389th Bombardment Group

Its Guidon flying the Ploesti ribbon, for the participation on the historic attack, the 389th Bombardment Group, trained at Biggs Field, Texas and Lowry Field, Colorado, has engaged in seven major campaigns in the European Theater of Operations and acquired many coveted honors.

The Group, now commanded by Lt. Colonel Jack Merrell since 14 April 1945, a unit of the Second Air Division commanded by Major General William E. Kepner, has won the War Department distinguished Unit Citation.  Further, the Group has won seven Battle Stars on the Overseas ribbon.

In addition hundreds of Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medals, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts have been won by the Group’s Personnel.

Orders activating the 389th are dated 30 November 1942 and originally the Group was known as the 385th.  The activation was pursuant to General Orders # 176, Paragraph 1, Section 3, Headquarters 2nd Air Force, Fort George Wright, Washington, 30 November 1942.  Physically the Group was formed at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona.

                It was not until 1 February 1943 in a 2nd Air Force letter dated 26 January 1943, No. 370.5, the now famous 389th was officially named and became the third Liberator Group to come to East Anglia.

                The first Commanding Officer at Davis-Monthan from the time of activation was Colonel David B. Lancaster, Jr., (the Major).  He was a veteran Pilot when he joined having already flown across the North and South Atlantic twenty times.

                Work in Arizona was largely in organizing the Group from an administrative standpoint.  Formation of four squadrons, then the 548th, 549th, 550th and 551st, and the myriad of complex paper work that must of necessity be done in the Army to get an outfit started, was the order of the day.  No aircraft were assigned the 389th at Tucson, Arizona.

                On the third of January, 1943, the small cadre that was eventually to become a leading spoke in the gigantic wheel known as the 2nd Air Division, left Arizona for its first phase training at Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas.  Three days later the Group received its first two planes, two old beaten up Liberators.  With heavy bombardment its task the 389th was assigned B-24 aircraft . . . It would always be known as a Liberator outfit.  Time in combat has shown this Group as one of the very best.

                Not many weeks passed before the Group, now organized more or less completely from an administrative and personnel standpoint, started its overseas training.  Crews were formed and came under the supervision of the model crews which had been part of the original cadre.  At no time did any squadron have any more than four planes and since those were “hand me downs” from other Groups in a more advanced stage of training, they were in need of repair more often than not.  Flying was done by day and night.  Bombing and Gunnery was practiced as well as high altitude flights.

                Mock missions primarily stressing formation flying were undertaken.

                Things were not too easy in this stage of the game.  If there were not enough planes, there was a shortage of gasoline, or perhaps practice bombs.  When the men weren’t flying, they went to ground school.  Synthetic trainers were used extensively.  Intelligence taught aircraft and naval identification, escape procedures and map reading.  Not knowing which theater of operations the 389th was headed for, preparations had to be made for all.

                The work wasn’t too strenous at Biggs Field and there was plenty of free time for everyone.  Off the Post, El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, offered amusement of all kinds.  Personnel of the original group will long remember El Paso with its kind hospitality.  It was the first time most men had been outside the borders of their own country.  They had not to wait too long before such a phenomena would happen again.

                Movement was again afoot when Special Order # 103, Paragraph Seven, Headquarters, Biggs Field, Texas, dated 13 April 1943, was issued.  This time the Group headed north to the beautiful State of Colorado and particularly Lowry Field, Denver.

                On the 17th of April, all ground personnel marched smartly out of the gates of Biggs Field to what was supposed to be waiting railway coaches.  Through an uncontrollable error caused by no one in particular, the trains were not there.  Twelve hours later after a long and tedious wait at the railroad siding, the slow lumbering trains arrived with locomotives puffing for all they were worth.  Texas was not left in a big hurry.

                While at Biggs Field, Colonel Lancaster had the remaining Staff Officers join him.  They were, Lt. Colonel William L. Burns (then Major and now Ground Executive Officer) was Air Executive Officer and Lt. Colonel Milton K. Lockwood (then Major), the Ground Executive Officer. Major Marshall O. Exnicios (then Captain) was the Group Intelligence Officer.

