WWII Diaries Personal Accounts

B-26 Marauder Historical Society
WWW Archive
WWII Diaries and
Personal Accounts

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Personal Account of: Dates Covered Location Unit

Jo-Ann Morrissey
A Child's Wartime Experiences Dec. 7, 1941
Aug 14, 1945 U.S. Home Front

Lloyd Burns, Instructor, shot down Decemberr 23, 1944, becoming a POW
Feb 16, 1943
Jan 8, 1946

U.S. - ETO

397th BG, 598th BS

Morris B. Klein tells of A Mission to Ijmuiden.
March 26, 1944

ETO

387th BG, 556th BS

Larry C. Rodgers tells of 500 MPH dive afterr being hit by flak
June 22, 1944

ETO

386th BG, 554th BS

Edward R. Feicht Tells of testing the top turret interrupter.
June 15, 1942

Atlantic Ocean

GLM

Stanley Morgenstern explains how he made a safe wheel landing without a nose wheel.
1944

MTO

320th BG, 444th BS

Calvin C. Floren's WWII Experiences as written at the request of his children February 1943 -September 1946
US - ETO

397th BG, 598th BS

Joseph DeSantis - First Impressions
1944

Beauvais/Tille

322nd BG, 451st BS

George J. Dzombak - The day that FLAK shot us down
August 13, 1944

Coreil MY

397th BG, 598th BS

Joseph Donato - How the 17th Went to War
December 1942

North Africa

17th BG, 37th BS

Lester F. Stanford - Home (Zone of the Interior) Leave
March 1944

ZI - ETO

451st BS, 322nd BG

Arthur J. Artig - Shooting down ME 109
March 2, 1945

ETO

394th BG, 586th BS

James P. McCarty, enlisted pilot 1942 - 1945
US - ETO

344th BG, 391st BG,

Edwin H. Keel, enlisted Bombardier January 1942 - 1945
ETO

357th BG, 558th BS

Harmon E. Eveland. battles a life raft
Early 1945

ETO

320th BG, 444th BS

Judy and Jack L. Boling met at the Gunter Hotel., San Antonio
April 8, 1941

San Antonio, Texas

323rd BG, 453rd BS

Charles Walter, became POW on Valentine Day
February 14, 1945

ETO

323rd BG, 455th BS

Edwin E. Clark, BOMBARDIER - A WARRIOR IN A GREENHOUSE
1944 - 1945

ETO

391st BG, 572nd BS

Lloyd D. Burns, pilot and crew bailed out on December 23, 1944 mission, becoming a POW.
1944 - 1946

France

397th BG, 598th BS

Robert L. Smith, ETO B-26 copilot transferred to P-47 Fighter Group April 1944 - June 1945
ETO

323rd BG, 397th BG, 367th FG

Michael R. Petrich, Buchenwald survivor
1943 - 1944

ETO

391st BG, 575th BS

Henry R. Poplawski - Glenn L. Martin Co. test pilot tells his story of service to the company

. - Autobiography

October 1942 -November 1944

WWII

Middle River, MD

World wide

GLM

GLM, PAA

Andrew Charles Hauck - S-2 Officer in a B-26 Squadron placed on "Detached" Duty in the U.S. Navy
1941 - 1945

US - PAC

397th BG -
US Navy

George C. Graham, an Ordnance Officer tells about method of unloadinng bombs from a truck
circa 1944

England

53 Serv Sqdn

Charles W. Olmsted Inducted as a Medic - Became a MED Bombardier
July 21, 1941 -
Nov. 29, 1943

US - MED

32 Arm. Div
320 BG

Walter J. Phemester tells of bailing out when B-26 encounters heavy flak.
June 13, 1944

Caen, France

394th BG, 586th BS

Lucien Falandry IFFAF Bombardier tells of mission with flack hitting the plexiglass nose.
March 23, 1945

Germany

GBM 2/52

Joseph R. Barnett - MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II
October 1940 - August 1945

US - ETO

397th BG, 598th BS.

Robert L. Harwell - Emergency single engine landing in France, September 14, 1944.
September 14, 1944

Morlaix, France

344th NG, 497th BS

Missouri Mule II History of this B-26 by George W. Parker
February 1944 - April 1945

US - ETO

397th BG, 596th BS.

