God Bless John Culberson

John Culberson

An editorial in the Washington Post of October 28 caught my eye with the headline: "Veterans allowed to rest in peace."  At first, I thought it was a story about repatriation of recently recovered remains of veterans lost during combat.  There are thousands of these cases still being worked by the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC), including the case on William Edward Cramsie.  But, no, this was about something even more head-turning.  It really is a little mind numbing and heart warming at the same time.

A couple months back, I received an email forwarded from a friend.  It was a report about the Obama Administration forbidding prayer and other religious references at VA Cemetery services.  Not only that, there were reports of veteran groups like VFW and American Legion getting hassled by a VA Cemetery manager and threatened with expulsion for using a reference to God in what they said during presentations to a widow.  I thought this so bizarre that I immediately put it in the category of skinhead propaganda and hit the delete button.  When I realized that this Post editorial was about that very topic, I was shocked back to reality.  I know that the Post is sometimes a bit biased, though in my personal view with some justification, but I could not believe that they would have bought into something like this without confirmation.

As I read on, it became obvious that the story was true.  Now, I'm not saying that I believe everything that I read in the media, I'm just a tad less gullible than that.  What sealed the veracity for me was the report of John Culberson's involvement.  I happen to know and trust Mr. Culberson through my work with a non-profit advocacy group.  Representative Culberson (TX-7) has helped us on many occasions and is one of an honored few who have been recognized with our highest "Friend" award.  That aside, I read with considerable interest how he jousted with the Administration to change VA policy back to the sane traditional path that it had followed for as far back as my memory reaches, and that's getting to be a far reach.  I won't go into the details because the Post article is linked above and all can read it for themselves.  However, I did want to say here that its refreshing when a legislator has the will to engage and the audacity to demand redress of government excess.  This was not about religion it was about liberty.  We have become far too PC in America and are throwing out the baby with the bath water.  I wish we had more leaders who respect and tolerate personal rights and freedoms and less who insist on defining and enforcing a uniform code of existence.

God Bless John Culberson!

In Memory - an Archive

Memorial Day seems an appropriate time to report the growth of an activity that honors the service of those who served and those who died serving during WWII.  Two years ago, at the 416th Bomb Group reunion in Branson, Missouri, a topic arose that had been on the minds of many veterans and their kin in recent years.  The tangible links that many of us who served keep squirreled away in a chest (personnel records, photos, military orders and the like) tend to disappear at the end of our tenure here.  To those who hold these sorts of items dear, it is a tragedy.  We find it hard to imagine that a younger generation might not find some or all of these remembrances important enough to preserve.  Yet, every day, somewhere in America, history is destroyed in a burn barrel along with the kitchen trash. As a nation, we go to great lengths to preserve the smallest of objects from antiquity, but seem oblivious to the monumental importance of objects nearer to us in time.

Shortly after that 2009 reunion, I was copied on an email from a veteran's spouse that went out to several of the organizers of the very informal 416th Bomb Group Association.  The message reinforced what had been discussed earlier.  This spouse had numerous records and photos that belonged to her husband, a member of the 416th Headquarters staff from the earliest days to the end of the war.  There apparently was marginal interest in this material among the surviving family members and it needed to be cleared to make space in a downsizing operation.  After a round of email exchanges, I rather reluctantly volunteered to serve as a repository for this information until a suitable permanent home could be identified.  It was a selection pool of one.  Thus was born the 416th Bomb Group Archive and the loosely defined title "Archivist".

Since that day, the amount of information about the 416th Bomb Group that has come to light has been absolutely staggering.  The discovery and sharing of the personal photo collection of Capt. Francis J. Cachat, the 416th photographer, has added well over 900 hitherto unknown photographs of 416th personnel and equipment.  A windfall of data was added to the Archive through the thoughtfulness of an Air Force Historical Research Agency employee who made digital copies of wartime 416th records available.  Also enriching the Archive were donations of material from several veterans and/or their families.  This latter group shed considerable light on the history of squadron and group reunions dating back to 1946.

In addition to the preservation of primary sources, the Archive includes significant research tools.  Among the most important of these is the 416th.com website, which has been very greatly expanded and is growing almost daily due to the dedicated effort of Rick Prucha, the son of a 416th pilot.  Relational databases have also been created to record details of unit personnel (currently recording 2,460 officers and enlisted members) and 310 unit aircraft (181 A-20s and 129 A-26s to date).  Both of these databases continue to grow as additional records or photos are analyzed and new verifiable information becomes available.

