Transcript File

A WW II Airman’s Story
Europe: Normandy through VE-Day
Presentation make to Special Friends June 2005
Special Friends
Sources:
Photos by Anando Kramer
Photos & Data from “Into the Valley”
Col. Charles H. Young, 1995
Y’s Tales, York High Year Book
Tower ’44, Wheaton College year book
Photos from family albums
Anando Kramer, photographer
Prologue
1924 to 1942
My Name is
Donald Frank Beaumont
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
I am the oldest of three sons of
Frank Beaumont 1900-1990
Beatrice Beaumont 1900-1997
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
1928 - First airplane ride
First Flight:1928
Pittsburg: Dad & Me
Curtis Robin
Most Recent Flight: 2004
Georgetown, Texas
76 Years!!!
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
1928 - First airplane ride
1934 – Chose Jesus Christ, Savior & Lord
1936 – Joined Villa Park Bible Church
1938 – Attended York High School
The High School Years
Teen Years: Family, Church
Cars, a Girl Named Frances
Don and the ‘35 Ford Roadster
June 1942
I graduated from York High School
Elmhurst, Illinois
List of York Servicemen from Classes
before 1942!
Three more classes were added by war’s end.
Young Men in Villa Park Bible Church
Class of 1942
Kenny Goodheart
Fred Damerion
Killed in France, 1945
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
1928 - First airplane ride
1934 – Chose Jesus Christ, Savior & Lord
1936 – Joined Villa Park Bible Church
1938 – Attended York High School
1942 – Attended Wheaton College
September 1942 to January 43
I attended Wheaton College, Illinois
Wheaton, Dear old Wheaton live forever
Brave Sons and Daughters true
We will ever uphold thy colors
The Orange and the Blue
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
1928 - First airplane ride
1934 – Chose Jesus Christ, Savior & Lord
1936 – Joined Villa Park Bible Church
1938 – Attended York High School
1942 – Attended Wheaton College
1943 – Drafted into US Army
The War Years 1943 to 1945
1943
February 1943
Drafted: 36737213
I served in the Army Air Corps
Feb. 27, 1943-Nov. 23, 1945
I served in the Troop Carrier Command
96th TCS 440th TCG
Aircraft Electrical Specialist
Oh, What a difference 61 years
makes
96th TCS 440th TCG
February 1944 – August 1945
European Theater of Operations
Dropped Airborne Infantry
Towed GC-4A & Horsa Gliders
Dropped parapack re-supplies
Hauled gasoline jerry cans
Repatriated wounded & POW’s
96th TCS 440th TCG
February 1944 – August 1945
European Theater of Operations
D-Day Normandy: Op. Neptune
Southern France: Op. Dragoon
Holland:
Op. Market
Bastogne:
Battle of the Bulge
Rhine Crossing: Op. Varsity
February 27, 1943
Chicago, Illinois
Induction Physical
Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois
Induction into army
March 1943
Assigned to Army Air Corps
Kessler Field
Biloxi, Mississippi
Basic training
March 1943
Kessler Field
Biloxi, Mississippi
Basic training
May 1943
Aircraft Mechanics School
Amarillo Field
Amarillo, Texas
August 1943
Aircraft Electrical Specialist School
Chanute Field, Illinois
Life Changing Events
1924 - Born with two wonderful parents
1930 - Moved 6 times by end of 1st grade
1928 - First airplane ride
1934 – Chose Jesus Christ, Savior & Lord
1936 – Joined Villa Park Bible Church
1938 – Attended York High School
1942 – Attended Wheaton College
1943 – Drafted into US Army
1943 – Flight Crew Physical Exam; Eye Test
August 1943
Chanute Field, Illinois
E
CDA
MOFPN
Aircraft Electrical Specialist School
headed for B-29 in the Pacific?
On Furlough, December 1943 with Dad
Waiting for Notification of Assignment
December 1943
Assigned to the Troop Carrier Command
440th Troop Carrier Group
96th Troop Carrier Squadron 6Z
The C-47 transport!
