End of February, 1945.

 It's been almost two weeks since Jack wrote to Maggie. Finally he sends her a V-Mail.

Feb 23 1945

Dear Margaret,

Well that picture finally got here and am really happy. I think it's good of you – thanks again.

I really should have written you a airmail letter but I am so tired I was afraid I couldn't think of enough to even start. I also haven't been doing any thing to write about so will settle with this Vmail. We have been having pretty nice weather of late. Infact it's just like spring. I really enjoy this weather. It has warmed up and the sun has finally come out. I took some pictures yesterday of the officers also took some last Sunday. I don't remember if I was on any of them or not but if so I'll send you some. Well will close with that so write soon

Love Bill

Feb 24 1945

Dear Ma

I recived a couple of letters from you to night so will try to answer them. They were postmarked Feb 2-6 so it seems they came in pretty good time. I also got one from Bo and she had the usual chatter. She told me all about the wedding and etc.

I am glad to hear Dad Kruse is home now. He probably will get a long a lot better there. Tell him when I get him I take hold of his suspenders and hold him up, infact I'll even help him up a ladder to fix the roof. He better start looking for all the places that need fixing as we can do it. 

Say if you ever get the chance to see "Combat America" – Clark Gable go to it. Its a picture all about this Groop. It was taken when they first came over seas. Of course things have changed a lot but it still is pretty good. It is a training film so you may not be able to see it, I think they are showing it to the public but wouldn't say for sure. It is all taken here on this base. 

Well one more Mission and little Jim will be finished, I guess she signed up for a 2nd tour though. I have a few more to go but not too many, I hope to be finished by the middle of next month. That's if evey thing goes o.K.

So they are moving Camp Luna again, well I hope they do. Then when I get home I won't have to worry about M.P.'s [big splotch] sort of droped some ink there.

Maybe some of the people around Vegas will come down to civilization again.

I sure feel low tonight, I have a nice head cold and my sinus is acting up. I have a heard time clearing my ears. I have just played a round all day to day. I haven't felt like doing a thing and have done less. I sure hope I feel better tomorrow. I'll close now.

Jack

It took me a while to finally find "Camp Luna." It was hard to read, but I finally deciphered it! Here is an article about some of the men trained at Camp Luna. 

For your viewing pleasure, here is the 1945 propaganda film featuring Clark Gable, "Combat America." Bob Hope also makes an appearance. I admit I skimmed through the first 3/4. There is good combat footage that starts at about 43:00.

And one more letter for today, which finishes out February, 1945.

Feb 27 1945

Dear Ma, I recived a couple of letters from you to-day. They were dated Feb 9 and the 11. They came through in pretty good time for a change. I also got a letter from Bo and one from Manelva. Neither one said much but that's nothing unusual.

Boy I am so tired tonight I don't know which end is up. They have really been putting me over the road of late. I come in at night and drop into the sack and lay there until called in the morning. It gets very tiresome after a while and I do mean tiresome. Oh well 3 more times and I can tell them to jam it where it will do the most good.

I am glad you like the job they did on the medal. I suppose you are the only one who will look at it any way. 

So Wayne is going on a trip – it will probably do him some good. At least he will see how some of the rest of the army lives. You know he has been stationed there at A.P.G 3years now. You also know I have never been stationed any one place over 4 or 5 months.

Say you might as well stop writing to me because they will just have to start following me around. Also write and tell all the rest who write me the same. 

Ill case now & get to bed

Jack. 

Wayne's post, A.P.G., was the Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Remember the 2- to 3-week mail travel time as being "pretty good" next time you have to wait a minute for an email to come through!

Wow, it sounds like we are getting close to the end of Jack's tour!

No wonder he doesn't know which end is up. After a couple weeks off, Jack got back into the ball turret and has flown six missions February 20 - 27. I mentioned one of them in the last post. 

And he's right: he has just three missions left! He has one more tomorrow, and then two in early March.

Here are last week's missions:

The crew had to report at 0245 for breakfast and took off at 0720 on Wednesday, February 21 for Mission 276. The mission took the crew back to Nurnberg, where they targeted naval armament. No aircraft lost, no enemy aircraft encountered, meager and inaccurate flak encountered. One aircraft was shot and returned damaged, but no casualties. Whew! 

