GREAT WEB SITE! We have added a link to our monthly newsletter so that more veterans can be made aware of this tremendous resource. Also, please visit our web site to learn about hidden benefits you are eligible for and how to increase your service-connected compensation or VA pension. http://www.veteranprograms.com Rance Jurevwicz, Capt., USA, Ret veteranprograms@aol.com 1/17/2008 4:57 PM
MY DAD WAS CHARLES PHILLIPPO WHO WROTE LYRICS WHICH WERE SET TO MUSIC BY JIMMY MCDONALD. HE PASSED AWAY ON JANUARY 12, 2001 AT THE AGE OF 86. I HAVE A LOT OF HIS ORIGINAL WORK THAT HE DID WHILE IN THE ARMY AIR CORP AS A RADIO OPERATOR/GUNNER ON B-17′S. CHARLES PHILLIPPO, JR. MPHILLIPPO@HORIZONFOODS.COM 1/14/2008 10:33 PM
I rode the Liberty Belle June 12,2007, I am the author of: THROUGH THESE EYES A WORLD WAR II EIGHTH AIR FORCE COMBAT DIARY. See excerpts on AMAZON or AUTHOR HOUSE. I would like to use photos from your website in my second book. Please send info and costs. James Lee Hutchinson jameshutchinson@insightbb.com 1/13/2008 1:16 PM
Been getting solicitations from a graveyard tender in France. Supposedly, my uncle, John Schnee, is buried there. My father always said he went down in Burma. Unfortunately I’m having trouble doing research on this sight to check the validity of the letter. Don Schnee donomccx@sbcglobal.net 1/12/2008 3:27 PM
Does someone have some information about a mission to Emden on Dec.11th 1943. The 390 took part on this mission and lost 5 planes. Every help is welcome. Chris c-timmer@t-online.de 1/4/2008 3:40 PM
I am the nephew of George Marco, Jr, who was a ball turret gunner with the 390th. Please respond if you have any information you are able to share with me during his time of service. Mike Brancati mikebrancati@cox.net 12/27/2007 9:21 PM
I visited the airfield museum in Parham, Suffolk this summer and was very interested in all the displays. I would like to thank all the veterans who flew their planes so bravely for all our freedom. One day I would like to visit the museum in Tucson. Thomas Dolphin (age 9) colin.dolphin@kcl.ac.uk 12/22/2007 6:06 AM
to: Doug Miller grandson of Jim Carson. My father was in the 568th and filled in for a Navigator who was unable to fly that day. He subsequently was shot down and taken as a pow for the duration of WW2. I have uncovered a Nazi flag signed by my father when his POW camp was liberated. A cryptic line appears under his name and hometown. its hard to decipher but the first 3 letters are indistinguishable followed by (NAV) CARSON). I have wondered if Jim Carson was the navigator he flew for on that fateful day.. Enclosed is a picture of the flag torn down from Moosburg City Hall and replaced by the Stars and Stripes. The flag is in this museum: http://www.303rdbg.com/pow-moosburg-flag.html Ron Hanselman ronhanselman@gmail.com 12/10/2007 9:22 PM
Dear Sirs; I wished to inform you that an air force artist, David Black painted two wonderful and large paintings of B-17s over Germany. David lives in Shertz, Texas of Pecan Street. Your museum would be a place to hang a copy of his work. You should contact him. He is a very likable fellow, and a most talented artist. He has recreated full-sized nose art from WWII aircraft for individuals as well.
I have been one of the B-17’s. I used to get the old turrets for my dad, for he used them to cover tomato plants. Many of them were torn down in this area after the war. I got to see many in flight from all the bases as a little kid. I remember adults pointing at the B-17s.
While I was in the service in the middle 1960’s, I was fortunate to fly from Germany, in over the White Cliffs of Dover, and into an old base that still had a hut near the flight line that had signatures and photos of b17s, crews, and from fighter escorts, etc. One of the older English ladies working in the little canteen had been working there during the war. I was lucky enough to talk to her for over an hour, for we were waiting for a bus to come to take us into London that evening.
She told me of a place that military men and women loved in London that was a small fish and chips place in an alley, out by Soho, and when in London I found it, still functioning, so I wrote a short story of my experiences of meeting an English girl at that spot in 1965, and she took me to some places in the area where all the GIs used to love to go. I called it George’s Magic Window, for it was just a window in an alley where an old man and his wife sold the fish and chips that looked like it was an old storage room in this long narrow building on one side of that mostly dark alley. I thought of all the GIs that had been there some 20 years before me.