New Home of the 416th Bomb Group Archive

The primary purpose of any archive is to safely store material for research.  Obviously, that means a place to store and a place to work.  An opportunity recently presented itself for my wife Doris and I to purchase what was formerly the Gainesville, Missouri City Hall.  It's an historic WPA building built in 1935 as a Community Center just off the town square.  Gainesville is nestled in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks, about 50 miles east of Branson, MO.  Our intention is to restore the building to something approximating its original state.  A dedicated area within this building will house the 416th Archive.  Also within the building will be a library and educational center for the study of historical objects from an earlier era.

Eventually, the Archive will need a permanent home.  With limited and shrinking budgets (and staff), the academic repositories that once would have been likely candidates are overwhelmed by the amount of material that has emerged as WWII veterans are leaving us at an accelerating pace.  By holding, organizing and preserving this information about the 416th, one small but important unit in the great war effort of almost 70 years ago, we can improve the viability of this archive complementing that of a more enduring institution in years to come.

416th veterans, family, or friends with items to donate or copies to share may telephone 417-499-9831 or write to Wayne G. Sayles, 416th Bomb Group Archive, P.O. Box 911, Gainesville, MO 65655

Wethersfield Revisited

Yesterday, I wrote about our trip to Ballymoney, the ancestral home of Bill Cramsie.   During this ten-day trip to Ireland, we took a couple days to fly over to Wethersfield, Essex, where Bill had been stationed at the time of his death.  I had been to Wethersfield in March of 2010 and wrote about that visit here.  Thanks to the perceptive intuition of Sally Stewart, one of the employees that I met in the site Administration building, I was able also to meet her husband Ross who is a Chief Inspector in the Ministry of Defense Police (MDP) at this base.  Ross has been studying the history and evolution of the base for many years.  He subsequently purchased a copy of First to Fall on Amazon.com and we became well acquainted through a regular flow of emails. 

The reason for the visit this year was to meet with Ross and discuss progress on a project that he is shepherding.  During my visit last year, I left a copy of First to Fall with the personal secretary to the facility commander.  The book caught the attention of MDP senior management and before long Ross was tasked to conduct a feasibility study into the possibility of finding and, if possible, recovering 43-9699 and its crew.  One of the first tasks under this order was to brief the US Air Force contingent in Britain, as well as teleconferenced individuals at the Pentagon.  This was done with aplomb and before long the Department of Defense showed active interest in the project that Ross had dubbed "9699".  Meanwhile, Ross selected a small team of interested staff to gather and evaluate data related to the mission of April 10, 1944.  I was fortunate to meet two additional team members during this visit.

During the past five months, I've been in close touch with the "9699" team at Wethersfield and have assisted whenever possible by searching for and studying available mission records and related facts that may shed light on the precise location where Bill Cramsie's plane went down.   It has been an exciting time and I was delighted by the opportunity to see Ross again and to expand my personal knowledge of the base.  As guests of Ross and Sally Stewart, Doris and I were allowed to stay in former military quarters on the base.  From our window, we could see the bronze 416th Bomb Group plaque that Frank Basford had installed adjacent to the chapel many years ago.   

The MDP at Wethersfield made Doris and I feel like very special guests and the personal attention paid to us by the Stewart family was absolutely extraordinary.  Through their kind hospitality, we were able to meet their daughter Sarah, just days after presenting Ross and Sally with their first grandchild.  We also were able to spend a little time with Richard and Susan Clubley of Church Hill House at Wethersfield, friends with whom I stayed during the 2010 visit.  

Doris Sayles, Ross Stewart, Wayne Sayles, Sally Stewart

With the help of Ross, who is intimately familiar with the buildings, roads, and structures on the base, I became much better acquainted with the nature of this facility during WWII.  We visited the area where the 671st Bomb Squadron was quartered and marveled at the way nature has reclaimed that piece of land in the past 67 years.  All that remains of the once booming compound are a series of air raid shelters, some concrete foundations for Nissen Huts and the remnants of communal toilets/showers.  The interconnecting concrete sidewalks also remain.  

Air Raid Shelter in the 671st Bomb Sq. quarters area remains intact

In the 668th squadron quarters area, there are still a few Nissen Huts standing.  There are also several buildings near the flight line that were in use during the 416th tenure at Wethersfield.

Surviving Nissen Hut in the 668th Bomb Sq. living area

The trip to Wethersfield was a great success and I'm pleased to report that "Project 9699" is very much alive and well, with a strong commitment on both sides of the Atlantic.