Captain Halcott Thomas, 95th Bomb Group, 30 Dangerous Missions over Occupied Europe

Yesterday, I heard from a friend who works at a nursing home in Los Angeles named Brad. Brad has been keeping me posted on one of the residents at the home, a man by the name of Captain Halcott Thomas. Capt. Thomas flew with the 95th Bomb Group (H) in World War Two. That happens to be the Bomb Group about which I just finished writing a unit history.

Yesterday, Brad told me that Captain Thomas had put on his uniform and gotten his materials together to give a talk about his experiences and nobody showed up to listen to him. This was in part due to a scheduling error, but it also struck me as symptomatic of our society's flawed values. We are willing to pay a lot of money to watch grown men dribble balls and hit balls with sticks, and we follow every move of people like Paris Hilton and other 'celebrities'.

Now let me get this straight. We pay hundreds of millions to watch overpaid prima donnas but we aren't interested in seeing a real hero, one who helped assure our freedom sixty years ago at a time when the future of humanity literally hung in the balance. One Facebook comment that hit home came from Maria Eck Bullard, whose father, Harold Eck (still alive and in failing health) is a survivor of the U.S.S. Indianapolis sinking. Maria commented it was the saddest thing she'd heard in a long time. I agree.

A lot of people have expressed interest in contacting Capt. Thomas to thank him for his service. This warms my heart, and it will warm Capt. Thomas's even more. But there are thousands of men and women just like Captain Thomas all over the United States. For example, right here in Idaho Falls, there is a gentleman in the Alzheimers unit at a nursing home who is a former P-51 Mustang pilot with 3.5 aerial victories over Germany with the 339th Fighter Group. I visited him a bit last summer and then got busy and haven't been back lately. I dropped the ball.

I am pleased that the school where I work, Clair E. Gale Junior High, holds a Veteran's Day appreciation every year and invites as many local WWII vets as they can track down for a special lunch with the seventh grade students. The lady who coordinates this, Mrs. Pearson, also has the vets sitting at tables with kids who interview them. It is a fine time for all.

Last school year, my 9th grade students corresponded with three Bataan Death March survivors. We did it as a supplementary activity, outside the curriculum, because of the comments from so many Bataan Death March suvivors I'd been interviewing for my Untold Valor: Pacific book that nobody knew anything about the March and that it was never taught in the history books any more. To my surprise, at the end of the school year, many of my students said this was their favorite thing that they learned all year. Why? Because history came alive for them.

We need to recommit to honoring our WWII vets, because in another few years, they will all be gone. Call local nursing homes, or the local American Legion of VFW, and find out if there are vets in your area. In the past year, I have found right here in my small city, almost enough men to fill my Pacific book, including a Navy Cross-winning Okinawa Marine, another Marine who saw the flag go up on Iwo Jima, and many more.

Now, back to Captain Thomas.

Halcott Thomas was working on a degree in Engineering at the University of Southern California and was almost doen when Pearl Harbor was bombed December 7, 1941. "I decided to join the Army Air Corps," he told me in an interview July 2, 2010. "It took one and a half years in five different places to get to Dyersburg, Tennesse, where I got my whole crew.

"Most of the crew had never been in a B-17 Flying Fortress. This included my copilot. We spent a whole month at Dyersburg learning to take off and fly in a 36-plane formation, which is what we'd be using when we got to Europe. A lot of the other pilots didn't let their copilots fly much during this time, as the copilots had no experience. I took the opposite view. I let my copilot do three-fourths of the flying and then he was ready to roll."

After training, we flew to Goose Bay, Labrador. They showed us a movie taken from the nose of an aircraft that showed us how to locate the landing field in Greenland. We had to fly at low-altitude for seventy miles up a deep fjord. Eventually, we would see a three-masted schooner which had sunk in the middle of the fjord. There was a 12,000-foot mountain on the right side of the fjord. We were supposed to fly right between the masts and then we'd see the runway.

"Instructions were very clear. You land. You don't try to go around. And by the way, the runway is three hundred feet higher at the top than at the bottom. And while you're at it, look out for that 12,000 mountain.

"When we flew out of there, we took off, did a sharp turn, flew to the three-masted schooner and jumped out of the fjord. Our next stop was Ireland, and from there we went to England and were assigned to the 95th Bomb Group at Horham, England. I flew thirty missions with the 95th Bomb Group. I remember in particular one mission, my third, where we dropped guns and ammunition at low altitude to the Polish Underground. They were literally underground and the Germans were almost right on top of them. After dropping off the weapons, we flew on to Russia.