                There weren’t enough Liberators on hand to take all of the Air Echelon at once and so those that were available made the five hour hop back and forth until on 20th April the last representative of the group arrived at Lowry Field.

                The stay at Lowry wasn’t as colorful as that at Biggs.  But it was a mighty comfortable stay----and enjoyable in every way.  Living quarters were excellent.  The enlisted men lived in barracks formerly occupied by cadets.  The food was the best and there was a magnificent Post theatre.

                Third phase training, started at Biggs, was finished at Lowry.  The nightly roar of the Group’s four motored engines roused many a Denver resident from his slumbers.  Annoying as low level flying may have seemed at the time it was this practice that made possible a few months later the precedent shattering sweep across Ploesti’s refineries at a height so low many closing bomb bays snagged the corn silk in closing.

                Mock missions now covered an area with a radius of 500 miles and were flown in group formation whenever possible.  Practice bombing and gunnery was not neglected nor was ground school.  The program clicked beautifully.  When the men weren’t flying or going to ground school, they were out on the obstacle course; or out on the range trying to qualify.  The climax to all this intensive training was the over water flights with air to air gunnery done out of the Air Base at San Antonio, Texas.  Some of the men were fortunate enough to go to March Field, California for some patrol work over the Pacific.

                Ground personnel was kept very busy as well at Lowry.  Those that were envied the least and certainly were the busiest, were men working in Personnel and in Supply.  They worked “overtime” long into the night and they finished their particular job exceptionally well.

                Shortly after the 389th reached Lowry, Colonel Lancaster took ill and found it necessary to relinquish command of the organization he had prepared so exceptionally well for overseas.  He left on 4 May.

                Brigadier General Jack W. Wood, (then Colonel) succeeded Colonel Lancaster and assumed command on the 16th of May.  General Wood was a veteran pilot and had considerable experience with B-24’s.

                In an unofficial way the City of Denver has been adopted by the men of the 389th.

                Most of the original men reminisce with a great deal of nostalgia the days spent in Denver and in the interminable daily arguments about the respective merits of home towns in the States.  The mile high city never fails to win plaudits no matter where the speaker comes from.  Particularly do the men remember their Denver hosts and the City’s beautiful girls.

                It was in Denver too, that the 389th was reviewed by the late President of the United States shortly before the Group went overseas.  This was the first time a Heavy Bombardment Group had been reviewed by the Commander in Chief anywhere.

                A good indication of the morale of the men back in the States is the Group’s courts martial record.  Only two summary court cases in five months of training over overseas combat.

                In the latter part of May the aircraft which would be flown in combat began to arrive.  These were the B-24 D’s and almost all of them had Ball Turrets.

                When all the crews had planes and all the crates and boxes and things were marked with appropriate overseas movement number, and when the men were restricted to the base, it all added up to the fact that the 389th was ready for combat and all set to go.

                Colonel Wood, Lt. Colonel John Brooks (then Captain), Major Exnicios and Captain John O’Neil (then 1st. Lt.) formed the advance party.  They departed Lowry Field on 1st June, pursuant to Special Order #141, Paragraph 71, Headquarters Lowry Field, Colorado, dated 29 May 1943.  Planes of the Air Transport Command took them to England via La Guardia Field, New York.  This advance echelon reported to the Commanding General, 8th Air Force, London, England as ordered.  They arrived at AAF Station 114, Hethel, on 11 June 1943 and took over the field as of that date.  Officially the 389th had become part of the Eighth Air Force and particularly the 2nd Bombardment Division.

                The air echelon departed from Lowry Field pursuant to Special Order No. 141, Paragraphs 36, 37, 38 and 39, Headquarters Lowry Field, Colorado, dated 29 May 1943, with AAB Lincoln, Nebraska, their destination for processing.

