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In Service with the 461st Dear George, The following is some material from my years in the service. I started in Kearns, Utah with Captain Drobek & Lt. Preciado and a bunch of other guys. At that time I was a 766 ground radio operator & mechanic. After Salt Lake, Wendover, Hammer Field and a long train and boat ride we landed in Naples, Italy. We stayed in the marble college on a cold February night. I bunked with two buddies, Bob Andrews and Glenn Hamilton. (both deceased) Glen left us in the evening and returned about midnight and said, "How about a steak sandwich and a piece of angel food cake?" I almost threw him out the window until he showed me the bag. It was a true story. His sister was a nurse at the Naples Hospital. It was the best surprise the three of us had in quite a while. Now on to the train and box car heaven. The fastest milk train to Cerignola. I don't remember how long we were on the train but I do remember we all had diarrhea from the C rations in Naples or something else. It was sure fun with 2 guys holding your arms with your butt out the door. The citizens along the way sure got a good laugh at the sight. Being in the 766 we wound up on a farm outside Cerignola. This farm had a large horseshoe shaped barn where we bedded down temporarily until the tents and stoves arrived. Mess Sgt. George Panagopoulos, who was the best in the group, traded C rations, K rations and anything else he could get for fresh vegetables. Most of us developed some kind of bladder or kidney infections and couldn't hold our water. We heard lots of men get up in the middle of the night running outside, swearing all the way. Wet again. This kept Capt. Sproul very busy the first few days. For some unknown reason I was split up from Hamilton, Andrews and Davidson. I wound up with six other guys in a tent near the barber shop. E. Carpenter, L. Gerbicke, C. Percival and J. Breuil, all living. E. Fraser and J. McQuire, both deceased. We built the ground radio station at Group Hdqs. and settled down to routine operation. We all worked eight hour shifts, split up with the four squadron's radio operators. After the air crews arrived, we were on the air 24 hours a day. Jim Gillespie was our fourth operator (deceased). Does anyone remember the code names for each squadron and group? They all began with the letter "N'. I remember these names, Newsboy, Nevermore and Nonesuch. In the spring of '44, we decided to build a house next to our tent. We fell heir to enough "Tufa Block" to construct a building 20 x 30 feet (approx.) using fertilizer for mortar. Worked O.K. Picked up enough spare wood for a roof and covered it with frag metal box tops. Our good friend, Joe Quattrochi, was the engineer on the project and all went well. We needed one or two good pieces of 1x4 lumber for our ridge and scrap this large was unavailable but in the supply building was a stack of good lumber that would suit our needs. Four of us went into the building. One of us started talking to Supply Sgt. Lucas while the other three made off with our ridge boards. If Sgt. Lucas saw us, he never let on. We acquired four sacks of cement and hired some locals to pour our floor, by hand. With only four sacks of cement in our 20 x 30' floor made it very thin but it was better than dirt. By this time we took in another poor soul, Gordon Springfield, propeller specialist. Now we had four men in armament. They were under Lt. Halpern who had a dog named "Frag". McQuire was an instrument man, Fraser, air mechanic and I was a radio operator under Lt. C. Walker. Mechanics were under Line Chief Ted Hawkinson. Quite a mix but we all got along very well. About November 1944, the squadron had lost 3 or 4 radio operators, so I thought I could get home earlier if I flew. I talked to Capt. Preciado and was on flight status. About the same time they came out with an aircraft radar jammer called "Panther". I took 4 hours study and became a "Panther" operator. This allowed me to fly almost every day. I did fly 5 missions in 5 days. Always flew in the 7th spot in the squadron which always put me with a new crew. Also as an odd man I did fly in lead and deputy lead ships. One mission was with Lt. Faulkner. When we landed on the Isle of Vis, one B-24 hit the mountain before we landed. Then a P-38 did the same thing after we landed. This was one landing and take off I would rather have missed. I will say, in my 27 missions, we had very little opposition, just flak. About Jan-Feb, Capt. Hal Ehrlich (had been ill) was transferred to the 766th. I was assigned to his crew with two other men, Cpl. Al Crisp (gunner) (the pride of Texas) and Sam Bryan (engineer) deceased. Capt. H. Ehrlich was a squadron leader so we usually flew lead or deputy group lead which required a radio operator. After that I flew with who needed me. The Panther outfit consisted of 3 or 4 transmitters and one receiver. You would listen for enemy radar then jam with a transmitter. On one mission we had quite a bit of flak and I asked the tail gunner what he thought about the Panther operation. He was very upset and stuttered that it attracted more flak. That was the only observation I heard about how effective it was. After the final mission, we flew a couple of supply missions to P.O.W. camps. It was over. Flying at low altitudes we did observe some of our handy work. It was an experience I could have missed but will never forget. When Sam Byran & I were notified we were going to fly back with Maj. Phillips and Capt. Jack Yetter on #49 ship, we had a large wheel painted on the nose plus "The Wheels". Flying did get me earlier on points so it paid off. In 1986, when I discovered we had an organization, I decided to try and locate members of the "House". Found out Earl Fraser and Jim McQuire were deceased but the other five were still with us. Since then, my wife and I have visited all of these good people after we had our first and only reunion in Memphis, TN. My wife and I are old car nuts and in 1996 we drove our Model "A" to Rochester, NY and contacted the Capt. himself, Hal Ehrlich. He invited us to a cook-out where we had a delicious steak dinner with all the trimmings. Met his wife Grace, his son and daughter-in-law (names I have lost) and his young grandson. I took them for a ride in the Model "A". All went well on the first trip but when Hal and Grace went with me the Ford quit right in the middle of the street. Hal had flown on many missions and we always got home safely. This was embarrassing. After stumbling around for a few minutes, I remembered the fuse I had installed, that was the answer. At least I got them home and it was an enjoyable trip. My wife Lucille and I, married 51 years, have traveled all over in our trusty old Ford for 25 years. Last summer we drove our Model "A" to Dayton for a National Meet. While there we visited the Museum. Had dinner in the hanger (same place the reunion was). We also located the 461st Bomb Group plaque and tree which has grown quite tall. When I located Glenn Hamilton in Ohio, I learned he was killed in an auto accident in 1952. I talked to his sister. She was the nurse who sent us the sandwiches and cake, I got to thank her personally for her good deed. LeRoy B. Duke 766th Squadron Radio Operator |
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