Douglas DC-3
Cockpit of a C-47 Dakota
December 1943
Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri
440th Troop Carrier Group
96th Troop Carrier Squadron 6Z
440th Troop Carrier Group
96th Troop Carrier Squadron 6Z
December 1943
Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri
January 1, 1944
Pope Field, Fort Bragg
North Carolina
Training with Airborne Infantry
January 1, 1944
Pope Field, Fort Bragg
North Carolina
GC - 4A glider
Training with Airborne Infantry
Vs of Vs in Trail
February 1944
Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Ground Echelon leaves for England
Via Camp Shanks, Orangeburg, NY
February 1944
Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Air Echelon leaves for England
Via South America & North Africa
C-47 cargo area with ferry tanks
The War Years 1943 to 1945
1944
England, France, & Holland
February 1944
Camp Shanks, Orangeburg
New York
Ground Echelon Sails for England
Troop Ship Louis Pasteur
Former French Luxury Liner
E7Port
Ground Echelon’s carrier: New York to Liverpool
No convoy: 3rd fastest ship at that time!
March 1944
Landed in Liverpool
Bottesford Air Base
Nottinghamshire, England
March 1944
Bottesford Air Base
Nottinghamshire, England
Training with Airborne
and British Horsa Gliders
Horsa Glider
Tow
England from the Air
April 1944
Exeter Air Base
Devonshire, England
Getting Ready for Normandy
Loading a jeep enroute
to Exeter
Where do we sit?
Enroute to Exeter
April 1944
Exeter Air Base
Devonshire, England
Getting Ready for Normandy
May 1944
Exeter, Devonshire
Group Review
Note: No D-Day black and White Paint yet
June, 1944
Exeter, Devonshire
Colonel Krebs radar ship
painted for Operation Neptune
Pathfinder guides to DZ’s and LZ’s
Specially trained:
Troop Carrier flight crews
Paratroopers
Mission:
15 to 30 minutes before 1st serial
Set up:
Eureka (Rebecca) nav aid
Lighted or florescent “T” panels
Pathfinders: A brief history
1st used in the invasion of Italy (deemed
essential after the bad drop scattering
during the invasion of Sicily).
Success in Italy=use on D-Day Normandy.
Day-Day Normandy:
20 C-47 pathfinders
30 minutes before the 1st Serials
Only marginally successful
Night landing errors
Equipment failures
D-Day Normandy
Operation Neptune
Exeter
Utah
Omaha
From: C H Young
1995
Barracks & Air Raid Shelters
Exeter, Devonshire
May 1944
Exeter, Devonshire
Group Review
Note: No D-Day black and White Paint yet
D-Day Normandy
Operation Neptune
June 5-6: Only ETO night drop
Planes Gliders Troops
AirFrom:
Fields
C H Young
1038
15 1995
England
103
17,000
D-Day Normandy
American Part
801 C-47’s 13,000 paratroopers
Formations formed with red & green fm lights
Off Normandy: red & green off, blue fm on dim
20 minutes from drop: remove jump door
4 minutes from drop: red cabin light
Stand & hook up to static cabin line
Descend to 700 feet reduce 140 to 110 mph
Green light = kick out parapacks & JUMP
440th TCG Op Neptune
June 5-6, 1944
440th TCG
45 C-47’s, lost 2
3rd Bat, 506th Para Inf
Co C 326th air eng bat
101st Airborne Division
D-Day black & white paint job
Flight Line: June 5, 1944
439th TCG
D-Day Normandy, June 5th-6th
101st Airborne
Never Forget What They Did!
Omaha Beach D-Day!
From Where They Fell
DZ’s around Ste-Mere-Eglise
Utah
Beach
Ste Mere
Eglise
Ste Mere Eglise in 1999
Ste Mere Eglise Church
Airborne Image 1999
Paratrooper
Figure
Parachute Museum, Ste Mere Eglise
Col C H
Young’s C-47
Argonne
Lead the 339th
TCG June 5-6,
1944
Omaha Beach, May 1999
55th Anniversary of Normandy
D-Day plus one
Airborne Infantry on GC-4A Glider
Enroute to Normandy
Tug C-47
Glider
Horsa & CG-4A Gliders in Normandy
Horsa glider & casualties
Jeep off loaded from GC-4A Glider
Waco CG-4A Glider &
Rommel’s Asparagus
Fought with infantry until repatriated
Ready-made Runway
Southern France
Operation Dragoon
Take-off: Italy
Invasion of Southern France
Operation Dragoon
August 15, 1944
France
Italy
August 1944
Move from Exeter, England
to Reims, France
August 1944
Reims, France
Bombed Hangers
Here by accident!
