# WWII research help needed



## neil c (18 Oct 2009)

Hi All,

My father was a USAAF Mustang pilot that was shot down over occupied-France 14 July 1944. He evaded capture with help of French Resistance members. One of them, Robert Martin, joined the RCA 21 Group in August 1944, and served under Captain Nobelle. This information is derived from a 1946 letter from Robert Martin to my father. (The spelling of the captain's name might be slightly different and I have no first name.) I'm trying to locate any information about Robert Martin that might be in the archives. Can anyone point me in the direction needed for this research?

Thanks,

Neil


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## Michael OLeary (18 Oct 2009)

You can try the Library and Archives Canada, but you may need more information for a positive identification of the right file:



> Requests for Information
> 
> We try to answer inquiries within 30 days; however, due to the large number of inquiries being received, we are currently experiencing delays in our response times. Clients who submit a written request should expect to wait six months for a response. Priority service is given to people who require documentation to prove that they qualify for pensions, allowances, claims and other benefits, therefore, these types of requests should be clearly identified.
> 
> ...


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## neil c (18 Oct 2009)

Thanks, Michael.

That's about all the info I have, but I'll give it a shot.

Here's a recently published article about my father's story:

http://www.aflyer.com/0907_f_ltcanner01.pdf

http://www.aflyer.com/0907_f_ltcanner02.pdf

Neil


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## mariomike (18 Oct 2009)

neil c said:
			
		

> My father was a USAAF Mustang pilot that was shot down over occupied-France 14 July 1944. I'm trying to locate any information about Robert Martin that might be in the archives.



Have you located your father's personnel record? 
That could be a problem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Center_fire
If you can name one RCAF airman who was helped by Robert Martin, I may be able to help you. I have studied the RCAF Missing Research Enquiry Service  M.R.E.S. files in Ottawa for many years regarding the bombing operation against Revigny-sur-Ornain on the night of 14-15 July 1944. Of the 290 airmen shot down, behind enemy lines, only 59 survived.  Some became POWs, others evaded. Many of the evaders were hidden with USAAF airmen, so the files would mention them, their helpers, and what happened. Lots of reports and photos. 
Some were tortured by the Gestapo, or Milice. Some were sent to Buchenwald. Some of the Maquis were no more than gangsters. There was also the SS to contend with as they were routed by the US Army.
It was good to read that your father was grateful to the French people for their help, and liberated by the CDN Army. For the French, it was all or nothing. The MRES files prove that. Their lives, and the lives of their families, were on the line.
Regarding "Robert Martin", it should be remembered that it is likely one of many aliases used for his protection.

P.S. Interesting to note the US archive fire, *and* the Public Record Office in the U.K. I hired a researcher at the PRO. Some files I wished to examine were "closed for 75 years". These are files containing accounts from evaders which, presumably, contain evidence against persons who were not pro-Allies. 
Fortunately, I had no such problems in Ottawa with RCAF files and investigations.


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## Dennis Ruhl (18 Oct 2009)

A book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Massacre-Over-Marne-Bombing-Revigny/dp/1852604522


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## Dennis Ruhl (18 Oct 2009)

neil c said:
			
		

> One of them, Robert Martin, joined the RCA 21 Group in August 1944, and served under Captain Nobelle. This information is derived from a 1946 letter from Robert Martin to my father.



Can anyone clarify "rca 21 group?"

Would it be 21st Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery? Likely.

I suspect the USAAF aircraft would have been shot down a little closer to Normandy or the coast if it was 21st Battery that Martin joined in August.


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## mariomike (18 Oct 2009)

Dennis Ruhl said:
			
		

> I suspect the USAAF aircraft would have been shot down a little closer to Normandy or the coast if it was 21st Battery that Martin joined in August.



