JOHN KOEHNE -- MISSION COMPLETE

B-17 pilot, 1^st LT John Koehne, probably had a hunch the mission of April 2, 1944, would be different.  Over his combat missions to date, he had generally flown as co-pilot.  On this mission, a less experienced replacement pilot would co-pilot Ole Mose -- Koehne would pilot.

JOHN KOEHNE -- 2013 AT PENNYBYRN

Targeting a Nazi ball bearing plant and aircraft manufacturing facilities in Austria, over 500 heavy bombers rose at daybreak from the Southern tip of Italy.  According to briefing instructions, it was the 15^th Air Force’s largest mission to date.  Koehne knew from past experience, this would be a long, dangerous flight -- to bomb a fiercely defended target.  That the crews typically received double credit for missions of this sort was of little consolation.

LT JOHN KOEHNE & FAMILY 

Ole Mose was one of 19 heavy bombers that went down during ferocious aerial firefights over the target.  Many others went missing in action.

Late in the summer of 2013, from his home in Pennybyrn at Maryfield, 93-year old Koehne reminisced, “Over the target, four anti-aircraft shells exploded very close to us.  I realized we were in trouble, control cables were cut, one engine gone, and gaping holes appeared in the wings.”

We had to drop out of the formation and German fighter planes swarmed all over us.  I put it on auto pilot and went aft to inspect the ship, only to find it on fire.  I immediately ordered the crew to jump.  The entire crew made it out safely, but I had to go back to the cockpit to get my parachute.”

With his parachute on, Koehne could not clear the damaged bomb door.  “I jumped out with the parachute under my arms.  The main parachute would not open, but an auxiliary chute opened just seconds before I hit the ground!”

Due to his rapid, but unplanned descent, Koehne said, “I was the last man to jump, but the first one to hit the ground!” 

German soldiers picked up the downed airmen for interrogation and imprisonment.  Several crew members were wounded.  One died from his injuries within hours.  “He was bleeding heavily, I knew he was in bad shape.  Both Austrian farmers and German soldiers tried to care for him, but it was too late,” recalled Koehne.

Survivors of the Ole Mose crew spent the rest of the war as POWs.  After his discharge, Koehne joined the Air National Guard in St. Louis, his hometown.  Mostly through night classes, he earned a degree in economics and business administration from St. Louis University, graduating cum laude in 1955.

He became a contracting officer with McDonnell Aircraft.  His favorite McDonnell recollection was negotiating a billion dollar contract with Ross Perot.  After contractual work with the Navy in Washington, D.C., Koehne came to the Triad to work with AT & T.

He was caregiver for his wife for seven years, until she died in 1997.  They had five children.  At Immaculate Heart of Mary in High Point, he became president of the Young at Hearts group.  In 1999, he married Julia, also a Young at Heart member. 

Surely, the Young at Hearts aren’t into hazing, but Koehne has bungee jumping in his background – with filming by his wife as proof.  He explained, “It was free for me, because of my age.” 

Known as “Big Jim” in his younger days, Koehne was wheel-chair bound and in failing health at the time of our visit.  He was noticeably blessed with careful attention from his wife and other caring attendants.  Typical of so many of his generation, he was proud to have served his country and felt blessed to have lived 93 years. 

 

Koehne passed away on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 2013.  According to his obituary, he died with a cross around his neck, his wife holding one hand, his rosary in the other, and the American flag draped over his legs. 

 

An unusual looking mechanical device hung on a wall of the Koehne home.  The unusualness went away after a bit of Internet sleuthing about Ole Mose.

RECOVERED FRAGMENT OF B-17 "OLE MOSE"

Marty Upchurch, a nephew of Ole Mose’s lone fatality, is the Newsletter Editor of the 99^th Bomb Group Historical Society.   Upchurch has thoroughly researched and documented the B-17’s loss.  He has visited the crash site in Austria and talked with witnesses of the crash as well as with some who cared for his uncle before he died.

Upchurch also brought back miscellaneous pieces from the Ole Mose crash site.  They had been stored in an Austrian farmer’s barn for over 60 years.  One of those parts is an unusual looking mechanical device – it’s the one John Kuehne proudly displayed on the wall of his Pennybryn at Maryfield home.

After Koehne's death, she asked that I come by and pick up the large assortment of WW II caps he left -- most of which were new and had not been worn.  She wished them given to other WW II survivors -- that mission has been completed!

     

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.”

   

   

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.

