Voices From The Past

Voices From The Past

Christmas day, 1999 will be a day that will always stand out in my mind. That day my son Kedron Rhodes gave me a present that has become the greatest link to my dad, Harold Rhodes and his involvement in W.W.II. Ked gave me a model of a B-24, the plane my Dad was on for 29 missions before they were shot down. The model would have been a wonderful gift in and of it's self. However the events prior to Christmas day held the mysteries of the past. That knowledge of this would not be known for another two years.

My father never talked much about the war that any of us can remember. He died at the age of 47 so as a family, we never knew much about the portion of his life during the war. Kedron contacted both my mother and my sister trying to get information about the plane my dad was on so he could make a model of it and give it to me for Christmas. About all they could tell him is that dad was a top gunner on a B-24 named Naughty Norma and they were shot down on their 29th mission and landed in Sweden. That was about the extent of it. Ked wanted more information so he went to the web.

On October 12, 1999 Kedron Rhodes posted a message at a B-24 veterans group web site asking if anyone had any information on a plane named "Naughty Norma". He did not think any more about that posting until Tuesday, May 22, 2001. When he went back to the site he found that three replies had been posted. That set into motion a whole change of events. Kedron send me, Sheldon, an email telling me what he had found out.

Ked sent the message to an address that I seldom check. For whatever reason, I checked my mail on that account on Friday, May 25th and found Ked's message waiting for me. When I read how he had found the replies, I immediately went to www.google.com and did the same search that he had done. That took me to the replies that he had received.. One of the postings was from Tom Brittan so I sent him a message the same day. He replied on Saturday with information and the casualty report for a B-24 numbered 42-100281. That apparently was the plane named Naughty Norma but I knew it could not be right because my dad was not listed on the crew. I replied saying that about all I knew was that Dad was shot down and they landed in Switzerland On Sunday Tom replied with the names of the planes that had gone done in Switzerland As I read the word Switzerland I realized I had made a mistake. Dad had gone down in Sweden. I sent Tom a quick reply along with an apology. It seemed only fitting that Tom's reply about 42-94973 came on Monday, May 28, Memorial Day. Dad was listed on the crew.

As I looked over the casualty report with my dad's name on it I felt as though I had just found a huge missing link to my dad's war experience. As I read down the list of names of the men that were with dad on that fateful day, I wondered what had ever happened to the rest of the crew. Could it be possible that any of them were still alive? Of course they could be. They would have to be about the same age as my mother. With that in mind I did a search for the pilot, John Forsyth. The results were overwhelming. There are LOTS of John Forsyth's. Where would I even start? How long would it take to go through all those names only to find that none of them was the pilot of Naughty Norma? I felt I had found something but the task was too great. Then the thought came to me that perhaps I could narrow the search down by putting in the middle initial that was listed on the report. That search narrowed it down to just two names. But what are the chances of either of them being the right one? How many people have their middle initial listed on the web somewhere?

Of the two names in front of me, one was from the North, the other in Florida. If he was the age of my mother, he would most likely be retired. If he is retired, he would want to live in Florida. Made since to me. Even if it wasn't him, I had to start somewhere. I dialed the number in front of me and a lady answered. I introduced myself and told her that I was looking for a John Forsyth who had piloted a plane during W.W.II. named Naughty Norma. She said, "That would be my John. Let me get him for you." That evening I had to privilege of talking to the hero who had flown my dad on every mission he was on. For the first time I heard the stories of several of those missions. I found out things that made me prouder than ever of my father. I found out that Naughty Norma really was "their" plane. However it was not the plane they were shot down in. You will have to read the "rest of the story" to find out why.

As soon as I hung up from talking to John, I called my mother and told her the events of the past couple of days and how it led up to the conversation of the past hour or so. By the evening of the 29th I had talked with and tape recorded the conversations of a total of five of Norma's crew. I called my mother and sister and shared with them a lot of the information but I knew that there was parts of the story that I had left out. I also knew that my own children and family would also want to know what I had learned. So in an attempt to get them as much information as possible, I scripted out the conversations word by word. I then combined each conversation into the chronological order and posted that information on this site. It wasn't until the next day, Wednesday, May 30 that I realized that I had posted this site exactly 57 years to the day that Dad and his crew were shot down. It never accrued to me as I was putting all of the information together that it was on the anniversary day of them going down.

Since that day I have exchanged pictures and information with each of those crew members. From that I have been able to add pictures of the events. My sister Lila, her son Dusty and my son Kedron have all done a lot of the research providing me with links and lots of information. It is our desire that this site will be of interest to you and that all of us will have a greater appreciation for the men and women who have fought and are fighting to keep our Country free. We owe them more than we could ever repay.

