MEDALS...THEY TELL A STORY

In the top drawer of Papa's dresser contained odds and ends...a pair of cufflinks, an old watch...and his war medals.  I'm sure they meant something to him at the time.   But as in life, you move on from the past and live your life in the present.  There is a family to raise, a business to run.  They're just medals...or are they really.  Something awarded to you for honor, bravery and integrity.  But they also tell a story.

My sister Hope years later, took them from the drawer and together with my brother, Larry, arranged them and had it framed.   
After Papa passed away, Larry had discovered some papers related to the medals, and discovered that he did not have the American and European campaign medals that had been awarded to him.  He reached out to Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi, and shortly soon after, received the medals.

After much research, Larry visited a military store in Jackson, Mississippi, and the owner was able to give Larry great details of each of Papa's medals, dress coat buttons.  


Larry then took all the medals and with the help of Hope, designed a shadow box that proudly displayed Papa's medals in a manner deserving. 

Larry returned to the military store with the framed shadow box and the owner was overjoyed to see it.  He told Larry, that so many times young people would bring their dad's medals in to sell, and that it was heartwarming to see that our Papa's children thought enough of him to honor him this way.  "Museum quality," he exclaimed.  

We have a family tradition that each year the framed medals be passed around to each sibling.  It is now my year to have the medals to enjoy.

We have lost many of our WWII veterans.  With them goes their stories of this war.  The medals they leave behind have become important, as symbols to always remind us of their honor, integrity and their devoted service to country.  

73rd Anniversary of the Green-Eyed Ikey B-24 Mission...this blog chronicles the story of their last bombing mission

       In the early morning hours on March 15th, 1945, seven B-24s sat idling on the runway of Lecce Air Field Italy awaiting the signal from the tower to begin their mission...to bomb the marshaling yard at the Schwechat oil refinery in Vienna, Austria.  After successfully completing their mission their B-24 Bomber suffered heavy flak damage while over Yugoslavia. 

 After being hit in their #2 and #4 engines the crew was forced to bail out, and with the help of a small village and Marshall Tito's men, the crew was able to walk back over the Alps and into Split, Yugoslavia where they traveled by boat across the Adriatic Sea back to their base in Bari, Italy.

     Today marks the 73rd anniversary of this mission.    Of the seven planes, four were lost.  

The Green-Eyed Ikey was the lead plane. This would be their 34th and final mission.  There were eleven men aboard this B-24.

After the war my father and his fellow crew members returned home to the States where they married, raised a family and began a career.   They were the lucky ones.

Over 500,000 Army Air Corp men and women  died in air combat during WWII, and with them went their untold stories of  heroism and acts of valor.  

Seven years ago I began this blog to honor my father and the men who were aboard this B-24 and to tell their story.  As a proud daughter of a WWII veteran, I am honored to remember their efforts.    For it is in remembering them that we continue to honor their devotion and commitment to the service of their country.

  May their story always live on in our hearts for many, many years to come...

       

                           Captain Charles H. Estes, Jr. (Pilot)  - My father

                           Lt. Col. John Walter Congleton (Co-Pilot)

                           1st Lt. Bob Swain (Navigator)

                           Sgt. John Norris (Lower Ball Gunner)

                           Sgt. Raphael Gonyea (Turret Gunner and Radioman)

                           Don Brown (Nose Gunner)
                           Sgt. Red Cochran ( Waist Gunner)

                           Sgt. Walter Scott (Flight Engineer)

                           2nd Lt. James Mulligan (Air Discipline Officer)

                           Lt. Ernie Swanson ( Bombadier)

                           Lt. Joe Dobkin (2nd Navigator

     Sgt. Frank Delois, flight engineer, a member of the crew was unable to fly  that day due to illness and Sgt. Walter Scott took his place.  