"This Russia mission had been planned for some time. Three times we went to briefings and were then told the mission was called off, because they had been unable to get Stalin to agree to let us land. It was a huge operation. All the materials and supplies we'd need when we landed in Russia had to be trucked in from the south before we arrived in a big convoy. Finally, we got clearance from Stalin and flew the mission." (After the war, a diplomat from the Polish Embassy tracked down Thomas and awarded him with a medal for helping to resupply the Polish Underground in its time of need).

Captain Thomas is doing a more extensive record for me, but this was from our conversation last night. It is an honor to thank this American hero.

This Other Breed, by Michael Watkins

"We should listen to the old people,

For they have been where we have not.

They have seen what we shall never see.

They have heard the sound of silence.

And when they go

Things will never be quite the same.

They are a dying breed.

It is sad,

But it is so."

Michael Watkins, East Anglian Poet, 'This Other Breed'

Actors Behaving Well, Part I

A heart-warming story about a man who is not only a tremendous actor, but a genuinely good person.

Subject: Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center

Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC) recently. BAMC cares for soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany after tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and specializes in burn victims.

On-base housing is provided for soldiers being treated at BAMC. These homes, called Fisher Houses, are available to families at little or no charge. BAMC has a number of these houses on base; however, they are usually filled.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, he toured one of the Fisher Houses, and asked how much each home cost to build.

He then took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount for one Fisher House on the spot.

Sad, but in this day and age, when Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton make the news daily for behaving badly, the Denzel Washington story did not make any newspaper except the local newspaper in San Antonio.

New Feature: Ask a WWII Airman

Okay, time for a new feature. Is there any nagging question you've always wondered about the men who flew the heavy bombers over Europe in WWII? Well, here's your chance to get an answer. Leave your question here and I'll forward it to some of my buddies who flew in WWII. When I get an answer, I'll post it.

But it only works if people ask the questions. Don't be shy. What do you want to know? My friends are all experts on survival in the cold deadly skies and they are guys who I have a feeling will have good answers.

Any questions?

Study Finds One-Fourth of all Homeless are Veterans

The story below appeared in newspapers around the U.S. today. What a sad commentary this is on our treatment of veterans, some of whom have physical or emotional scars. I remember about twenty years ago when a WWII veteran froze to death on a park bench across the street from the White House. It was later discovered he was a highly decorated war hero.

"WASHINGTON - Lonnie Bowen Jr. was once a social worker, but for 17 years the Vietnam war veteran has slept on the streets off and on as he's battled substance abuse and mental health problems."It's been a hard struggle," said Bowen, 62, as he rolled a cigarette outside a homeless processing center in downtown Philadelphia, where he planned to seek help for his drug and alcohol problem, as he has before.Every night, hundreds of thousands of veterans like Bowen are without a home.

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released today by the Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit group.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help finding a job.The Department of Veterans Affairs has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 have participated in its programs targeting homelessness.The Alliance to End Homelessness based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau.

In 2005, it was estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans. In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000.Some advocates say an early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future.

It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable."We're going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous," said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.While services for homeless veterans have improved in the past 20 years, advocates say more financial resources are needed. With the spotlight on the plight of Iraq veterans, they hope more will be done to prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing to the younger veterans while there's an opportunity."When the Vietnam War ended, that was part of the problem. The war was over, it was off TV, nobody wanted to hear about it," said John Keaveney, a Vietnam veteran and a founder of New Directions in Los Angeles, which gives veterans help with substance abuse, job training and shelter.

"I think they'll be forgotten," Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. "People get tired of it. It's not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They'll just be veterans, and that happens after every war."

Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as "tramps," which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University's Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.After World War I, thousands of veterans — many of them homeless — camped in the nation's capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover.The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said."

Group Pays for World War Two Vets to Go See the New WWII Memorial

The following article was online from the Hartford, CT Courant Newspaper, written by Jim Farrell on September 15, 2007. The photo is by John Woike.

'American Warrior' Group Pays The Bills To Honor Dwindling Group Of Heroes

RUSSELL INZINGA gives Hayden Griswold a trim as the two World War II veterans swap stories Thursday morning at Inzinga's Manchester barber shop. Inzinga, 85, served in the Merchant Marine and Griswold, 85, in the Army.

As a member of the Merchant Marine, Russell Inzinga made 18 trips across the Atlantic aboard the E.B. Alexander, which delivered troops to fight in World War II.Now 85, Inzinga is proud of his service and excited about yet another trip - this one today, when he will be among 100 World War II veterans flying at no charge to Washington, D.C., for a day of touring and reminiscing."It feels good to be recognized," said Inzinga, who has spent 57 years as a Manchester barber and still works 30 hours per week. "I still have my health, fortunately, but there are not a lot of us veterans left."