Who knows what a model B-24 might do for you? Our friends over at Fiddlers Green have developed a wonderful paper model of a B-24. It is well worth the small price they are asking and you could be working on it in the amount of time it took you to read this page. Why not download it while you are reading the next chapter in my Dad's story?



Click here to get this model.

Home        To go to early days of training.

This is a tribute to my Dad, Harold N. Rhodes and the brave B-24 crews of the 389^th BG during WWII

Harold Nelson Rhodes
13136596
Enlisted 10 Nov. 1942 - Retired 31 May 1967

Basic Training



Mulqueeney, Sawyer, Moore - Rhodes
Davis Monthon Air Field, Tucson, AZ June 1943





"I knew your father very well. Was he a good man? He was a real good man." - Brenard Prueher

It was at Davis Monthon Field that the crew was assembled in June of 1943. Kellis' sister sent him a large sheet coconut cake packed in popcorn for his birthday July 17, 1921.

Their original operator was a short, heavy, good natured man by the name of Strabinski. He was a good man but got air sick as soon as the plane left the runway. Countless barf bags were held for him and later thrown out for him. He was replaced by Bob Meads.

While at Tucson they checked out copilots. They did touch and go landings, power off and on stalls, etc. It was a lot of work for John, Bernie, Harold and Bob. The rest of the crew took turns helping out.

Charles spent a lot of time helping Bill Miller with his practice booming. He needed someone to move the "bug" or target around the hanger.

Harold stood out from the start. They knew they had a good airman. According to Charles Kellis, he and Joe were "a little too rowdy for Harold. But he went along and never said much."

One of Harold's jobs was to come on the intercom and tell the rest of the crew when they reached 10,000 feet so they would know when to put on their oxygen. Dad had grown up in West Vagina and had a bit of an accent. Apparently Dad pronounced oxygen, "oggen". Every time he came on and said "Crew chief to crew. We are going through 10,000 feet. Go on oggen" someone in the crew would answer him back "say again". So he would repeat the message the same way. They all laughed and he never seemed to catch on.


The crew in training

Crew in Grand Island, NE Oct. 1943 - Notice B-17 - That was all they had in Grand Island Staging Area. Meads - Sawyer - Rhodes - Kellis - Mulqueeney - Moore Forsyth - Burroughs - Miller - Prueher


Standing: Prueher (Navigator), Forsyth (Pilot), Burroughs (Co Pilot), Miller (Bombardier) Front: Meads (Radio), Sawyer (Engineer - Lt. Waist), Kellis (Armorer - Radio - Rt. Waist), Mulqueeney (Tail - Armorer), Rhodes (Engineer - Top Turret), Moore (Ball Turret)

This picture was taken of crew 50 of the 460^th beside B-24H-1 DT 41-28574. This was the very first B-24H assembled by Douglas at Tulsa from a knock down kit produced by Ford at Willow Run, MI. Following on from earlier B-24E assembly, it had constructor's number 166. The 1 and part of the first 6 can be seen. The last 6 has been painted over with last three figures of the serial number.

It was made available to the USAAF in September 1943. The bold last three figures of the serial number painted on the nose are a sure sign that it was assigned to a training unit in the US.

They trained for 3 months and then went to Grand Island, NE. From there they went on a train to Fort Dix, NJ. They stayed there for about two weeks before they boarded the Queen Mary. They went to Fertha (Fort?) Clide where England and Scotland come together on the west coast of Scotland. That is where the 389th bomb crew was. They arrived around December 1, 1943. They were assigned to a couple of staging stations and then went to Hethel. They arrived in Norwich February 1, 1944.

460th BG was composed of four squadrons (760th, 761st, 762nd and 763rd) and was based at Spinazzola, Italy, as part of 55th Combat Wing, which was assigned to the 15th AF. Crew #50 would tend to point to the squadron being the 761st. The group was deployed to Italy in Jan or Feb 44 - about the same time as my father, Harold Rhodes' crew arrived in England.

8^th AF - 389 BG (H) 566 BS
Hethel, Norfolk, England - April 1944

Possibly, they were originally scheduled to go to Italy as an original 460th BG crew but ended up being assigned to the 8th AF in England as a replacement crew. Losses were very heavy at that time and the 8th AF had a desperate need for replacement aircraft and crews.

