Received the following via email from Bob Russell:
April 20, 2003:
Hi, I was a B-24 bombardier in 756 BS, 459 BG, Cerignola, Italy. I flew as
substitute bombardier with a crew other than my own on the Bad Vaslau mission
of 4/12/44. We were hit hard by flak on the bomb run -- some of my bombs
dropped by bombsight, but I had to toggle some of the bombs and salvo the
the remaining ones because the release mechanism was damaged by flak. Our
target was the runways and planes on the ramps. We lost an engine and
dropped behind our formation. Things were getting tough with ME-110s, some
say (I thought they were JU-88s) coming through. We ended up flying with
with a group behind us. Just after my bombs were released I noticed the B-24
out my left windown wing was on fire. the copilot was looking right across
the flames into my face. Blurred figures jumping from the bomb bay as the
plane slid just under "Texas Lassie" and went down. Some one counted several
chutes. Looking out the same indow another B-24 had taken the fallen B-24's
place and its wing was on fire also. An all black enemy fighter (ME 110) was
parked right behind it with cannons blazing. This aircraft also slid right
at us. kblurred figures again falling from the plane. Our gunners didn't
see any parachutes. We fell behind this formation also and an FW 190 blew
the top turret off killing our engineer, Leroy Butler and we, started down.
Hydraulics were gone, gas fumes everywhere. metal shards and twisted metal
covered the wings. our survivors parachuted into Bosnia, a few miles west of
Sanski Most. After quite an experience in enemy territory we were picked up
three days later by an OSS C-47 delivering supplies to a shattered partisan
hospital column. We are not listed in the MACR list because we were back in
72 hours and the report was not sent to Washington. I have always wondered
what group we ended up with and what the fate was of the boys in those to
blazing B-24s. There was about 11 U.S. bombers from the 15th Air Force lost
that day according to an old newspaper clipping (My Mom saved everything in
the paper). So, can you tell me more about those crews? I have just moved to
an assisted living facility in Carrollton, TX after living most of my post
war years in Colorado. I am 83. But I can't forget those days. God bless you
all.
Robert B. Russell
April 26, 2003
I am delighted to hear from you. I was hoping someone, sometime, would shed
some light on the 60 year-old mystery as to which bomb group I flew part of a
combat mission with after starting the mission with my own 459th BG. I
noticed in the MACRs that two B-24s from 745th BS, 456th Bomb Group, flown by
Richards and Walker, went down on 4/12/44 from attacks by fighters. This
fits the picture. Two B-24s in the group "Texas Lassie" joined, and right
next to us, were shot down by fighters soon after we joined the formation.
Our groups (456th and 459th) were both part of the 302nd Bomb Wing, so it is
possible that the 456th may have been the group "Texas Lassie" joined and
flew part of the way home with. If so, a much belated thanks to the 456th
for letting us tag along for a while.
Unfortunately, I do not have much on "Texas Lassie." The regular "Texas
Lassie" pilot and crew did not fly the plane on the 4/12/44 Bad Voslau
mission. It was flown that day by Lt. Don Baxter, 756th BS, 459th BG pilot,
and some of his regular crewmen. Baxter had a few missions to his credit
prior to this one, I think two, and would earn double mission credit, like
the rest of us, for Bad Voslau. But the other members of his crew including
top turret gunner/engineer Sgt. Leroy Butler, who was killed, were on their
first mission. Also on board were others with several mission credits from
other crews, including myself and my regular copilot, William R. Evans, both
from Lt. Dick Apperson's 756th BS,459th BG "Fearless Fosdick" crew -- and Lt.
James R. Adams, navigator, from still another 459th crew.
It was early in the air war for the 459th BG, and "Texas Lassie," painted
olive-drab, had not yet received the group's yellow and black checkerboard
tail colors or the red, black and white shark tooth logo of the 756th BS on
its nose by the time it was shot down but, I believe, it did have the white
diamond of the 302nd Bomb Wing on the rudders.
