Bob's Story

Bob's Story


Paul, Bob and I were in a repple depple in the English midlands (Hanley, Stoke
on Trent) waiting to join the 344th as a replacement crew. We all roomed
together as pilots, copilots and bombardiers did.. One evening I entered the
room to find Bob sobbing and shaking, wracked with tears uncontrollably. Paul
had his arms around Bob trying to comfort him but his sobbing continued
unabated. As I stood there about to ask what had happened, Paul shook his head
as if to say, "don't ask now, wait until later". I stayed waiting, shifting
from foot to foot as Bob's tears poured out and his body shook with grief. Bob
had gotten a letter from the States. The girl he was engaged to had been
tragically killed in a skiing accident, and Bob was torn with grief. As time
passed we joined the 344th and flew our missions. Bob was a fine copilot. When
we all went to town and met woman Bob never got involved with any of them. He
was always a very quiet fellow, but somehow was even quieter after that
tragedy. The war ended, we all went home. We kept in touch over the years. As
the years went by Bob never married. His health slowly began to fade. I would
drive up to Boston on business from time to time and Bob and I would always
have dinner together, but it was clear that he wasn't well and getting worse.
He suffered numerous heart attacks and his liver began to fail. He finally
passed away in the 1970's. But I always had the feeling whenever I met thim,
that since that day in England to the day he died 30 years later, Bob never
stopped crying.

There is a photograph of Bob at the controls of Willie The Wolf on my website.


Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

From: artkramr

Bob's Story

snip

Reminds me of Mary Elizabeth McDaniel. She was the boyhood sweetheart of
Charles McDaniel, whom she married at the end of 1943, when he was a 2 Lt.
ferrying B-25s. On one flight, from Ohio to Cherry Point, he had engine
trouble with a B-25H and landed at Morris Field in Charlotte, which was close
to where his wife lived with his family in Palmerville, beside Badin Lake, so
he spent the night with her. The next morning, problems supposedly fixed, he
took off and made a farewell circle of the house. As he was completing it,
wife and family outside waving, something went wrong. Witnesses said they
heard a loud explosion and the plane plunged at high speed into the lake.
Horrified the family rushed to the shore. But there was nothing but some
debris.
Mary Elizabeth grieved for many years but, at her family's urging, eventually
remarried, and had two children, although the marriage didn't last long. She
never talked about her first marriage but kept all of her memories, photos, and
first wedding dress stored away in a locked closet in her parents' house, where
she lived with her new family. Her son, at the age of 16 decided find out what
she kept so secret. To his surprise, he found a photo album of his mother with
McDaniel standing in front of many of the aircraft he flew during the war. He
also found her wedding dress and various other items from her brief marriage to
McDaniel. When he confronted his mother about these items she broke down crying
and told him a few details, but never talked unreservedly about her previous
life. Mary died in 1986. She is buried in the small local cemetery beside a
stone and still empty plot that were set aside in 1944 for Charles if his body
was ever recovered.


Chris Mark

Subject: Bob's Story
From: ost (Chris Mark)
Date: 8/7/03 8:50 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id: 20030807115028.21510.00001122@

From: artkramr@

They are gone but
never will be forgottten.

Your website makes a nice tribute.

Thank you. I think it is the job of those of us remaining not to let those
gone be forgotten.

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

I bet there are pieces to be recovered, though small, from the lake. Being
a
B-25H, the cannon might be salvagable?
Just some thoughts........
VL


Let it lie. Don't disturb the grave.


That brings up another item. Would the relatives be in "charge" of allowing
remains such as these to be recovered? I wouldn't mind if my uncle was
recovered with his remains properly interred and the aircraft possibly restored
or displayed. ( But, of course, my opinion.......and we know what they say
about opinions....)
Thx
VL

"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: Bob's Story
From: (MLenoch)
Date: 8/6/03 7:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

where his wife lived with his family in Palmerville, beside Badin Lake,

the plane plunged at high speed into the lake.

I bet there are pieces to be recovered, though small, from the lake.
Being a
B-25H, the cannon might be salvagable?
Just some thoughts........
VL


Let it lie. Don't disturb the grave.

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Art, I agree. Leave them alone.

Over the years there have been a number of efforts to try and locate the
B-25 (actually PBJ-1-H-89050) in Badin Lake, and salvage it. In 1999 some
people said they found it but nothing ever came of in.