Charles H. Tillson.
Jan 1941 - Oct. 1945

US

Training Command

MIDNIGHT REQUISITIONS
by Maurice Commanday
1943-1945

Burtonwood, England

BAD 2

THE MAN WHO RODE THE ENGINE
by Col. Joe Johnson 558th

Dec. 9, 1944

A-71

387th BG, 558th BS

The Ninth Air Force - From the Beginninng
by Eugene V. Wilson
1942 - 1945

MacDill
ETO

21st BG
25 MR & R

A WWII Air War Millennium Memory
by Dick Reese
June 1 - 6, 1944

ETO

395th BS, 344th BG

VJ-15 Tow Target Tugs by Charles W. Griffing
1944

Atlantic & Pacific

VJ-15

A GROUND OFFICER'S VIEW of
THE MARAUDER WAR IN EUROPE
Alonzo Richardson
December 1941
thru
December 1945 US & ETO 451st BS, 322nd BG

Air Raid at Great Dunmow
by Leroy D. (Denny) McFarland
1944

Great Dunmow

553rd BS, 386th BG

ONE OF SIXTY THREE
by T. A. Willoughby
1944

England

387th BG, 556th BS

Colonel BOUVARD’S MlSSION: The story of POWs capturing 400 Germans August 18 -
24, 1944 MTO 2nd BS,
FAF

Short account by his son of Charles H. Buckel's WWII experiences which include a Battle of the Bulge Mission 1943 - 1945 ETO 397th BG
599th BS

Carl S. Chilton, Jr THE 410th AND THE B-26s - B-26 leading
A-20 Night Missions November 1944 ETO 410th BG

Allen Cloutman - Flying B-26 via
- southern route to Africa Nov. 16, 1942 MED 37th BS, 17th BG

Ray V. Davila
- Military Service
- Interview by Charles Colligswood
1941 - 1945
Dec 6, 1942
US & MED
MED 95th BS, 17th BG
95th BS, 17th BG

Going to War on the Queen Mary
by Herschel D. Davis Sept 26, 1942 North Atlantic 95th BS
17th BG

Jerome F. Downs: installed guns on
B-26s arriving Dakar, French Senegal 1943 Dakar

Jack Gordon
- Several Accounts by
circa 1942 - 1944 MED
17th BG

Jack Gordon - Capt. White
- American Indian Marauder Man Circa 1942 - 44 MTO 17BG

James D. Hampton, Jr
- Training to Tow Target Circa 1942 - 63 US - PAC several

C. Leslie Hard, putting those 'buzz'
numbers on Stateside B-26s November 1942
April 1944 Training Command 336th BG

Brief Bio & Photo of Charles L. Hard, an Armorer in the 3rd AF 1943 - 1944 Training Command 336th BG

Robert E. Herndon, Jr.
- Formation of 335th & 336 BGs
June 1942
US 15 Recon Sqd.
335th & 336th BGs
319th & 320th BGs

Robert Hippenstiel's account of flying B-26s to Landsberg after VE Day 1945 ETO 322 BG
449th BS

Lloyd J. Hoffmann Single engine
- w/ bombays open on first mission February 14, 1944 ETO 322nd, 450th

Von LeVan
Celebrating the Bridge at Liege
Circa 1944

ETO
323rd, 454th

Al Hixon
- Air Force Career
- Enlisting at MacDill
- College equivalency
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Primary

1940-1945
1940
1941
1941
1941
US - ETO
MacDill
US
Montgomery
Camden, SC
21st & 397th BGs
21st BG
21st BG
Preflight
Primary

Frank A. Kappeler, Doolittle Raider served a tour as an ETO Navigator 1942 - 1945 CBI - ETO 17th BG
323rd BG

Cy Klimesh
- Background to enlistment Jan. 13, 1935 - 1939 US 22nd BG

Walter Krell
- A Young Man's Airplane
- The Japanese Zero
- Pat Norton's Waist Guns
- Two Kansas Comets
- Sept 13, 1942 crack-up
- more about Sept 13, 1942 crack-up
- Letter to Walt Gaylor
April 1941 - Nov. 1943
Circa, April 1942
Circa, May 1942
April 1942 - Nov. 1943
Sept. 13, 1942
Sept. 13, 1942
Feb 22, 1985

US & PAC
PAC
PAC
PAC
PAC
PAC
PAC
19th BS, 22nd BG
19th BS, 22nd BG
22nd BG

Louis W. Kundrath; enlisted RCAF in 1940, IP at MacDill; Sqd CO in MED; wrote training orders for the Free French; CO of a P-38 Fighter Group. 1938 - 1944 Canada
MacDill.
MED
ETO 313th BS
616th BS, 477th BG
95th BS, 17th BG

