Remembering James Manion and June 7, 1944

Mel knew her dad, James, had participated in World War II as a member of the Army Air Corps but she and her family didn't really know what he had done in the war because he didn't really talk about it. In about 2015 Mel's mom found and gave her girls a document created by one of Jim's crewmates and given to her when Jim had passed away. This document summarized the 35 missions the crew had flown and provided insight into Jim's role.

Jim was a B-17 navigator flying out of RAF Ridgewell ([linked text]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ridgewell "RAF Ridgewell on Wikipedia") in the United Kingdom just north of London. He was a member of the 8'th Air Force, 381'st Bombardment Group, 534'th Bombardment Squadron. Jim's first mission was on June 7'th 1944, the day after D-day. So to honor his service and the service of his comrades in arms we wanted to provide a brief overview of Jim's first mission.

It isn't too hard to imagine what life in the Air Corps in Eurpoe had been like, even today. The film Memphis Belle shows what life was like earlier in the war. According to the documentary Cold Blue, it was so bad that the chances of surving to 25 missions was only 25%. By the time D-day arrived things had gotten a quite bit better, crews had to survive 35 missions to make it home and more crews were making it home thanks to long-range fighter cover. But it was still dangerous.

Fast forward a bit, D-day had just occurred 24 hours ago. There was very little information available to the troops describing what was happening in Normandy, heck the leaders barely knew themselves. The troops must have guessed that this battle was huge and that if this big push worked we would win the war. We can also imagine that the warriors in the air corps really wanted to do their part to support the troops going ashore in Normandy and pound the Nazis into oblivion.

So let's try to create a picture for ourselves of Jim's first mission. He had probably been in the UK for perhaps a month, working and training as a member of the Williams Crew named for the pilot of the crew, Haven Williams. But on June 7'th Jim was asked to be the navigator for the Martyniak crew. This crew was made up of the following team: John Martyniak (pilot), Dick Kellum (co-pilot), Ray Stewart (bombadier), Darrell Longley (engineer/ top turret gunner), Paul Stewart (radio operator), Lloyd Jackson (ball turret gunner) ,Albt Fahey (waist gunner), Wayne Coffey (tail gunner). So Jim steps in with this crew who had been flying missions previously, and takes his place as their navigato as they set off to bomb Nazi positions in France to support the D-day landings.

Below you will find two accounts of Jim's first day. One captured by the ball turret gunner from the Williams crew, captured we assume based on conversations with Jim. The other account is an excerpt from the 8'th Air Force logs dug up on the internet. Also included are a few period photos of Jim that have been scanned in and a scanned copy of the Williams crew we are sure Jim was missing this day.

The Martyniak crew was part of the mission striking Kerlin / Bastard airfield. Flak took out one of Our Captain's engines. Time and additional issues made it obvious that the ship wasn't going to make it home so the pilot called for fighter escort as the aircraft slumped downwards at around 500 ft a minute. Believing that a long glide could still see his B-17 making it all the way North to SW England, Martyniak called for all equipment to be jettisoned to assist in this bid. Lt. Jim Manion (N) gave the aircraft's position to T/Sgt Paul Stewart (RaG), who made contact with Air-SeaRescue, No. 267 Squadron, stationed at Portreath. Martyniak and his co-pilot worked to get the plain safely in the water, while the other seven men filed into the radio-room to prepare for splash-down. The pilot kept calling out his altitude as a means of keeping in touch with the ASR Service. Some seven miles off the Nazi-occupied channel islands the bomber was skilfully slid tail-first into the water. The crew received only two minor injuries. The crew managed to make it into the two dinghies just before the plane went to the bottom. Two Spitfires arrived within a few minutes and circled as the Americans vainly scanned the horizon for signs of the Invasion Fleet. Several more fighters arrived and hovered above until a support airraft made it in and released a life-boat. Martyniak reported "These parachutes supported the boat until touch-down when small explosive charges blew them clear. It was beautifully carried out. "The men paddled over and climbed aboard, but experienced difficulty in starting up the motors. One did splutter into life, but its propeller blades were fouled by the dinghy-line.Better luck was had with the second motor, and the boat limped along over a mile before an ASR launch manned by RAF personnel have into sight. The nine men thankfully transferred over again, but a further element of farce attended efforts to secure the lifeboat to its larger companion's stern. Sgt Jackson stated "Soon after we started for home the same thing happened to the launch motor as to our boat - the tow-linetangled in the propeller, and its motor quit!" Fortunately, the launch was twin-motored,and the functioning unit brought its crew and their American Allies back to a SW seaport. There the airmen were given hot food, dry clothing, and medical attention. Next day they were transported back to base in "Yankee Eagle." To complete a "ditching" without incurring serious injury or death was a true bonus for any crew so afflicted; the action was one which could scarcely be practised beforehand, and many crews were not as fortunate as Lt. Martyniak's team.

The image carousel here shows some photos of James while he was overseas and it also gives a nice overview of his normal crew mates, some of whom are in these photos. Also included is a photo of James getting ready for a mission, with persons unknown.