POW WIFE KEPT PACKAGES IN THE MAIL

Virginia Causey was a senior at Greensboro High School in 1940 when her mother died.  Her father moved to Raleigh, but she lived with an aunt and uncle until she graduated.  She worked with Blue Bell/Globe Manufacturing Company, and later transferred with the company to New York City.

Then came December 7, 1941. 

Virginia Causey’s brother would eventually join the Navy.  Her sister, Mary, would marry a soldier.  Virginia Cudworth was already in love with a Greensboro City employee, Jim Cudworth.

 

“Marriage came up early in our three-year courtship.  We knew we were meant for each other, but also knew he would be leaving for the service.  Both his brothers joined the Marine Corps.  Jim and I thought we should wait until after the war to marry,” she recalls.

Jim Cudworth enlisted in the Army Air Forces as an Aviation Cadet in 1942 and was commissioned as a B-17 bombardier in January, 1943.  On March 9, 1943 the waiting to marry ended.  Virginia Causey left Greensboro for Ephrata, Washington – it was her first train ride.  Six days later, she became Mrs. Jim Cudworth.

1943 NEWLY-WEDS VIRGINIA & LT JIM CUDWORTH

A honeymoon furlough was scheduled for June, 1943.  On May 20, the new couple received a wire – all furloughs were canceled.

Jim Cudworth and his B-17 crew were off to England for duty with the 8^th Air Force.  He promised his new bride he would be home for Christmas.  Virginia Cudworth added, “I should have asked him WHICH Christmas he was talking about!”

BOMBARDIER JIM CUDWORTH UPPER LEFT 

Cudworth’s B-17 was one of 30 U.S. aircraft shot down over Bremen, Germany on October 8, 1943.  He was on his 10^th mission.  Wounded in the eye by enemy anti-aircraft fire and captured, Cudworth spent the rest of the war as a POW.  After the war, he elected not to have the flak removed for fear his vision would be lost.

CUDWORTH CREW SHORT SNORTER SIGNED BY CREW MEMBERS

After a week in a German interrogation center, Cudworth was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, made infamous by the Great Escape.  He wrote his wife, “I am allowed a ten pound package and $50 in cash each 60 days – please send dried fruit and oatmeal.  Give the $50 to the Red Cross, they are doing a great job for us.”

POW CUDWORTH WROTE WIFE TO SUPPORT THE RED CROSS

Virginia Cudworth recalls, “I sent him packages every two months, although I knew he wasn’t getting all of them.”  She kept a record of each package.  One list reads: “Shorts, socks, tooth powder and paste, candies, playing cards, Gillette blades, saccharin, gums, coffee and soap.”

“It didn’t bother me that he wasn’t receiving all of them.  I just hoped and prayed that some of them would reach him, especially the package he requested with dried dates, peaches, apples, books, and Lucky Strikes.  I caught streetcars, but nearly walked my legs off, finding everything he needed – there were no stores that carried everything like we have now.”

Notwithstanding that Cudworth was a prisoner of war, the Army Air Forces saw to it that he was awarded his first Air Medal.  Accepting the award at Basic Training Command #10 in Greensboro, NC was Mrs. Virginia Cudworth.

MRS. JIM CUDWORTH RECEIVING POW HUSBAND'S AIR MEDAL AWARD

At a later date, she was picked up at her home by Army personnel and taken to Drill Field #5, BTC #10, where she reviewed the troops and accepted her husband’s cluster device, representing a subsequent Air Medal.

Cudworth was eventually moved by railcar and force-marches – under frigid and inhumane conditions -- to severely overcrowded Stalag VII-A, near Moosburg.  “When liberated by General George S. Patton, our troops brought in the largest American flag I had ever seen.  I stood so close to Patton that our arms brushed each other,” Cudworth told his wife.

Post-war, the Cudworth family resumed a more normal life.  He returned to his job with the City of Greensboro.  She worked with A. M. Pullen & Co.  They were members of Muir’s Chapel Methodist Church and among the early volunteers to serve at Potter’s House.  They raised two sons, James Richard “Dick” Cudworth and Garry Wayne Cudworth.

The Cudworths’ interest in assisting other former prisoners of war led them to form the Greensboro Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War Association (AXPOW).  Jim served several terms as Greensboro Commander, and three years as State Commander.

