On this Independence Day Weekend, please honor those in the armed forces who are protecting our country, and honor those who paid the ultimate price in past struggles for us to say free.One such WW II B-29 crew was that of Waddy's Wagon.
The photo caption from the WW II Multimedia Database states:
The crew of B-29 Superfortress 42-24598 "Waddy's Wagon", 20th Air Force, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bomb Group, 869th Bomb Squadron, the fifth B-29 to take off on the first Tokyo mission from Saipan on November 24, 1944, and first to land back at Isley Field after bombing the target. Crew members, posing here to duplicate their caricatures on the plane, are : Plane Commander, Captain Walter R. "Waddy" Young, Ponca City, Oklahoma, former All-American end; Lieutenant Jack H. Vetters, Corpus Christi, Texas, pilot; Lieutenant John F. Ellis, Moberly, Missouri, bombardier; Lieutenant Paul R. Garrison, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, navigator; Sergeant George E. Avon, Syracuse, New York, radio operator; Lieutenant Bernard S. Black, Woodhaven, New York, Flight Engineer; Sergeant Kenneth M. Mansie of Randolph, Maine, Flight Technician; and gunners - Sargeants Lawrence L. Lee of Max, North Dakota; Wilbur J. Chapman of Panhandle, Texas; Corbett L. Carnegie, Grindstone Island, New York; and Joseph J. Gatto, Falconer, New York. All were killed when "Waddy's Wagon" was shot down attempting to guide a crippled B-29 back to safety during a mission against the Nakajima aircraft factory in Musashino, Japan on January 9, 1945.
4 comments:
Received this comment on the photo (from a B-29 Yahoo Group Member):
Hi,
Thank you for choosing that picture and crew in your tribute. My uncle was the Lawrence L Lee listed in that crew. I would like to correct a couple of things from the photo caption if I may. Jack Vetter’s did not fly that mission and wasn’t lost. He went on to fly the B-29 “Misti Christi” and chose some of the members of Waddy’s Wagon’s alternate crew to become his crew. Jean Allen was one of those he chose. Jack survived the war and I spoke to him and received a long letter from him in the 1980’s. He passed away in January of 1995. One other correction I’d like to make is that they weren’t shot down returning from that mission. I have done a lengthy research for the past 30 years and none of the military reports, including the MACR indicate the plane had been hit. Jack Vetters told me that they never found any sign of the plane when they searched for a possible ditching and he was quite certain that what happened was that when Waddy dropped back to protect Bennie Crowell’s plane (he and Bennie were good friends), Jack believed the two planes collided and exploded, which was why there were no pieces ever found. Clint Fay, the ground crew chief for Waddy’s Wagon, also told me that he would agree with what Jack had believed happened to the plane.
We recently had a family reunion of the Lee family. They asked me to talk a bit about what I’d researched. Afterwards, two cousins of mine who served in Vietnam came over to talk to me and I told them how I had heard several stories as to what had actually happened to the plane. The one cousin who had experience to know this, said that he would feel Jack Vetter’s story was more reliable than a military source because he knew from personal experience that what was put down for military information vs. what the men had to say, often wasn’t the same, and the men’s story was a more accurate account. So I’m inclined to say that since the MACR witness said there was could see no visual damage to the plane and Jack Vetters was there at the time his fellow crew members were lost that his story is the one I consider as most accurate. An interview I had with a CIA agent who had been in Vietnam also gave me that impression.
I have had contact with three of the family members of the men in that crew. Two of the families had never known anything of what had happened. Paul Garrison’s brother sent me copies of letters that Paul’s widow received from Lauris Norstad, Brigadier General, Chief of Staff and also from Lt. Colonel Robert Morgan shortly after the plane was lost and both those have different stories of what happened, neither of which fit with what the MACR states. When I did more research in 1997, I spoke to a man in the Personnel and Logistics for the Dept. of the Army in Virginia regarding procedures in place for notifying families of MIA servicemen. I have used his one remark often, which was, “Who’s to say, who’s to know?” because there were a variety of procedures in each military service at that time.
However it happened, thank you again for honoring their memory – because the sacrifice they and so many others made, however it happened, was one that should not be forgotten.
Sincerely.
Margaret Mikelson
Margaret,
I was so excited to stumble on your blog. My uncle Wilbur Jame
Chapman was a gunner on Waddy's
Wagon and I would love to talk
directly to you via email, please
contact me at danew1@sbcglobal.net
Regards,
Dorothy Newberry
Margaret,
Please contact me, my uncle was
Wilbur J. Chapman. He was on Waddy's Wagon.
danew1@sbcglobal.net
Regards,
Dot
Margaret,
Glad to find your posting, my uncle was Wilbur J. Chapman also on Waddy's Wagon. Would like to contact you.
Dorothy Newberry
Tyler, TX
Post a Comment