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In World War II my father, Roy H.
Adams, flew a P-47 Thunderbolt with the 9th Air Force, 404th
Fighter Group, 507th Fighter Squadron. He probably trained
at Winkton, Hampshire, England, and he flew combat missions
from St. Trond, Belgium, all of them over Germany as far as
I know. Although he almost never spoke about it, he was also
present for an unspecified time at Dachau in a capacity I
can't even begin to guess at. He had photos (now lost) of an
experience that changed him forever. This is a transcription of one of
Dad's mission logs, the only one I have, earlier mission
logs not having survived. It starts with mission number 29,
probably some time in the second week of March, 1945 and
ends in early April, so it only covers about three weeks.
The numbers indicate the mission number and there are also
occasional dates as well. At the time of this log he was 21
years old. I'd really like to thank Mr. John
Levesley for his help with ferreting out information on the
404th. His site about Winkton
was very helpful, too.
The log: 29. Bombed and strafed marshalling
yards. 30. 4 ship flight -- Lt. Col. Mullins,
Brownlee, Maj. Hodges and myself -- destroyed oil dump and
factory in N. Cologne that over 75 planes had previously
been sent after and couldn't get. Most intense light and
medium flak I've ever seen. Brownlee was hit, but made it
back for emerg. lndg. 31. Sqdr. flew radar mission, highly
successful. Blasted town & RR yards, driving Jerries
from town. Our troops took town following day. 32. Fighter sweep over Rhine
bridgehead for 3:15; saw two E/A (ME 109s) but they ducked
into clouds as soon as we spotted them. Only 1 flak barrage.
No losses. 33. Schwartz went in burning; got
direct hits on cars in marshalling yard with bombs; hits on
train spotted 40 miles further in; stopped another train on
way home. I barely managed to pull up over locomotive which
blew up as I passed directly over, tossing me up a few 100
feet on one wing. Managed to recover and get out of flak.
Got good m.g. hits on loco. Believe I destroyed it, tho'
someone else beat me to claim. 34. Brownlee and Simon -- half my
flight -- were killed in a mid-air collision during a
strafing pass on a Jerry airfield. We were all on the deck
when they exploded beside me -- they didn't have a chance.
Flew Boland's wing and made 6 or 7 passes at numerous parked
planes. Sqdn. had a field day, bagging 21, but can't be sure
how many I got -- Boland cut me out on almost every pass.
Rollinger bellied in on our side of lines. Things are
getting damned rough; we've lost 3 men & 4 planes on two
missions. 35. 15 March. Another conspicuous
first -- had the hell shot out of me today. Scored a road
cut and destroyed several vehicles, but got clobbered on
second pass. They hit my flaps, both wings, fuselage, and
wheel wells, and shot out my airspeed indicator, hydraulic
system, and one tire -- several holes only two feet from me.
Had to land on one good wheel with no airspeed indicator and
managed somehow. Control & sqdn congratulated me on a
good job -- you immodest _________. 36. 16 March. Two passes with Capt.
Ross on lone vehicles. Weather was very hazy & I didn't
do much good -- Ross knocked out a couple. Caught flak and
it really scared me, though I wasn't hit. Must be turnin'
chicken. 37. March 19. Flew 3 missions today
for a total of 7:00; can hardly stand now, so tired. Hit
marshalling yard and two factories. 38. "Bastard" mission; escorted B-26s
quite a way in -- 3:30. 39. Attacked approx. 15 vehicles in a
field; wind was so strong entire sqdn. missed with bombs.
Strafing was pretty good, however, & I poured out 1640
rounds. Led element today for first time -- on
all three missions. 40. Mar. 20. 3 more missions -- 14:00
in two days. Attacked train in yard, got near misses. Flew
my own plane (the D-15) for second time, led element on 1st
two missions. 41. Attacked large store of supplies
in woods east of Coblenz. My bombs hung up, so I bashed a
small town on second pass - made me feel a bit of a
heel. 42. Smashed a large marshalling yard,
packed with cars, in Limburg. Entire flight got direct hits.