Remembering Sol Fein...Normandy D-Day Veteran

   

   "We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.  James A. Garfield  May 30, 1868 Arlingon National Cemetery

I met Sol Fein while researching material for Papa's blog.  I stumbled upon his blog and was just mesmerized by his postings.  Sol was 85 and decided one day he needed to write about his WWII experiences.  We spoke to each other many times throughout those six years.  He enjoyed reading my postings on my father's blog.  We shared many personal stories of our lives.  He often referred to me as his long-lost cousin.  He loved my southern accent.  I knew he enjoyed playing cards with the guys so he enjoyed the packages of cheese straws I sent him from time to time.  I had last spoken to Sol during the summer of 2016.  Knowing his birthday was in December I had gone up on his blog to see what he had posted lately.  I was stunned and shocked when I read where he had died October 27th.  He children had posted the announcement of his passing.  How much I had enjoyed our writings and conversations.  He was so representative of a generation of men that gave us many of the freedoms we hold so dear.  His blog was filled with a lot of life lessons learned from a tumultuous time in our world. I  will continue to enjoy rereading his postings and value his shared thoughts from those experiences.   

I invite you to visit his blog and read his postings.  It is an amazing accounting of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy.

www.sofine-normandyvet.blogspot.com

The following is an excerpt from one of his postings on Memorial Day.

What is a Vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating
two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run
out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose
overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the
cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She (or he) is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep
sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or
didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Parris Island drill instructor who has never seen combat but
has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and
gang members into Marines and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknowns whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp, or the old guy greeting you at Wal-Mart who watched from afar as the Viet Cong cut off the arms of children they had just vaccinated. And they wish all day long that their wives were still alive to hold them when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darns, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say "thank you".  That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot..."THANK YOU."

It's the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us our freedom of the press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who gave us our freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gave us our freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Just say "thank you", this Memorial Day."

I will miss him very much.  See you soon my friend!  Love you Elizabeth

72nd Anniversary of the Vienna mission of the 415th Bomb Squadron of the 98th Bomb Group - A Special Dedication to 1st Lt. Hubert D. Clemmons, Jr.

March 15th, 1945 marks the last mission for the crew of the Green-Eyed Ikey.  Their
mission was to bomb the Schwechat oil refinery in Vienna
Austria.

When I first started this blog seven years ago I had wanted to honor my father's
service as a WWII pilot.  In the course of writing this blog and doing research,
I was able to find many of the family members of the crew.  They shared their
father's war experiences and pictures and they became a part of this amazing story.
I soon realized that this blog had taken on a life of its own.  So many wonderful
emails I have received over the years from sons and daughters  who had read
the blog, looking for answers, clues as they researched their own father's
war experiences.  My most treasured emails though were those from
WWII vets who after reading my blog would add details to different posts.

This brings me to an email I received several months ago.  Tom Clemmons,
son of 1st Lt. Hubert Clemmons, Jr., had served in the 98th 415th squadron
based in Lecce Italy.  He also added that his dad had flown in the same
mission March 15th to Vienna.  I was thrilled with this discovery.
I immediately contacted Tom and he informed me that his dad
was still living and soon to be 94 in February.  I asked Tom for pictures
and a bio on his dad so I could do a special post.
Regrettably Tom's dad passed away February 10th...just shy of his
94th birthday.

I hope that this special post on the anniversary of their mission to Vienna
72 years ago today will bring honor to his service to his country, and
our deepest gratitude for the lives and freedoms we have today.

                                                    * * *

                IN MEMORY OF 1ST LT. HUBERT CLEMMONS, JR.

 1^st Lt. Hubert D. Clemmons Jr., 98^th B.G., 415^th Squadron

Born February 24, 1923, Lebanon, TN

Hubert worked in family grocery business, Eskews Grocery as a youth

War breaks out in Europe in the fall of 1939

• Was there a feeling of concern about the  war in Europe and possible U.S. involvement or was it viewed as a “war” over there

Graduates from Lebanon High School in 1940

Enrolled at Castle Heights Military Academy as a Post Graduate in fall of 1941 for a full school year ending in May 1942

• Sensed the U.S. was going to be involved in the war and that was the reason to enroll at Castle Heights 
• During his tenure at Castle Heights U.S. declares war on Japan following Dec. 7, 1941 attack, Germany follows suit and declares war on the U.S.

Enlists in the Army Air Corps in Nashville at the Custom House Building Dec. 8, 1942 (19yrs. Old) – Why did he choose the AAF?  He said he had always had a desire to fly a plane and didn’t want to be in the infantry.

Basic Training - Centre College Danville, KY

Primary Flight Training: Camden, ARK. – Nov. 1943 – Feb. 1944

Basic Flying School (BT-13A): Walnut Ridge, ARK. – Feb. 1944 – March 1944

Advance Training: Blytheville, ARK. – June 1944

Transfer to Harlingen, TX (ANT-18, B-24D, B-24H) – July, 1944

Transfer to Leemore, CA (B-24D, B-24H) – Aug. 1944

Transfer to March Field, CA (Link Trainer, B-24D, B-24J) – Sept., 1944 – Dec. 1944

• Crashed while on training mission at night, both engines failed on take-off at 500 ft. resulting in a crash that killed the navigator, Lt. R.K. Davey.
• Crew had to train with a new navigator, which resulted in their being delayed in deployment to Europe.

98^th Bomb Group Stationed in Lecce, Italy - Active Duty Dec. 1, 1944 to Oct. 2, 1945

16 Missions:

• 1^st  Mission - Feb. 1, 1945 – Mossbierbaum, Austria (close to Vienna)
• 2^nd Mission – Feb. 13 – Vienna, Aus.
• 3^rd Mission – Feb. 15 – Vienna, Aus.
• 4^th Mission – Feb. 19 – Vienna, Aus.
• 5^th Mission – Feb. 20 – Fiume, Italy
• 6^th Mission – Feb. 23 – Verona, Italy
• 7^th Mission – March 1 – Moosbierbaum, Aus.
• 8^th Mission – March 4 – Zagreb, Yug.
• 9^th Mission – March 8 – Maribor, Yug.
• 10^th Mission – March 9 – Vienna, Aus.
• 11^th Mission – March 12 – Regensburg, Germany
• 12^th Mission – March 13 - Maribor, Yug.
• 13^th Mission – March 15 – Vienna, Aus.
• 14^th Mission – March 17 – St. Polten, Aus.
• 15^th Mission – March 22 – Vienna, Aus.
• 16^th Mission - March 24, 1945 – Neuenburg, Germany

May 8, 1945 V-E Day

Returned to U.S. Hunter Field, GA (B-24G) – June – July, 1945

Transferred to San Antonio, TX (Hondo Airfield, Hondo, TX)(TB-24J) – August, 1945

August 14, 1945  V-J Day

Separation Center, Ft. McPherson, GA. – Sept. 1945

Memphis, TN (T-6C, C-82) – June, 1948 – June 1949 (Reserves) 

Transferred to Smyrna AFB (C-82A, T-26, T-13, C-45F) – Aug. 1949 – Jan. 1951 (Reserves)

Had planned to stay on Active Duty except upon returning to Lebanon in 1945, he met a woman, Rosemarie Phelan, whom he married in March 1947.

Together Rosemarie and Hubert had 3 children (Rusty, Tom & Carol), later expanding to 3 grandchildren and 2 great grandchild.

Hubert returned to work in the family business, Eskews Grocery following the war.

In 1965, Hubert purchased the Western Auto store in Lebanon, owned and operated this business until retirement in 1985.

Hubert enjoyed fishing and hunting, playing golf and even attempted tennis until he tore a ligament in his knee, so much for tennis!

Hubert enjoyed attending many annual reunions of the 98^th Bomber group.  He jointly attended many of these with the pilot of his plane, N.D. “Bud “Lassiter of El Paso, Texas.  Hubert and Rosemarie, Bud and his wife Rena shared a close relationship over the years and I (Tom) enjoyed Bud’s Texas size tales while attending the reunions with Dad.  Below is a 2005 reunion photo of Hubert (co-pilot) and Bud Lassiter (pilot), lifelong buddies!

Hubert Clemmons co-pilot and pilot Bud Lassiter

In March 1997, Rosemarie passed away unexpectedly.  Two (2) years later Hubert married a widow, Maud Butler McClain that he knew from previous dinner and birthday parties held in Lebanon.  Maud’s husband, Allen Ross McClain, a WWII army veteran, survivor of the Battle of the Bulge, passed away several years earlier.  Hubert, Maud Butler and his children enjoyed attending the 98^th reunions with Dad all across the U.S.

In 2014, the B-24 Witchcraft flew into the Smyrna, TN Airport.  It was a hot summer day and Dad and I enjoyed spending some time around the plane and speaking to its keepers.

Hubert had Parkinson’s disease for over 20 years.  During the past year he developed difficulties in swallowing, which we came to find out was due to advanced Parkinsons.  In late January of this year, he developed pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital.  Come to realize he had an infection in his lungs and his blood oxygen was low.  He was placed on a Bpap breathing device to help get more O2 in his system.  When the Bpap device was removed his lung collapsed, he suffered a seizure and he had to be intubated (feeding & O2 tube inserted into his throat).  After several days, due to his living will conditions, the tube was removed and he was on his own.  Remarkably, he lasted for several days, much longer than the medical professionals estimated.  One nurse, said he was a ”tough ole bird”.  I called it steel resolve from a member of the greatest generation who fought a man’s war as a 21 yr. old boy.

Hubert passed away on February 10^th, 2017. 

71st Anniversary of the Green-Eyed Ikey's 34th Mission

     In the early morning hours on March 15th, 1945, seven B-24s sat idling on the runway of Lecce Air Field Italy awaiting the signal from the tower to begin their mission...to bomb the marshaling yard at the Schwechat oil refinery in Vienna, Austria.  After successfully completing their mission their B-24 Bomber suffered heavy flak damage while over Yugoslavia. 

 After being hit in their #2 and #4 engines the crew was forced to bail out, and with the help of a small village and Marshall Tito's men, the crew was able to walk back over the Alps and into Split, Yugoslavia where they traveled by boat across the Adriatic Sea back to their base in Bari, Italy.

     Today marks the 71st anniversary of this mission.    Of the seven planes, four were lost.  

The Green-Eyed Ikey was the lead plane. This would be their 34th and final mission.  There were eleven men aboard this B-24.

After the war my father and his fellow crew members returned home to the States where they married, raised a family and began a career.   They were the lucky ones.

Over 500,000 Army Air Corp men and women  died in air combat during WWII, and with them went their untold stories of  heroism and acts of valor.  

Six years ago I began this blog to honor my father and the men who were aboard this B-24 and to tell their story.  As a proud daughter of a WWII veteran, I am honored to remember their efforts.    For it is in remembering them that we continue to honor their devotion and commitment to the service of their country.

  May their story always live on in our hearts for many, many years to come...

       

                           Captain Charles H. Estes, Jr. (Pilot)  - My father

                           Lt. Col. John Walter Congleton (Co-Pilot)

                           1st Lt. Bob Swain (Navigator)

                           Sgt. John Norris (Lower Ball Gunner)

                           Sgt. Raphael Gonyea (Turret Gunner and Radioman)

                           Don Brown (Nose Gunner)
                           Sgt. Red Cochran ( Waist Gunner)

                           Sgt. Walter Scott (Flight Engineer)

                           2nd Lt. James Mulligan (Air Discipline Officer)

                           Lt. Ernie Swanson ( Bombadier)

                           Lt. Joe Dobkin (2nd Navigator

     Sgt. Frank Delois, flight engineer, a member of the crew was unable to fly  that day due to illness and Sgt. Walter Scott took his place.  