We’re C-47’s not P-47’s!!!
August 1944
Reims, France
Barracks
Air Echelon moved back to England
Ground Echelon moved to Mets, France
Ground Echelon moved to Le Mans
Air Echelon moved back to England
for Operation Market (Holland)
Invasion of Holland
September 17, 1944
Summary: Daytime Operation
1532 planes
478 gliders
20,000 Troops
18 Pathfinder C-47s
20 minutes ahead
Sept. 17th
Op. Market
Holland
Sept. 17th: Op. Market
440th dropped 82nd
Col Krebs plane lost
Group CO Krebs’ C-47
Collided with another C-47
Returning from Holland Drop
Freddy Broga & Company
2 Weeks with the Underground
Re-living the underground
experience
The Elevator hiding place
Sept.18th:
440th towed 82 gliders:
82nd Airborne
Sept.23rd:
440th towed 96 gliders:
82nd Airborne
Meanwhile back in
Le Mans, France
October 1944
Le Mans, France
November 1944
Move to Orleans Air Field
Ground and Air Echelons reunited
November 1944
Orleans, France
December 1944
Orleans, France
Operation Bastogne
Orleans Air Base Operations
Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge
Dec. 16th 1944
Nazis Attach with
250,000 troops
1,000 tanks
Bastone
Bastogne: Dec. 26th
AM: 96th TCS flew one C-47 & glider
surgical team and supplies
PM: 10 C-47’s & gliders (3 from 96th)
Bastogne: Dec. 27th
439th TCG: 50 plane serial (13 440th)
95th TCS lost 5 of 8
96th TCS lost 3 of 5
OUR WORST DAY of the WAR!!
The War Years 1943 to 1945
1945
Germany, V-E Day!
Orleans, France
Orleans?, France
Bombed out German Barracks
Orleans Air Base hangers
Winter at Orleans Air Base
Where are the heated hangers?
Orleans Air Base, France
Rhine Crossing
Op Varsity
March 24, 1945
Op Varsity: Crossing the Rhine
Summary: biggest airborne ever!
1836 planes
1348 gliders (592 double tow)
17,000 troops
Flew in four lanes:
three 1 ½ miles apart
fourth 200 feet above
Took 3 hours and 12 minutes
to pass given point!!!!
Rhine Crossing
Rhine Crossing
DZ’s & LZ’s
Wesel
Drop and Landing Zones
City of Wesel
Dick Erdenberger Sun City
Neighbor was right here
Rhine Return Flight
Dick Erdenberger
Sun City neighbor
Was right Here!
Op. Varsity: Crossing the Rhine
A glider operation
GC-4A gliders
Operation Varsity
Rhine Crossing
Double Glider Tow
Two Columns of C-47’s
each with Two gliders
C-47s
C-47s
Rhine Crossing Runway Lineup
Rhine Crossing Runway Closeup
Some other operations for Troop Carrier
Air evacuation
Stretchers for wounded
Air Evacuation Nurses: 440th TCG
Loading Wounded
Prop change: lots of help
Not much fun
in the winter
Glider Pickup
Glider
Some personal recollections
Freddie Broga and Friends
Roland Dahlberg
best friend
Roland Dahlberg
Unloading 5 gallon Jerry Gas Cans
Metz, France
May 1945
V-E Day!!!!!
Gasoline to Patton’s Tanks
More Gas for Patton’s Tanks
Our C-46
Getting ready to go to Japan
440th TCG Prepares for Japan
J-Day!!
440th Reorganized
Ground Echelon Sails Home!!
August 1945
Camp Grant, Illinois
November 1945
Discharged!!
Home again!!!
Mom, I’m home!
96th TCS, 440th TCG
Gone but not forgotten!
Epilogue
1945 to 2005
Wheaton College
Columbia University
Middlebury College
Texaco
American Red Cross
Knowledge Systems
Sun City, Texas