Jim Cudworth retired from the City of Greensboro after 35 years of service.  He died September 16, 2008 at 87 – he and Virginia, now 94, were married 65 years. 

Virginia Cudworth remains active in the Greensboro Chapter, American Ex-Prisoner of War Association.  She deflects all credit for supporting her POW husband, “My mother-in-law did more, she wrote each of her three sons a letter every Thursday they were away in the war.”

   

   

WORLD WAR II DAUGHTER REMEMBERS 

D-DAY QUITE WELL

While it was an extraordinarily busy Tuesday around the office of Marjorie Moore’s father, he found time to write his oldest daughter a two-page birthday letter, “My little lady, sorry that I can’t be with you today, but pray to God that we will be together for your 10^th birthday.”  

COLONEL E. WALTER MOORE

 He apologized for not having time to shop for an appropriate gift to mark the occasion.  He commended her on the glowing dance recital report he had received from her mother.  He reminded her she was the role model for her younger sister, and to help their mother out as much as possible. 

Since her father was a West Point graduate and career military officer, the Moore family was accustomed to family separations – many more were to come. 

Marjorie Moore had received similar letters before, but this one seemed different.  In closing, her father hinted that the day was particularly memorable -- and that she would understand later.

COL. MOORE (L) DURING WORLD WAR II

She understood sooner than later.  Her father was Colonel E. Walter Moore, U. S. Army Air Forces.  He was stationed in England.  He commanded the 30^th Air Depot Group of the 9^th Air Force. 

The day was June 6, 1944 – D-Day!

Even though Colonel Moore was a decorated Command Pilot and would log over 11,000 hours of flight time, he wasn’t flying on D-Day.  He was tasked to keep other B-26 Marauder Bombers under his charge in the air.  The first 56 had taken off at 4 a.m.  The fact that many of his B-26s flew more than one mission on D-Day was a tribute to Moore’s support personnel on the ground. 

At the time, Marjorie’s mother and the two daughters were living with grandparents in Little Rock, Arkansas, “I attended a small private Catholic school.  Each day, we would be taken into the auditorium and shown movies and news clips of how the war was unfolding.  I knew my father was over there someplace and that it was horrible.”

Colonel Moore missed Marjorie’s 10^th birthday as well.  This time, his Martin Marauder bombers were kept busy repatriating American prisoners of war and moving soldiers back towards home.

COL MOORE BEING DECORATED BY FRENCH GENERAL

Her 11^th birthday showed a brief touch of normalcy – albeit overseas -- the family was all together at Erlangen, Germany.  The family spent Marjorie’s 12^th birthday together in Paris, after which Colonel Moore transferred to Eglin Field, Florida.  By this time, Marjorie had become a Christian and started a strong pilgrimage of faith that continues to this day. 

So much for normalcy, she attended schools at Fort Walton Beach, Florida for 9^th grade; Fort Worth, Texas for 10^th ; Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska for 11^th; and Falls Church, Virginia for her senior year.

She doesn’t expect sympathy for changing schools every year, “It was actually lots of fun!  Our high school in Alaska consisted of a 9^th grade boy and me!  I was a shoo-in for most beautiful, most intellectual, class president, etc.  Also, I wouldn’t trade anything for the year we lived in Germany – we traveled all over the place.”

Inasmuch as her father was expecting an assignment in Colorado, Marjorie enrolled as a freshman at Colorado College.  The Colorado assignment did not happen, so Marjorie re-joined her family the next year, matriculating at George Washington University.

In the nation’s capital, she met 2^nd Lieutenant Walter Martin, a South Carolinian freshly commissioned from Furman University, and serving with Headquarters, Military District of Washington.

On June 4, 1957, Marjorie Moore earned her B.A. degree in art from George Washington University.  On June 6, she celebrated another birthday – her father was present for this one.  On June 8, she became Mrs. Marjorie Moore Martin.

MARJORIE AND WALT MARTIN -- 2016

Walter Martin remembers her father was present for the wedding as well, “He was pretty tough on me, maybe because I was a second lieutenant or maybe because I was his son-in-law!”

Since the Martins and I first met several years ago, Marjorie’s prompt still holds, “Remember me as the M&M girl.”