Somewhere around the third mission, Miller, the bombardier and Moore, the nose gunner, "turned chicken" and quit. Those who flew did so because they volunteered to do so. Therefore if volunteering to fly was an option, so was quitting. The men and all of their belongings were immediately removed and never spoken of again. They did not want their influence on any of the rest of the "fly boys." Prueher asked to take over the responsibilities of Miller. He didn't mind the extra work and the "extra space" in the plane was welcome. The crew that was left refereed to themselves as "The Basic 8".

Everybody wanted to quit. When asked if he was ever scared, John Forsyth answered, "No. I was never scared. Terrorized YES! Scared is too sissy of a word." By definition, courage is not the lack of fear but proper action in spite of it. The eight that continued to work together as a team were not men without fear but men who did what they needed to do in spite of it. That is what makes a man a hero.

 

To go back to voices from the past.      Home      To go to the crew put together.
The Crew Put Together


B-24J-85 CO 42-100281


The "Basic 8"
1/Lt. John C. Forsyth - Pilot
Crew at Hethel - Mulqueeney, Burroughs, Meads, Prueher, Forsyth, Rhodes, Sawyer, Kellis
What was left of original crew. Miller and Moore had left. Taken April of 1944.


John Forsyth - at hard stand - Hethel - England 1944 George Burroughs


John Forsyth's wife was Norma Meyers. She was always saying to the guys,
"That's naughty" or "This is naughty". That is how 42-100281 got the name.


Prueher

Forsyth, Prueher and Mulqueeny flew every mission with my Dad.


Harold Rhodes

"Ol Rhodesey. Knew him well." - Prueher

Rod (Charles) Kellis & Joe Mulqueeney


Dick (Richard) Sawyer & Robert Meads


Joseph Tomas & Forsyth, Prueher, Burroughs

These are pictures of the same B-24 whose nose art photo is in "LIBERATOR ALBUM" page 39 of By Mike Bailey with Tony North (ISBN 1 85780 060 5). It was B-24J-85 CO 42-100281. Its call letter in 566th Sq. was D+ and from mid-March 1944 this was displayed on the fuselage as well as on the tail in addition to the squadron code RR.

Crew Chief - He was on flying status later and was shot down over Germany and killed.


Ground crew - crew chief in middle of both pictures.

 

To go to early days of traning.     Home      To go to the first 28 missions.

The First 28 Missions

My Dad's first mission was on February 24, 1944. (see Mission Log) That day there were 23 planes that went out and only 16 returned. Out of the 2nd Section which sent out 10 planes, 6 of them went down. Only 4 made it back. I can't imagine the fear they must have felt knowing that they had to somehow survive 29 more missions before they could go home. The odds were not good but there was a job to get done.

It is not known how many times in all Naughty Norma was flown in combat by Lt. John C. Forsyth and his crew but I have traced it on the following dates in the very incomplete 389th BG mission data that I have:

Feb. 21, Mar 15, 16, 18 (aborted this mission for reasons unknown) & 20, Ajpr. 8 & 29 and May 25.

John C. Forsyth Missions

Month	Day	Target	Aircraft	Aircraft Name
Feb.	21	Osnabruck
Feb.	24	Gotha
Feb.	25	Furth	42-100167	My Tuffy page 16 of Liberator Album
March	9	Brandenburg	42-100190	Princess Konocti page 14, 37, 178
March	13	No Ball	42-100281	Naughty Norma
March	15	Braunschweig	42-100281	Naughty Norma
March	16	Fredrichshafen	42-100281	Naughty Norma
March	18	Aborted
March	20	Frankfurt	42-100281	Naughty Norma
March	26	Siracourt	42-100281	Naughty Norma
March	27	Pau	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	8	Braunschweig	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	9	Tutow	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	18	Rathenow	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	19	Paderborn	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	20	Wizernes	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	24	Gablinger	42-100281	Naughty Norma
April	28	Mimoyecques	42-94996	Liberty Belle page 169
April	29	Berlin	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	1	Brussels	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	7	Osnabruck	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	8	Brunswick	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	9	Florennes	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	20	Rheims	42-50335
May	25	Troyes	42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	28		42-100281	Naughty Norma
May	29	Politz	42-94973

p 16 of Liberator Album - 42-100167 My Tuffy discards her ordnance over the target during the winter 1943. b-24j-75-co 420100167 from 566th BS was written off due to severe battle damage on 9th march 1944.

42-100190 Princess Konocti Pg. 14, 37,178

42-94996 Liberty Belle Pg. 169


Forsyth Forsyth Burroughs