To the brave crew members of the B-24 Green-Eyed 
Ikey, may I dedicate this poem.

High Flight

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

and danced the skies,

on laughter- silvered wings;

Sunward, I've climbed, and joined,

the tumbling mirth, of sun- split clouds.

Done a hundred things,

you have not dreamed of, 

wheeled and soared,

swung high in the sunlit silence.

Hov'ring  there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, 

flung my eager craft,

through the footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue,

I've topped the wind swept heights,

with easy grace,

where never lark or eagle flew.

While,

with silent, lifting mind,

I've trod the high, untrespassed,

sanctity of space,

I put out my hand,

and touched,

the face of God."

                                                 Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee   Jr.                                                        

No. 412 Squadron, RCAF

Killed December 11, 1941

70th Anniversary of the 34th Mission of the Green-Eyed Ikey

     In the early morning hours on March 15th, 1945, seven B-24s sat idling on the runway of Lecce Air Field Italy awaiting the signal from the tower to begin their mission...to bomb the marshaling yard at the Schwechat oil refinery in Vienna, Austria.  

     Today marks the 70th anniversary of this mission.    Of the seven planes, four were lost.  

The Green-Eyed Ikey was the lead plane. This was their 34th and final mission.  There were eleven men aboard this particular B-24.  

                          
                           Captain Charles H. Estes, Jr. (Pilot)  - My father

                           Lt. Col. John Walter Congleton (Co-Pilot)

                           1st Lt. Bob Swain (Navigator)

                           Sgt. John Norris (Lower Ball Gunner)

                           Sgt. Raphael Gonyea (Turret Gunner and Radioman)

                           Don Brown (Nose Gunner)
                           Sgt. Red Cochran ( Waist Gunner)

                           Sgt. Walter Scott (Flight Engineer)

                           2nd Lt. James Mulligan (Air Discipline Officer)

                           Lt. Ernie Swanson ( Bombadier)

                           Lt. Joe Dobkin (2nd Navigator)

                           Sgt. Frank Delois, flight engineer, a member of the crew was unable to fly 
                           that day due to illness and Sgt. Walter Scott took his place.  

                            

     For those of you who have followed this blog since my first posting March 3, 2010, it detailed my father's personal accounts of his WWII experiences; in particular their

last mission and their safe return home to the states.  

     Since that time I had been searching for any remaining crew or their family members.  The task seem daunting at times with just old addresses to go by.  After five years I was able to make contact with family members of five of the crew.

                              Steve  Gonyea, Ray Gonyea- sons of Sgt. Gonyea
                              Wendy Gonyea - daughter of Sgt. Gonyea

                              Robin Swain - wife of 1st Lt. Robert Swain

                              Sue Swain Vaterlaus and Cathy Swain Cakebread,

                              daughters of 1st Lt. Robert Swain,

                              Marion Congleton - wife of 1st Lt. John Congleton

                              Kristen Stubbs - granddaughter of 1st. Lt. John Congleton

                              Retired Col. Don Brown - son of Donald Brown

                              Frank Delois - son of Sgt. Frank Delois

                              Tony Delois - grandson of Sgt. Frank Delois

                              Sherrie Delois and Jeanne Delois Stanich - Sgt. Frank Delois

                              Greg Mulligan - son of 2nd Lt. James R. Mulligan

     It has been a joy meeting so many of the families of these great men.  I will always cherish their friendship.  I am honored to know them.

     It has been my sincere hope that this blog will pay tribute to these fine men now

and for many years to come.  It was their great sacrifice and call to service that allows 

each of us the freedoms we enjoy today.  

                              

* * *

The following are pictures that family members provided me.

Sgt. Raphael Gonyea

1st Lt. Robert Swain

Don Brown

Sgt. Frank Delois

Lt. Col. John Congleton

2nd Lt. James R. Mulligan

Captain Charles H. Estes, Jr.

Charles H. Estes   (Our Papa)