It was a most nostalgic experience, seen through the eyes of others before me. I never got to fly in the B-17 that is here in Texas, which I am not sure, but I think it is a G. You most likely know. I have a very good history book on the manufacture and mods to that aircraft.
I have a friend here that is a retired doctor. He flew B-17s out of England. He flew a full compliment of missions, but Cotton is so humble that he is hard to get out much, but I did get some interesting comments of how such big formations could turn together, and how hard it was at times to avoid tremendous prop wash.
Over my life I have met a number of WWII pilots, and the crew members, and I am sure that each of them respected the durability of that aircraft so much. Most of my relations were in the navy, a few in the army in Europe. My two older brothers both ended up on Guam at the end of that war. The oldest one was in the straits near Russia, and then in the Pacific and he has a great memory of his days.
I have some photos taken at Port Moresby, PNG area, and what I think is Borneo, with air force planes on an enormous field, and as far as one can see, bombers and cargo ships lined up. It is an awesome sight.
I am a writer, and I wrote an article that was published in the South Pacific called “Ghosts of WWII”, which showed an old B17 wreck in the jungles of PNG, and gave tribute to all the military and local resistance during that time across the Pacific.
I have been fighting cancer, but if I win this battle, it is my hope to write a novel based on B-17s. I have seen that figures on missions of all the air force, against the amount of casualties. It is staggering. No one in the service today, including my era of the Cold War-Vietnam ear has even an inkling of what all of you did for all of humanity.
I know that the rich freedom of my growing years of the 40s and 50s was the greatest. I grew up in the optimism of what each of you created, and then came back to try to pick up the pieces of a life that must have been hard to believe had ever existed.
I just want you to know that every time I go to a send off for our men these days, I always remind them of what each of you did before them. I don’t know how much longer that I will be here, but as long as I am, I will always be in greatest debt for the great life you handed down to me and my generation.
Sincerely, Patrick Nate, RA; Canyon Lake, Texas – Former US Army singsong@gvtc.com 12/7/2007 4:58 PM
Was a pleasure to have known Leonard Griswold, Swissvale Farm, Westminster, MD. Enjoyed the B-17 stories. Best wishes to daughter and sons. Bingo binghiggins@earthlink.net 12/1/2007 12:45 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:29 am
GREAT WEB SITE! We have added a link to our monthly newsletter so that more veterans can be made aware of this tremendous resource. Also, please visit our web site to learn about hidden benefits you are eligible for and how to increase your service-connected compensation or VA pension. http://www.veteranprograms.com Rance Jurevwicz, Capt., USA, Ret veteranprograms@aol.com 1/17/2008 4:57 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:29 am
MY DAD WAS CHARLES PHILLIPPO WHO WROTE LYRICS WHICH WERE SET TO MUSIC BY JIMMY MCDONALD. HE PASSED AWAY ON JANUARY 12, 2001 AT THE AGE OF 86. I HAVE A LOT OF HIS ORIGINAL WORK THAT HE DID WHILE IN THE ARMY AIR CORP AS A RADIO OPERATOR/GUNNER ON B-17′S. CHARLES PHILLIPPO, JR. MPHILLIPPO@HORIZONFOODS.COM 1/14/2008 10:33 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:29 am
I rode the Liberty Belle June 12,2007, I am the author of: THROUGH THESE EYES A WORLD WAR II EIGHTH AIR FORCE COMBAT DIARY. See excerpts on AMAZON or AUTHOR HOUSE. I would like to use photos from your website in my second book. Please send info and costs. James Lee Hutchinson jameshutchinson@insightbb.com 1/13/2008 1:16 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Been getting solicitations from a graveyard tender in France. Supposedly, my uncle, John Schnee, is buried there. My father always said he went down in Burma. Unfortunately I’m having trouble doing research on this sight to check the validity of the letter. Don Schnee donomccx@sbcglobal.net 1/12/2008 3:27 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Does someone have some information about a mission to Emden on Dec.11th 1943. The 390 took part on this mission and lost 5 planes. Every help is welcome. Chris c-timmer@t-online.de 1/4/2008 3:40 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I am the nephew of George Marco, Jr, who was a ball turret gunner with the 390th. Please respond if you have any information you are able to share with me during his time of service. Mike Brancati mikebrancati@cox.net 12/27/2007 9:21 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I visited the airfield museum in Parham, Suffolk this summer and was very interested in all the displays. I would like to thank all the veterans who flew their planes so bravely for all our freedom. One day I would like to visit the museum in Tucson. Thomas Dolphin (age 9) colin.dolphin@kcl.ac.uk 12/22/2007 6:06 AM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
to: Doug Miller grandson of Jim Carson. My father was in the 568th and filled in for a Navigator who was unable to fly that day. He subsequently was shot down and taken as a pow for the duration of WW2. I have uncovered a Nazi flag signed by my father when his POW camp was liberated. A cryptic line appears under his name and hometown. its hard to decipher but the first 3 letters are indistinguishable followed by (NAV) CARSON). I have wondered if Jim Carson was the navigator he flew for on that fateful day.. Enclosed is a picture of the flag torn down from Moosburg City Hall and replaced by the Stars and Stripes. The flag is in this museum: http://www.303rdbg.com/pow-moosburg-flag.html Ron Hanselman ronhanselman@gmail.com 12/10/2007 9:22 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Dear Sirs; I wished to inform you that an air force artist, David Black painted two wonderful and large paintings of B-17s over Germany. David lives in Shertz, Texas of Pecan Street. Your museum would be a place to hang a copy of his work. You should contact him. He is a very likable fellow, and a most talented artist. He has recreated full-sized nose art from WWII aircraft for individuals as well.
