340th BG 487th BS
B-25 Armorer-Gunner
Staff Sgt. James E. Kelley
Thoughts, Memories, feelings, and
questions
from his daughter Joan Kelley Pariso
Doug, I have to tell you
that I know your web site must mean so very much to the men who fought for us
all those years ago. Even more than that, it means so much to their children
and grandchildren and future generations. I have had tears in my eyes, as I
look through all the pages and all the data that you have acquired. It is with
a very heavy heart that I live with the regret that my father and I never
talked much about the war. The only question I ever remember asking him was if
he was ever afraid when he had to fly. He said that yes, he had been afraid on
every mission, but he learned to put his fear aside and just do what had to be
done.
It's only as I've gotten
older that I realize that there are some wounds that are always fresh - no
matter how much time has passed. For me, growing up, World War II, in my mind,
was as ancient as the civil war. I was born in 1950, so obviously not much time
had passed after the war. I never realized that for the men who fought for us,
it must have always felt like yesterday for them when they remembered the
horrors of the war. I wish my perspective had been different when my father was
alive. We lost him in 2000, and it was only after that when I started to
realize that, in one way or another, he probably carried the war with him for
the rest of his life.
My sister and I both have
contacted James Littlefield. He remembered my dad, but he said because of his
age, he forgets some things now. He is still alive, and he is still living in
I would love to write
something up for you, so that you can dedicate a page to my father. My dad was
an emotional man, and I can't even put into words how much it would have meant
to him. I can, however, tell you how much it would mean to his family. We would
all be so very grateful. It may take a week or two, but I promise I will do it
and email it to you.
Oddly enough, it was only
last week that I organized all my photos. When I did, I scanned the ones of my
dad into my computer, so I could print them out and send my sister copies of
them. I will get the photos out again, so I can read the comments on the back
of some of them. I will then write up what I can about my dad, and I will email
it to you along with whatever other information I have.
I am touched by your
dedication to this web site. I'm sure your dad would take great comfort in
knowing that you are maintaining it and reaching out to his fellow airmen and
their families.
I am just knocked out by all
the information - so much so that after I've gone to bed, I'm waking up several
hours later to go back on the computer to keep reading. It's the strangest thing.
It makes me feel so much closer to my dad. I know that your dad, Capt.
Littlefield, and the other airmen shared an experience together that can't be
felt by anyone else. We can read about it. We can look at the pictures. We can
talk to other family members who might have recollections of conversations with
these WW II vets, but only those men who were there together really know what
it was like. What an unbelievable bond they shared.
It seems to be a common
thread that these men didn't talk about the war very much. Most of them were
gone from home for at least several years. We live in such a small world now,
but back then, the world was quite large to us. Now people travel everywhere.
Then most people wouldn't have known where
In
one of the videos you have posted, it shows the men standing and waiting for
the mail. Seeing those things just brings it all home
to me, and it's all made me quite emotional about it (as if you couldn't tell).
:)
Joan,
I have attached
a document with a picture that may answer part of your question of why the men
didn’t talk much about flying their missions.
Anti-aircraft guns were shooting aerial flak bombs that exploded at
their altitude. The shrapnel would tear
right through the plane and brought many of them down. The plane had to fly straight and level over
the target and right through all that flak.
Even if you didn’t get hit, the shock waves were bouncing the plane all
over. Imagine the sheer terror mission
after mission. If there was no flak or
fighters, the mission was a “milk run”.
When our fathers arrived overseas, they were expected to complete 25
missions. The movie “Memphis Belle” is
about a B-17 crew that was the first to survive 25 missions since the rate of
attrition was so high. After 25 missions
you were deemed mentally unfit for combat so you got to go home. Well as our fathers added missions, they
upped the ante to 50 missions and then in late 1944 they upped it to 70
missions! I’m sure you’ve heard about
the book and movie “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller.
He was in the 488th Bomb Squadron on
Regards,
Doug Cook
Doug, you will probably be
hearing from my daughter. She was so thrilled when she saw your site. You've
become quite the hero in our family, so you may be stuck with us for a while.
:) I was telling her earlier that this whole experience just gives me the
strangest feeling. As I read more and realize our fathers probably did know
each other, I feel like, in you, I have found this long lost brother. Okay,
maybe that sounds a bit over the top, but it's just so special to me knowing
what our fathers shared. They saw the same things. They ate the same food. They
knew the same people. They probably had some of the same fears. Even if they
didn't know each other well, they shared a powerful common bond.
I have papers everywhere, as
I have printed out quite a few things. I was completely wrong when I said that
I thought my dad went overseas in 1942.
In the section marked: David
Konigsberg's Service to the Army Air Corp, I printed out a document that appears to be a copy
of orders issued
Your dad's name appears at
the top of page 2 in this document. My dad's name appears in the middle of page
3. I know it's my dad because I was able to verify his number. It looks like
approximately 300 men were scheduled for transport to Camp Patrick Henry that
day.
I was also able to verify
through a small record book that my mom kept that my dad went overseas
approximately
Hi Joan,
I have loaded
some draft web page of your father. I am
sitting here a bit saddened having just gone through the exercise of Googling your father's crew listed on his ship out
orders. All are listed in the 487th BS Album with home addresses. I
just Googled their names with middle initial and state
of residence:
Pilot 2nd Lt
Donovan W. Hurlbut WI apparently survived.
His daughter Stephanie (grad of Univ of Wisc) married in NY in 1988 (NY Times article).
Copilot 2nd
Lt Robert F. Rushton MI
Bombardier
2nd Lt Gordon E. Butterfield (Cornell alumnus)
T/Sgt Charles L. Fritch (age 20) NY wounded in action over
Perhaps it was
not a day for your father to fly with them or he did and never spoke of
it. Simple twists of fate...
Regards,
Doug Cook
Hello Doug,
I am in tears. It is such a
wonderful tribute to him. I will be emailing the link to my sister, my
daughter, and friends, and I'm sure they will be passing the link on to others.
I don't know what to say. There's something about seeing him on that page that
just makes me so very proud and more than a bit emotional. You know, I always
picture him now in his favorite chair watching his big screen TV. He sat in the
living room, so he could look out the window and see what was going on while watching
TV at the same time. I can almost feel myself saying, "Hey, dad. Take a
look at this!" I can tell you exactly what he would have done. He
would have looked at the top of the page and not fully understood what it was.
He would have said, "Well, I'll be damned" after he saw his name.
Then after he had scrolled down for a second or two, he would have taken off
his glasses, gotten up and gone to the bathroom to get a kleenex to wipe his eyes. Especially in his later
years, he was more emotional. He was still that manly man, and he wouldn't have
wanted me to see him cry, but I know, without a doubt, he would have. He would
probably then have come back to the computer and after looking at his page and
crying a little more, he would have gone on to look at the other pages. I can
hear him saying, "I remember that guy!" Then I think I would finally
have heard him tell some stories about the war.
Thank you, Doug, so very
much for all the work you put into this. It means so much to my family, and it
would have meant so much to my dad. I know all the WW II vets were recognized
as heroes when they came home. Your
father must have known that you would be the keeper of his WW II memories. I
doubt that he ever dreamed that you would go on to share so much of him with so
many of us. He isn't really gone when his memories are bringing people together
in different parts of the world. I hope that brings you some comfort, and from
the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
I am considering a trip to
That's sad about my dad's
crew. I still have to talk to my uncle about my dad.