FL 32137
Nov. 5, 1996
Friends and fellow crewmembers,
As I sit to write this letter I find I am somewhat overcome with mixed emotions. I am, first of all, happy and excited that I have located all but one of our old crew, but sad and disappointed to find that four of our members are deceased. I also feel regret and guilt that I have failed to maintain contact with any of you over the past 50 years.
Why now? Well, there is a story behind this that begins with retirement, continues with some modern technology, and ends with a major stroke of luck.
For the past 10 years since we retired to Florida, and even more since Edna's stroke six years ago, my interests have centered on computers. The War's 50th anniversary celebration and lots of TV talk and film clips of bombers over Germany, and with my knowledge of Internet search capabilities, I determined to try to locate some of our old crew.
I will not go into detail here but I had phenomenal luck. I first found Percy Mack. (He is the only Percy Mack in Vermont.) He led me to Clair Hetrick and Ed McCloskey. Additional searches over a period of weeks have led me to all but one of the others.
A very real reward for me during these searches was the telephone conversations with each of you. There was also the special feeling accompanying the contacts I made with the families of the deceased, and with total strangers -- all of whom, without exception, were friendly, curious and helpful. The disappointment, of course, was finding that Ed Peters, Jim Stoner, Don Scheuch, and Charles Kenney were all deceased. In most instances, I was able to talk with their wives or children -- a warm experience that I will treasure. Al Knox is still missing but I have not given up hope of finding him.
I know each of you has a story to tell about your life and travels over the past 50 years and your plans for the future. I would welcome a phone call or letter from you so that I might add to the information you have already given me in our short telephone conversations.
A little about me:
At the end of the War I married my high school sweetheart, Edna. We raised two children; Diane, who is the mother of our only two grandchildren (boys 7 and 9), and David, who tried marriage but is now single. We lived for a few years in Pennsylvania where I attended Lehigh University under the GI bill and graduated with a degree in Engineering. In 1952 we moved to New Jersey where we lived until we retired in 1986. (We have had 11 different mailing addresses since we married.)
I gradually advanced in my profession to become Vice President of a New Jersey firm of Architects and Engineers. My specialty was the design of mechanical systems for large commercial, educational, and industrial structures throughout the Northeast.
During this period, from 1945 till two months ago, the only members of our crew that I had contact with were Jim Stoner and Joel Lester. Jim and his wife visited us shortly before he died in 1951. Joel Lester and Evelyn stopped by to visit somewhere in the mid 60's. I also have a Christmas card from Hetrick -- a picture of his daughter Debbie sitting on Santa Clause's lap. (She was 5 years old)
After 34 good years in engineering, we retired in 1986 to a home we built in Palm Coast. Palm Coast is a small secluded coastal community in northeast Florida where we had vacationed (in a condominium we owned) for the previous 10 years. We love the area and plan to never move again.
Our life in retirement has not been what we had planned. (But then, we cannot plan the future, can we?). Edna suffered a major stroke about 6 years ago and is confined to a wheelchair. She is very dependent on me. This event has drastically changed our lifestyle but we thank Almighty God that we are still together and otherwise in fairly good health.
It's indeed difficult to sum up one's life in a few paragraphs. Many milestones, both happy and sad have been omitted. Overall, I would say I have been richly blessed in so many ways. I have a wife and children who have loved and supported me every moment of my journey through life and that's the most important thing after all.
Now! We have a great opportunity to all get together next October when the 457th Bomb Group has its reunion in Savannah, Georgia.
For those of you who do not know about this I am enclosing a mailer concerning the reunion. If you are a member of the 457th Association you will be receiving further information on the reunion in the coming months. Let's keep in touch through the coming year and all plan to be in Savannah.
Can you imagine the fun we can have reliving those months we spent together in 1944/45?
I am attaching a list of the crew members and the information I have obtained about each - or about their families. This information is incomplete and perhaps inaccurate. If you will contact me we will try to get the facts.
I am also including here a list of the missions that I flew and the dates and air time. (One of you said he would like to have this information.) Your missions may differ slightly because some of us flew a mission or more with another crew. Anyway, this is my list. If anyone desires a copy, I also have a list of all the missions that the 457th flew with dates and losses (dead, POW, missing, wounded).
I look forward to seeing each of you next October and, if any of you gets to Florida before then, I will expect a visit.
Pilot to Crew --"over and out".
Willard