Subject: This memorial day rememeber the men you flew with.
From: (WalterM140)
Date: 5/30/04 12:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:
We were formed up as a crew in 1943 in Shreveport LA. We all went overseas
togethter. We were the crew of "Willie The Wolf", K9J, a B-26 of the 344th
Bomb
Group, 494th Bomb Squadron. We flew all or missions together. We were
friends
and brothers in arms.Of our 6 man crew 4 are no longer with us. On this
Memorial Day I would like to refresh the memory of our absent friends:
1st Lt. Bob Monson Co-Pilot. (Boston).
S/Sgt Emilio Griego engineer tail gunner (New Mexico)
S/Sgt Bo Taylor radio waist gunner (Texas)
S/Sgt Bill Henderson Armament top turret gunner.(PA)
And as much a part of our crew as any man on it, the B-26 Willie the Wolf.
They will always rest well in our memories.
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer
Art, I was watching some show or other on the History Channel recently and
they showed a KIA, all wrapped in blankets, being removed from a B-26.
Thank you.
One thing that I think a lot of baby boomers like myself don't realize is
that
all those millions of GI's went to war in WWII without much expectations of
anything great - even if they lived. The unemployment rate was 10% even at
the
time of Pearl Harbor. There was a bit of doggerel that went:
"Golden Gate in '48
Bread line in '49".
But ya'll still went out and laid it all on the line and the world was
changed
for the better, forever.
Walt
Walt,
If you see that film clip again notice the tail markings which appear for a
second. It is a white triangle identifying this B-26 as being of the 344th Bomb
Group. My group. The dead gunner being removed was one of us. But not of my
squadron. He was with the 497th. I was with the 494th. If you are interested
in what happened next, go to my website and read, "Thoughts at the Funeral for
a Stranger". It is the rest of the story. And thank you for your kind words.
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer