17TH RECONNAISSANCE SQUADRON GAVE ALL THEY HAD

In a 2014 Memorial Day article in these pages, I wrote about S/Sgt. Howard Hodges, a cousin who made the supreme sacrifice for his country.  His B-25 was shot down off the coast of New Guinea 70 years prior – his body was never recovered.

Hodges’ parents, sisters, brother, and all but one of his extended family have passed away.  They died knowing little more about his death than the preceding sentence.

While researching the 2014 article, I learned Hodges’ commanding officer was killed on the same mission.  Major William Grant Tennille, Jr. commanded the 17^th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 5^th Air Force.  He was a Greensboro native whose family lived on Asheboro Street during Tennille’s early years.

Fast forward three years – having found the 2014 article online, the Naval Institute Press asked me to write a review of ROCKY BOYER’S WAR, a book about the air war over New Guinea to be published in 2017. 

What a gem of family research that turned out to be -- First Lieutenant Rocky Boyer was the Communications Officer, 17^th Reconnaissance Squadron, 5^th Air Force!

Rocky Boyer -- now deceased -- kept an unauthorized diary about his days on New Guinea.  Allen Boyer, who has written five books previously, penned ROCKY BOYER’S WAR, based on his dad’s diary.

While my cousin’s name wasn’t mentioned in the Boyers’ book or diary, many dots were connected.  Of 10 B-25s ordered to attack a heavily armed convoy of Japanese warships on June 8, 1944, Captain Sumner Lind piloted The Straggler.  From The Straggler’s crash report at another site, I learned my cousin was Lind’s photographer/gunner.

Why send only 10 bombers against such a formidable force?  MacArthur’s orders paraphrased, “Send all the aircraft you have!”  The 17^th Reconnaissance Squadron only had 10 operables.

The convoy was of unknown size, since it had not been sighted in two days.  Earlier intelligence reports indicated destroyers were towing barges loaded with troops, supported by heavy cruisers and the Yamato and Musashi, the largest battleships ever constructed.

Facing basically a suicide mission, Captain Bert Smiley, the Squadron Operations Officer, briefed the crews and assigned himself to be first over the target.  Major Tennille, who had just returned from a mission, negated the briefing orders of his best friend -- he would lead the mission.

The convoy was sighted after three hours in the air.  While U.S. sources vary as to number and type of ships in the convoy, Japanese records indicate six destroyers were involved – other ships had been diverted or delayed.

To draw fire and divert attention from the other B-25s, Tennille and his wingman dove towards the first Japanese destroyer.  Both were shot down by intense anti-aircraft fire before they had an opportunity to release their bombs.

Captain Lind and his wingman pressed the attack next – their bombs were away, but The Straggler became the third B-25 to go down from anti-aircraft fire.

The Battle of Waios was over in 90 seconds – one Japanese destroyer was sunk, the others were damaged enough to abort their mission.

Three B-25s were lost.  Of the seven that returned to base, five were too damaged to fly again. 

The bodies of Major William Grant Tennille, Jr. and S/Sgt. Howard Hodges were not recovered.  I don’t know when my Aunt Lillie Post Hodges, of Shreveport, LA was notified about the loss of her son.  According to the Greensboro Daily News, the Tennilles, living in Winston-Salem at the time, were notified of their loss on June 28, 1944 – 20 days after his death.

Operations Officer Bert Smiley retired as a colonel after 30 years of service.  In a 1947 wedding in Winston-Salem, he married Mary Tennille, the younger sister of his best friend and former commanding officer.  The Smileys are interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

General George Churchill Kenney, Commander of Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific, wrote after the war that Tennille received a Congressional Medal of Honor.  While he was recommended for this award, he received the nation’s second-highest honor -- a distinguished service cross -- as did his wingman, Lieutenant Howard C. Wood.  A command change likely had more to do with the lesser award than the valor and bravery involved.

For service beyond the call of duty during the 90-second Battle of Waios – in addition to the two distinguished service crosses -- 60 distinguished flying crosses, 19 posthumous purple hearts and a flock of air medals were awarded.

SURVIVING FAMILY MEMBERS BELIEVE THIS IS HOWARD HODGES,
ALTHOUGH IT COULD BE HIS BROTHER, CHARLES
BOTH SERVED IN THE ARMY AIR FORCES DURING WW II

It’s a small wonder the Battle of Waios received minimal press coverage – on another front, the Battle of Normandy was just two days old.

ROCKY BOYER’S WAR is available in ebook format, bookstores, and from Amazon.  It chronicles World War II experiences of a B-25 squadron commanded by a Greensboro pilot who was posthumously awarded the nation’s second-highest award for his service.

          

 

   

A COUSIN'S SUPREME SACRIFICE

That a sizeable number of folks fail to research the military stories of their loved ones baffles me.   Whether it be service in peacetime or wartime, in country or overseas, in the Revolutionary War or the Gulf War, these are the stories from which our family and country personas spring.

In some instances, those loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  Failing to research and memorialize the service of these heroes is unpardonable. 

Excuses for missing the military story boat are rampant, wide and varied.  Some don’t have the time.  Some don’t have the resources.  Some don’t have the facilities or expertise.  Some don’t know where to start.  Some don’t have the interest.

None of those excuses work for me.  I knew an older cousin had gone missing in World War II.  I knew he was an airman because my aunt wore his wings on her blouse or apron six days a week and on her dress on Sundays.  My mother said that wearing the wings helped my aunt grieve the loss of her son. 

AUNT LILLIE POST HODGES, SHREVEPORT, LA

I knew the missing airman was a special first cousin to my mother.  His two sisters, both nurses, took my mother into the Hodges home during her problematic pregnancy to deliver me.

After my mother, aunt, and both nurse cousins had been dead for many years, and after I had encouraged hundreds to research and appreciate their military heritage, I set about finding out what happened to my cousin, S/Sgt Howard Hodges, of Shreveport, LA.

My wife and I visited a 93-year old cousin in the mountains of North Georgia whom I had only met once in my life, as a young boy.  In bits and pieces, she remembered our cousin, Howard Hodges, was a gunner on a bomber that went down off the coast of New Guinea on June 8, 1944, but his body was never recovered.

With help from another cousin, Google, and the miraculous intersection with the author/family member of another WW II veteran, we learned that on June 8, 1944, the 5^th Air Force operated in the New Guinea area.  And that the 71^st Tactical Reconnaissance Group flew B-25 bombers in the region.  And that the 17^th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron flew a bombing mission of 10 B-25s off New Guinea on June 8, 1944.

 

We found that Howard Hodges was assigned as photographer/gunner aboard one of those 10 B-25 Mitchell bombers for that mission of June 8, 1944. 

THOUGHT BY FAMILY MEMBERS TO BE HOWARD HODGES,
BUT COULD BE HIS BROTHER, CHARLES, WHO ALSO SERVED
IN THE ARMY AIR FORCE IN WW II

It had already been suspected to have been a critical mission.  Major William G. Tennille, Jr., Commanding Officer of the Squadron, personally led the raid, tasked to attack a convoy of six Japanese destroyers bearing enemy troops to retake Biak. 

The Japanese convoy threw up intense anti-aircraft fire as the B-25s fearlessly made their bomb runs in a blazing, low level attack.  At least four Japanese ships were heavily damaged and one was sunk.

General MacArthur personally commended the mission, "The job was magnificently done."  General Ennis Whitehead did as well, "This squadron has this date performed one of the finest military feats of the war."  

The mission was costly.  Of the ten B-25s, only seven returned to their home field – five of them were heavily damaged.

The B-25 on which Howard Hodges served as Photographer/Gunner was hit by anti-craft fire and crashed.  The entire crew was presumed dead the day of the mission. They are memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery.

HOWARD HODGES WENT DOWN IN THE B-25 "STRAGGLER"
SHOWN HERE IN NEW GUINEA, MANNED BY A PREVIOUS CREW

Posthumously, Howard Hodges was awarded a purple heart, air medal, distinguished flying cross, as well as additional awards and campaign ribbons.  I don’t know if any of those decorations made it to my aunt in Shreveport, LA.  If so, she was always partial to her son’s aviation gunnery wings.

She had a second son in the Army Air Force – Charles Hodges Jr. flew missions ‘over the hump’ during World War II, and returned home safely.

As an aside, Major William Grant Tennille Jr., Commanding Officer of the 17 TRS, also went down.  Tennille was posthumously awarded a distinguished service cross for his action.  It is the second highest military award that can be given to a member of the U.S. Army.

While it was sadly satisfying to learn of my cousin’s military service and his supreme sacrifice for his country, Major Tennille’s part of the story introduced an ironic twist.

 

Major Tennille was born in Greensboro, NC, and lived at 600 Asheboro Street.  His father worked for the Guilford Benbow Hotel and Hare’s Motors.  The Tennilles later moved to Winston-Salem, where William Tennille Sr. was still listed as a hotelier.  Major Tennille is memorialized in Salem Cemetery.

The Tennille connection went beyond the fact that my cousin and his commanding officer went down on the same mission.  That his commander lived at 600 Asheboro Street in Greensboro before World War II was most ironic – one of this writer’s most fulfilling projects was researching and writing THE HISTORY OF ASHEBORO STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, completed and privately published in 2012.  The church was located at 710 Asheboro Street, Greensboro, NC. 

The Tennille connection and intersection with Allen D. Boyer, who wrote Rocky Boyer's War: An Unvarnished History of the Air Blitz That Won the War in the Southwest Pacific, are gifts of historicity that keep on giving.  They are more fully developed in another column.