Just as he had sold himself to a colonel’s daughter, Walter Martin made a career of sales and marketing.  Prior to moving to Greensboro in 2001 to be near their children, his livelihood had taken the family to Asheville, Detroit, Fayetteville, Winston-Salem, Martinsville, Virginia and Atlanta.

The Martins are active members of Lawndale Baptist Church.  He is a musician, she is a water color artist – they have two children and five grandchildren.  And one celebrated Dachshund, Heidi.

Colonel E. Walter Moore retired with 30 years of service in 1964.  Among his personal decorations were two legions of merit, two bronze stars, and seven combat campaign stars.

He died on July 16, 1992 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.  Fifteen days prior, he penned his last letter to his oldest daughter, Marjorie.

     

     

      

RETIRED ASHEBORO FIRE CHIEF INADVERTENT WITNESS TO WORLD HISTORY

“I am the last person on earth who can tell this story first person,” said 93-year old John McGlohon.  His audience overflowed the Asheboro Public Library to the point I suspected the Fire Department might ask some to leave. 

JOHN MCGLOHON LOOKS OVER MAXINE FEREBEE PRUITT'S MEMORABILIA
HER BROTHER, TOM, WAS BOMBARDIER ON ENOLA GAY

That concern became moot when the Asheboro mayor introduced McGlohon, “John started as a voluntary firefighter in 1948, came on full-time with fire department in 1955, and retired in 1985 as fire chief.  He also served 18 years on the Asheboro City Council.” 

Obviously, no one would be leaving at the Fire Department's bequest until the chief had his say.

When a standing room only crowd turns out on a steamy summer evening – for a speech by a retired public servant – expectations rise.  John McGlohon fulfilled all expectations, and more.

He and his older brother, Robert Ashley McGlohon, were born in Guilford County but the family moved to Asheboro when the boys were very young.  The older brother became an Army Air Forces bombardier and killed in action during World War II.

As a photographic specialist, Technical Sergeant John McGlohon flew reconnaissance/mapping missions over South America while mapping the Southern Ferry Route to Europe.  He helped map the Alaska Highway and chart the air route over The Hump between India and China. 

THIS B-29 CREW SURVIVED BEING IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME
T/SGT JOHN MCGLOHON IS THIRD FROM LEFT (STANDING)

The August 6, 1945 mission for his B-29 crew was to map Japanese coastlines in preparation for the Invasion of Japan.

While McGlohon’s crew took off from Guam on their 15-hour mission, another Tarheel’s B-29 took off from Tinian.  Mocksville’s Tom Ferebee was the bombardier aboard that aircraft, the Enola Gay.  Neither of the B-29 crews realized the other was in the air.

The Enola Gay made history that day – for McGlohon’s aircraft – not so much.  At least, not so much for 50 years.

Per McGlohon, “Back on Guam that evening, we learned about the Hiroshima bombing.  Having seen and photographed the humongous blast, we surmised a bomb had hit a fuel or ammunition dump – my photos would verify the hit for the pilot.

In those days, film came in 9½ inch by 500 foot long rolls.  I didn’t stick around for processing, since the word was out that the war would end soon.  I didn’t even get to say goodbye to all my crew-members.

Nagasaki was hit on August 9, Japan surrendered on September 2.  I was back home in Asheboro by October 5, 1945.  I haven’t had the urge to leave since.”

T/SGT JOHN MCGLOHON

McGlohon told family and friends about his Hiroshima photographs, “A few newspapers carried my story.  I made a good number of talks.  The military higher-ups remained in denial – I couldn’t have cared less.”

Over 50 years after taking the only close-range photos of the Hiroshima mushroom cloud, McGlohon attended a reunion of his outfit in Tampa, “I walked in and saw the photograph I had taken displayed on the wall!  It was still labeled top secret, and dated August 6, 1945.  I told my wife, that’s the photo I took!”

While McGlohon, the only surviving crew member, has quietly maintained his resolve about the photo over the decades, questions and accusations have come and gone.  As Joe Knox wrote in the Greensboro Daily News on August 3, 1975, “It was an accident.  It was a mistake.  They (3^rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron) shouldn’t have been there.”