The pilot 2dLt. Charles M.McDaniel USMC (Palmerville NC) and co-pilot Ensign
John R Withrow USNR (Beaver Falls Pa) were lost and not recovered. The
aircraft was enroute to MCAS, Cherry Point, NC.

Badin Lake is owned by ALCOA and it provides power for their big aluminum
plant at Badin. As I said every few years something comes up about trying to
recover some aircraft. The efforts at Badin Lake always seem to center
around finding the aircraft, before the money runs out, or it is stopped by
the US Navy as they still claim ownership.The aircraft was found once in
1944 and a map made but the Navy was unable to salvage it at the time. The
Navy still has the original reports of the accident, investigation and
salvage effort, but the appendix listing the exact location of the wreckage
is missing from the archives.

A team from the Navy's Experimental Diving Unit attempted to recover the
aircraft. It was finally located in over 150 feet of water buried in mud and
silt, and the divers thought most of the aircraft was in one piece. Some
pieces (a truckload) were brought to the surface and hauled away when the
Navy ended their efforts on July 15, 1944. Due to water conditions the
divers worked by feel, and reported that the aircraft, cables, pieces etc
were tangled in standing trees on the lake bottom.

I have always had an interest in this because my father, a Lt (Navy) at the
time was involved in the investigation. I grew up hearing tall tales told by
older family members of the high speed trips he made almost nightly between
Badin and Raleigh to see my mother. I was one year old at the time. Mom and
Pop are gone but, dads motorcycle rides are a family legend.

Red

Seems as though most of the family would like the remains. Doesn't look like
they will be found anytime soon.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-6g.htm . It has been recommended
that they not be looked for. There just isn't much to be found ( at least that
is the impression I got from the article. ) BTW, the Navy retains ownership of
all of their planes. No matter hold old or how buried! With the Army Air
Force, it is a free-for-all. You find it, you can have it! Amazing that any of
the B-29's of China Lake were salvaged. They were Navy owned but on their books
as misc items. ( targets! I don't even think they knew that they had them! )

Red wrote:

"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: Bob's Story
From: (MLenoch)
Date: 8/6/03 7:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

where his wife lived with his family in Palmerville, beside Badin Lake,

the plane plunged at high speed into the lake.

I bet there are pieces to be recovered, though small, from the lake.
Being a
B-25H, the cannon might be salvagable?
Just some thoughts........
VL


Let it lie. Don't disturb the grave.

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Art, I agree. Leave them alone.

Over the years there have been a number of efforts to try and locate the
B-25 (actually PBJ-1-H-89050) in Badin Lake, and salvage it. In 1999 some
people said they found it but nothing ever came of in.

The pilot 2dLt. Charles M.McDaniel USMC (Palmerville NC) and co-pilot Ensign
John R Withrow USNR (Beaver Falls Pa) were lost and not recovered. The
aircraft was enroute to MCAS, Cherry Point, NC.

Badin Lake is owned by ALCOA and it provides power for their big aluminum
plant at Badin. As I said every few years something comes up about trying to
recover some aircraft. The efforts at Badin Lake always seem to center
around finding the aircraft, before the money runs out, or it is stopped by
the US Navy as they still claim ownership.The aircraft was found once in
1944 and a map made but the Navy was unable to salvage it at the time. The
Navy still has the original reports of the accident, investigation and
salvage effort, but the appendix listing the exact location of the wreckage
is missing from the archives.

A team from the Navy's Experimental Diving Unit attempted to recover the
aircraft. It was finally located in over 150 feet of water buried in mud and
silt, and the divers thought most of the aircraft was in one piece. Some
pieces (a truckload) were brought to the surface and hauled away when the
Navy ended their efforts on July 15, 1944. Due to water conditions the
divers worked by feel, and reported that the aircraft, cables, pieces etc
were tangled in standing trees on the lake bottom.

I have always had an interest in this because my father, a Lt (Navy) at the
time was involved in the investigation. I grew up hearing tall tales told by
older family members of the high speed trips he made almost nightly between
Badin and Raleigh to see my mother. I was one year old at the time. Mom and
Pop are gone but, dads motorcycle rides are a family legend.

Red

Subject: Bob's Story
From: Mark and Kim Smith
Date: 8/8/03 2:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id: 3F336E01.7DACCF56@concentri

http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-6g.htm

Great report.All should read

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer