Mr Winthrop Jackson
Dear Sir;
First let me thank you for sharing with me the information you have gathered concerning 384th Bomb Group, 544th Squadron. Reading the things you have sent me really brought back lots of memories. Some of them not too pleasant, but overall I'd say most were pleasant memories. Thanks again.
I'll try to give you an account (as I remember it) of Clayton's
Crew. We trained in Dalhart and Peyote Texas. I believe Peyote was the First
Phase. I was classified as Radio Operator & Gunner. I'd finished Radio school
at Sioux Falls, SD but had never been to gunnery school. We left Texas going
to Scott Field, ILL where the Pilots and Co-Pilots were checked out. I flew
as Radio Operator on one of the Checks. Pilots & Co-Pilots had to recover
from stalls, both with power on & power off - from awkward positions and
I don't remember what else, but I do remember that it was quite a ride in the
Radio Room. The plane would fall off to one side and seem to start to fall,
before the instructor Pilot would say "Recover!" Was glad when that
day was over.
We went aboard a ship and arrived in England about seven days later. We were
then assigned to 544th Squadron, 384th Group. On our orientation lecture a 2nd
Lt from Alabama was the speaker. Two things that hang in my memory from that
speech was about the woman situation (plentiful) and about our chances of returning
to the U.S.A. I can just see the Lt. Picked up his hat, brushed his hair back
and said "We have been losing 4% of our aircraft on each mission, and you
are required to make 25 missions, It doesn't take a Professor to know that 4
X 25 equals 100%. The only way you will ever go home is for some poor b____
to get shot down twice - but when someone gets shot down and does make it back
to England, they are sent back to the U.S. to be instructors, speakers, etc.
Gentlemen, I leave you with that." So you see our future didn't look too
good.
I don't remember target names of any of the missions I flew. There was a Lt.
Harvey there at our base who had lost one or two crews - (They flew when he
didn't) and the Brass from HQ decided to let Lt. Harvey fly 5 missions with
one of the new crews since he had experience. None of the crews wanted him -
since he would fly Pilot, the regular Pilot would fly Co-Pilot, and the regular
Co-Pilot would fly on any other crew whose Co-Pilot wasn't able to fly at that
time. We all loved your Dad "Jack" and didn't want to be split up.
The Pilots (new ones) drew straws to see who got Harvey, and Clayton got the
short straw. We got Harvey. He was a good Pilot but we wanted "Jack".
After five missions we got "Jack" back. He had already had to ditch.
On my 9th mission I got the cartilage in my left knee torn and spent 30 days
in the hospital. Upon my return to the base I reported to the Flight Surgeon,
a Capt. Crosby, and he told me that I was to be grounded - Permanently. Didn't
sit too well with me. I wanted to finish my missions and "get out of Dodge".
Finally I was assigned to what we called "the Flimsy room" - Getting
the kits for the next mission ready for the Radio Op, Pilot, Navigator (maybe
more) to take on their next mission. Not a bad job, but not much future (going
home).
In the meantime a R.O. Alan Purdy filled my place on Clayton's Crew. When the
crew had nearly finished their missions, "Kansas" (Boydston) my best
buddy got a chance to return to the States for 30 days, with the knowledge that
upon his return, he would have to fly another tour of missions. Before I left,
the number of missions had been raised to 45 from 25. "Kansas" came
home, spent his thirty days there, then returned. I remember his flying one
mission after he came back but there was possibly more.
One morning the adjutant, a Captain Lindsey came into the barracks and said,
"Kansas, what would you say if I told you, you were going home?" Kansas
told the Captain, "I'd hug your neck." The Captain told him the orders
were on the bulletin board. "Kansas" & I hopped on our "bikes"
and went to see. Sure enough his name wasn't very far down the list. That's
when the Blues really hit me. "Kansas" continued to read the list
and suddenly he said, "Hell, Knucklehead, you are going home too."
Sure enough there was my name on the orders along with some of the original
crew. Frank Cameron is the only other name of our crew that I remember being
on those orders. Happy Day!
I was real fortunate I was able to keep my rank (T/Sgt) even after being grounded.
I heard of one T/Sgt who lost an eye from flak who was grounded and reduced
in rank to Pvt.
Oh yes, our plane #982 did have the name "Dottie Nell" on it. If I
remember correctly, and I'm sure I do, on a mission we were shot up pretty badly
and had to land at a fighter base. Away from our home base. The plane was salvaged.
I do remember that our Command Radio was out due to a hunk of flak in it and
I told the Pilot to fire a red red flare. The Control Tower came back with a
green green. Clayton wanted to fly the pattern again before landing and Jack
told him, "Set this bird down. We've got red on all gas gauges." He
set the plane down, and we ran out of fuel taxiing down the runway and a tug
came & pulled us to a hardstand. We spent the night at the Fighter base
and the next day Clayton asked the CO of the base when our base would send someone
after us. Clayton thought the CO would call our base, but the CO told him (Clayton)
that that was his job to call. Sometime that afternoon, a plane from home base
came to pick us up. We had to take our guns (.50 Cal) out of our plane and bring
them back to our base. Lt. Harvey was the Pilot who came after us, and, of course,
he had to buzz the Control Tower a couple of times as we were leaving. Harvey
said it wouldn't be "proper" to leave without giving them a buzz.
All the guys on our crew were just great Win, but your Dad "Jack"
was my favorite of the four officers on the crew. I could talk to him about
my troubles easier than with any of the other officers. I met your mother but
was never really acquainted with her.
I hope I haven't bored you to death with this and I'll be glad to help you any
way I can in your research. Somewhere I have a journal that I was keeping and
in the near future I'll try to locate it. It will list the first 4 missions
that Jack went on with the Clayton Crew.
Sincerely,
"Lis"
M. F. Lisenby (Sonny)
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