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BACK TO ENGLAND The ship finally got us back to England and eventually we arrived back at our home base at Aldermaston where they rolled out the red carpet for us I guess they didn't think many of us would survive and they couldn't do enough for us After interrogation by the base intelligence officer and after we had pinpointed on aerial photos our landing spots we were all given three day passes After that the daily training routine began again and most of us went to a commando ground school at Ogburne St George for further training in weapons and ground tactics Many of us got in co pilot time in C 47s on the resupply runs so the time power boys who had been flying around the clock could get badly needed bouts of rest I remember almost everything about this Normandy Mission in great detail from the takeoff to boarding the LST for the return trip to England and everything in between After that from the moment the anchor was pulled up on that LST and we started back England my mind is an absolute blank For the life of me I cannot remember crossing the Channel where we landed or how I got from the channel port back to the 434 th Group at my home base at Aldermaston The physical and mental stress fear and anxiety from the last three days must have shorted out my brain circuits for this period of time PLEASE NOTE Buckley attaches an addendum here outlining the fate of several other gliders in this mission All are historically significant and worthy of attention but unfortunately we have space for only Glider No 1 piloted by Lt Col Mike Murphy flying with the 72 nd TCS This glider crashed into a line of trees on the edge of a field killing the co pilot Lt Robert butler and Brig Gen Pratt the Assistant Division Commander of the 101 st Airborne Division The Pathfinder pilot on board the tow plane Major A E Robinson from the 74 th TCS warned Murphy just before they reached the LZ that the wind had shifted He replied that it was too late to change plans Murphy's glider was overloaded and probably nose heavy because of the steel plate that had been placed under the General's jeep The glider pilots of Troop Carrier Command had tasted their first combat I'm sure that all of us who participated in this operation came away with the knowledge that war is definitely not the glamorous exciting game depicted in the movies or in the way we played it when we were kids Those of us who have gone to war and watched our friends die before our eyes will have these haunting memories forever with us We will treasure life as never before and grieve silently for our young friends and buddies who did not return home AIR EVACUATION AT NORMANDY You guys are crazy she said one day you fly a bunch of Gung Ho young men over here and drop them to face one of the best trained and highly disciplined armies in the whole world and the next day here you are again hauling their battered selves back to get patched up as best we can do it under the circumstances Then she said almost to herself I guess we're all a little crazy to sit by and allow things to get so out of hand that they wind up like this The pilot of this mission the one standing in front to the ambulance was Captain George Merz The co pilot the one standing at the rear of the ambulance is 2 nd Lt Charles Johnson both from the 61 st Troop Carrier Squadron of the 314 th Troop Carrier Group Merz is still with us to provide pictures like this one among other things but Johnson was later killed on a resupply mission in Belgium The crew chief and radio operator are unknown at this time Later on troop carrier planes made regular runs from various stations in England to Prestwick Scotland with patients who were being sent home for further treatment Here they were transferred to larger Air Transport Command aircraft for the over water flights It is sometimes interesting to look up the fate of airplanes such as this one According to the book THE DOUGLAS DC 3 and its predecessors it was delivered to the USAAF on April 22 1944 and it was salvaged after an accident on November 11 1946 It isn't one that you might still see flying round or displayed in a museum Medical evacuation is another whole story for another time THE IX TROOP CARRIER COMMAND IN WORLD WAR II 1943-1945 The IX Troop Carrier Command was constituted on the 11 th of October 1943 and activated on the 16 th of October 1943 in England where it was assigned to the 9 th Air Force It was comprised of the 50 th 52 nd and 53 rd Troop Carrier Wings Its first commanding officer was BG Benjamin F Giles who served from October 1943 to February 1944 He was succeeded by MG Paul L Williams who served from February 1944 to March 1946 The original cadre came from Headquarters 1 st Troop Carrier Command six officers only and the 315 th Troop Carrier Group Its first temporary station was at USAAF 489 at Cottesmore England and on October I 1943 it was joined by the 434 th TC Group At this time both the 315 th and the 434 th were assigned to the 50 th TC Wing Twelve airfields were assigned to the IX TC Command with each field to have forty gliders and tow planes. The fields were Fulbeck Langer Bottesford Wakerley Balderton North Witham Barkston Heath Cottesmore North Luffenham Saltby Folkingham and Woolfox Lodge In November 1943 the 435 th TC Group and Welford Air Base were assigned to the 50 th TC Wing and IX TC Command Headquarters were moved to Grantham Ramsbury Aldermaston and Greenham Cormmons also became available as landing areas for tactical training with the 101 st Airborne Division In February 1944 the IX TC Command Pathfinder Group Provisional was formed at Cottesmore under the command of Lt Col Joel E Crouch. Also in February the 440 th and 439 th TC Groups were assigned to the 50 th Wing In the ETO the Logistic and Support units that backed up the IX TC Command were: |
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| U S Army Service Command Air Transport Operation Room 9 th A B Aviation Engineer Btn Troop Carrier Command Service |
9 th Air Force Service Command |
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Without these major support units and their auxiliary units IX Troop Carrier Command and Airborne Services would not have been able to fulfill their assigned tasks In 1944 IX Troop Carrier Command became an important component of the First Allied Airborne Army under the direct jurisdiction of Lt General Lewis Brereton Few people at that time and even today are aware of the crucial role that Troop Carrier Forces played in WW II Troop Carrier crews and glider pilots often flew sorties in their unarmed planes and gliders deep into enemy territory under 1,000 feet to deliver men and equipment to targets that were usually defended by enemy troops This was accomplished through heavy flak and small arms fire with standing orders not to take evasive action Glider Pilots after landing fought with the Airborne troops to clear the enemy from landing and drop zones Theirs was a dual job pilots in the air infantry on the ground The combined efforts of Troop Carrier forces in Europe and in the Pacific contributed greatly to the eventual collapse of the Axis powers in WW II Some of these TC Groups are still flying actively today as Military Airlift Wings At a meeting between Generals Arnold Spatz Bradley and Major General Paul Williams in April of 1944 General Bradley told General Williams that his armies could not have maintained their rapid advance across France without the supplies laid down by Troop Carrier Command PASS IN REVIEW Most WW II Airborne veterans and Troop Carrier veterans have long ago hashed over the Normandy D Day flights but not all There is still some lively discussion There are a few left who haven't satisfied themselves enough that portions of a letter that Col Joe Harkiewicz wrote to his squadron mates in 2001 are included here Col Harkiewicz served as the historian for the 29 th Troop Carrier Squadron for many years before he passed away He was an avid historian and was extremely impatient with the unprofessional behavior of today's Commercial Pop historians At any rate here are some passing thoughts from his notes It is prudent to remind everyone that IX Troop Carrier Command had no voice in selecting the invasion date or any choice in the kind of weather we were ordered to fly in We assembled and took off as ordered and flew the mission as best we could under the conditions we faced And most surprising of all there was no contingency plan from SHAEF for coping with the marginal weather. |
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This
photo was taken very soon after the landings The aircraft is shown on the
first temporary airstrip set up in France for this purpose as well as for
some resupply Some of the C 47s had litters installed for the more serious
cases and flight nurses and medical corpsmen usually staffed these The
less serious patients were seated in the bucket seats and accompanied by
medical corpsmen only depending on their condition In either case it was
only a short haul across the English Channel to proper hospitals Chances
are that the aircraft carried needed supplies on the trip over to France
and chances are about 50-50 that the crew loaded the airplane themselves
rather than wait for the Quartermaster troops to do it One of the nurses
on a later mission must have been feeling philosophical that day She was
standing in the big cargo door watching an ambulance back up with another
load of wounded