On a brighter side, Chatham County’s Ken Samuelson interceded for John McGlohon.  After two years of interviews and meticulous research, Samuelson documented McGlohon’s claim to his photo taken over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  Among other things, Samuelson discovered McGlohon’s photo had been published by a military newspaper as early as August 11, 1945 – with no credit to the photographer.

McGlohon now has the rest of the story – an officer in the Guam Army film laboratory saved the film and brought it back to the States after the war.  Following his death, it was donated to the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum in Tyler, Texas.

HOMETOWN HERO, JOHN MCGLOHON, DREW STANDING ROOM ONLY CROWD

McGlohon married a former Army nurse cadet in training, Marietta Jane Gellback, on April 30, 1948.  She is now deceased.  They were active members of Asheboro’s First United Methodist Church.  They had two sons, Bob and Steve, two grands, and five great-grand-children.

After the war, McGlohon operated an Asheboro photography studio for several years and even served a stint as photographer for the Greensboro Daily News.

 

     

OLYMPIAN IN OUR MIDST

While Colonel Guy Troy, U.S. Army (Retired) was a late bloomer as a modern pentathlon athlete, it did not keep him from winning a gold medal in the very first Pan American Games 1951 in Buenos Aires.  It wasn’t lost on Troy that another Armored Army officer finished fifth overall in the same sport in the 1912 Olympics at Stockholm.  That soldier’s name was Patton.

“Having served as a Cavalry Platoon Leader in Europe, I would have been happy if the Army had sent me directly to the Korean War from Buenos Aires after the Pan-Am Games.  Instead, they sent me to West Point to form and recruit a modern pentathlon team and start training for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki,” Troy recalled from his home in Liberty, North Carolina.

Perchance you know more about shooting baskets or pool than pentathloning, here are the Cliff’s Notes of competitive events: Fencing, pistol shooting, 200 meter free-style swim, 4000 meter horseback ride with 25 jumps, and 4000 meter cross-country run.

During Olympic try-outs, player/coach Troy did well his first two days, “I was first in fencing, second in shooting, and sixth in swimming.  I was about six years older than most of the runners and came in eighth.  My wheels did not run off in the horseback competition, but my horse did – she fell about half way to the finish line.”

TROY POINTS TO TAG REPRESENTING
 HORSE HE DREW IN 1952 OLYMPICS

Troy finished fourteenth in individual completion and coached his team to a fourth place position in those 1952 Summer Olympics, “Actually, we tied with Finland for third, but they won the bronze medal because they beat us in the cross-country.”

He holds no grudges against his Olympic steed, “That horse had some age on her.  She did the best she could.  After all, she was one of 14 hand-me-downs sent to us from Fort Riley, Kansas.”

At 93, and retired to his Liberty, North Carolina farm, Troy is still an Olympic enthusiast.  “Will I be watching the events in Rio de Janeiro?  You bet!”  

FORMER OLYMPIAN GUY TROY RECEIVED
EARLY COPY OF 2016 PROGRAM FROM RIO

He has served in many Olympic capacities, including event judging in 1972, 1980, 1984 and 1990.  He fondly recalls witnessing the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid. 

Even though the Pan American Games and Olympic competition kept Troy from Korea, he later commanded an Armored Reconnaissance Unit.  He served in Vietnam as intelligence officer for the 25^th Infantry Division in 1967-1968.

Although Troy is a graduate of West Point, he originally enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps in 1942.

“I already knew how to fly.  When the war started, I knew I wanted aviation.”  During aviation training, he was selected for the Academy in 1943 and graduated in 1946.  He served Cold War assignments in Germany and Austria before and after his pentathlon competition.  In 1959-1960 he served as a Military Adviser in Iran.

Troy married Winifred Hildegarde Charles, who died in 2009.  They had two sons, Guy K. Troy Jr., a West Point graduate and retired military, and Thaddeus W. Troy, a 30-year CIA employee.  There are four Troy grandchildren.

FRANK HEBERER (L) AND GUY TROY
TWO RETIRED COLONELS WHO SERVED TOGETHER IN
CONSTABULARY FORCE AFTER WW II

Troy’s father, Dr. Thaddeus Troy, practiced medicine in Greensboro for many years.  He and Dr. Wesley Long III were cousins.  Dr. Troy served in World War I and retired from the Army Reserve as a colonel.