Yes. The Revigny airmen, although shot down just a few hours after his father, crashed and burned in this area:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Aube-Position.svg
Because it was after D-Day, in a friendly country, the advice given to airmen was to "sit tight" and wait for liberation to arrive, rather than "make a run for it". Although, many, if not most, airmen carried handguns and "bribe money". Similar, in idea, to "Goolie Chits":
I have read accounts of airmen doing car jackings in Germany to get home, although I don't think they called it that back then. Real Steve McQueen sort of stuff.
However, the way the Maquis operated, it was common for them to move airmen all over the place. They all carried I.D. photos of themslves in civvies, so the Resistance could forge it into fake ID papers. The airmen often had no idea where they were, because information was given to them on a need to know basis by their helpers, some of whom were traitors and delivered them to the Gestapo.  So, it was not uncommon for US and Canadian airmen to get mixed together, often many miles from where they were shot down. Therefore, there is a good chance that Robert Martin helped Canadians, although perhaps they knew him by another name? 
The group I am most familiar with is Mussy-Grancy Maquis, lead by "Montcalm" real name Emile Alagiraude:
http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/page/affichelieu.php?idLieu=3951&idLang=en

P.S. The book "Massacre Over the Marne" mentioned by Dennis is excellent. Of course I have a copy, and I have corresponded with its author.
I suppose that most of us have heard of Bomber Command's raid against Nurmemberg where 11.9 per cent of the force dispatched was shot down. But, so little has been reported of Revigny, where 22 per cent - almost double - of an all Lancaster force - were shot down.


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## Rifleman62 (21 Oct 2009)

Although not specifically about the query, below is the story of one young USAAF air gunner and his very short relationship with The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Jun 44. A remarkable story of luck and survival. From the May 09 edition of The Devils' Blast. 

The story begins with with an entry in the War Diary,Wednesday, 7 Jun 44. Note the entry at 1900 hrs in Putot.

Creully 0200:  C Coy attacked by enemy patrol.  The attack was repulsed and 19 of the patrol taken prisoner.  One officer was taken but was shot on making a break for it.

             0615:  On the move to secure our objective on line OAK at PUTOT-EN-BESSIN with C Coy in adv gd under comd Maj J M D Jones and a flank gd composed of No 7 F1 from A Coy, two secs carriers and one sec 6 pdrs under comd Capt D B Robertson.

             1600:  By this hour the Bn was consolidating in-spite of C Coy having advanced by the wrong route and consequently arriving one and a half hours after the Bn – (hardly an advanced gd action).  Our position was occupied with A Coy right responsible for the bridge at the rly and rd crossing in PUTOT, C Coy north of the rly in center and D Coy left with B in res.  Snipers became pestiferous during the latter part of the day but only scattered resistance was encountered during the advance.  (The flank gd became our liaison force with the 7  Green Howards at BRONAY and had an active time for the next three days).

Putot-en-Bessin 1900:  Two USAAF air-crew bailed out from a Boston and were picked up in “no man’s” land in front of D Coy.

               2100:  After A Coy had been fired on by a Boche tk from South of the rly an inf – tk counter attack came in on A and C Coy fronts but was repulsed with only a few casualties to ourselves.  Snipers kept bothering us and our “anti-termite” patrols accounted for approx 20 during the night.  Sgt Richardson and two rfn walked right into a Boche pl area and killed or wounded ten enemy before withdrawing.  Sp Coys carriers proved invaluable this night by establishing standing patrols and ambushing at least four enemy patrols.

                2200:  Another batch of rfts came in during this evening bringing the Bn almost up to strength again.


And Now, The Rest of the Story
B-26 Tail Gunner

Virgil Byng of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, was an 18-year-old freshman at La Salle College in Philadelphia when he enlisted in the Signal Corps on 5 April 1943.  He was already interested in photography and hoped that enlisting would allow him to learn more about the art that would become his career. 

Knowing his draft number was coming up, Byng wanted to join the Signal Corps, the branch of the service that did special services, but aptitude tests landed Byng in the Air Force. He took basic training in Miami Beach and armament training with .50-caliber machine guns at Buckley Field, Colorado. 

After gunnery training in Panama City, Florida, Byng was posted to Lake Charles, Louisiana and assigned to a crew for training on the B-26 Marauder. The crew consisted of pilot Leroy Sullivan of St. Paul, co-pilot Jack Hobson, engineer Kev Peterson, bombardier Dick Ivory, and radio operator Joe Roberge, with Byng as the tail gunner.

The crew was assigned to the 391st Bomb Group, 575 Bomb Squadron, United States Army Air Corps, England, on 19 March 1944.

