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39th Bomb Group (VH)

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Crew #46 Ditch Plane; Ride 30-40 Ft Waves Out
with One Wounded, One Injured; Rescued by Sub
5

The following was retyped from an article that appeared in the
The BlockBuster - Sunday June 10, 1945
Thanks to Joseph W. Fair, TG, Crew 25 for supplying a copy of the issue.
(Due to copy of the article it was impossible to provide an image of the actual article)

Local - During the May 29 mission to Yokohama Crew #46 of the Second Squadron was forced to ditch after their plane was severely damaged by flak. The seven members of the crew who were subsequently rescued are 1st Lt Edgar B. Gear, the plane commander, 2nd Lt Howard L. Howes, 2nd Lt Arland F. Christ-Janer, 2d Lt Ralph V. Hayenga, F/O Richard F. Wilcox, S/Sgt Frank E. Williams and Cpl Elias T. Schutzman.

One man, with the aid of the rest of the crew has prepared the following first hand account of the ordeal:

"May 29: 0250: Take off … Flak heavy on bomb run ... #3 hit hard … second later #4 …bomb doors hit as closing ... Engineer says fuel transfer system is shot away ...

1140: Can't make Iwo on present gas so tell crew we are probably going to ditch. Crew dumps everything overboard excluding chutes ….. we tell crew impact is a matter of seconds; they all reply O.K., we are ready! I wish them luck and tell them its going to be rough …. We open all escape hatches and make beautiful landing with full flaps …. Water over my head as I go out my window. Plane is still traveling through water as # 3 is feathered slam into it and cracked face on the prop hub I just grab hold of blade …. Ship broke in three pieces on impact and nose is now going under. Sparks doesn't have a Mae West so I give him mine and got him to get away from ship as it does down …. I start out for the raft but am so tired Pop pulls me aboard …. We tie two rafts together …. We got Navigator aboard just in time. Ten seconds more and he would have been gone …. We take stock and see we have only seven men. Hi says he has broken shoulder….. Ship is clear down now …. Sea is starting to get rough and we sue feel alone. Hi and Sparks are in pain from their wounds … B-17 drops Higgins boat and it comes down by parachute and lands 60 yards upwind from us … We work four fours to get to boat, finally collapse as make it. Climb aboard; find a note saying sub is 110 miles away and coming. Find some dry clothes and dress and the feel really good. Just then - wham!!! - we are all in the water again … we manage to get everyone aboard. Waves running about 20 feet, white caps breaking over us. We bed Hi and Sparks down on wet blankets in 6 in. of water and get set to ride it out.

Dead dark, raining harder boat turns over again … We figure our time is up for sure now. The sea we figure now is 30 feet … We are thrown overboard so often we get use to it … We don't even expect to get through another hour … The sea is beating us to death and we expect the boat to break up … Everybody is praying.

2230: I figured it is close to daylight and look at my watch and know we can't make it … All night long someone is overboard. Everyone saves everyone else's life so many times it's beyond count. Just at daylight Howard is thrown 20 feet from the boat and as he goes close to the boat on the next wave I get him by the hair. He says he will never have his hair cut short again. Chris grabs Hi's left arm (broken) and hauls him aboard; Hi never flinches, though.

Its daylight and the sea is still about 30 feet with a strong wind and raining hard.

May 30: 1300: We try our Kite … We crank out SOS until 1430. Chris sees an airplane way off and in ten seconds we have everything going; radio sea markers, dye, flares and red smoke, even mirrors … Ship sees us … We look way out on the horizon and see a sub coming full speed on four engines. What a sight! Finally after an hour we are aboard, at 1730.

Stripped us down, gave is a bottle of brandy and hot shower, a big beautiful bowl of soup, and a warm dry bunk. May be know of something better that, but all I can say is, Brother Show me!

That's the end of The Slic Chic (the old girl) and Crew #46."


Webmaster's note: Currently there are no contacts any surviving members of Crew 46 - As the title states "One Wounded, One Injured ..." In 2nd Lt Howard Howes' letter to the Toeppe Family regarding the loss of S/Sgt Lawrence J. Toeppe, LG, Howes states that "Sgt Schutzman our radio operator received a piece of flak through his foot" ... In the above account we know that "Hi" had a broken shoulder .. and that "Hi" and "Sparks" were bed down on wet blankets in the liferaft to ride out the storm .. leaving the impression that Sparks was also incapacitated, so the mention of "Sparks" in this artice must be in reference to Sgt Schutzman. As far as "Hi" Charles A. Smith, Radar, P-44, confirmed that it 1st Lt Ralph V. Hayenga. As far as the nickname Chris - this was probably 2nd Lt Arland Christ-Janer.
If anyone has additional information about this crew or leads on contact with members of a member of this crew, please email: Updates@39th.org

62nd Squadron Crew Index
Sources: The Blockbuster newspaper - June 10, 1945 supplied by Joe Fair, TG, P-25