 

 

                Enthusiasm was the keynote with the air echelon.  Everyone was eager, proud and hopeful.  Any man who flew across the Atlantic will proudly proclaim what a grand thrill it all was.  The trips of no two crews were alike.  Flying east from Nebraska, the big event was the “buzzing” of any crew member’s home town that happened to be along the route.  Then the North Atlantic route, Dow Field, Bangor, Maine, Goose Bay, Labrador or Gander Lake, Newfoundland---Meeks Field, Iceland---Prestwick, Scotland---East Anglia and Hethel.  By the end of June the crews were at AAF Station 114.  The Group did not suffer a single loss or casualty in the course of this hazardous flight over the wide Atlantic.

                As for the ground echelon, they too had a thrilling trip.  Authority to leave Lowry Field for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, was Special Order No. 145, Paragraph 19, Headquarters Lowry Field, Colorado, dated 3 June 1943.  It was late afternoon on 8th June that the second of two troop trains left Lowry Field.  One train with Group personnel, and with men of the 566th and 567th Squadrons went via the scenic route through Canada.  The other with personnel of the 564th and 565th Squadrons went via Chicago.  Some of the men on the latter train will never forget the trip.  It appears something eaten at meal time-supper-caused a rather severe outbreak of “mild dysentery”.  In Army parlance, “The G. I.’s”.  The train’s lavatory facilities were sorely taxed that night.

                The stay at Camp Kilmer was long enough for the men to get anxious to move on.  Processing took four days.  After three weeks of drilling, hiking, playing and speculating on the reliability of rumors, the day to leave finally came.  On secret orders the 389th left Camp Kilmer on 30th June.  Loaded down with heavy “A” bags, the men were heard to curse loudly as they stumbled along from the train to the ferry that was to take them to the ship.  Up the river went the ferry and pulled up to the pier where the giant Queen Elizabeth was resting at her dock.

                Embarkation on 1st July, came off without a hitch.  Since “The Queen” was loaded to the gunwhales, accommodations were not those usually expected on such a luxury liner.  The actual crossing was most uneventful.  From 1st July to 6th July, when Scotland came into view, there was hardly a ripple on the water.  Not a single man was seasick.

                It was a very pleasant feeling, however, when the ship dropped anchor at Gourack, Scotland on the evening of the 6th, disembarking on the 7th, via ferry to Grenock, on the Firth of Clyde, trains were boarded without unnecessary delay.  The last lap of the journey had begun when the “strange”, and what seemed to most men, small train, pulled away from the station.  It took approximately 18 hours for the ride to Wymondham, England.  By late afternoon, 8 July 1943, the ground echelon was billeted at Hethel.  The Royal Air Force built the Airdrome named it and as long as the 389th was to operate in the European Theater of Operations, it was to call the place home.

                The fortunes of war decreed that the 389th would not fly its first operational mission from England.  Liberators were needed in the Middle East at this time.  Secret orders were received to proceed there post haste.  Briefing took place and the giant Liberators which had been modified for long range work by addition of bomb bay tanks, took off for the hot desert.  With them went some of the ground personnel of the 44th and 93rd Bomb Groups assigned on detached service.  These groups had preceded the 389th by a good many months.  By co-incidence, day of take off was 1st July, the same day the ground echelon departed from New York harbor on the Queen Elizabeth.

                Area C, Site 10, Bengasi, Libya!  This was to be the never to be forgotten Base of the 389th Liberators while in the desert.  In a warm, dry, dusty area about seven miles from the battle scarred city of Bengasi once a thriving Mediterranean seaport, where there had been nothing but desert waste land four days before the crews arrived, one runway had been scraped out wide enough for a three plane take-off.  Two other runways were under construction.  Offices and workshops, quarters and mess were in tents.

                The Ninth Air Force had a job to be done and with only five heavy bombardment groups, its own 98th and 376th and the attached 44th, 93rd and 389th Bombardment Groups, to work with, no time could be spared for the novice 389th to get acclimated.

                Three days after arrival the first practice mission engaged in by the Group proved unsatisfactory.  Then, on the sixth day after arrival, it happened------the 389th went into combat for the first time!

                On 9th July at 1100 hours the planes took off on mission number 1 (File No.1).  The target, approximately 300 miles from Bengasi, was the Maleme Airdrome, Crete.  It was being used by the enemy for all types of aircraft.  The importance of the destruction of this target was that it would seriously hamper the enemy in the disposition of his air force in the Mediterranean area.