Byng said that they soon learned about flying missions.  The crews were awakened usually about 2:30 A.M. for a morning mission: dress, breakfast, briefing, take-off, fly the mission, return and debriefing. “Most of our missions were over France because our range was not as great as the B-17’s and B-24’s.  The length of our missions was about four hours, but we often flew two per day, and our tour of combat duty was 65 missions whereas the ‘Heavy Bombers’ tour was 30.”

"You weren't thinking about [dropping bombs] on people. You were thinking about war targets," he remembered. "I had a big, wide patriotic streak up and down my back. The ‘nothing can happen to me’ exuberance of youth soon changes when you finally realize the enemy is using live ammunition and you see friends being killed.  I got to where I would pray and curse in the same breath when I was under heavy anti-aircraft attack.”

B-26s routinely flew at an altitude of 12,000 feet, and the Germans were using 88 mm guns that were "extremely accurate" at that range. "It was anti-aircraft fire," he said. "We had balls of tinfoil, like tinsel on a tree, and we'd throw them out of the waist windows to throw off their radar. The flak was terrible; our ship was bounced around like a rubber ball on many missions.  When we would return to our base in England, we would count the flak holes in our ship, before we went to interrogation”.

On May 27, 1944, their luck ran out on a mission over France when the aircraft was severely damaged after dropping bombs on the target area.  One engine was shot out, as was the electrical system so it was impossible to “feather” the prop. This situation of a windmilling prop created a tremendous drag.

“Our plane went into an out of control tailspin for several thousand feet, plunging 12,000 feet to 4,000 feet until Sully, our pilot, was finally able to bring it under control. Every time he would turn the ship to get back on course, we would lose altitude.  By the time we got to the English Channel we were at about 2,000 feet.  We had to lighten the ship as much as possible, so we dumped machine gun ammunition, aerial cameras, anything to lighten the weight.”  
“The fuel light came on when the plane was about 1,000 feet above the English Channel, signaling that the remaining fuel would last about 10 minutes,” Byng said. “The pilot ordered the crew to bail out and then reversed the order moments later when he spotted the English coastline. We were close to the coast when the good engine quit.  We assumed crash positions, sitting and facing the rear of the plane with hands behind our heads.  We opened the escape hatch on the top of the ship so we would be able to get out quickly. The pilot pointed the plane straight down and mushed it in," Byng said. 

Dirt tunneled through the open escape hatch, as the plane plowed through a field criss-crossed with triangular steel girders, (used earlier in the war to stave off a German invasion), and came to rest with girders wrapped around the wing. "We were half buried in the ground," said Byng. The men emerged, covered with dirt, but Byng felt lucky. He suffered only a "badly sprained ankle" when his foot broke through the aluminum siding of the bomb bay. It took the outstanding skill of our pilot Sully to make this very rarely successful dead-stick landing of a B-26.

“We went back to our plane, and with only the top half showing and the rest of the fuselage and wings in the dirt, we counted well over 100 holes from flak.” 

“Ten days later, on June 7, 1944 (D-Day plus one), after the morning mission, we were scheduled for an afternoon mission. Our intelligence learned that a troop train with fresh Panzer Divisions was being brought up from Italy and was to be at Brioze, France at 2:30 P.M.  Our mission and timing were great.  Flying at just 1100 feet that day (we normally flew at 12,000 feet, but from D-Day on we had to fly at any altitude in order to see our target), we were in a great position to witness the destruction of that troop train.”  

“We were on the way back to England when we suffered a direct hit on the front of the ship, knocking out both engines.  We were hit by 20mm anti-aircraft fire from tanks.  There was no doubt we were going down, so I scrambled back to the waist window area and snapped on my chest chute.  I took one waist window, and the radio operator took the other.  I saw my co-pilot’s chute open long before I left the ship.  When I bailed out, I pulled the ripcord as soon as I was free from the ship. The radio operator who left the ship at the same time pulled his ripcord a moment too soon. His chute caught on the tail of the ship and he was pulled down with the ship.”  

Bailing out at 200-300 feet, the parachute barely had time to open. Swinging once, Byng hit a small tree. His legs were thrown up as he went through the tree, landing on his butt, which he said felt like everything inside coming out.  It took quite a while to catch his breath.  Spotting a ditch about 20 feet away, Byng crawled towards it, pulling the chute in behind him. “I was soon face down in burning nettles, and too scared to move”. 