Dubbed Connecticut Honor Flight, the trip is sponsored by American Warrior, a charitable group founded recently by Christopher Coutu, 31, who spent three years in the Air Force and is now a member of the state Air National Guard."I'm excited for them, and for their generation," said Coutu, who works as a financial planner in Niantic.After arriving at Reagan National Airport at about 10 a.m., veterans will visit the World War II Memorial, which opened in 2004 in to honor the 16 million Americans who served and the more than 400,000 who died in that war. Scheduled stops after lunch include the Vietnam and Korean war memorials. After flying back to Bradley, the veterans will be bused to Norwich for a celebration in Franklin Square that is to include patriotic music.

"I'm really excited," said Melvin Stevens, 83, of Bloomfield, who fought with the U.S. Army at the Battle of the Bulge and received two Purple Hearts."I came within a heartbeat of being wiped out three or four times," said Stevens, who noted that he has never been to Washington and feels blessed to have survived the war.Traveling with the veterans will be 50 volunteer guardians, who are paying $300 for the day and are responsible for helping with comfort and safety issues.Stevens said he would be accompanied by his son, Paul, who recently retired from the Air National Guard.

Edmond Grandahl, 88, who served with the Army Air Corps, said he has been to Washington on business but never to sightsee. Grandahl worked in the manufacturing industry for years but is now retired, and is keeping busy by pursuing a master's degree in history at Central Connecticut State University."It's a real treat to get to go down there so we can appreciate all of the sacrifices, especially of those we've lost," said Grandahl of West Hartford.According to Coutu, there are about 72,000 World War II veterans in the state, but more than 7,000 die each year. Coutu said he decided to create American Warrior in part because his grandfather's brother, Edward Coutu, was moved into a convalescent home."I said, `This is not the way it should be,'" said Coutu, adding that he has a close relationship with Edward Coutu, 89, who will be on today's trip.

For Inzinga, the trip is especially meaningful because mariners of the Merchant Marine were not officially recognized as veterans until the late 1980s."For all those years, we weren't getting any benefits at all," he said.Inzinga said his first Atlantic crossing was memorable because, after dropping off 12,000 U.S. troops in Scotland, the ship picked up 7,000 Canadians and sailed in a convoy toward Sicily. While in the Mediterranean Sea, the convoy was attacked by German planes. Inzinga said that while his ship was unscathed, another in the convoy was damaged and had to be beached.Part of the intrigue about Saturday, Inzinga said, is the possibility of meeting another crew member from the E.B. Alexander, or perhaps someone who traveled on the ship."I'm looking forward to seeing someone that maybe I saw before," Inzinga said, adding: "The day will be over before you know it, but I'll remember it for a long time."Another trip to Washington for veterans is being planned for the spring.

For more information, visit http://www.americanwarrior.us/.

Honoring Women Who Served--Lena Mae O'Neal--WAVE

Lena Mae O'Neal in a close-up from a group photo. (Courtesy of Nancy Hart, O'Neal's niece)

A photograph of Peggy O'Neal stands in front of her US Navy WAVE uniform. The immaculate and complete uniform, with cap and leather purse, was donated to me by a colleague Nancy Hart. Peggy was Nancy's aunt.

Peggy's WAVE uniform, looking as new as the day she got it, stands in a place of honor in my small museum. Note her name "L.M. ONEAL" stenciled on the WAVE-issued purse.

The WAVES were the women's arm of the United States Navy during World War Two. Many women served in jobs that would otherwise have been done by men, thus freeing the men to fight in the war effort.

A colleague of mine at work, Nancy Hart, had an aunt named Lena Mae O'Neal. Ms. O'Neal went by Peggy. Peggy served in the WAVES in World War Two as a cook. She was stationed in San Diego, California and in New York. A few years ago, her niece Nancy gave me Peggy's entire WAVE uniform, complete with purse and cap. This set is a priceless artifact and one of the crown jewels of my collection.

Peggy O'Neal was born in 1917 in Springfield, Missouri. In 1939, she went to California. Her brothers and sisters were all involved once the United States entered the war. Her oldest brother, James O'Neal, taught pilots to fly in Oklahoma. Her older sister Betty was a secretary on several different bases. Her brother Frank O'Neal, was injured in the Phillipines. While being transported on a hospital ship, the ship was bombed by the Japanese and Frank was killed. Her brother William O'Neal was in the Marines, and brother Emmitt was in the Coast Guard. Another sister, Dorothy, worked as a 'Rosie the Riveter' for McDonnell Douglas, building aircraft. Of the eight children in the O'Neal family, seven were involved in the war effort in some way.

Peggy passed away a few years ago. Today we honor her service and that of her siblings.

A wartime recruiting poster shows a young WAVE prepared to serve her country.

