Rackheath, England honors U.S.
World War II veterans on 'last mission'
By Ron Jensen, U.K.
bureau
Ron Jensen / Stars and Stripes
John Stevens, a veteran of the 467th Bombardment Group, chats with Sheila Oakley during an
informal gathering Thursday in Rackheath, England, site of the 467th's air base during
World War II. |
RACKHEATH, England — America’s veterans, honored today with the observance of
Veterans Day, are sometimes old men in baseball caps.
Some are a bit paunchy. Most are slow afoot.
These are the veterans of World War II. More than 50 years ago, they sacrificed their
youth to save the world from tyranny.
And now, in their twilight years, most continue to eschew any glory.
Instead, like the men of the 467th Bombardment Group who returned Thursday to their
wartime home of Rackheath, England, they simply seek a connection with the time when they
were young, bold and risked their lives on a daily basis.
They want to remember the good times, honor those who didn’t live to see the peace
and retain the friendships they formed with the English people who welcomed them.
David Hastings, a Briton who was a small boy during the war and helped organize
Thursday’s visit, told the veterans during an informal gathering, "You were our
gods then."
The 467th was part of the 2nd Air Division, honored in Norwich last week with the
dedication of a memorial library. A list bearing the names of more than 6,700 men from the
division killed in action was placed in the new building.
The 467th, with its B-24 Liberators, arrived at Rackheath in March 1944. It left in
July 1945, after flying 212 missions — a total of 5,538 sorties — against the
German war machine.
The Rackheath Aggies, as they came to be known, had the best overall mark for bombing
accuracy in the entire Eighth Air Force. They set an unsurpassed record for bombing
accuracy on April 15, 1945.
Ron Jensen / Stars and Stripes
The city sign of Rackheath, England, features an American B-24 Liberator bomber in
recognition of the U.S. Army Air Force's base outside of the town during the war. |
Their casualty rate — they lost 241 men in combat — was the lowest, despite
the number of dangerous missions. For all of this, the men of the 467th credit one man
— Col. Albert J. Shower, the group’s commander from October 1943 to June 1945.
He was the only commander in the Eighth Air Force to take a group to England and remain
with it during the entire war.
Shower is talked of now in reverent tones, but he was not well-liked during the war.
"Col. Shower, we didn’t like him at all," veteran Geoff Gregory said.
"He was tough and he was mean."
The men tell stories of being chewed out by the colonel for being out of uniform or for
myriad other failures of discipline.
Jay Shower calls himself the "son of the son of a bitch." He is the
colonel’s son and he represented his father, who died last month at age 91, at this
week’s reunion.
"They love him now," he said.
The men realized later that it was Shower’s toughness and demanding qualities that
made them a successful unit. They flew the tightest formations in the theater, making them
harder targets for fighter aircraft. One veteran said a gunner on one aircraft was nearly
able to set his coffee on the wing on the plane next to him.
Gregory said, "What he did was make us better in the air, make us stronger in the
air."
This was a day for remembering. One veteran reminded the group of the debriefing
sessions after each mission. There was always a bottle of liquor on the table from which
the crewmembers could drink.
"We soon learned, the more we talked, the more we got to drink," he said to
great laughter.
Another told the story of the "ghost of Rackheath." A navigator racing to
reach his aircraft before a mission was killed when he ran into a turning propeller.
Several weeks later, men preparing the morning mission briefing claimed to see a ghostly
apparition of the airman bearing a great scar on his face.
Hastings said that as recently as last year, a British television crew filming in one
of the air base huts, since destroyed, claimed to hear American voices.
The old men spent a lot of time laughing. They bragged about their tight formations and
updated each other on members not at the reunion.
These men have come with some regularity to England and to Rackheath. The last big
get-together was in 1995, when they commemorated the 50th anniversary of the victory in
Europe.
This visit, prompted by the library dedication, has been billed as the "last
mission." Some vets referred to that on Thursday.
"The sad part is that this may be our last trip," said Ralph Davis. "I
hope not."
John Oakley, who was a small boy in Rackheath when the Americans came in 1944, smiled
and said, "This is about the fourth ‘final mission’ they’ve been
on."
He remembers the excitement that came with the Americans’ arrival in Rackheath, a
village of only 300 people then.
"Suddenly, there were 2,000 Americans here overnight," he said.
Oakley’s mother did laundry for many GIs, who often tipped her with food, a
welcome gift in a time of rationing.
"Only later did we appreciate what these men did for us," Oakley said.
"We wouldn’t have had the life we’ve had without these men coming over here
to help us.
"These men are heroes to me. Always have been. Always will be."
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