“I heard someone coming my way, and saw Dick Ivory, my bombardier, coming toward me.  I called to him and he joined me, and we discussed what course of action to take.  I was all for heading for Spain as we had always been taught to do, but Dick argued that we already had a foothold in France from D-Day the day before.  He decided to head for our lines, and as we were about to part company, I had a sudden change of mind and said, “Wait for me”!!!

“We had at least a couple of different types of compasses from our escape kits, so we knew which direction to go, which we did very carefully.  We would go from one ditch or other cover to another as fast as we could.  We found our plane, and the first thing we saw was the body of Joe Robarge our radio operator.  Inside the plane were the bodies of our pilot LeRoy Sullivan, and Kenneth Peterson our engineer.  We later learned that our co-pilot who was the first one out of the ship was machine gunned on his way down, so Dick Ivory and I were the only survivors. You know, it's ironic that the bombardier and tail gunner survived the crash," he said. "They're the two hardest spots to get out of."

“We continued heading toward the Normandy beach, and from one of the many ditches we had been in, we saw four soldiers heading our way.  As they got closer, we recognized the helmets as being of the English type, so  decided to take the chance and stepped out of the ditch with our hands in the air calling out “Americans”.  We saw four guys disappear behind small trees, with just the barrels of sub machine guns pointing at us.  We had no recourse but to keep going, and when we got close enough, they came out with hands extended toward us.  

“We learned that these were an advance patrol of Canadians from the Winnipeg Rifles.  They took us back to their Major who was their commander.  He interrogated us as to where we came from and told us that we had just gone through one of the heaviest-mined areas. The Winnipeg Rifles were trying to by-pass the mined area.” 

Getting down on his hands and knees to crawl, and with a slack hand, carefully touching the ground in front of him so that he could feel any trip wires, the Major demonstrated the proper technique to detect mines in enemy territory.

You have to be lucky, and Dick and I were extremely lucky. "It just wasn't our time," said Byng. 

We picked up short rides in a few different types of vehicles, one of which was a small ambulance with a few wounded, back to a field hospital. We finally made it back to the Normandy coast, there to behold a sight that would be impossible to ever forget.  The beach had not been cleared up.  There were bodies all over. We walked over and around them like water puddles in a rainstorm.  They almost had the appearance of wax images, but God bless them, they were real.  Mostly our troops, but a few Germans.  

We were put on an LST casualty ship.  Other than the ship’s crew, Dick and I were the only ones on board who hadn’t been wounded.

After being bombed at night, the next day we were on our way back to England. We were taken to a temporary army area on the coast and examined by a doctor.  When I finally got back to my 575th Squadron, our First Sergeant smilingly greeted me accusing me of being AWOL! 

I was permanently grounded from combat flying having flown a total of 32 missions which is just about half of the normal 65 tour of duty.  I was later sent to Rheims, France, working in an office, until a Captain arranged for me to be a gunnery instructor in the states. 

After many weather delays, I finally made it to Prestwick Scotland for departure for the States.  On January 5, 1945, we left Scotland in a C-54 Skymaster, which was not a passenger ship, but had bucket seats along each side.  Our first landing was to be on the Azores for refuelling.  The pilot on our approach was off to the right of the runway and instead of going up and coming around again, he banked the plane to the left to line up with the runway, and the wing tip caught in rough terrain and we went rolling.  Someone yelled, “let loose of your seat belts”, and everyone always trained to obey commands did just that, and bodies went bouncing all over the plane.  I finally landed against one side of the plane with my arms out to the side.  Someone banged into me, which broke a couple of my ribs.  

By this time the plane was on fire; we were trying to get out the wrong side for we did not realize the ship was upside down.  When the fire got bright enough we saw we were upside down and went to the correct side to open the door.  Although there were six killed in that crash, I got by with two broken ribs, my knuckles blistered and my eyebrows singed off.

The next day we went back to the charred remains of the ship and looked to see if we could salvage anything.  The only thing I could find was an English Threepence bracelet that was partially heat molded. This, along with my leather flight jacket with a few things in the pockets were the only souvenirs I had left.  I begged to be permitted to wait for an ocean-going vessel to go home on, but that wasn’t allowed, so the next day we flew from the Azores to Bolling Field Washington, D.C.  On take-offs and landing I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

Byng was discharged from Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado on August 27, 1945. 

