, Michael, S/Sgt.	33094606
Waste Gunner	Kellis, Charles B., S/Sgt.	35417738	21st Mission (Wounded April 9 in hospital 2 wks.)
Waste Gunner	Sawyer, Richard, S/Sgt.	12207080
Tail Gunner	Mulqueeny, Joseph P., S/Sgt.	13126488	30th mission
Nose Gunner	Tomas, Joseph A., S/Sgt.	16108655

All of these brave men received the well deserved Distinguished Flying Cross. Michael Carrigan had taken the place of one of the guys who had quit early on. Thank you Mike wherever you are.

According to a Swedish researcher, it had flown 10 missions not counting this one.

Date:	Pilot:	Event/Mission:	Notes:
30 APR 44	Lewis	Siracourt	1st Combat Mission
2 May 44	Lewis	Siracourt	2nd Combat Mission
8 May 44	Lewis	Brunswick, Ger.	3rd Combat Mission
9 May 44	Lewis	Florennes	4th Combat Mission
11 May 44	Patterson	Belfort	5th Combat Mission
13 May 44	Lewis	Tutow, Ger.	6th Combat Mission
19 May 44	Harris	Brunswick, Ger.	7th Combat Mission
20 May 44	Harris	Rheims, Fra.	8th Combat Mission
23 May 44	Harris	Orleans, Fra.	9th Combat Mission
24 May 44	Harris	Orly, Fra.	10th Combat Mission
25 May 44	Harris	Troyes, Fra.	11th Combat Mission
27 May 44	???	Saarbrucken, Ger.	12th Combat Mission
28 May 44	Harris	Merseburg, Ger.	13th Combat Mission
29 May 44	Forsyth	Politz, Ger.	14th Combat Mission -- Landed in Sweden due to extensive damage to engines and tail structure -- 2 WIA, and aircraft interned.

However, I have found this list of the missions and it shows this one as number 14.

B-24H 42-94973 left Sweden for England on 7 July 1945. MACR 5216

To go to first 28 missions.      Home      To go to stay in Sweden.

The Stay In Sweden

 


"You had a good Father I'll tell you that." - John Forsyth

Sweden
May 29 - Dec. 22, 1944

Forsyth, Burroughs, Meads
Kellis, Rhodes, Mulqueeney
(Their first set of civilian clothes.)


Taken shortly after Dad got out of the hospital.

Harold had several pieces of shrapnel and/or Plexiglas surgically removed from his neck. At least one piece was not able to be removed because of its location to vital arteries. As a side note, Dad's nose was never straight. Somehow I had thought that it was crooked because of his injuries in the war. It wasn't until I was talking to one of the crew members that mentioned Dad's nose as being broken boxing or something. I found that hard to believe. It was a war injure I was sure. I mentioned it to my sister as I was telling her about the conversation and she said he broke it playing football. How could this be? It was a war injure. Now I had to know for sure so I asked Mom and guess what, he broke it in High School playing football! Had it not been for my contact with the crew, I would have always thought it was from the war. Only goes to prove you don't know what you don't know.

After leaving the hospital, he was asked to assist with some repairs on damaged aircraft. Apparently they had to switch some engines and word was out that Dad was great with them. He joined the other crew members in Loka Blunn later. Regarding Dad, Forsyth said "He was good I'll tell ya. He was a top engineer. He could do just about everything. You name it, he was doing it."

Brenard Prueher had this to say about my Dad. "Boy were we proud of him. He was a top man there was no doubt about it. He was the best engineer that we could have had. Sharp boy when it came to engines. He and John worked perfectly together. He worked with the pilot most of the time when he wasn't in the top turret. On landing he was squeezed right in side of the two pilots. He had a real important job. He was always a step above the rest of the Sgts. He got his first stripe and his second stripe before any of anybody else did. He was a GOOD man. You better believe it."

Dad also helped transfer gas from one tank to another.

George Burroughs

 

Loka Brunn Rhodes

They were moved around a couple of times. For at least some time, the crew made their residence in this rooming house. They were located between two lakes.


Buildings at Loka Brunn (Theirs on Rt.)

Main Dining hall at Loka Brunn


Bob Meads - Loka Brunn


Mulqueeney - Loka Brunn - Kellis - Loka Brunn - Rhodes - Loka Brunn


Forsyth - Loka Brunn - Meads - Loka Brunn - Burroughs - Loka Brunn


Joseph Tomas Mulqueeny - Ball Gunner after Moore quit.

Mike

 

Harold Rhodes

 

There were some things for the guys to do while at Loka Brunn. They tried to stay busy. They even built docks, a diving board and a 30 foot tower.

One man drowned while they were there. He was not from their plane. He was not on their crew. I don't know who he was.


Kellis - Kellis, Mulqueeney, Rhodes - LB Sweden - Mulqueeney, Kellis, Forsyth eating a mid morning Swedish pastries.
Notice escape map. They were keeping track of invasion after D-Day.

They left Sweden somewhere around the end of October. It was not too long before Thanksgiving. The Red Cross made the arrangements for them to finally be able to leave Sweden. They went to Fallat and were taken out at night in a stripped down B-24. Their first stop was in Stockholm. All they took was a brief case. They sat in the bomb bay till they got to Scotland. Then they had to stay in Scotland to get the records straightened out for a week or two and they put them on a list to come home.

To go to 29th mission.      Home      To go to back to the States.

Back In The USA

"Harold was the best at his job. Thought an awful lot of Harold." - Rod Kellis


Somewhere around December 22, 1944, dad returned to the United States and his home in Aurtherdale, WV.


Wedding Picture

I guess you could say it was a short engagement because on December 29, 1944 Harold Rhodes and Hazel Lucille McKinney were married in Oakland, MD. The crew had some leave time as soon as they got back to the States. Then they were to report FL or CA depending on what part of the country they were from. There they were to get their records straight and get their new assignments. For the most part they pretty much scattered. Dad was to go to Miami, FL.

John and Norma Forsyth with Rod Kellis - Nightclub, Miami Beach, FL Jan. 1945

Forsyth arrived in Miami on his birthday, December 28, 1944. John saw George Burroughs and Rod Kellis while there. He was there about 10 days and then went to AZ to be in instructor. So John had already left for AZ by the time Harold and Lucille arrived. John later went to TX and then on to Romulus, MI.

"I did my job and they did theirs and that's all there was to it." - John Forsyth

   
Dad and Mom went to Florida January 13 on their honeymoon and stayed at the Lord Baltimore Hotel. (See the arrow pointing to the top floor window? That was their room.)


Jan. 13, 1945 - Jan. 14, 1945


Jan. 16, 1945

                       
Harold - Joe - Bob               Harold - Lucille - Bob           Dad and Bob
(Charles does not think they guy in the middle is Joe. Need to ask Joe.)

While in Florida, they meet up with two of the crewmembers, Joseph Mulqueeny and Robert Meads.

            

After their homeymoon, Mom and Dad had to once again part ways. Dad went on to Chinute Field, IL to find a place for them to live and Mom took the train and went back to WV.

To go to the stay in Sweden.      Home      To go to last days of the war.
The last days of the war.
Champaign, IL April - 22, 1945