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A Christmas War Story – B-25 MIA search related |
| Most any veteran can tell you that we all recall, fondly or
not, our Christmas experiences in a war zone. Here’s some added insight to
some of the missing crew members in the course of the B-25 missing crew
search and our process of documenting it. The story hits me hard… in
thinking what may never be recorded for history…the thousands of Christmas
Day stories – of veterans. Some of those accounts may be lost when the
veterans… who knew those MIA’s –are no longer alive to tell their stories.
Here’s one: It was a 1943 Christmas Day bombing mission to the north side of New Guinea – required flying through the mountains – and air combat operations continued as usual – except for all the crews knowing it WAS Christmas Day. I could feel the emotion in the voice of the veteran WWII pilot as he related the story in response to my questions both about the majority of the crew ( 4 months later to become MIA) Telling me also about his own experience and knowledge of the crew… As long as he lives – he said – he’ll always recall the B-25 Christmas morning mission to a Japanese target in New Guinea . As we got over the target, we followed our crew and squadron procedures – I was the pilot with M.L. as my co-pilot. It was the job of the co-pilot in our New Guinea aircraft crew configuration to release the bombs from the rack. The crew/copilot protocol for the release was the word “Toggle” informing the rest of the crew – as well as myself ( pilot ) the bombs were released. When we hit the release point over the target – ML, the co-pilot, said with a smile – “Peace on earth, good will to men. Toggle! Toggle! Toggle!” A short 4 month’s later, ML’s crew, with ML as the pilot – survived a crash landing in a Japanese held area, “without apparent injury” and was dropped supplies for a few days… then disappeared. If we can’t discover where to dig for their remains… we will document their service. If you can help – contact Go Remote, Inc. Adventures. |