There is another colonel of interest in Guy Troy’s lineage – Colonel Andrew Balfour.  According to Troy, ‘He is my great-great-great grandfather.” Balfour’s tombstone on Doul Mountain in Randolph County reads, “ …murdered by a band of Tories at his home.”

Balfour’s execution by the notorious loyalist leader, David Fanning, was one of many such incidents in the Piedmont wherein Whigs were gunned down during the unofficial “Tory War” in early 1782.  It has not gone unnoticed by the folks of Randolph County.  An Asheboro community is named in Balfour’s memory, as is a DAR Chapter and Masonic Lodge.

Obviously, Troy is a man of many interests – in his Liberty environs of several hundred acres, he has farmland and timberland, “Right now, I would have to say, my passion is forestry!” 

He has his own tennis courts.  Even though he has ample room for a golf course, he opted out, “Golf takes too much of my day – I have other things to do.”

Troy is a founder and active member of All Souls Anglican Church in Asheboro.  He also serves with the Randolph County Honor Guard, which conducts hundreds of military funerals each year for veterans across the Piedmont.  He is active with the West Point Society.

RETIRED ARMY COLONELS  FRANK HEBERER AND GUY TROY AT
TROY'S FARMHOUSE IN LIBERTY, NC
DECEMBER, 2015

  

            

B-17 NAVIGATOR NEVER FELT HE WAS FLYING ALONE

B-17 pathfinder navigator, 1^st Lieutenant Joseph L. “Joe” Jones, had reason to be upbeat the evening of October 5, 1944, even though he was deep in the heart of the war zone.

NATIVE ALABAMAN JOE JONES LOVES CALLING
ASHEBORO, NC HIS RETIREMENT HOME

First, he learned his wife had delivered their first child 10 days earlier, but neither name nor sex was mentioned. 

Secondly, he was scheduled to fly his 29th combat mission the next day – after 30 missions, he would rotate stateside.

Lastly, he was aware B-17 crews nearing the completion of their tours were often given less hostile targets.

Backtracking a bit, Jones and his freshly-trained crew picked up a new B-17 in Nebraska and flew it to England via the northern route in March, 1944, “We flew over lots of water – as the navigator, I received lots of attention!

It’s just as well that we gave up our new B-17 to a senior crew upon our arrival in England, because the aircraft we flew on our first mission was badly shot up and damaged.  Two or our gunners were wounded and did not fly again.

 

By D-Day, I had been designated as pathfinder navigator.  To insure complete secrecy of the mission, those of us briefed the day before were clustered and could not leave our ward.

On June 6, we bombed Omaha Beach at 6:59 a.m. and returned for a second mission inland that afternoon.

Those were the exceptions -- most of our missions were deep inside Germany – our average mission was over eight hours per run.”

 

Now back to the almost perfect scenario mentioned earlier.  “Actually, it turned into more like a perfect storm.  We were surprised when given Berlin as our target.  It was one of the most fiercely defended.  We had been there twice before, and shot up both times.

As the 11 B-17s in our squadron approached Berlin, we met heavy flak and 75 Luftwaffe fighters.  They made three passes at us and all 11 of our bombers went down.  Our aircraft caught on fire and the bail-out signal was given.  The hatch was jammed when I went to jump so I went back up front to help the bombardier who was yelling for help.

Suddenly, the aircraft exploded.  The bombardier and I were blown from the ship at 31,000 feet.  Even with head, shoulder and leg wounds I regained consciousness at about 12,000 feet.  Miraculously, the Lord had opened my parachute.

The bombardier’s chute had also opened and one gunner had parachuted safely.  The gunner was crying from shock and because his shoes had flown off during the jump.  I told him he could have my extra flight boots, but first we were going to get on our knees and thank the Lord that we survived the explosion – the other seven members of our crew perished.”

Jones was imprisoned with other Allied aviators in Stalag Luft III at Sagan, Poland for several months.  He was actually housed in the north compound, from which The Great Escape had been made earlier.

STALAG LUFT III PERSONAL RECORDS CARD FOR COL JONES

As the Nazis considered Allied aviators valuable for future negotiations, Jones and his peers were moved westward in January, 1945 as the Russians closed in, “At three a.m. we were told the camp would be evacuated in two hours.”