In 1980, my wife, Lettye Lou and I were guests of several of the towns and
villages in the area of Bosnia-Hercegovina where "Texas Lassie" went down in
1944. I took my parachute drogue 'chute with the partisans' signatures back
to Yugoslavia and it was put in the WW II museum at Sanski Most -- Lots of
feasts, bear hugs, flowers, and tears from the old timers, and us, too.
The historians, prior to our arrival, had traced my crew's route from near
German-occupied Sanski Most (Tomina) where we had parachuted, across the Sana
River to Kljuc, and then south to the escape point at Gornji Ribnic
(sometimes spelled "Ribnik"). There, in that dark night, we could hear the
sorrowful sounds of agony and last moments all around us. It was
overwhelming to me. When the OSS plane flew over with blinking lights in the
hours shortly after midnight, bonfires sprung to life on the surrounding
hills and up the flank of the Grmek Mountain Range. We could see, then, in
the light of the flickering bonfires, the dead and wounded partisans on
litters and in the ditches beside the trail on which we waited. It was a
partisan hospital column. The partisans had to carry their wounded with
them, because the enemy executed all they captured. They were being evacuated
to a safe haven higher in the mountains, but could go no farther.
The C-47 landed, hurriedly unloaded the supplies, and took us aboard, not
knowing we were there until we ran to the plane, broken legs, broken feet,
ruptured eardrums and all. The bonfires were doused as we took off. I was
sure we would hit a darkened peak, my nerves would have it no other way --
but soon we were high over the dark Grmeks and in the starry skies out over
the Adriatic Sea.
In 1980 Lettye Lou (whom I lost in 1995) and I visited the partisan cemetery
at Gornji Ribnic -- and wondered how the OSS pilot could bring his C-47
through the mountain peaks and land in the small clearing (now a corn field)
in the dead of night by the light of bonfires.
My children, all from different states, came and moved me out of my Colorado
home about seven weeks ago when I couldn't get around anymore. I had to leave
treasures of a lifetime behind, including all of my military records and
photographs, but, at least, they will be cared for forever.
I have no photos of "Texas Lassie." I suppose you are looking for photos of
that airplane, only, rather than other 459th BG photos. I have some of the
latter scanned into my computer.
My best wishes to the members of the 456th Bomb Group Association. I believe
I may have been an unofficial, uninvited member of your bomb group for 15 or
20 very exciting minutes. I can't forget that.
May 11, 2003
I wish to touch base with you concerning the 459th BG "Texas Lassie" mission
to Bad Voslau on 12 April 1944. I am interested in knowing if you have found
any evidence since our recent correspondence that "Texas Lassie" from the
456th BAG was flying along with your group on that mission. I want to know
the fate of the crews on the B-24s that went down next to "Texas Lassie" on
that mission. You mention that you have an extensive collection of WW II
histories, etc. If you have the "Fifteenth Air Force Story" my individual
story is told in the biography section over close to the back. A photo of
myself and my wife, Lettye Lou is included there. We are standing in the
field in Yugoslavia into which I parachuted. If you have the 459th BAG
memorial book "Coffee Tower" my name is shown in the membership list. I did
not write an article for the book, but my story has been published in the
Association newsletter, "The Pathfinder." The date Texas Lassie was lost, AC
ser. number and other information on the plane is shown in the charts.
I cannot cite the page numbers from memory.
I am a life member of the 15th Air Force Association. The photo I shall attempt to attach shows the scene at Tomina, Yugoslavia in
September 1980 when my wife, Lettye Lou, and I were guests of the towns in
the area where my crew went down April 12, 1944. The person holding my
drogue 'chute with the partisans autographs was a little boy of about 10
years when I came down by parachute just outside Tomina--then a- five house
hamlet. His name is Trivo. He and another boy of about the same age ran to me
when I came down. I hope this is of interest to you, and am hoping, also, to
learn more on the 2 B-24s of the 756th that were burning outside my left
window on that April day in 1944. And this new mouse is eating me up.
Regards,
Bob Russell
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