Reflections

(Our father pondered the fate of the men lost on May 17, 1943 though at this time he had no real idea of the full extent of the loss. He digressed in his own thoughts at this point and thought of the tragedy of his friends, the Mathis' brothers, separately described in this Blog at "Interlude" http://warandtime.blogspot.com/2009/03/interlude.html

Jack Mathis was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for the events our father thought back upon that day at Gulag Luft, when he first started to learn of the details of May 17, 1943 Ijuidmen Misson. He is pictured in the back row at the far right of this picture. Here are our father's reflections in his own words.)

One day one of our bombardiers in my squadron, Rudd "Mathis", called his brother who was a bombardier on a B-17 in England. His air base was very close to ours. His brother, Jack, said, "Come over tomorrow afternoon and I'll see you then". Well, that probably meant he was going out on a mission that day.

So Rudd went over there that afternoon and it was protocol for any B-17 (or any airplane) coming in for a landing, that first priority went to crippled airplanes that were ready to crash, and they would fire a red flare out of the airplane and then they would come to the head of the formation to land.

Planes with wounded men aboard also sent out red flares to tell the crew on the ground that they needed second priority. Well anyway, a flare went out from the plane that Rudd "Mathis'" brother Jack was flying on. It landed and Rudd went out to the airplane and helped carry his dead brother off the airplane.

What had happened was they were making their bomb run and he was in the lead airplane. It was characteristic that the lead airplane was the one that used the bombsite to locate the target and the drop point and then when all the airplanes behind him saw the bombs falling, they would drop their bombs. Well, shortly before they hit the drop point, the bombardier, Jack Mathis, was hit with a burst of flack and he was grievously wounded. Nevertheless, he stuck with his bomb site and dropped the bombs on the target and died. For this, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Well, Rudd was all upset about this, obviously, and he requested of our Commanding Officer that he be transferred into that B-17 group. They accommodated him. And several days later, he went out with that group and the B-17 he was flying on radioed "May Day" as it was returning over the English Channel. May Day means, we're in trouble, we're going down. That was the last that was ever heard of Rudd "Mathis" and the airplane. Evidently, it crashed into the North Sea and no debris was found, which meant it probably just kept on going to the bottom of the sea. Both brothers were dead.

Interlude

I have thought often about what my father thought about during the three or four hours that he sat looking over the Mass River. I have talked with him almost every day during our writing and he has told me that he doesn’t specifically recall just what went through his mind during those hours.

I have also thought about where I was at that age and the relatively easy life I enjoyed in college. I have wondered, how I would have responded to the situation my father, and many others faced on March 17, 1943. I have no answers.

I spoke with my father today who told me some more stories of the men who did not return that day. My father is supportive and very helpful in sending me letters and other documents that offer a glimpse of the struggles he and others went through during the coming two or three years but he added that he hesitates to ask anyone to focus on one man’s story, particularly after he returned to Europe several year ago, with my brother Gil, to the site where he was captured on the shore of the Maas Canal.

During that trip with Gil, my father returned to the cemeteries, to find the graves of those who lost their lives at such a young age on March 17, 1943. It took awhile, into the early evening, but my father found the graves of the two gunners in his B-26 who were lost that day. Their bodies had washed ashore days later, miles away from the spot their plane went down. He also found the graves of most of the men who were lost during his mission that day, save for those whose bodies were never found.

“It’s hard,” my father says, “to think that any one story of a survivor is important enough to tell with all of the white crosses I saw that day, and that I know stand alone today all over the world.”

I am very fortunate to be able to talk with my father about his life at this time and as I write his story, I seem to better appreciate a simple fact – the struggles I have today, with economic conditions mostly, are far less difficult and, much easier to bear, when I think of the much greater challenges that prior generations have had to face.

My father talks often and very emotionally, about the young men who did not return. Though not on my father’s mission that day, a friend lost his life one day later, on March 18, 1943, and was one of the ten airmen in the “Mighty 8th” who received the Medal of Honor.

On March 18, 1943, Jack W. Mathis, 21 years old at the time, was lead bombardier on a mission over Germany. The lead bombardier's role in these missions was critical. He was responsible for directing the bombing of the entire squadron.

I will let the Medal of Honor Citation speak for itself:

Medal of Honor Citation

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 359th Bomber Squadron, 303d Bomber Group. Place and date: Over Vegesack, Germany, March 18, 1943. Entered service at: San Angelo, Tex. Born: September 25, 1921, San Angelo, Tex. G.O. No.: 38, July 12, 1943.

Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy over Vegesack, Germany, on March 18, 1943. 1st Lt. Mathis, as leading bombardier of his squadron, flying through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire, was just starting his bomb run, upon which the entire squadron depended for accurate bombing, when he was hit by the enemy antiaircraft fire. His right arm was shattered above the elbow, a large wound was torn in his side and abdomen, and he was knocked from his bomb sight to the rear of the bombardier's compartment. Realizing that the success of the mission depended upon him, 1st Lt. Mathis, by sheer determination and willpower, though mortally wounded, dragged himself back to his sights, released his bombs, then died at his post of duty. As the result of this action the airplanes of his bombardment squadron placed their bombs directly upon the assigned target for a perfect attack against the enemy. 1st Lt. Mathis' undaunted bravery has been a great inspiration to the officers and men of his unit.

Jack's brother Mark was on base when the plane carrying his brother's body landed after the mission. At his own request, Mark Mathis was transferred into Jack Mathis' crew to replace him as bombardier. When the crew completed its tour of duty, Mark Mathis stayed in combat and was killed in action over the North Sea in May 1943.