2014 reunion in dover coming together

2014 Reunion in DoverComing Together

781st BOMB SQUADRON | 465th BOMB GROUP | 15th AIR FORCE

PANTANELLA NEWSPublished by 781st Bomb Squadron Association© #114 March 2014

Details Inside

I have been putting our reunions in the VFW and the American Legion magazines. I have seen very few other WWII Reunions. I have been contacted but so far we have not received any registered guests from the magazines but I’ll keep doing it. The 781st does not give

up. The membership voted for another reunion. Ken and Liz Wiggins have already done a lot of the ground work for our 2014 Reunion in Dover, DE. They will have some information on dates, location etc. elsewhere in this newsletter.

A personal note – In the 781st History Book is a picture of Yellow Y, the 1st radar aircraft assigned to the 781st Squadron, 465th Bomb Group. I flew one mission as a radar operator with a different crew. The radio operator would listen for the signal from the German anti-aircraft guns, and then send a signal back at the same frequency to jam their guns. The Germans would change their frequency but little things like this helped. We also dropped tinfoil to give the German’s radar the wrong signal. It looked like the stuff we put on Christmas Trees. The theory was to cause the Germans to shoot at the tinfoil rather than our airplanes. — Orren Lee

I have been doing some research on the Chief Jo Jon mascot of the 781st Bomb Squadron. I have made inquiries from some of the veterans. Charles ‘Bubba’ Braud spent those cold days they had in Louisiana going though newsletters trying to find information for me. He did find in Pantanella Newsletter #58 and also #95 the airplanes and crews were listed. Pilot and Commanding Officer Charles McKenna III’s plane was named Chief Jo Jon. Bubba thought Frank Ambrose had written up something about how he took the name Chief Jo Jon but was unable to find it. Scanning the 781st History Book I found a picture on page 23 of Sgts. Ralph Finch and Harold Straughan with a native and “Chief Jo Jon” at Dakar. It appears Chief Jo Jon has a new look since then. I looked at McKenna’s message in the

front of the 781st History Book. He says “we are told that our memories become hazy and important occasions fade into the back ground.” I started doing this research because I am finding it to be true in regards to Chief Jo Jon. Can anyone remember how and why Chief Jo Jon is pictured as a disgruntled Indian, inserted into a triangle with a bomb and how he became the mascot? Please call or email me. We would like the story in the Pantanella News to refresh our memories.— Executive Secretary, Carole Lee

President’s Letter

The Mystery of Chief Jo Jon

PANTANELLA NEWS • MARCH 2014

781st Bomb Squadron Associationc/o Orren Lee, Pres.

4700 S. Cliff Ave, #308Sioux Falls, SD 57103

Email: [email protected]

Board of Directors:President: Orren Lee

Vice President: Earl LeinartTreasurer: Carole Lee

Secretary: Debbie CherryChaplin: Joseph Soucy

Board Member: Don MunceBoard Member: Georgia McKinnon

PANTANELLA NEWS781st BOMB SQUADRON (H)

Part of the 465th Bomb Gp. 15th AFItaly 1944-1945

Flew 191 Missions over Southern Europe dropping thousands of tons of death and destruction to the enemy. Shot down 25

enemy aircraft. Received two Presidential Unit Citations in Seven Battle Campaigns.

President:Orren Lee


605-339-1297email: [email protected]

Vice President:Earl Leinart

805 S. 173rd Ct. #213Omaha, NE 68118


Secretary:Debbie Cherry

13656 Hunters Chapel Rd.Smoaks, SC 29481

[email protected]

Treasurer/Executive Secretary:Carole Lee



781st BS Association Officers

Contact one of the following individuals for FW’s, News, Address Changes, etc.

Edited by: Lance McKinnon4128 Chanticleer Dr. NW

Kennesaw GA, 30152770-425-3213

email: [email protected]

PANTANELLA NEWS

Visit Us On Facebookhttp://www.facebook.

com/781stBombSquadron


781st Bomb Squadron 2014 ReunionOctober 1-4, Dover Deleware

Liz and I would like to offer you an update on our 2014 Reunion in Dover Delaware this coming autumn. We have firmed up a date and a venue. The dates are October 1-4 and our hotel will be the Dover Hilton Garden Inn.