After four prisoner of war camps, three inhumane days on forty & eight rail cars, two forced marches and eight months later, Jones was liberated.  He credits Psalms 91 for surviving his POW experience.

JONES SERVED 33 YEARS DURING WW II, KOREA & VIETNAM

Jones wasn’t quite homeward bound yet, “They needed officers to help round up our enlisted men from forced labor camps scattered over the area.  We gutted a cheese factory and manufacturing plant to provide temporary housing – they deemed our food and hastily constructed bunk beds to be luxurious.”

On June 8, 1945 Jones arrived in Boston and called home.  He learned his first child was a daughter, and her name was Glenda, “My family wrote often about her and sent me packages but nothing got through.  I wrote them several cards and letters but they only received one postcard, notifying them I was a POW.”

Jones’ illustrious Army career spanned 33 years and three wars.  Among his personal awards are three Legions of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart.  He retired in 1975 as a colonel, and now resides in Asheboro.

Saved at the age of 12, Jones remains a strong man of faith at 93.  He helped start Raleigh’s Providence Baptist Church in 1978 and Cary’s Colonial Baptist Church in 1987.

COL JONES' "BRAG BOARD" IS IMPRESSIVE -- THREE LEGIONS OF MERIT,
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, PURPLE HEART

Not that he needs help, but his wives may have helped him keep his faith.  After losing his first wife after 69 years of marriage, he married Betty McDowell.  Her father and grandfather were pastors, as are her son, grandson and brother-in-law.

  

     

    

ANOTHER REASON 'HIS' WAS THE GREATEST GENERATION

Have you noticed the smile of a golfer tapping in a birdie over your bogey?  That’s the infectious smile of Bill Beavers. 

That smile made him a top salesman for Greensboro’s Cliff Weil Wholesale, from which Bill retired in October, 2008, with fifty-five years of service.  Actually he requested retirement in 1992 but was coaxed into a sixteen-year ‘soft retirement’.

I guess it is hard to break away when you’re winning trips for your entire family to Hawaii, Acapulco, Puerto Rico, Alaska and the Bahamas.  And don’t forget those sales meetings Bill was forced to attend -- at the Doral, Pinehurst, Homestead, Greenbrier, etc.

Backing up a bit, Beavers was raised in a Christian home, and made his profession of faith at Asheboro Street Baptist Church at the age of ten.  His family lived in Raleigh, NC during his middle school years, “I golfed about every day at Carolina Pines.” 

He worked as Assistant Golf Professional at Gillespie Golf Course after graduating from Greensboro High School.  In the throes of WW II, he worked briefly as a welder in Wilmington before joining the Army.

“I signed up for Combat Engineers to use my welding experience, but a guy with a bird on his shoulder said I was going to the Army Air Corps.”  Soon, Beavers was off to Keesler Field, Biloxi, MS for Basic Training.

“When the company commander learned I was a scratch golfer, he and I golfed while others were taking serious hikes!”  Is there any doubt, golf is in Bill’s DNA?

Next came B-17 Gunnery Training at Las Vegas and Overseas Training at Tampa, where Waist Gunner Beavers and his crew were issued their brand new B-17 Flying Fortress.

B-17 Call Sign "Dottie" In Action

For a break-in flight they flew to Foggia, Italy, where they joined Squadron 340, 97th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, tasked with, “Destroy Germany’s ability to wage war.”

Bill Beavers In Italy - 1944

“Our first combat mission was quite a learning experience, we were attacked by five German fighter planes.”  Bill’s crew soon progressed to Lead Crew, making them first plane over targets.

“On about our 30th bombing mission -- Ploesti, Rumania -- we had an engine shot out, a second engine failed, and eventually the third lost power.  We flew hundreds of miles on one engine before crash-landing.”  “We were praying to make it over the Adriatic Sea to safer haven in Italy before ditching.”

Bill was wounded in the crash and awarded a Purple Heart.  Later, the Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters was added to his military decorations, along with five bronze battle stars.

“The most dangerous place to be in WWII was in a bomber over Germany,” according to BOMBERS OF WWII, by Jeffrey L. Ethell.       