This article is a continuation of the Bill Beavers story, ANOTHER REASON HIS WAS THE GREATEST GENERATION.  It is written by a Swiss researcher, Juerg Herzig, who read the Beavers’ column online and thought it resonated with something his mother had told him many years ago – she lived in the small town of Trimbach, Switzerland.  His website is http://standwheretheyfought.jimdo.com

Sixty-five years ago, the B-17 ‘Dottie’, a U.S. bomber, crashed in Trimbach.
By: Jurg Herzig


B-17 Dottie after being shot down.



Saturday, February 27, 2010, will be the 65^th anniversary of the day the enemy aircraft crashed in Trimbach. 

On Tuesday, February 27, 1945, about 2:20 p.m., according to Trimbach villagers, air raid sirens sounded in Olten, warning of an air raid.  Subject of the warning was a Flying Fortress approaching from the direction of Winznau. 

The bomber was from the 414^th Squadron, 97^th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 15^th Air Force, deployed from Amendola Air Base, near Foggia, Italy.

The B-17 Flying Fortress, known as Dottie was tasked to attack the Guderbahnhof, the main freight terminal in Augsburg, Germany.  During the attack, the ship was heavily damaged by anti-aircraft flak.  One engine was lost and the bombardiers were wounded.

As the mission’s lead aircraft, Dottie was designated (PFF).  Her nose gun turrets had been replaced with Pathfinder Force H2X radar equipment, code named “Mickey”.  “Mickey 4” was her radio call sign.     

Major George Albin, flying on his first mission with this Squadron, reported being struck by enemy fire at 1:25 p.m.  Another aircraft from Squadron 414, piloted by Major John R. Campbell, was flying alongside when Albin ordered Dottie’s crew to abandon the ship as soon as possible.

The aircraft was losing altitude rapidly.  The pilot did not think it could make it over the Alps, therefore, his order for abandonment. 

Bill Beavers, a waist gunner aboard Dottie, remembers the mission quite well. 

He and other crew members, who had completed thirty combat missions, did not agree with the pilot’s decision. 

They recalled a similar incident of August 18, 1944, when their aircraft received heavy damage and the loss of three engines over Ploesti, Romania.  Yet, the remaining engine flew them several hundred miles to safety.

Realizing Dottie was only six minutes from reaching the Swiss border, a crew member radioed the pilot to stay the course, rather than going down in German territory. 

This was seconded by Bill Beavers, “Better to be interned in Switzerland than becoming a POW in Germany!”

Even though most of the crew wanted to remain on board, Major Albin placed the aircraft on automatic pilot and along with the co-pilot, bailed out.

Only when the cockpit failed to respond to other crewmembers did they know the pilot and co-pilot had jumped.

“We were scared to death to jump, but Richard Adkins, our tail gunner, told us to stay calm.  Adkins was a big guy from Texas and threatened to boot our ass out of the plane if necessary.  As it happened, Adkins got stuck and we booted him out, then the rest of us jumped”, says Beavers.

Beavers and other crew members landed near a river and were captured by German police near Pussen.  Other crewmen landed close to a German Army Camp were captured near Kaufbeusen by the German Army.

The Dottie crew spent the remainder of the war in various POW Camps.  Beavers was imprisoned in Stalag VII A, near Moosburg.

General Patton’s Tank Division liberated him on April 30, 1945.  By that time he had lost more than fifty-five pounds.  Today, Bill and his wife, Mary, live in Guilford County, NC.  Now retired, he spends much of his time playing golf.

Back to Dottie, she flew on auto-pilot into Switzerland, crossing the border at approximately 2:00 p.m.  The Swiss Air Force customarily intercepted errant bombers and directed them to land at Dubendorf. 

Seeing that this B-17 was not responding to directions, Swiss Air Force fighter planes commenced firing on Dottie at 2:40 p.m.  Even after Dottie’s fuselage and right wing panel was on fire, the ship flew towards Trimbach.

Even though Dottie was losing altitude, the fighter planes remained on the ship’s tail, continuing to fire in an attempt to bring the ship down.  Unmanned, damaged, and out of control, Dottie twice circled the village of Olten, before finally falling towards Trimbach.

At one time, it was feared the damaged B-17 would crash into the Kantonsspital, the Trimbach Hospital.  Fortunately, those fears did not materialize.

Around 3:00 Dottie crashed into a field near Rinetelhof’s Inn in Trimbach.

Soldiers, police and firefighters rushed to the crash scene, only to discover that the aircraft had been completely destroyed.  They were not surprised that not even a tiny clue of crew member remains was found.