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Richard M. Tannehill 2nd, Lt. Pilot 11/7/1916 - 11/24/1989
Richard was from Shreveport, Louisiana before entering the Air Force. Sometime after the war Richard became a forester in charge of a large forest. He had given John Garner a tour of the sawmill operations while visiting him in 1960. John was most impressed. Every part of the tree was used and the mill was fully automated. It also had one of the last operational steam engines in the country. During and after the war he remained friends with John Garner. John recalls in the summer of 1960, that his family was on a cross country trip to visit Ervin and Margaret in California. He decided to stop in Trout, Louisiana to visit Richard and his family. They stopped for lunch the day after contacting him. When they sat down for the meal, John noticed that Richard was very agitated. He put down his silverware and began apologizing for putting too much strain on the engine creating the fire and causing the crew to spend a year in prison. He still remembered all of the gauges on all four engines. From the waist gunner position Ervin could tell exactly what had happened. The fighters had hit a fuel line near the hot engine which ignited it in flames. John and several others had talked about it many times. Hearing this, Richard became the most relieved man John had ever seen. All those years he had blamed himself for losing the plane and perhaps the co-pilot. John assured him that he was not to blame. When John got to Ervin’s house the next day they both called him to reassure him and further relieve his mind. Richard and his wife Cecile had four children. Three daughters, and one son. Joanna, Janet, Brian and Katie. He has since passed away and is missed by his friends. The Garners kept in touch with the Tannehills and had received the following three photos in Christmas cards over the years. Leona Garner had saved them and now we can share a little more Tannehill history with the crew and their families. An interesting bit of confusion as a result of the Christmas card entitled “Merry Christmas Express” has the name R.M. Tannehills printed on the card. Also written on the card are the names Marion and Cecile. The Garners said Richard went by the name of Marion. Perhaps that is what the “M” stands for on the card. The records from the military have his middle initial as “W”. This is probably another error. For the purposes of our bomber group, his middle initial will be changed to “M” since it is unlikely that he would be sending out Christmas cards with the wrong initial. |
Copyright © 2008 by The 390th Memorial Museum Foundation |
