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Thanks Saul
Not sure why two of the pics are the same ? I dont suppose i can edit that.
I tell ya what, if you guys know some of these men who fought that war, or any of them. Spend some times with them and just listen.
I have a friend, unfortunately he has not been doing well lately and I doubt I will get any more stories from him.
He was a P47 pilot, 406 Fighter Group, 515th Sq. You can read his name mentioned a couple of times on this website. http://406thfightergroup.org/513th-p1.php His name is Roddy Ellis.
It started when we had dinner one time at his house, he married a former neighbor widow of ours and she turned on the Southern Hospitality for us to meet him, he is 20 years older than her.
He told me he was a fighter pilot in Europe so of course that piqued my interest, I just asked a couple of questions, not really prying, I know those guys can be very private about their experiences. For some reason he opened up with me, I guess because I asked the questions in genuine interest.
(copying some of this from a previous post I made so it may sound familiar to some of y'all)
One story he told was about his wingman's aircraft blowing up in front of him.
They were strafing retreating Germans and barges on the Seine river, there was 4 of them. He and his wingman were in the newer P47D-25, he said they had about 40 more gallons of fuel than the lead element who were flying Razorbacks. He said tonight that his group were the first to use the 5inch HVAR and they were working closely with Pattons 3rd Army in support. From previous conversations I figured he was in the 406th FG. If this reconcile with the history of the group I don't know, I figure he's 90+ so give him break if it's not 100%.
They received a support call for just up the bend of the river and his leader assigned his element to go since they had more fuel and some rockets left. While they were making a run they were jumped by a flight of FW190 and before he knew what was going on he saw his wingman's aircraft blow up in his windscreen and had to fly through the smoke and debris.
He told me about trying to get out of this German's gunsight with 3 other Germans waiting to take aim at him. He went tree top and steeple level trying to shake them. He notice two peal off, later learning they were engaging his lead element who were on the way to help him. More evasive maneuvers and the wingman of the 190 on his tail clipped a tree and cartwheeled into the ground. A few seconds later his tail is clear and he sees German speeding off over the river. He guesses he was as low on fuel as he was.
During debriefing they learn they were jumped buy a German ace by the name of Emil "Bully" Lang. Several days later Lang was shot down also. His wingman was Lang's 165th kill(not sure if this is correct).
The great part of the story was several years ago he went back to France and visited his wingman's grave near Vernon, while standing there he noticed someone standing next to him. The gentleman ask Roddy if he knew his brother (I still get choked up). Roddy told him about what happened, seems he had never know anything other than he was killed in combat. Roddy told him that for all these years he had wondered "why him and not me".
The Brother gave him comfort by saying it's God's plan and He and Roddy would have never met if it had turned out any differently. They are now the greatest of friends and talk on the anniversary of his brothers death. That's why these guys are the greatest generation.
Thanks for bringing this to us Paddy