So perhaps you were, at age 21, desperately trying to fight off being homesick
and being away from the girl you loved. By the way, when your brother
died, Emelene came up to Sharon, your niece, at the funeral services. She
told Sharon that she was happily married with grown children, but that she never
really got over you. I have tried to contact her to tell her of your
desire to get home to her, but I am about a year too late. Perhaps you
have now told her yourself or she will see this letter and understand.
According to Bob Brown, you were one of the first pilots to use napalm and had
to learn how to drop it. He said that you literally had to fly so low that
you scraped it off on the enemy target. I
don't know if that is what you were carrying on that successful bombing of
Germany, but I do know that you were looking for targets of opportunity for your
eight 50-caliber machine guns as you returned to your airfield in France.
Apparently, Capt. Hillis was on your left wing with Lt. Coppolino off your right
wing when Coppy spotted a flight of two to six P47s approaching from your 5
o'clock position. He informed you and you acknowledged their presence.
Now, I don't know why, but your commanding officer had your squadron paint your
Jug tails orange. This was supposedly to let the Germans know that the 358th Fighter
Group, 366th Fighter Squadron was the group doing the damage. We
do know that the Germans had captured some P47s to stage mock dogfights for the
benefit of the Luftwaffe. So this is perhaps why one of the converging
P47s pulled within 200 yards of you, mis-identified you, and shot you in the
cockpit, thus accomplishing what the Germans could not.
You were a victim of what the report states: "friendly fire". As a friend
of mine from London said: "you Yanks were always quick on the trigger."
Captain Hillis said that you slumped forward and your plane went into a vertical
dive, crashing into the mud near the small town of Kehlen. Coppy went after and
fired at one of the P47s. We believe it was that Jug that crashed near your site
and close to the Castle of Ansembourg. The pilot survived. I called and spoke
with him about these events but he understandably doesn't remember much about
that day. I also can't seem to find crash reports about him. I apologize for
not being more diligent.
Many of the Kehlen villagers went to the crash site, finding shell casings, some
coins and human remains. They buried the remains near your plane and
these are what will be interred at Arlington. Much of you will not be
leaving that field in Luxembourg after nearly 60 years. The government did
conduct an investigation into your crash that day but unfortunately understood
the villagers to say that your plane burned for 30 hours when they meant only 3
hours. The investigator believed that no remains could have survived the
heat of a 30-hour fire so they determined that your remains were unrecoverable.
That is why your name appears on the Wall of Missing at the Luxembourg Cemetery.
This is about 20 paces from General Patton's gravesite. He passed away
about a year after you.
Once your men learned of your downing, you will be happy to learn, they held a
beer party but, according to the microfilm report, it was very subdued.
Apparently you were liked and admired by the enlisted and they took your death
hard as you were one of the few senior pilots.
Due to the reports filed about your crash, no one thought to look for your
remains, until 1991 when local excavators uncovered your plane. Raymond
Hoffmann, a Luxembourg native, took the time to remove the majority of your Jug.
He sent the engine to the Battle of the Bulge Museum in Clervaux, Luxembourg.
The propellers are missing but I saw photos of them and it appears that your
plane did go in almost vertically.
Not a lot occurred until 2002 when a Luxembourg Army Adjutant named John
Derneden identified the crash site and the possible pilot. He contacted
the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) and they took a team to
Kehlen to excavate your crash site. They treated this very much as an
archaeological dig and found your remains. This started the whole repatriation
process that our family has embraced.
I had the good fortune to visit your crash site and meet with the mayor of
Kehlen. While there I
presented him with a copy of the CILHI report for the local school library.
Raymond Hoffmann gave me a valve from your downed plane while the Luxembourg
newspapers and television filmed the event. I am amazed and humbled at the
wonderful treatment and how thankful the Luxembourg people are to the U.S.
soldiers that liberated them from Hitler's armies.
The visit to the Luxembourg Cemetery and the reception there was also an eye
opener. Not just for the graves and names on the Wall of Missing, but also for
the number of visitors there on a blustery cold day in December of 2003.
From there we were off to see the Battle of the Bulge Museum at the village of Clervaux in northern Luxembourg. The curator there was most
informative and I am attempting to get a replica of your dress uniform for him to
exhibit.
Once back in the States, we went to Colorado Springs to the Peterson Museum to
observe the restoration of the P47N, their ongoing project. The
curator there was most kind and was fascinated by your story.
To end this, I will have to say that I am now 55 years old and consider the men
who fought in
WWII recent history but certainly real "men". To read through your report
and see the profile of you as a young 21-year-old Lieutenant who weighed about
160 lbs, hailing from Spencer, WV, going to war for the U.S. and its allies as a
flight leader in a 10-ton plane, known as a "flying tank", loaded with weapons,
gives me a whole new respect for the young men and women who serve today and go
in harm's way.
The entire Stalnaker family is proud of you and wish that you had returned
alive. Your contribution to the war in Europe is appreciated by so many that I can't begin to tell you.
We wish that you could be here to see the dedication of the new World War II
Memorial in June of this year, but then that is only one more wish unfulfilled.
With fondness, appreciation, regrets and most of all with love,
The entire Stalnaker Family
You make us proud. |