When Byng and Ivory returned to their base, they were both interrogated as to everything that happened on that last mission.  Both mentioned the fact that Sully, the pilot, rode the plane down purposely because he could not know whether we in the back were out or not, as radio communication was also shot out.  For this, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the US second highest award.

Byng later attended the Chicago School of Photography, then opened and operated his well-known photography business in Rice Lake for forty years.

Reprinted with the permission of Mr. Virgil Byng and Mr. Sam Finazzo, Editor, Rice Lake Chronotype. Originally published: Volume 125, Number 10, November 3, 1999.Orginal article updated with information provided by Mr. Byng.

Mr. Byng has been very lucky during his WWII service, surviving two crashes as well as being shot down and parachuting at low altitude. The Blast editor spoke to Mr. Byng by telephone recently regarding his remarkable wartime adventures.

The Major that Sgt Byng, USAAF, was referring to was Major Lockie Fulton, Officer Commanding D Company. Once back at the company defensive position Mr. Byng told of the Major getting some tea for Ivory and himself. Mr. Byng was at the time three weeks shy of this twentieth birthday coming up on 2 Jul 44.

What Mr. Byng did not know was that his luck was holding, and what would happen a few hours later in the location where he met up with the Canadian infantry of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles.

Putot-en-Bessin was a scattered village, which proved difficult to defend. Lieutenant-Colonel John Meldram, the Commanding Officer of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, used A Company to defend the Brouay Crossing, with B and C Companies deployed in between. D Company was at the eastern edge of the village where a dirt road went under the railway line.

The II/26th SS Pz Gren Regt attacked Putot-en-Bessin around dawn on 8 Jun 44. German artillery and mortars saturated the village with high explosives before the Hitlerjugend stormed across a railway bridge in front of A Company.Although the initial attack was beaten off, the village proved difficult to defend, and the Germans were able to infiltrate into it. Snipers throughout the town made it increasingly difficult to move in the whole area. Prior to their next attack, the Germans shelled Putot extensively. The bombardment, which included air-bursting 88 mm shells, inflicted heavy casualties on the defenders This infiltration was followed up by a heavier attack in late morning, and by early afternoon The Royal Winnipeg Rifles were in trouble. The Hitlerjugend had crossed the embankment and overrun the village enveloping A, B and C Companies. Exhausted and short of ammunition, the survivors attempted to break out using the cover of a thick smoke screen in order to link up with the still intact D Company. Only a few soldiers managed to escape the encirclement, regrouped around D Company and Bn HQ The battalion had lost 260 men, including 64 POWs of whom 45 were later murdered in Audrieu Chateau within the next few hours. The SS murdered, after capture, 134 Canadians or more in Normandy. 

Boston or B-26 Marauder?

The War Diary states “Two USAAF air-crew bailed out from a Boston and were picked up in no man’s land in front of D Coy”. Today, we do not know if the rifleman in D Coy saw the aircraft, the parachutes, or just the two air-crew out in no man’s land. Canadian soldiers would probably be more familiar with the Boston as the RAF had been flying that type for several years. Reviewing the characteristics, both aircraft are twin-engine and of similar size. The aircraft profiles are similar. The War Diarist stated it was a Boston. Today we know it was a B-26 Marauder.


Picture Caption:

Crew of the B-26 Marauder: In the US, prior to going overseas, the crew stand in front of a B-26 trainer. In this type of aircraft, the crew would later be shot down over enemy territory on the second day of the Normandy invasion. Crew members: From the left are Leroy Sullivan, Jack Hobson, Kev Peterson, Dick Ivory, Joe Roberge and Virgil Byng of Rice Lake. Only Ivory and Byng survived.

A B-26 Marauder of the 391st Bomb Group over France. Note the Group vertical tail emblem and the invasion stripes below, midships


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## Rifleman62 (21 Oct 2009)

Just a note to the above post. Mr Byng is very much alive and well. I spoke to him several times and he was delighted that his story would be retold. Sent him a birthday card and a Little Black Devils lapel pin in July. After the war, Lockie and Mr Byng lived only approx 800 Km from each other. Lockie went back to his farm post war. Remarkable, commanding a infantry battalion in WWII, to a farm in rural Manitoba. He also did battlefield tours for Kingston courses.

Sgt Richerson survived the war with an MM and a US Silver Star. He recently died.


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