Memorial Day

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, enacted near the day of reunification after the Civil War to honor soldiers who died in that war. Memorial Day was expanded after World War I to honor dead Americans from all wars, and became a federal holiday in 1971.

Cliff Digre continues to remember his crew members and friends who lost their lives during World War II. He is also grateful that his own life was inexplicably spared.

The co-pilot on the William T. “Robbie” Robertson crew was Cliff Henrickson, a native of Jasper, IN. In his book, Into Life’s School: My World War II Memories, Digre devotes pages 44 and 111-117 to describing Hendrickson and the formation of The Cliff Hendrickson Crew on which Digre was to be the radio operator. Digre writes, “Cliff had been a P-51 pilot in the Canadian Air Force before joining the US Army Air Corps and training in B-17s. He had a striking resemblance to the famous movie star, Clark Gable. He even had the same groomed Gable mustache. He was often mistaken for Gable, and Cliff enjoyed every minute of it, especially the attention from women.”

On December 19, 1944, Hendrickson’s crew expected to fly together to bomb the designated target, Gemünd, Germany. However, in the middle of the night, “someone in operations decided that Hendrickson should fly as the pilot for a new crew on their very first mission.”

The flight took off in dense fog with nineteen other planes. After completing the mission, the returning planes were diverted to southern England due to persistent poor weather. Pilot Robertson flew back to England and was in radio contact with Hendrickson until “Cliff’s plane descended into the clouds and out of sight.” Digre learned later that day that Hendrickson “had crashed into a grove of trees near Oxford and that all nine aboard had been killed.”

Before heading home from the war, Digre visited Hendrickson’s grave in Cambridge. In 1998, while researching information for his book, Digre learned more about Hendrickson’s fatal crash. “The accident report concluded the accident was caused by a combination of weather conditions and pilot error.” And in an ironic twist of fate visited upon three men who shared the same first name—Clifford—the sole survivor of the crash was Clifford Heinrich!

Cliff Digre admits to pondering the fate that “stepped in and took me off that aircraft and mission sometime during the night of December 19, 1944. Now I wonder, had I been on that aircraft, would the one survivor have been Clifford Digre? Probably not!”

World War II History Round Table

Cliff is looking forward to participating in the monthly meeting of The Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War II History Round Table. The meeting takes place on Thursday, February 11, 2010. Cliff will be one of four Air Corps/Air Force members on a panel.

Independence Day

Last weekend, Americans celebrated Independence Day, a federal holiday that commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the kingdom of Great Britain.

Protecting our freedom from tyrannical governments has relied on the sacrifice and valor of generations of service men and women, including those who served in World War II. As people read Cliff Digre’s book Into Life’s School: My World War II Memories, some write to share their thoughts and thanks. Used by permission are comments (below) written by Doris (and Paul) from Cottage Grove, MN, who purchased Cliff’s book at the Minnesota History Center on Memorial Day.

“By the time I finished, I felt I knew your entire crew and cried for those who died….Yes, you are the ‘greatest generation’ for your bravery and heroism in keeping us free. You are all great Americans along with all our brave men who have served in the military in past wars and those serving today….You have had a very full and interesting life!”

The memorial to the 457th Bomb Group stands at the main entrance to the air base near Peterborough, England, on the Great North Road, Highway A1.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is traditionally celebrated in mid June. Author Cliff Digre and his wife of 60+ years are the parents of four adult children, but when Cliff was in the Army Air Corps, he was a single man—as were most other servicemen. However Earl Rinehart, the engineer/top turret gunner, was married and his wife was pregnant with their first child. Cliff writes on page 45 that, Earl “…was the tallest at 6′ 1″ and the oldest at 28 years. It wasn’t long before we dubbed him “Pops.” As an engineer, I doubt there was anyone better. Robbie (the pilot) said he was the best engineer he had ever known and knew the B-17 better than he.”

On page 70, the author describes the September 12, 1944 mission to Ruhland, Germany. When they were 30 to 40 minutes from the target, they were hit by “light but accurate flak. When we passed the flak pocket, Robbie called for an oxygen check starting with: tail gunner—OK, waist gunner—OK, ball turret—OK, radio operator—OK, but then no answer from top turret. Earl’s intercom had been intermittent so Robbie asked that he turn the turret if he was OK. Still no response, so copilot Cliff Hendrickson left his seat and went back to Earl. He was still standing upright in his turret position, but when Hendrickson gave a slight tug on his trousers, he slumped down. He was completely unconscious; when Cliff saw the severed oxygen hose, he knew what had happened. Cliff, with Elmer Mankin’s (the navigator) help , brought him up to the nose. They loosened his clothing and put him on pure oxygen. While Elmer was working on Earl, we were struck by a fierce fighter attack consisting of an estimated fifty fighters (ME-109s and FW-190s) as well as new jet-propelled fighters. At one instant I saw three B-17s hit and going down end over end in flames, and from those three planes I saw only three parachutes open. It was a horrible sight, one I’ll never forget. Our group lost a total of twenty-eight men that day, either killed or missing in action.

“When we returned to Glatton, we were given priority landing and medics met our plane. Immediately, they put Earl on a respirator and rushed him by ambulance to the nearest hospital. Later that evening they reported to us that he was dead. Earl was one super person and an extremely capable engineer. He knew his aircraft. On occasion he would make suggestions regarding the engines to Robbie and Robbie listened. He was good and had the utmost respect from all of the crew members. Earl was the “Pop” to our crew—the oldest at age 28. Earl’s hometown was Romney, Indiana. Earl, I’ll forever remember you.

“We are off to a rough start—yesterday Carbery was injured by flak; today Earl was killed. What’s ahead? You never know.”