                The formation flown was one with four flights of six planes each.  Colonel Wood flying with Lt. Neef, was command pilot.  It took five hours to accomplish the mission.  Twenty five aircraft took off, twenty three were dispatched, twenty three attacked the target, two aborted.  Bombing was done by flights from an average altitude of 20,000 feet.  252 X 500 G. P. bombs were dropped on the target area.  Some hits were scored in the east dispersal area but most of the bombs missed the objective.  The weather was fair and the slight haze over the water was not claimed to have any influence on the bombing results.  Only meager, inaccurate flak was encountered over the target.  Strong opposition, however, came from enemy fighters and to make matters worse, no fighter support was provided.  Crews reported attacks by approximately 15 enemy fighters identified as ME 109’s, RE 2001’s, MC 202’s, a JU 88 and possibly an FW 190.  Both head on and tail attacks were made by eager Jerry fighters.  Our claims after the attack were:  6 destroyed; 5 damaged.  One of our aircraft failed to return.  Airplane #779 (P-), piloted by Lt. Scates (567th Squadron) was attacked by fighters off the south west end of Crete.  Right inboard engine was hit and the plane was seen losing altitude when suddenly it exploded, the tail and wing coming off.  Various reports were received on the number of parachutes that left the plane, the highest being eight.

                The mission proved to be more difficult than was expected.  Fighter opposition especially came as a surprise.  Poor bombing results to the contrary notwithstanding, the Group gave a good account of itself in its first encounter with the enemy.

                Now operational, the 389th geared itself for successive missions.  Weather was no problem, that is, in getting missions off the ground.  The sand storms were a real nuisance but they did not succeed in grounding the planes.  With a shortage of maintenance men, crew members pitched in and lent a hand.  They loaded their own bombs----they helped the two man ground crew maintain their aircraft----everyone worked hard.  Officers and enlisted men shared one mess tent.  Mission followed mission.

                It is not the purpose of this narrative to give detailed accounts of each and every mission accomplished by the 389th since that first historic mission on Crete.  In actual number the Group finished 317 combat missions against the enemy.  Before they were finished the Group was to have seen action in the Middle East, Africa and England.  Further, Liberators of the 389th took part in the first bombing of Rome, Weiner Neustadt and Berlin.  On never to be forgotten D-Day, the 389th had the privilege of leading the entire 2nd Air Division over the Normandy beaches to herald the long awaited invasion of “Festung Europa” and finally drive the forces of despotism to the inevitable doom.

                When glorious V E Day finally dawned many of the original Group were no longer with the outfit.  Some were home, some transferred, and there are those who will never return to their loved ones.

                A statistical addenda is attached to this narrative giving target names and number of each mission flown plus the date.  The data is divided into seven campaign periods with the missions flown in each.

                There is one other mission, however, that demands attention in considerable detail since the Group received the Distinguished Unit Citation and one Congressional Medal of Honor (Posthumously) for this tremendous effort.  This was Ploesti!

                Rumors about a low level attack reached the 389th after the sixth mission, the attack on Rome, had been completed.  For ten days everyone’s efforts were concentrated on the task.  The Ploesti Oil Fields, located about 30 miles north of Bucharest, Roumania, were a vital source of “black gold” for the enemy, he could not afford the loss of these oil wells.

                Elaborate briefings started on the 20th of July and continued right up to the big day.  Experts who had lived in the target area for years came down to lecture on terrain features.  A film which was tantamount to a deluxe briefing with a wealth of pertinent information was shown over and over again.  A model of the target area was studied thoroughly.

                In order that the long hazardous flight of approximately 2400 miles would not be in vain because of bombs going amiss, the lowest possible bombing altitude was ordered.  It was desired that the 1000 and 500 pounders and incendiaries have the greatest chance of hitting the Bulls Eye.  A dummy target was built a short distance from the Base and daily it was blasted.  In the course of these assimilated attacks, the planes came in over the field right down on the deck and scared many a man as they roared over head raising clouds of dust and just about lifting the tents into the air.  The gasoline dumps and refineries at the target once hit would be burning infernos and the danger to the heavy gas laden Liberators following in would be tremendous.  The men were given to understand that their chances of coming back were less, much less, than ordinarily was the case.  The assignment was accepted with grim determination.  Naturally, Ploesti was just about the only topic of discussion and the strain of waiting for the day was terrific.