Bob Landon's Account as a Flight Engineer early in WWII Dec 7, 1941 -
Jan. 25, 1942 USA 22 BG, 2 BS

Darrel G. LeFever
- Where have all the B-26s gone? Circa 1942 - 44 MTO 17BG

Darrel G. LeFever
"The Saga of the B-26
1940 - 1945
US & ETO 320th BG

Briefest of checkouts, by Donald S. Lopez,, Deputy Director of the National Air & Space Museum Circa 1943 Eglin Field, FL

Dean W. Manley, tells of being a
late Replacement in the ETO Jan.1945 - Oct. 1946 ETO 397th, 1st Pathfinder

John Marcus
- Observer to Water landing November 2, 1942 US 22nd BG, 408th BS

John I. McDowell - after VE-Day
- ATG Pilot experiences My Worst Flite Circa summer 1945 ETO 27th ATC

Replacement Pilot, Richard C. Naugle flew southern route to ETO and flew missions in 2 groups. Jan. '43 - Dec. '46 ETO 391st BG
320th BG

The Army Way: Enlistee's records lost, serves for 4 years "in limbo." -
Pat M. Walker 1938 - 1950 PAC - MTO 27th BG
319th BG

Brian O'Neil
- 4th of July Mission
July 4, 1942
PAC 22nd BG

Edwin Carl Pakish
- Flak Bait's 175th Mission
February 22, 1945
ETO
449th BS, 322nd BG

Edwin C. Pakish tells of landing after a mission with two of his crew missing
February 28, 1945 ETO 322nd BG

John F. Sharp
- Defending Guadalcanal
November 15, 1942
Guadalcanal
70th BS

Howard F. Smiley
- Million Dollar Valley
Jan. 16, 1942
Aleutians
77th BS, 28th BG

Short accounts from several recetly located Marauder Men 1942 - 1945

James W. Taylor - WWII draftee
- Airman's account in the ETO. Infantry,
Radio Operator, Army of Occupation May 1943 -
March 1946 ETO 344th BG