With a new pilot and different B-17, Bill and several of his original crewmen soon returned to action.  Beavers completed 56 combat missions, but the 57th did not go exactly as planned.

Let’s go back to the night before Mission #57.  “A strange guy none of us knew, came into our barracks talking about a time when his parachute failed to open.”  “He showed us how to unsnap the parachute, allowing it to open, should the ripcord happen to fail.”

Bill now insists, “That strange guy could have been an Angel of the Lord!”

The next day, while bombing railroad yards in Augsburg, Germany, anti-aircraft flak took out their #2 engine and wounded the bombardier.  “We’ll have to bail out,” ordered the new pilot, not feeling they could gain sufficient altitude to cross back over the Alps. 

Bill and his experienced buddies suggested they try for safe harbor in Switzerland, which was just minutes away. 

“The cockpit was quiet until someone yelled that the pilot and co-pilot had already jumped!”  “We were all scared to death to jump.  Our Tail Gunner was a big guy from Texas, he had always insisted we not worry, he would personally kick our butts out, one by one.” 

“When his time came, the Texan froze and we had to boot his butt out,” jokes Bill.

Airmen are well-trained on ‘bailing out’, Bill followed all the instructions, but his parachute failed to open.  Then he remembered the strange guy from the night before and followed his instructions.  Whether by coincidence or providence, he landed safely. 

The bad news, Bill was welcomed to Fussen, Germany by the Nazi Wehrmacht.  Via boxcar and foot, he was taken to a POW Camp at Nuremburg.  Each day on their journey Allied Forces bombed or strafed the POW convoy.  “We figured to be killed, we just didn’t know by whom!”

From Nuremburg, Aviation POWs were marched to Frankfort’s Dulag Luft, a Luftwaffe Interrogation Camp. 

After a ten-day march, the POWs found themselves in Moosburg’s Stalag 7.  “The German guards didn’t have much to eat themselves, so we had less.  We pilfered and lifted what we could along the roadside and villages.  I can tell you, raw radishes will set your mouth on fire!”

The MIA Telegram Sent to Bill Beaver's Parents

Stalag 7, about twenty miles northeast of Munich, was built in 1939 to house 10,000 prisoners.  When liberated in April, 1945, one report said it housed 7948 officers and 6944 enlisted POWs, from every Allied country.  Up north a ways, Adolph Hitler committed suicide on April 30.

“I will never forget those tanks rolling in and the guards rolling out -- it was thrilling.”  General Patton spent May 1 visiting with the liberated POWs.

Staff Sergeant Beavers, who had lost fifty pounds, was flown to Camp Lucky Strike, near La Havre, France, for medical attention, then by Liberty Ship to New York.  He volunteered for KP Duty aboard ship and was made Mess Sergeant, “That way, I could eat all day, I was perpetually hungry!”

After the War, Bill returned to Gillespie Golf Course in Greensboro as Assistant Pro for several years, before joining Cliff Weil Wholesale in 1953.

He undoubtedly invoked that infectious smile again to win and woo the hand of Mary Martin, whom he married on June 26, 1955.  The Beavers had two children, Randy, who died as a young adult, and Melody, who lives in Matthews, NC.  Ashleigh is the only grandchild.

Beside Bill’s POW conundrum -- there was one other -- he once made a par four hole-in-one.  The problem -- Mary was in the hospital expecting their first child, so who could he tell?

Interestingly, General Jimmy Doolittle was the first Commanding Officer of Bill Beavers’ 15th Air Force, and the Enola Gay’s Paul Tibbetts once commanded Beavers’ Squadron 340.

Bill Beavers and his Wife Mary 

Even though Beavers and his crew left their B-17, it continued on to Switzerland, just as the crew had suggested – the rest of that story will be continued by a Swiss researcher, THE DAY THE BOMBER CAME.

Unfortunate Hitch-Hiker

Ninety-one year old Bob Bailey was raised by his Waycross, Georgia, maternal grandparents.  “They saw to it that I was well cared for,” says Bailey.  “They even put up with my love for all things aviation, building model airplanes, taking flying lessons, etc.” 

Ironically, Bailey soloed for the first time on December 7, 1941.

He enlisted in the Army in December, 1942 and was later accepted as an aviation cadet.  During flight training at Brookley Field, Alabama he met Betty Rose Waybright, from nearby Irvington.  They were married on May 15, 1943.   