Intense flak from 8 angels down. Rives bellied in 40 miles
E. of Rhine; we're sweating him out. 43. 22 Mar. Attacked marshalling yard;
fair hits on several cars. 44. Hit convoy of motor transports,
vehicles <E. Cologne>. Haze & smoke was so thick
we could hardly see our target. Passed thru clouds on d.b.
run. [dive boming run] 45. 23 Mar. Attacked marshalling yard;
my wingman & I both got rail cuts & several
cars. 46. D-Day for the Rhine crossing above
Düsseldorf; the grop patrolled one area, giving cover
for C-46s, C-47s, & B-24s, carrying paratroops &
supplies; they went in at 1500' and had the hell shot out of
'em. Saw thousands of planes n the mission. Logged
3:45. 47. 25 Mar. Attacked marsh. yard about
50 mi. E. of Cologne; 5 of the 7 ships -- including myself
-- scored direct hits. I destroyed 3 cars, dam. several,
& got a rail cut. Went into the dive run at 14,000'
& pulled out at 1500. Most hellish run (a vertical split
S) I've ever tried -- had over 600 mph at pullout. Godfrey
was killed on last mission today. 48. 26 Mar. Lt. Col. Mullins led 8
ships against a large radar installation. We left the target
pretty well bashed, & strafed some trucks & tanks on
the way home. I heard 4 different bursts of heavy flak over
Cologne that almost picked me off - my wingman thought I'd
had it. 49. 31 Mar. Terrible weather
conditions; managed to find one small hole in the thick
overcast & we bombed a town and 3 vehicles. NRO.
[?] 50. April 1st, '45. Easter Sunday, but
we flew a 3 hour mission in very bad weather. Could find
only one hole in the thick overcast so we went thru it and
clobbered a town. I made a long pass & my wingman
started several fires by strafing; we got good bomb hits
with our napalm, scoring a road cut and destroying several
houses. ---------------------------------- Miscellaneous: Received a new plane about April 2; a
D-28. It used to be Phelps's, & is the same one I got
shot up -- it's really a sweet aircraft, however. April 3. Operations received a report
today that Rives' grave was found 50 feet from his plane.
The Germans had evidently murdered him in cold blood -- 28
burp gun holes were found in his body. April 4. Received orders placing me on
Detached Service for 90 days with 70th fighter
Wing. Attended condensed fighter controller
& radio school for 7 days; graduated Aprill 12
(approx.). John Boland was killed -- was strafing a tank on
the deck when the 88 in the tank scored a direct hit on
him. ----------------------------------- Squadron losses: Manchester Hall Graham Abt, Francis E. Crocker Schwartz, David Brownlee, Billy Simon, Ben Rives, Jack Godfrey, Francis Boland, John P. Branch, Lee
Dad survived the war but died in 1972
at the comparatively young age of 48. He and my mother were
divorced in 1961 and he moved to another state; I saw very
little of him then. I was 21 when he died. I wrote to his
second wife: "I remember something he spoke about
several years ago; perhaps he mentioned it to you. When he
was in the war and flying his Thunderbolt he chased a German
plane and was close behind when someone said "Duck, Adams!"
He pulled his plane away and found another German behind
him, in a good position to destroy his plane had he not
turned. At any rate, he wasn't hit, but the odd thing was
that there was no one around who could have warned him. I
wasn't very old when he told me about this, nine or ten I
think, but I remember asking him if it was God who warned
him. He didn't know, he said, but there were no other
American planes around, nobody who knew his name. Maybe he
was being watched, and if he was, I hope he still
is." Much to my surprise I found this
incident mentioned in the book "Leap
Off: The 404th Fighter Group Combat
History" although the version
there is somewhat more prosaic and does not agree 100 per
cent with the story I had remembered. According to the book,
it happened on December 17, 1944, two weeks after his
twenty-first birthday. In terms of mission numbers or kills
Dad was ranked relatively low so I suppose there was really
no reason to mention him in the book, and yet something
about this event made someone remember it. Whatever the
truth of the incident, it's plain that something unusual
took place, at least as far as my father was
concerned. The oddity of Dad dying and my writing
about this incident when I was the age Dad was at the time
of the incident does not escape me. Stranger coincidences
exist. The experiences he had in the war,
both in flight and when he was at Dachau, had a profound
effect on him and were probably what defined him as a man. I
mention them on this page as his tribute. Maybe he was being watched, and if he
was, I hope he still is.