I have been one of the B-17’s. I used to get the old turrets for my dad, for he used them to cover tomato plants. Many of them were torn down in this area after the war. I got to see many in flight from all the bases as a little kid. I remember adults pointing at the B-17s.
While I was in the service in the middle 1960’s, I was fortunate to fly from Germany, in over the White Cliffs of Dover, and into an old base that still had a hut near the flight line that had signatures and photos of b17s, crews, and from fighter escorts, etc. One of the older English ladies working in the little canteen had been working there during the war. I was lucky enough to talk to her for over an hour, for we were waiting for a bus to come to take us into London that evening.
She told me of a place that military men and women loved in London that was a small fish and chips place in an alley, out by Soho, and when in London I found it, still functioning, so I wrote a short story of my experiences of meeting an English girl at that spot in 1965, and she took me to some places in the area where all the GIs used to love to go. I called it George’s Magic Window, for it was just a window in an alley where an old man and his wife sold the fish and chips that looked like it was an old storage room in this long narrow building on one side of that mostly dark alley. I thought of all the GIs that had been there some 20 years before me.
It was a most nostalgic experience, seen through the eyes of others before me. I never got to fly in the B-17 that is here in Texas, which I am not sure, but I think it is a G. You most likely know. I have a very good history book on the manufacture and mods to that aircraft.
I have a friend here that is a retired doctor. He flew B-17s out of England. He flew a full compliment of missions, but Cotton is so humble that he is hard to get out much, but I did get some interesting comments of how such big formations could turn together, and how hard it was at times to avoid tremendous prop wash.
Over my life I have met a number of WWII pilots, and the crew members, and I am sure that each of them respected the durability of that aircraft so much. Most of my relations were in the navy, a few in the army in Europe. My two older brothers both ended up on Guam at the end of that war. The oldest one was in the straits near Russia, and then in the Pacific and he has a great memory of his days.
I have some photos taken at Port Moresby, PNG area, and what I think is Borneo, with air force planes on an enormous field, and as far as one can see, bombers and cargo ships lined up. It is an awesome sight.
I am a writer, and I wrote an article that was published in the South Pacific called “Ghosts of WWII”, which showed an old B17 wreck in the jungles of PNG, and gave tribute to all the military and local resistance during that time across the Pacific.
I have been fighting cancer, but if I win this battle, it is my hope to write a novel based on B-17s. I have seen that figures on missions of all the air force, against the amount of casualties. It is staggering. No one in the service today, including my era of the Cold War-Vietnam ear has even an inkling of what all of you did for all of humanity.
I know that the rich freedom of my growing years of the 40s and 50s was the greatest. I grew up in the optimism of what each of you created, and then came back to try to pick up the pieces of a life that must have been hard to believe had ever existed.
I just want you to know that every time I go to a send off for our men these days, I always remind them of what each of you did before them. I don’t know how much longer that I will be here, but as long as I am, I will always be in greatest debt for the great life you handed down to me and my generation.
Sincerely, Patrick Nate, RA; Canyon Lake, Texas – Former US Army singsong@gvtc.com 12/7/2007 4:58 PM
August 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Was a pleasure to have known Leonard Griswold, Swissvale Farm, Westminster, MD. Enjoyed the B-17 stories. Best wishes to daughter and sons. Bingo binghiggins@earthlink.net 12/1/2007 12:45 PM