Bailey became a B-29 pilot and was sent to Tinian Island in the Pacific theater.

“These were the last stages of the war.  From Tinian we were bombing the Japanese homeland relentlessly, hoping they would surrender.  My most graphic memory of World War II was a night bombing raid over Tokyo – the whole earth looked like it was on fire.  Someone suggested the lid had been taken off hell,” recalls Bailey.

Bailey had returned state-side when the atomic bombs were dropped, signaling the end of the war.  

He left active duty with the USAAF but joined the U. S. Army Reserve.  

He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, this time as an Army aviator.  As an airborne artillery observer, Bailey flew combat missions with the 25^th Division Artillery. 

In 1961, with almost 20 years of service and two wars under his belt, Bailey, now a major, became the Assistant Military Attaché at the American Embassy in Laos.  “I was excited about this assignment.  I could retain my flight status, use the military expertise I had gained, see new parts of the world – and bad guys wouldn’t be shooting at me.” 

He became even more excited about the job as he piloted the American ambassador and embassy personnel over Laos and surrounds, including exotic destinations such as Bangkok and Saigon.

An engine change required Bailey’s Beechcraft L-23 to remain in Saigon for several days.  Returning from Laos to Saigon to pick up his L-23 with new engine, he hitched a ride with an Air Force C-47.  He wasn’t deterred when informed the unarmed C-47 would be flying a secret reconnaissance mission over Communist-held territory.

Per Bailey, “There were six crew members plus one other hitch-hiker and me.  The pilot ordered everyone to don parachutes.  I will always believe the Good Lord told me to choose a back-pack parachute versus the chest-type.  There was only one back-pack parachute (which you leave on at all times) on the aircraft.  Most aviators prefer the chest-type parachute (which you can easily remove in flight).”

Soon the “not getting shot at” part of Bailey’s new assignment literally went up in smoke.  “Our secret recon mission was fired upon by secret enemy anti-aircraft guns.  We were hit, the plane caught on fire.  The pilot ordered everyone to jump.  I was the only one with a parachute already on so I immediately jumped through the side door which had been removed for photographing.”

Bailey was struck by part of the C-47 fuselage as he exited but recovered in time to watch the doomed aircraft’s death spiral downward.  He hoped to see seven parachutes.  There were none.

Given his shoulder and leg injuries, Bailey pondered his safety.  The area into which he was jumping was locked in a three-way civil war – two of the aggressors were less than friendly towards covert American intervention.

The good news of the jump -- he landed safely, rescuers came to his aid, and a modicum of medical attention was given his wounds by his captors.

The bad news – at that moment, Bailey realized he was a prisoner of war.

As the first American prisoner of war in Southeast Asia, Bailey spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement in a small, dismal, unlit cell.  He went from a robust 185 pounds to an emaciated 135 pounds. 

It could have been worse – of the more than 600 Americans captured or unaccounted for in Laos, only 15 escaped or were released.

Fortunate to be one of the 15, Bailey was finally freed and returned home to his wife and three children.  President John F. Kennedy presented him with a bronze star.  He doesn’t remember who presented him his purple heart, but recalls, “There were generals all over the place.”  Colonel Bob Bailey retired in 1970 with 28 years of service.

Of Bailey’s book, SOLITARY SURVIVOR, fellow Georgian, Newt Gingrich writes, “This is a story about uncommon valor, unparalleled courage and untiring personal strength.”

Bob and Betty Bailey reside in Carolina Estates.  They moved to Greensboro to be near their youngest daughter, Elaine, a retired Episcopal priest.  They have two other children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 

There is more to the remarkable story of Betty and Bob Bailey than most people know.  After 23 years of marriage, three children, two wars, the POW notoriety, and a continuing barrage of duty assignments requiring family separations, the Baileys divorced by mutual agreement.

Bob Bailey met and married Mary Jean Jordan, a former high school sweetheart from Waycross, Georgia.  Jordan’s fighter pilot husband had been killed during World War II.  After many years of marriage, Jean passed away in 2000.

Betty and Bob had remained in friendly contact since their divorce.  In 2007, they were remarried -- on May 15, the same date of their first marriage in 1943.

Ol'Harry