Lucien Thomas - WWII INVADER
- sees Korean action. Circa 1951-52 Korea 13 BS

Dennis M. Wolff - B-26 with
- Two props feathered Circa 1944 MTO 319th BG

Personal Account of:	Dates Covered	Location	Unit
Jo-Ann Morrissey A Child's Wartime Experiences	Dec. 7, 1941 Aug 14, 1945	U.S.	Home Front
Lloyd Burns, Instructor, shot down Decemberr 23, 1944, becoming a POW	Feb 16, 1943 Jan 8, 1946	U.S. - ETO	397th BG, 598th BS
Morris B. Klein tells of A Mission to Ijmuiden.	March 26, 1944	ETO	387th BG, 556th BS
Larry C. Rodgers tells of 500 MPH dive afterr being hit by flak	June 22, 1944	ETO	386th BG, 554th BS
Edward R. Feicht Tells of testing the top turret interrupter.	June 15, 1942	Atlantic Ocean	GLM
Stanley Morgenstern explains how he made a safe wheel landing without a nose wheel.	1944	MTO	320th BG, 444th BS
Calvin C. Floren's WWII Experiences as written at the request of his children	February 1943 -September 1946	US - ETO	397th BG, 598th BS
Joseph DeSantis - First Impressions	1944	Beauvais/Tille	322nd BG, 451st BS
George J. Dzombak - The day that FLAK shot us down	August 13, 1944	Coreil MY	397th BG, 598th BS
Joseph Donato - How the 17th Went to War	December 1942	North Africa	17th BG, 37th BS
Lester F. Stanford - Home (Zone of the Interior) Leave	March 1944	ZI - ETO	451st BS, 322nd BG
Arthur J. Artig - Shooting down ME 109	March 2, 1945	ETO	394th BG, 586th BS
James P. McCarty, enlisted pilot	1942 - 1945	US - ETO	344th BG, 391st BG,
Edwin H. Keel, enlisted Bombardier	January 1942 - 1945	ETO	357th BG, 558th BS
Harmon E. Eveland. battles a life raft	Early 1945	ETO	320th BG, 444th BS
Judy and Jack L. Boling met at the Gunter Hotel., San Antonio	April 8, 1941	San Antonio, Texas	323rd BG, 453rd BS
Charles Walter, became POW on Valentine Day	February 14, 1945	ETO	323rd BG, 455th BS
Edwin E. Clark, BOMBARDIER - A WARRIOR IN A GREENHOUSE	1944 - 1945	ETO	391st BG, 572nd BS
Lloyd D. Burns, pilot and crew bailed out on December 23, 1944 mission, becoming a POW.	1944 - 1946	France	397th BG, 598th BS
Robert L. Smith, ETO B-26 copilot transferred to P-47 Fighter Group	April 1944 - June 1945	ETO	323rd BG, 397th BG, 367th FG
Michael R. Petrich, Buchenwald survivor	1943 - 1944	ETO	391st BG, 575th BS
Henry R. Poplawski - Glenn L. Martin Co. test pilot tells his story of service to the company . - Autobiography	October 1942 -November 1944 WWII	Middle River, MD World wide	GLM GLM, PAA
Andrew Charles Hauck - S-2 Officer in a B-26 Squadron placed on "Detached" Duty in the U.S. Navy	1941 - 1945	US - PAC	397th BG - US Navy
George C. Graham, an Ordnance Officer tells about method of unloadinng bombs from a truck	circa 1944	England	53 Serv Sqdn
Charles W. Olmsted Inducted as a Medic - Became a MED Bombardier	July 21, 1941 - Nov. 29, 1943	US - MED	32 Arm. Div 320 BG
Walter J. Phemester tells of bailing out when B-26 encounters heavy flak.	June 13, 1944	Caen, France	394th BG, 586th BS
Lucien Falandry IFFAF Bombardier tells of mission with flack hitting the plexiglass nose.	March 23, 1945	Germany	GBM 2/52
Joseph R. Barnett - MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II	October 1940 - August 1945	US - ETO	397th BG, 598th BS.
Robert L. Harwell - Emergency single engine landing in France, September 14, 1944.	September 14, 1944	Morlaix, France	344th NG, 497th BS
Missouri Mule II History of this B-26 by George W. Parker	February 1944 - April 1945	US - ETO	397th BG, 596th BS.
Charles H. Tillson.	Jan 1941 - Oct. 1945	US	Training Command
MIDNIGHT REQUISITIONS by Maurice Commanday	1943-1945	Burtonwood, England	BAD 2
THE MAN WHO RODE THE ENGINE by Col. Joe Johnson 558th	Dec. 9, 1944	A-71	387th BG, 558th BS
The Ninth Air Force - From the Beginninng by Eugene V. Wilson	1942 - 1945	MacDill ETO	21st BG 25 MR & R
A WWII Air War Millennium Memory by Dick Reese	June 1 - 6, 1944	ETO	395th BS, 344th BG
VJ-15 Tow Target Tugs by Charles W. Griffing	1944	Atlantic & Pacific	VJ-15
A GROUND OFFICER'S VIEW of THE MARAUDER WAR IN EUROPE Alonzo Richardson	December 1941 thru December 1945	US & ETO	451st BS, 322nd BG
Air Raid at Great Dunmow by Leroy D. (Denny) McFarland	1944	Great Dunmow	553rd BS, 386th BG
ONE OF SIXTY THREE by T. A. Willoughby	1944	England	387th BG, 556th BS
Colonel BOUVARD’S MlSSION: The story of POWs capturing 400 Germans	August 18 - 24, 1944	MTO	2nd BS, FAF