                In order to achieve the maximum effort necessary for an undertaking of this kind, those groups which were short of personnel had to be loaned men by those who could spare them.  This Group provided the 98th Bombardment Group with 6 complete crews and 16 individual replacements.  The 389th's own crews were shuffled and re-shuffled since a mild epidemic of Diarrhea had struck some members of the air crews and forced them to be grounded.  Many men whose cases were not too acute ignored their plight and flew anyway.

                Finally, on 1st August, tense, keyed up men waited no longer.  It was mission number 7 for the 389th.

                Thirty Liberators were to take the men on this “Do or Die” Job.  Known as the Red Force in the Ninth Bomber Command field order, the Group was assigned the Steua Romana Oil Refinery, Campina, located but a short distance north from Ploesti and forming an integral part of the oil fields.  A two section formation was used, the first having four elements of three planes and the second having six elements.  Colonel Wood, as command of the Red Force flew with Captain Kenneth Caldwell, the 566th Squadron being in the lead.

                With four different aiming points assigned, bomb runs were ordered from three different directions and every Bombardier was on his own using a gun sight to “lay them in there” from a height of 300 to 200 feet or even lower.  Because of the pre-dawn take off, the last briefing was accomplished the night before and at 0400 hours the first plane roared off the runway.  Twenty nine Liberators were able to take off and all reached and bombed the target!

                The 389th was one of the two groups on that historic day that totally destroyed the assigned objective.

                Weather at the target was clear (cavu) but on the route in and on the withdrawal cumulus clouds interfered with navigation and likewise were responsible for the group being separated from the main task force arriving in the target area after the defences had been alerted.  Heavy anti aircraft guns at the target were ineffective against the low flying Liberators and were inoperative.  However, machine gun fire was brought to bear on the planes and it was accurate.  Enemy fighters stationed in Roumania made attempts to stop the task force.  With no fighter escort the bristling “fifties” on the giant bombers were more than equal to the attackers.

               Those who did not participate on the mission really “sweated out” the boys and the day seemed unusually long before the planes returned around six o’clock in the evening, 14 hours after they had taken off.  It didn’t look too good when only 17 bombers landed at Site 10.  Shortly afterwards word came through that 3 planes landed at other sites near Bengasi and that three were alright in Cyprus.  Subsequently reports were received one crew landed safely in Turkey.  Word also came through that one pilot was killed by machine gun fire over the target.  The Co-pilot succeeded in flying a badly crippled plane from the target to Turkey and there make a crash landing in a field.  Four crews were definitely listed as missing in action.  One, that of Lt. Lloyd Hughes of Corpus Christi, Texas, was seen to enter the target with a gasoline leak and to come out on fire.  Subsequent information proved Lt. Hughes by his “extra-ordinary heroism” in connection with this mission deliberately entered the target area after he fully realized what the consequences would mean.  He received posthumously the highest American award, The Congressional Medal of Honor.  (Full Citation appears in Statistical Section).

                As a lasting tribute to the 389th, the War Department Citation was awarded the Group.  It came in General Orders Number 78, Section V111, dated 15 November 1943.  This is the citation in full:

                “V111 BATTLE HONORS – As authorized by Executive Order No. 9075 (Sec. 111. Bull. 11, WD, 1942), a citation in the name of the President of the United States, as public evidence of deserved honor is awarded to the following unit.  The citation reads as follows:

                ‘The 389th Bombardment Group (H) is cited for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy.  Arriving in the Middle East theatre with less experience than many of the more veteran organizations and without many of its needed ground personnel, this organization by intensive training and preparation studiously mastered a novel and experimental form of aerial attack and simultaneously familiarized all personnel with the details of a hazardous objective planned for 1 August 1943.  After having departed on the 2400 mile flight for Ploesti, Roumania, this unit became separated from the advanced elements of the massed formation while avoiding cumulous cloud conditions over mountainous country, but with the determination of its airmen unimpaired the flight proceeded to its target.  Arriving in the area as the last element they found the entire area surrounding Ploesti swarming with enemy fighter aircraft, much of the area covered with dense oil smoke, and all defenses completely alerted and actively opposing them.  Though having lost the element of surprise upon which their safety depended, they bombed and strafed their target with an efficiency, thoroughness, and intrepidity that left this oil refinery, plants and installations a mass of blazing wreckage.  The courage, skill, efficiency, and heroic scorn for personal safety with which the personnel of this organization struck this devastating blow against our enemies exemplify the noblest qualities and finest traditions of our armed forces.

By Order of The Secretary of War:

G. C. MARSHALL,

Chief of Staff.”

                Finally the record disclosed the 358 men of the 389th Bombardment Group flew the Ploesti mission.  Of those one man has received the Congressional Medal of Honor, 29 received the Distinguished Service Cross, 14 the Silver Star, and 314 the Distinguished Flying Cross.  (Note:  Awards were made by the Ninth Air Force, G. O. 86, 11 September 1943).

                Operations in the European Theater came over a period of twenty two months.  The Group has achieved one of the finest records of any bombardment group in the Eighth Air Force.

                With a job well done in the Middle East, the Group returned to Hethel.  They hadn’t been back long when an emergency developed that called them back to Africa.  From bases there the 389th aided materially in the invasion of Italy, and the subsequent surrender of that Country.  Again the Group returned to home base and settled down to the serious business of bombing Hitler’s Germany and the then occupied countries.

                In the attacks that ensued such priority targets as Brunswick, Gotha, Politz and biggest of all, Berlin, were roundly smashed.

                By the time the 100 mark in missions had been reached, the 389th had established itself as one of the finest bombing groups in the Second Division.  Besides that, it set up an enviable record in the destruction of enemy aircraft.  At the 100 mission mark the Group was commanded by Colonel Robert B. Miller.

                Colonel Miller assumed command of the Group on the 29th of March 1944 succeeding Colonel Milton W. Arnold who had assumed command the 30th of December 1943, from Colonel Wood.

                (There is a complete account of Commanding Officers including dates in the Statistical Section).

                The next 100 missions saw the Group continue its way building even higher its already excellent reputation.  Included in these attacks were the smashing of Hitler’s V-1 sites in the Pas De Calais region, the intensive attacks on the aircraft industries in Germany, and hitting synthetic oil plants.

                Just about a year after leaving the States, the 389th had the honor of being in the mightiest military operation undertaken by anybody, anywhere.  This was D-Day.  Before the twenty four hour period came to a close, the Group had flown four missions in support of the landings.  For approximately a week thereafter the giant Liberators supported the troops in tactical bombings, a new use for four engined aircraft.  The task was well performed and the results speak for themselves.

                Since D-Day, the 389th continued to pound away at the fast dwindling Reich.  When General Patton and the Third Army moved so fast he urgently needed all the supplies of all kinds in one big hurry, the Group aided in flying the stuff from England.

                At the 200 mission mark reached 23rd of September 1944, Colonel Ramsay D. Potts, Jr., a veteran of Ploesti, was in command.  He had taken over from Colonel Miller on 17th of August 1944.

                Colonel John B. Herboth, Jr. assumed command on 4th of December 1944 from Colonel Potts.

                On a mission early in April 1945, the 389th had the misfortune for the first time to lose its Commanding Officer.  Colonel Herboth was shot down in combat over Germany.  In the interim period before Lt. Colonel Jack Merrell assumed command on the 14th of April, Lt. Colonel Chester Morneau was commander.

                And so, on the mission to Salzburg, Austria, on the 25th of April 1945, the 389th flew its 317th mission, the last in the European Theater of Operations.  A glorious ending to an equally glorious record.

                Whatever the job, strategic low or high level bombing, tactical or the carrying of supplies, the 389th has lived up to its task and has well earned its enviable reputation.

Read More

    2nd Bombardment Wing