Not one of Jack's missions, but here's an interesting anecdote. Roger A. Freeman in "Mighty Eighth War Diary" describes an incident in a B-17 Flying Fortress on February 22:

The tail compartment in a B-17 was a lonely perch, remote from other crew positions. Just how remote was never better illustrated them by what we befell 19-year-old staff Sergeant Charles Sibray on the 22 February 1945 raid on Ansbach marshalling yard. Manning the tail guns in a 486th Group Fortress, Sibray heard the pilot say No. 1 engine was being shut down. Turning his head to look through a side window,  Sibray could see smoke and flame trailing from under the left wing and this information he immediately reported over the interphone. A  moment later the pilot ordered all crew members to be prepared for the bail-out signal. Clipping on his chest pack parachute, the tail gunner disconnected his main oxygen and interphone lines and moved behind the seat to where he could release and kick out the emergency door. He then returned to his seat, reconnected oxygen and interphone and awaited further instructions. None came. He called up the pilots but receiving no reply assumed they were too busy coping with the situation to respond. Smoke was still issuing from the wing, although not so heavily and as the bomber continued smoothly on his way Sibray thought the emergency had passed and the pilots were going to try to get the B-17 to friendly territory. Obeying the rules of crew discipline, Sibray stuck to his post. Some 30 minutes later more flak appeared near the bomber's tail and Sibray called out the position of bursts so the pilots could take evasive action. His calls were not acknowledged, and the aircraft continued without change of course. The gunner was now apprehensive that alI was not right. Even if the interphone was faulty the pilots would surely have maneuvered the bomber out of range of the flak. Perhaps the crew in the nose have been injured. Taking a walk-around oxygen bottle he crawled out of the tail position and past the retracted tail wheel to find no gunner in the waist. The radio room was also empty. He negotiated the bomb bay cat walk and opened the door into the flight deck. To his fearful amazement the cockpit was deserted; the blinking light of the automatic pilot indicated what was controlling force held the Fortress in level flight. Realizing he was alone, Sibray's first reaction was to offer a silent prayer. During the few seconds when he disconnected his interphone lines to leave his position and release the escape door the pilot had apparently given the bail-out order to the crew. For over an hour the tailgunner had unknowingly been alone in the Fortress which had flown 150 miles over hostile territory on automatic pilot. Seeing that the fire in the wing still persisted Sibray decided it was time he too departed. After his parachute descent and safe landing he found he was in France from where he was returned to his base. The rest of the crew had been made prisoner in Germany, believing their bomber was a victim of flak. In fact the 486th Group formation did not encounter any enemy fire at Ansbach, and the damage done to the lost bomber was through the accidental discharge of a .50 gun in another Fortress.

Mission 278 on Friday, February 23 hit marshalling yards near Plauen, Germany.  Again, no aircraft were lost and no men were wounded. 

Mission 280, on Sunday, February 25, was a bit more hairy. The mission's target was the marshalling yards near Munich. Nineteen aircraft were hit by flak. One badly-damaged ship crash-landed in Switzerland, and the pilot, 2nd Lt Charles Abplanalp was killed. Another landed at an airbase in France with three crewmen injured. 

Abplanalp is buried in Chicago, Illinois.

Another aircraft from the mission landed in France with three crew members injured. From "The 351st Bomb Group in WWII" by Ken Harbour & Peter Harris by way of 351st.com :

Just before bombs away 42-97843, piloted by Lt. Sandel, had the radio and two engines on the right side knocked out. Lt. Sandel managed to stay in formation and Lt. Rosenblatt dropped his bombs with the rest. Then the plane started losing height at about 800 feet a minute. The decision had to be made to head to Switzerland or back to friendly territory, the latter four times as far. Lt. Sandel chose France. By this time he was down to 4,000 feet, minus the ball turret and all guns and ammunition. He was making good progress and was within seven minutes of crossing the front lines when a FW 190 saw him and closed in for the kill. With no guns to defend themselves, the crew huddled in the waist while the FW 190 poured 20mm shells into the plane. Sgt. Dahlmand, the waist gunner, was hit in the arm and leg on the FW’s first run. On its second run it turned the B-17s stabilizer and waist section into a sieve, but then the fighter appeared to run out of ammunition, because it flew away. One minute later, crossing the front lines north of Strasburg, a barrage of flak hit the ship, wounding Lt. Rosenblatt and Lt. Sandel, and puncturing the fuel tanks of numbers one and four engines. Lt. Clarac, the co-pilot, took over and found that only one engine was working properly. He spotted the Fighter Airfield at Lunneville and started to let down. With the hydraulic system out they would have no brakes, but the bombardier was so badly wounded that a crash landing was out of the question. However, the landing was successful and the plane stopped by using the hand pump.

Ho. ly. cow. 

On February 26, they flew to the big show: Berlin. The target for Mission 281 was railroad marshalling yards. Cloud cover was 10/10 at the target, so they were forced to bomb the secondary target, Neureppin (Germany) airdrome. No aircraft were lost. One landed safely on the continent instead of returning to base, reason unknown.

And there was yet no rest. The next morning, Tuesday February 27 they climbed back into their ships and made a run to the Marshalling Yard at Leipzig, Germany for Mission 282. No aircraft were lost, no casualties. Thank goodness.

It was a long week! And yet, he has another mission tomorrow, February 28, making seven missions in nine days. This is 21% of Jack's missions in just nine days! The only other time he had missions on more than two days in a row was early on, November 4, 5, 6 1944. He has almost always had multiple days between missions.

HIs mention of photos makes me realize I promised photos a while back. They'll be next.