This is among Dover’s newest hotels, and is located on the north side of town near the Dover Downs International Speedway and Casino and the Dover Mall. The rooms feature a microwave, refrigerator, coffee maker, iron/ironing board, 37” flat screen HDTV, Comcast cable, Wi-Fi and remote printing. On-site services include a fully equipped fitness center, and a large indoor pool and whirlpool. There is also an on-site restaurant, as well as a convenient 24 hour Pavilion Pantry® mart stocked with snacks and beverages. Here is a link to their website: http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/delaware/hilton-garden-inn-dover-PHLDOGI/index.html

We’re confident that there are plenty of attractions in the Dover area to keep you busy for four days. However, if you choose to extend your stay, the Delaware beach resorts are only one hour’s drive to the south, and the urban attractions of Wilmington, Philadelphia and beyond an hour to the north.

If you are flying to the reunion, Philadelphia is the closest major airport. It is about an hour and a half drive to Dover. We’ll be working with local volunteers to insure that any veteran who would like to attend, may request a ride from the airport

to Dover. We’ll ask you to share your travel plans when you register, so that we may coordinate our planning efforts.

We have not carved our plans in stone just yet, so we are open to any suggestions or ideas you may have to make this a better reunion. Please feel free to contact us.

Tentative Reunion Agenda:Wednesday October 1: •Check-inHiltonGardenHotel beginning at 3:00 PM.

Daily special reunion group rate for standard room (double or king size bed) is $83 plus tax. Reservations must be made prior to September1 to qualify for this special rate.

Call 302-674-3784. Free parking. Includes complimentary daily continental breakfast.

•HospitalityRoomforReunion Registration 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Thursday October 2:•Morningdiscussion.Veteranswith JR ROTC Members of Dover High School.

•Cateredlunchinhotel.

•BuggyandBayCoachTour.Ascenic bus tour of the Amish Country, where horse and buggies are a way of life.

•NationalWildlifeRefuge,Bombay Hook. The refuge is a stopping point on the trip of migratory birds and abundant wildlife.

•Evening,ExecutiveBoard Committee Meeting Hilton Garden Inn

Friday, October 3:•Morning,BusinessMeetinginthe Hotel - 8:30 AM

•FREEDAY–Onyourown. www.visitdover.com

Local Attractions:•DelawareAgricultureMuseum–$5•DelawareStatePoliceMuseum, – FREE•FirstStateHeritagePark:Includes the newly acclaimed National Monument, the Dover Green, the Johnson Victrola Museum and the Old State House – FREE•BiggsMuseumofAmericanArt, – FREE•DelawarePublicArchives–FREE

Saturday, October 4:•TourandlunchattheAirMobility Command Museum. www. amcmuseum.org•TourofDoverAirForceBase with welcome by the Commander. Memorial Service at Base Chapel. Group Photo.

•Evening,banquet,HiltonGarden Inn. Will include A/V presentations by veterans and surviving families of veterans as desired.

We have not established final costs for the activities and registration fees, but we have been working hard to insure that they will be competitive with our past reunions. We’ll have much more in the next newsletter.

Ken and Liz Wiggins – 781st Bomb Sqdn. Reunion Coordinators [email protected]


Fifteenth Air Force:The First 40 Years

1943 - 1983Earl Lienart submitted this excerpt from the book: Fifteenth Air Force: The First 40 Years, 1943 – 1983 as published by the Dictorate of Public Affairs for the Fifteenth Air Force. We are sharing the first Chap-ter, which covers the World War II years of the Fifteenth Air Force. This is part three and the final installment of that chapter.

...Continued

After Ploesti, the most important oil targets in the operational area were three synthetic plants in occupied Silesia and one in northwest Czechoslovakia. Production at these plants was reduced by 80 percent during the post-Ploesti attack period. Many of these attacks were delivered in weather conditions which prevented usual bombing tactics, and necessitated the use of the new blind-bombing techniques. The unusual success of a series of these attacks in late 1944 led General Spaatz to describe Fifteenth as the world’s leading exponent of blind-bombing. These attacks curtailed resurgent German oil production during the grim period of the Battle of the Bulge in December.

Another assist in that battle occurred be-tween December 26, 1944, and January 4, 1945, when 25 attacks were made against transport facilities in northern Italy. This prevented Field Marshal Albert Kesserel-ring’s German forces from withdrawing to support the Axis in the Bulge area or mounting a counteroffensive to retake the

vital port of Leghorn, Italy.As German resistance crumpled and Al-lied armies approached the borders of the Third Reich, Fifteenth conducted its first assault against Berlin on March 24, 1945, attacking the Daimler-Benz tank engine works. German jets shot down two B-17s, the last aircraft to be lost by Fifteenth in World War II.

On March 25 the last real strategic air assault by Fifteenth was made against airfields and tank plants in the seldom-bombed Prague, Czechoslovakia, area. After this, command missions were tacti-cal and local in effect.

