World War II ended 75 years ago today. For my Dad, anyway.
John Kristan was the top turret gunner on a B-24 in the 15th Air Force, 485th Bomb Group, 829th Bomb Squad. His plane was serial number 42-78127, known as #127 officially, and unofficially as Tyer's Flyers.
On July 5, 1944, Tyer wasn't flying. The plane's namesake was lost a week earlier flying another B-24. William Vaessen and William Sipes were the Pilot and Co-pilot. The crew:
They were based in Venosa, Italy, in a base built across Italian farmland. The day's mission was to fly across the Mediterranean to Toulon to bomb submarine yards. The route crossed Corsica, an island that was part of France but that had been occupied by the Allies.
In the history of the European war, it was an obscure mission. It doesn't merit mention in a Wikipedia timeline of the war. The big news then would have been the land war in Normandy and in Italy, and the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific. But for Tyer's Flyers, it was the biggest day of the war.
Here is the summary of the mission, courtesy Missions By The Numbers: Combat Missions Flown by The 485th Bomb Group:
"...return made without incident." Not entirely.
Here is a picture taken over Toulon during the mission by the unit photographer. It was provided by the photographer's son:
You can see two planes below below the photographer- one in the upper right corner and one near the bottom. I probably will never know whether one of these was 127.
My understanding is that Lt. Vaesssen was killed by anti-aircraft fire over Toulon, and Co-Pilot Sipes took the controls of a damaged airplane. This would have been when it "was seen to lose altitude at the target and lagged." A straight line back to Venosa would carry 42-78127 over Northwest Corsica on the way back to base.
It was a losing struggle. I understand that Dad said the crew threw a lot of stuff overboard to shed weight and tried to bubble-wrap themselves in what soft stuff they could find in case of a crash landing. They almost made it to Corsica before ditching in Baie de Crovani at Argentella, Corsica.
This is a picture of the bay where they went down, taken when we visited in 2010:
As was apparently typical, the B-24 broke up when it ditched. The front of the plane ended up on the beach, and all in it died. The back end was sinking in the bay. Tail gunner David Korkuc, though injured, pulled three of his unconscious crewmates out before the back end sank. He then went and found help. My Dad was one of the three of those pulled out who survived.
These are Dad's crewmates who didn't make it:
• Vaessen H William 1st Lt 0-536855 829th BS 485th BG Pilot KIADad was hospitalized for a year.
• Sipes R William 2nd Lt 0-705827 829th 485th BG Copilot KIA NC
• Wittenbrink E George S/Sgt 36446168 829th BS 485th BG Radio Opr KIA NC
• Duer N Richard 2nd Lt 0-703456 829th BS 485th BG Bombardier KIA
• Witham L Harris Sgt 35753847 829th BS 485th BG Nose Gunner KIA NC
• McGregor W Jack Sgt 35613832 829th BS 485th BG Ball gunner KIA NC
I don't know what the total losses on the mission were. In addition to the four bomb groups that met up with Dad's group, the 376th Bomb Group participated, and probably others.
The mission apparently destroyed two Kreigsmarine submarines, U-586 and U-642. Toulon was captured by Allied troops by August 28, 1944. Update, 7/5/2021: Uboat.net, my source for the U-boat losses, also says that U-952 was "badly damaged" in the July 5 raid and decommissioned a few days later.
Now 75 years have passed. Dad died in 2001. He didn't much talk about the war, but he said that every day was a bonus after July 5, 1944.
