|
According
to Don Hetherington, co-pilot on Crew 16, the crew went
down on their first bombing mission. Hetherington had
the following to say. "On May 4 over Oita, we had some
damage to the right wing, close to the fuselage; it was
probably from a phosphorous shell. Fire started coming
through the radio operator's compartment. Engineer Harry
Clark, Bombardier James Engleholdt, and Navigator Al Fields
were attempting to lower the nose wheel with a hand crank
and said it had jammed. I hit the alarm bell, called on
the intercom to bail out and called to our buddy plane
that we were going out. I later assumed that our engineer
had turned off the battery and generator switches, as
I did not transmit. I said that I would go back and to
see if I could get the bomb bay doors open. Radio Operator
Clyde Anderson was working on the emergency handles and
jumping on the doors. After four or five jumps, the doors
opened and he fell out with his one-man life raft on fire.
I called out to the crew up front that the doors were
open. Al dove through the emergency hatch with his entire
flying suit on fire. He would spend about 3 years having
plastic surgery to rebuild his nose, ears and damage to
his arms and legs.
As
I stepped into the bomb bay, there was an explosion up
front and I was blown out. It apparently popped my chute;
I saw the D-ring falling beside me. Hugh O'Brien said
when he got to the rear door someone had frozen. Hugh
thought if he jumped the rest would follow.
The
following would be Missing In Action: Smith Edwards, James
Engelholdt, Odie Kelly, Harry Clark, Gerald Arundale,
Ernest Nyholm and a tail gunner who's name I never knew.
He replaced our regular tail gunner James Ogilvie, who
had accidentally shot himself in the foot just before
going to the gunner's briefing.
Our
buddy airplane saw debris on the ocean and when we did
not respond to radio calls, they called Guam and also
Iwo and PBY was out to look for us. They spotted me and
dropped smoke flares and marker dye. The found Al and
dropped him a five-man life raft. He was too weak to get
in but could get his arm over the edge. Just before dark,
a minesweeper and a destroyer escort arrived. The minesweeper
found me then Clyde Anderson in his Mae West. The destroyer
escort found Al Fields and Hugh O'Brien. Clyde and I were
transferred to the destroyer by Bosun Chair and taken
to Iwo. We were evacuated to Guam in about 10 days. The
hospital in Guam kept me to assist in caring for Al and
keep his spirits up until he was sent back to the States.
This was about six weeks.
We
were going to name our plane after the "City of Cooperstown".
Our crew was assigned to the 19th BG by mistake. We were
loaded with bombs and ready for Tokyo when orders came
down to transfer us back to the 39th. They would not let
us fly the mission, as the 39th would get credit for it.
Our plane did not come back from Japan so we were the
lucky once. The second time we weren't. We were just not
meant to fly. My form 5-Flight Record says: one take off,
no landings.
I
returned to the 60th and was assigned to the 314th Wing
as an Air Sea Rescue Officer where I remained until I
returned to the States in December 1946. I got promoted
in August a day after General Power asked about my rank.
|