Despite the change from strategic to tactical support, the largest operation ever undertaken by Fifteenth occurred on April 15. “Operation Wower” was the air phase of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark’s Fifth Army breakthrough at Bologna, Italy, the anchor of the Germans’ Gothic Line since the previous September. Practically every flyable bomber—in all, 1,235—bombed troop concentrations, gun emplacements, and strong points.

After this, missions were directed at preventing German escape from Italy, dropping food to the inhabitants of northern Italy, and evacuating prisoners of war by B-17s converted to cargo and pas-senger carriers. As further recognition of the end of the strategic mission, on April 16 General Spaatz declared the success-

ful Combined Bomber Offensive to be concluded. Since its beginning on June 10, 1943, when Eighth, and after No-vember 1, 1943, with the addition of the Fifteenth, and German will to fight and had been broken by aerial assaults from the western and southern approaches to the disintegrating Reich.

In support of the final Fifth Army drive in Italy toward the Brenner Pass, 2,052 Mediterranean Allied Air Force aircraft from April 15 to 18, 1945, undertook the most sustained heavy bomber support effort ever flown in the Mediterranean area. The ground advance up the Italian peninsula was so swift that after the fall of Bologna on April 21, the German forces in Italy surrendered on April 29. Mustang fighters were the last aircraft to strike the enemy as they bombed and strafed targets. And finally, Flying Fortresses flew their last mission on May 1 against the main rail station and mar-shaling yards at Salzburg, Austria. Peach negotiations led to the Germans signing terms of unconditional surrender in Italy on May 2, on the same day Berlin fell. The surrender preceded by five days the final Axis capitulation at Reims, France, with May 8 being officially declared as Victory-in-Europe (V-E) Day.

General Twining, now of three-star rank, left Fifteenth on May 26 and later became commander of the Twentieth in the Pacific area 10 weeks prior to the


dropping of atomic bombs on Hiro-shima and Nagasaki, Japan, the following August 6 and 9. He was replaced in Italy by Brigadier General James A. Mollison until the end of the Pacific phase of the war in September. By that time most of the of the command’s personnel and material had been deployed either to the U.S. Or to the Pacific phase of the war in September. By that time most of the command’s personnel and material had been deployed either to the U.S. or the Pacific theater. Fifteenth was inactivated on September 15 after nearly two years of wartime existence having fulfilled its mission in contributing a generous share of the Allied war effort.

Summing Up the Wartime Achievements

In any attempt to sum up the Fifteenth’s World War II achievements, one is almost overwhelmed with the evidence. The statistics are provided in the Appendix, but certainly some generalizations are in order. During almost 18 months of opera-tions, the command had destroyed about half of all the fuel production capacity in Europe, a good part of German fighter production capacity, and had crippled the enemy’s transportation system over half of once-occupied Europe.Fifteenth had developed precision bomb-ing to a fine point. Eight of 10 bombs fell within 1,000 feet of the intended impact. Many attacks were delivered in adverse

weather conditions, but successful use of the new blind-bombing techniques helped maintain precision drops. Strategic bombing reduced the German Air Force to impotence in terms of both fuel and material. It was furthermore a tremendous factor in breaking down the German sub-marine campaign, and upset the German war economy by causing manpower and material shortages.

In addition to its attacks on industry, com-munications and oil, Fifteenth directed much of its activity toward the rescue and repatriation of aircrews shot down in en-emy territory. No other air force recovered so many of its missing pilots and crews; no other undertook escape activities in so many countries. By V-E Day some 5,998 personnel had been returned by air, surface vessels and on foot through enemy lines. In more than 300 successful opera-tions, men were brought back safely from Tunisia, Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece Albania, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, Yu-goslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany.When it was apparent that the war had been won, General Twining sent a con-gratulatory message to all units on April 1, 1945. After praising the command’s ac-

complishments, he concluded by saying:“Such deeds are not attained by waving a magic wand or by use of Aladdin’s lamp, but by hard work, loyalty, and a consci-entious devotion to duty of the entire Force.

I am greatly impressed by the effort put forth by the [Fifteenth] Service Com-mand and the ground echelons of all units, without which such a tempo of operations would be impossible. This, with the expert planning by the organi-zation staffs and the courage and skill of the air crews, rounded out the team that enabled [this] Air Force to attain the highest degree of effectiveness.”

DUES NOTICE: It’s that time of year again. If you want to keep the Pantanella News coming we need

$10.00 per year! It actually costs more than that for printing and postage. Thanks to those who add a little or a lot to keep the costs down for those who cannot afford more. Look at your mailing label, if it does not have 2014 or Life member on it you are not current. If

$10.00 is a hardship for you, send what you can and request a different arrangement.