Short account by his son of Charles H. Buckel's WWII experiences which include a Battle of the Bulge Mission	1943 - 1945	ETO	397th BG 599th BS
Carl S. Chilton, Jr THE 410th AND THE B-26s - B-26 leading A-20 Night Missions	November 1944	ETO	410th BG
Allen Cloutman - Flying B-26 via - southern route to Africa	Nov. 16, 1942	MED	37th BS, 17th BG
Ray V. Davila - Military Service - Interview by Charles Colligswood	1941 - 1945 Dec 6, 1942	US & MED MED	95th BS, 17th BG 95th BS, 17th BG
Going to War on the Queen Mary by Herschel D. Davis	Sept 26, 1942	North Atlantic	95th BS 17th BG
Jerome F. Downs: installed guns on B-26s arriving Dakar, French Senegal	1943	Dakar
Jack Gordon - Several Accounts by	circa 1942 - 1944	MED	17th BG
Jack Gordon - Capt. White - American Indian Marauder Man	Circa 1942 - 44	MTO	17BG
James D. Hampton, Jr - Training to Tow Target	Circa 1942 - 63	US - PAC	several
C. Leslie Hard, putting those 'buzz' numbers on Stateside B-26s	November 1942 April 1944	Training Command	336th BG
Brief Bio & Photo of Charles L. Hard, an Armorer in the 3rd AF	1943 - 1944	Training Command	336th BG
Robert E. Herndon, Jr. - Formation of 335th & 336 BGs	June 1942	US	15 Recon Sqd. 335th & 336th BGs 319th & 320th BGs
Robert Hippenstiel's account of flying B-26s to Landsberg after VE Day	1945	ETO	322 BG 449th BS
Lloyd J. Hoffmann Single engine - w/ bombays open on first mission	February 14, 1944	ETO	322nd, 450th
Von LeVan Celebrating the Bridge at Liege	Circa 1944	ETO	323rd, 454th
Al Hixon - Air Force Career - Enlisting at MacDill - College equivalency - Montgomery, Alabama - Primary	1940-1945 1940 1941 1941 1941	US - ETO MacDill US Montgomery Camden, SC	21st & 397th BGs 21st BG 21st BG Preflight Primary
Frank A. Kappeler, Doolittle Raider served a tour as an ETO Navigator	1942 - 1945	CBI - ETO	17th BG 323rd BG
Cy Klimesh - Background to enlistment	Jan. 13, 1935 - 1939	US	22nd BG
Walter Krell - A Young Man's Airplane - The Japanese Zero - Pat Norton's Waist Guns - Two Kansas Comets - Sept 13, 1942 crack-up - more about Sept 13, 1942 crack-up - Letter to Walt Gaylor	April 1941 - Nov. 1943 Circa, April 1942 Circa, May 1942 April 1942 - Nov. 1943 Sept. 13, 1942 Sept. 13, 1942 Feb 22, 1985	US & PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC PAC	19th BS, 22nd BG 19th BS, 22nd BG 22nd BG
Louis W. Kundrath; enlisted RCAF in 1940, IP at MacDill; Sqd CO in MED; wrote training orders for the Free French; CO of a P-38 Fighter Group.	1938 - 1944	Canada MacDill. MED ETO	313th BS 616th BS, 477th BG 95th BS, 17th BG
Bob Landon's Account as a Flight Engineer early in WWII	Dec 7, 1941 - Jan. 25, 1942	USA	22 BG, 2 BS
Darrel G. LeFever - Where have all the B-26s gone?	Circa 1942 - 44	MTO	17BG
Darrel G. LeFever "The Saga of the B-26	1940 - 1945	US & ETO	320th BG
Briefest of checkouts, by Donald S. Lopez,, Deputy Director of the National Air & Space Museum	Circa 1943	Eglin Field, FL
Dean W. Manley, tells of being a late Replacement in the ETO	Jan.1945 - Oct. 1946	ETO	397th, 1st Pathfinder
John Marcus - Observer to Water landing	November 2, 1942	US	22nd BG, 408th BS
John I. McDowell - after VE-Day - ATG Pilot experiences My Worst Flite	Circa summer 1945	ETO	27th ATC
Replacement Pilot, Richard C. Naugle flew southern route to ETO and flew missions in 2 groups.	Jan. '43 - Dec. '46	ETO	391st BG 320th BG
The Army Way: Enlistee's records lost, serves for 4 years "in limbo." - Pat M. Walker	1938 - 1950	PAC - MTO	27th BG 319th BG
Brian O'Neil - 4th of July Mission	July 4, 1942	PAC	22nd BG
Edwin Carl Pakish - Flak Bait's 175th Mission	February 22, 1945	ETO	449th BS, 322nd BG
Edwin C. Pakish tells of landing after a mission with two of his crew missing	February 28, 1945	ETO	322nd BG
John F. Sharp - Defending Guadalcanal	November 15, 1942	Guadalcanal	70th BS
Howard F. Smiley - Million Dollar Valley	Jan. 16, 1942	Aleutians	77th BS, 28th BG
Short accounts from several recetly located Marauder Men	1942 - 1945
James W. Taylor - WWII draftee - Airman's account in the ETO. Infantry, Radio Operator, Army of Occupation	May 1943 - March 1946	ETO	344th BG
Lucien Thomas - WWII INVADER - sees Korean action.	Circa 1951-52	Korea	13 BS
Dennis M. Wolff - B-26 with - Two props feathered	Circa 1944	MTO	319th BG