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My Bomber Project
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by Related Story: The Crew’s Story I have been asked a number of times why and how I became involved with the lives of ten men and their families of which I did not know nine of them. This is the story. My father-in-law Phillip Sorenson died in December 1999 leaving behind a wife and his son Stephen of which I am married to. The Veteran’s cemetery personnel would not allow us to include “POW WWII” to his grave marker as we had seen on several of the markers because it was not noted on his discharge papers. My disappointed husband had to settle for only his name and date so we added a sentiment of “a loving husband and father” at the end as a substitute to the missing service record. I decided to see what I could do to follow up on the POW status the Cemetery required for my husband. The first break came when I found box of old photos. In it was a western union telegram from 1944 stating his plane was shot down in Germany and then another one stating he was being held prisoner. This was still not relevant to the Cemetery. It had to be in the official military file for them to make corrections. A friend helped me decipher that the discharge papers indicated his tour of duty was in the South Pacific and not Germany. This was now even more mysterious and I was hooked on finding out what happened. The surprise to follow was that somehow his name appeared on someone else’s discharge papers but I still had those telegram clues with dates. I had also been spending my time putting together a memorial document to send out to the family friends and was more and more confused by the information in his military paperwork. This was not just because I did not understand the abbreviations, acronyms and codes within the paperwork but because it said his tour of duty during WWII was in the South Pacific and we knew that he was in a German POW camp which is no where close to that part of the world. The bomb squadron and group were wrong but correct for someone in the South Pacific. Fortunately my dear friend Jim Jellison a pilot, military history buff and Navy reservist had some books on WWII planes that he brought in to work for us to review together during lunch. The more I tried to unravel this confusion the more invested into this mystery I had become and I then had the need to know everything. I always love a good mystery and have the patience to sort out the clues. I looked up everything I could on websites, made numerous calls and eventually stumbled upon a heavy bomber website. After more calls I ended up finding someone in St. Paul MN who was willing to look up a MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) for me. This was easy to find since I had the Western Union Telegram stating “Phillip E. Sorenson has been reported missing since nineteen May 1944 over Germany” As it turned out only one plane was shot down that day on that mission. The MACR had the entire list of the crew members and the city and state that they were from. I had a hunch that most people would return after the war to their home town and start their lives again so I began calling everyone with the last names matching the other nine crew members hoping to find someone who was willing to talk about their experience. This meant numerous phone calls but it paid off. The first crew member I found was Nicholas Mihalik the Radio Operator. I told him my name and asked him if he served in WWII. He said yes he did. I then asked if he remembered what he was doing on May 19th, 1944. He said, “I was jumping out of an airplane!” He remembered my father-in-law as the Aerial Gunner as well as the other crew names and positions. We talked for over an hour while I took notes. Later I spoke to three more crew members by making many calls and many months later found families of all but two men. I interviewed Bob Horst the Navigator, Nicholas Mihalik the Radio Operator, Elmer Leggett the Bombardier, and Ervin Joseph the Left Waist Gunner. My father-in-law Phillip Sorenson was the Aerial Gunner. I was told by these men that Richard Tannehill the Pilot died some time ago and I knew from the MACR that Layton Vermie the Co-Pilot was KIA when they were shot down. This left only three men, Richard Tannehill the Pilot, Laurence O’Connor the Right Waist Gunner and Edmund Hajduk the Ball Turret Gunner whom I was still looking for. I kept notes and pieced together a story from my interviews with the crew members. I also found some photos with negatives of the enlisted men at their barracks in a box. They were apparently intended to be sent to each man since there were six small booklets but never sent since they became prisoners. They were very interested in talking to me about their experience and I later found that most people never took an interest in the ordeal especially a woman. I grew so attached to these nice men and they had a renewed interest in finding out how each other were doing. I decided to put together binders for each of them with everything I found out and have sent them updates as I have found new information. They were quite surprised and enjoyed the story I put together for them, the biographies on them, the old photos, information on the 390th BS, POWs and diary that a prisoner kept while on their 88 day death march in Germany. I gave them a phone contact list so they can get back in touch with each other. They really did love calling each other and some of them met up to visit. I let them know that through my research, I had found that when the war was over there was so much paperwork to type up for each man that somehow my father-in-law’s information ended up in someone else’s discharge papers. I am sure he was so glad to be a free man and coming home he would sign anything to get out and not realize the documents were incorrect since his name was at the top. I had also found that the copies of these records were kept in St. Louis, MO but a severe fire in 1973 destroyed almost every document for the Army Air Force. I suggested they begin straightening their own paperwork out now and have their children help them and that these binders would give them a big head start. Several families later told me that they enjoyed the binders so much and have shared them with the children and grandchildren. The experience of sharing the story had brought out a new side of their husband or grandpa they never really knew and they were now so close and very proud of this man in their life who fought for his country and suffered at the hands of the Germans under horrendous conditions. They saw how that experience shaped the man they had grown up knowing, admiring and respecting and now really knew what it meant to fight for your country. It brought it much closer to home. It also affected me the same way. I had a whole new perspective on many things I take for granted especially our freedoms and the respect for a whole generation that supported the war effort. I read many books about the war support by the women at home working in factories, the WASPs, the women’s baseball teams, the Red Cross’ role and became curious about the Geneva Convention. I was amazed that I was so interested in this world history as well as every aircraft in that war I could not help thinking about why I snoozed through this in school and came to the conclusion that it was so abstract it never seemed personal until now. Now it seemed the stories my grandparents told me all fit together in this place in time. I often thought about my new bomber friends and one day while at the fabric store, I decided I was going to make a commerative quilt for the bomb group. I have always loved sewing and thought that when I had the opportunity I would love to learn how to quilt with today’s new methods. This idea grew into ten quilts so that each family could have one. Since I was doing this in my spare time it took 1 year and 8 months. It was to be a surprise for the bombers. I sent them to the families to share in their surprise and make a lasting memory even more special to them. When I was finishing up the last three, my husband reported that he had stopped by the cemetery to visit his dad. He announced that his dad’s plaque had been changed and now reads “Phillip E. Sorenson, 6/22/24 to 12/26/99, POW WWII Korean War, Silver Star Medal, A loving husband and father”. His face had a smile from ear to ear when he said, “He has the most lines of anyone”. He was obviously very proud both of him and my efforts to get the records corrected. Meanwhile I did not give up on finding Tannehill’s family. I searched for and called lots of Tannehill’s in Louisiana as well as many other states with no luck. My big break came when Mrs. Garner broke her wrist and was forced to stay close to home so she went through boxes of old photos and found something great. She found 3 photos sent by the Tannehill’s in Christmas cards. One photo has the four children in a cable car frame with their name below each photo. I figured Brian would be easier than his sisters to find since he would not change his last name when he married so I looked for him specifically. Unfortunately this did not bring the results I had hoped for. So every so often, I entered his name in a computer search and recently I got lucky. I have since spoken to him and he does live in Louisiana after all. Leona Garner also had a photo of Layton and Freda Vermie so I was able to share the photo with the group. Periodically I checked the social security death index and one day I found a listing for Hajduk in Ohio. This is what led to finding his family. The last find was the O’Connor family from Burlingame, CA. This was the toughest one of all yet was easier if you know how to search through genealogy resources. I did not have any idea how to do this previously until I got some help from my friend Sandy Sigurdson. Going back to the family name and city of origin prior to the war was the key to unlocking the mystery of finding the family. What started out as helping my husband turned into a mystery to solve and then became a hobby, as I got more involved. It is now solved, but in the course of uncovering the mystery I met or got to know some great men and the families that shared their lives with them. My Bomber Project has been a rewarding experience and one of the most important and fun things I have done in my life. Thanks to all the bombers for sharing a piece of their past and a glimpse into their lives. I think of them all each Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and especially every May 19th. I am honored to have gotten to know them. Lori Sorenson |
Copyright © 2008 by The 390th Memorial Museum Foundation |