Now We Know Why He Was a General

In an interview, General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America.

His answer was classic Schwarzkopf. The General said,

“I believe that forgiving them is God’s function... OUR job is to arrange the meeting.”

An example of the comic’s that entertained them at the Pantanella AFB

Conversation overheard on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai.

Iranian Air Defense Site: ‘Unknown aircraft, you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’

Air Defense Site: ‘You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace, we will launch interceptor aircraft!’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 Fighter. Send ‘em up, I’ll wait!’

Air Defense Site: ( .. total silence)

Dana Perino (FOX News) describing an interview she recently had with a Navy SEAL. After discussing all the countries that he had been sent to, she asked if they had to learn several languages?

“Oh, no ma’am. We don’t go there to talk.”


Some Modern Military Humor

ROBERT LEDWITH(February 27, 1924 -March 10, 2013)

Robert “Bob” Ledwith, 89, of West Bend, passed away on Sunday, March 10, 2013 at Friendship House at Cedar Community with his loving wife at his side.

He was born on February 27, 1924 in Schenectady, NY to the late Fedor and Olive (nee Holton) Ledwith. After graduating from Mont Pleasant High School in Schenectady, NY, he enlisted in the Army Air Force, serving as a navigator on B24s, based in Italy. After his WWII service, he enrolled at UW-Madison, graduating from Law School in 1951. While at Madison, he met his wife, Betty Potts. They were married on August 26, 1950 and had 62 happy years together.

Bob found his vocational niche in bank trust work, working for National City Bank in Cleveland, OH, Merchants National Bank in Cedar Rapids, IA, Peoples Marine Bank in Green Bay, WI and retiring in 1989 as a Vice-President of Bank One Wisconsin Trust Company.

Upon retirement, Bob and Betty moved to Cedar Community in West Bend where they were active in community activities. Bob especially enjoyed their woodworking shop and spent many happy hours there constructing and refinishing furniture. He was a perfectionist and his work showed it. His quite disposition and lovely smile will be missed. May he rest in peace.

He is survived by his wife, Betty; daughter, Barbara (Steve) Prust of West Bend; son, Jim (Carol) Ledwith of Oshkosh; son-in-law, Dennis Smith of Audubon IA; four grandchildren, John (Lauren) Prust of Escondido, CA, Jenna (Adam) Glorioso of Pewaukee. Greg Smith of Cedar Rapids, IA, and Lyndi (Chris) Bieber of Marion, IA; two step-grandchildren, Nicole (Mark) Binder of Omro, WI, and Chad (special friend, Christin) Gunther of Oshkosh; four great-grandchildren, Gavin and Ella Smith of Cedar Rapids, IA, and Eli and Carissa Binder of Omro, WI; other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a daughter, Nancy Smith, and a sister, Ruth Velie.

JACK W. SMITH(December 14, 1923 -November 12, 2013)

SOUTH OGDEN – Jack W. Smith was reunited with his beloved wife on Tuesday, November 12, 2013.

He was born on December 14, 1923 in Venice, Utah to Andrew and Laura Cowley Smith. The Smith’s eventually relocated to northern Utah in the Weber County, Roy area.

Jack married his sweetheart Vaudis Reeves on April 19, 1943 just prior to his induction into the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served the United States military as a Top Gunner in the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber, flying a complete tour of duty during World War II. He was based in Italy in the 781st bombardment squadron in Pantanella.

Upon his return from the War, Jack and Vaudis solemnized their vows in the Logan LDS Temple in 1945. Together they raised four children, Gayle (Joe) Sears, Lynn (Sherry) Smith, David Smith, and Terri Woodworth. They have 17 grandchidlren, 38 great-grandchildren, and 21 great-great-grandchildren.

He retired from Hill Air Force Base where he was a maintenance control coordinator.

Jack enjoyed traveling with his wife, often driving for days with no particular place to go. They just loved being together, enjoying the outdoors and discovering new places. He also enjoyed bird watching, visits with his grandchildren, and sharing his experience of bombing raids over Europe. You would often find him wrenching on cars and tinkering in his shop at home.

Jack is survived by his four children and three brothers, Leo Smith, Doug Smith, and Earnest Delgarn Smith.

He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, and his sister Doris.

FOLDED WINGSPANTANELLA NEWS • MARCH 2014

Our thoughts and prayers are

with all our fallen comrades who have found everlasting peace. You have served your country well. We

will remember you forever.

781st BOMB SQUADRON | 465th BOMB GROUP | 15th AIR FORCE | MARCH 2014

PANTANELLA NEWS

781st “PANTANELLA NEWS”Orren Lee, President


2014 reunion in dover coming together

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