The United States Navy's history website has the following information on the WAVES:

"After a twenty-three-year absence, women returned to general Navy service in early August 1942, when Mildred McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female commissioned officer in U.S. Navy history, and the first Director of the WAVES, or "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service". In the decades since the last of the Yeomen (F) left active duty, only a relatively small corps of Navy Nurses represented their gender in the Naval service, and they had never had formal officer status. Now, the Navy was preparing to accept not just a large number of enlisted women, as it had done during World War I, but female Commissioned Officers to supervise them. It was a development of lasting significance, notwithstanding the WAVES' name, which indicated that they would only be around during the wartime "Emergency".

Recruiting had to be undertaken (or at least managed, as the number of interested women was vast), training establishments set up, an administrative structure put in place and uniforms designed. The latter effort produced a classic design that still has many elements in use nearly six decades later. Difficulties were overcome with energy and indispensable good humor, and within a year 27,000 women wore the WAVES uniform.

These women served in a far wider range of occupations than had the Yeomen (F). While traditionally female secretarial and clerical jobs took an expected large portion, thousands of WAVES performed previously atypical duties in the aviation community, Judge Advocate General Corps, medical professions, communications, intelligence, science and technology. The wartime Navy's demand for them was intense as it struggled to defeat Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.

At the end of the conflict, there were well over 8,000 female officers and some ten times that many enlisted WAVES, about 2 ½ percent of the Navy's total strength. In some places WAVES constituted a majority of the uniformed Naval personnel. And many remained in uniform to help get the Navy into, and through, the post-war era.

Hollywood Patriots

Two terms that don't necessarily go together in modern times. But in World War Two, many of the greats put down their costumes and stage makeup and went into the military. Les Poitras sent this information to me today, and it is well worth posting. Thanks, Les.

I did attempt to verify the content, as many emails contain false information. After all, the story about Bob 'Captain Kangaroo' Keeshan saving Lee Marvin's life on Iwo is urban legend, as is the story of mild-mannered children's show host Fred (Mr. Rogers) Rogers being a Marine sniper. From what I can tell, the list below is accurate.

Alec Guinness (Star Wars~Bridge over the River Kwai)-- operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.

James Doohan ("Scotty" on Star Trek)-- landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. pilot who was shot down and became a POW.

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy.

James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force as a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel. During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot, his service record crediting him with leading more than 20 missions over Germany, and taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty.

Clark Gable (Hollywood's top star when war broke out) Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the U.S. entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended the Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 he was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook where he flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s.

Ernest Borgnine was a U. S. Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945.

Charles Bronson was a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, more specifically on B-29s in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan.

George C. Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.

Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.

Brian Keith served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in several actions against the Japanese on Rabaul in the Pacific.

Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was wounded earning the Purple Heart.

Robert Ryan was a U.S. Marine who served with the OSS in Yugoslavia.

Tyrone Power (an established movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the U.S. Marines, was a pilot flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Audie Murphy, bit cowboy parts, became the most decorated serviceman of WWII and earned too many medals to list, but some are: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with "V", 2 Purple Hearts, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns), French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre, Belgian Croix de Guerre.

Memories for Sale: Airmen's Belongings Thrown Out

A sad scenario is being played out time and again in the United States these days. As our aging World War Two veterans pass away, the things that they treasured and stored for sixty years are being gone through by children and grandchildren who have no idea what they are dealing with. Unknowing or perhaps uncaring, they are throwing away or selling for practically nothing the treasures of their fathers and grandfathers. What's even sadder is that there are many people out there who make a lot of money going to estate sales and buying this stuff for pennies on the dollar and then selling it for hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the huge military collectors' market on the internet. Just look at eBay sometime and you'll find memories for sale by astute estate-sale shoppers who probably never bothered to point out to a grieving child or grandchild that the items they were selling are priceless.

A case in point. About ten or twelve years ago, I was shopping in the Salvation Army thrift store here in Idaho Falls, when there before me was an absolutely unblemished Eighth Air Force airman's uniform, complete with jacket, wool shirt, and trousers. Its original owner was a sergeant in the Eighth, stationed in England, and had the overseas bars to prove it. His name was Newcomb. This pristine uniform was stored for fifty years and then presumably thrown in with the other clothes after the passing of this veteran. I've never been able to trace him or his family. This entire 8th Army Air Corps uniform--coat, patches, shirt with patches, and trousers, cost five dollars.

These items belong in museums, not in the hands of collectors. I use my items frequently for teaching and display. When I can no longer use them to teach about the air war, they will go to a museum, but they will never be sold to collectors. These items are priceless.

If you have a veteran relative, make sure that arrangements are made to keep their treasures in the family or get them to someone who will use them for education and public display.