Lucky 666
Page 29
Leaning heavily on his crutch, Jay bent painfully over the headstone marking Joe’s grave and placed a lei of flowers on the plaque commemorating his bombardier. The plaque was decorated with a blue flag bearing the likeness of the Medal of Honor. Tears continued to streak his cheeks as he straightened, came to attention, and saluted his old comrade.
Then, his voice cracking with emotion, he turned toward the small group surrounding him and said, “It’s very important for me to place this wreath here. Because without him, I wouldn’t be here today.”
And with that he palmed away another tear and bowed his head in silent prayer.
JAY’S LAST YEARS WERE PEACEFUL ones. He died at age 88 on March 22, 2007, in his beloved Boothbay Harbor. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His family members recall that not long before his death he shared his guiding philosophy with them.
“You can always find a way to do anything you want if you are dead set on doing it, come hell or high ack-ack,” he said. “I think that is the most valuable thing anyone can learn from life.”
At Jay’s memorial service, hundreds of people, including the governor of Maine, attended what was in essence a celebration of the life of a man his wife, Barbara, called “a true maverick.”
As Barbara, her five daughters, and the Zeamer grandchildren filled the front row of seats at the service, one of Jay’s favorite quotations, from Theodore Roosevelt, was read:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who errs and comes up short again and again, but who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
Jay Zeamer and Joe Sarnoski and the Eager Beavers had dared greatly. They had not failed.
Jay Zeamer Jr. at three years old, soon after Jay Sr. and Marjorie Zeamer had moved from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to Orange, New Jersey. Courtesy of the Zeamer Family.
The former Eagle Scout Jay Zeamer as a student at Culver Military Academy in Indiana in 1935, when he was 17 years old. Courtesy of Culver Academies.
Jay Zeamer Jr. (left), his younger brother, Jere, and (in between) sisters Anne and Isabel and their mother, Marjorie Herman Zeamer. Courtesy of the Zeamer Family.
Joe Sarnoski (third from left) and his 15 brothers and sisters at the family homestead in Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
Being a member of the Buddy Howe band provided Joe (far left) with an opportunity to indulge his love of music and help support the Sarnoski family, aided by his accordion. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
Anne, Isabel, Jere, and Jay Zeamer Jr. soon before Jay left home to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Courtesy of the Zeamer Family.
Langley Field in Virginia in 1941, where Jay Zeamer Jr. and Joe Sarnoski first met, the following year. Courtesy of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
Joe Sarnoski and fellow Airmen at Langley Field during training days in the early 1940s. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
Jay made a last visit to the Zeamer family home in New Jersey before shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Courtesy of the Zeamer Family.
Marie Maddox and Joe Sarnoski married early in 1942, shortly before the bombardier was deployed to Australia. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
Joe Sarnoski was one of thousands of American military personnel shipped to Australia on the SS Argentina, eluding Japanese submarines as the ship made the perilous journey across two oceans. Courtesy of Susan Lanson.
Joe Sarnoski as a bombardier with the 43rd Bomb Group stationed in Port Moresby, where he was reunited with Jay Zeamer Jr. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
An aerial view of the airfields at Port Moresby in New Guinea, the most important Allied base in the Southwest Pacific. Courtesy of the National Archives.
The Japanese and the Allies used leaflets as a form of psychological warfare. During the first year of the war, leaflets dropped by Japanese aircraft sought to persuade the remaining beleaguered defenders to surrender. Courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
General Douglas MacArthur commanded Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific and occasionally clashed with U.S. Navy brass in his quest for authority over both their ships and the Marine Corps. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Soon after the hard-charging General George C. Kenney took over the 5th Air Force, his “Ken’s Men” began to turn the tide of the war. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Admirals Ernest King and Chester Nimitz, flanked by fellow senior officers, were the naval commanders who oversaw U.S. operations in the Pacific Theater. Courtesy of the National Archives.
The B-26 Marauder was a fast-flying plane whose powerful engines made takeoffs and landings a dicey proposition. Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum.
During the first year of the war, Japanese bombers and fighter planes, seen here over Bataan, ruled the skies. Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum.
The Boeing Corporation took a huge risk by building and introducing, in 1935, the first B-17 bomber. The Flying Fortress turned out to be a powerful weapon in the Allied arsenal. Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum.
In April 1942, Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his crews prepare to take off from the USS Hornet to launch their daring raid on Tokyo. Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum.
Allied bombs rain down on Rabaul, the Japanese stronghold that defied defeat throughout the war. Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Museum.
The pilot Paul Irvin “Pappy” Gunn, shown here before the war broke out, was a master innovator and mechanical genius who spearheaded new strafing techniques. Courtesy of the National Archives.
General Kenneth Walker was a vociferous advocate for daylight bombing runs. After his plane went missing, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Major William Benn, a daredevil pilot and a favorite of General George Kenney’s, helped to develop the technique known as “skip bombing” enemy ships. Courtesy of Alfred Hagen.
The dynamic Captain Kenneth McCullar, one of the most popular and effective bomber pilots in the 5th Air Force, taught Jay Zeamer to maneuver his Flying Fortress like a fighter plane. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the man behind the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, became a target for U.S. fighter planes in April 1943. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Admiral William Halsey galvanized the Allied war effort with his aggressive leadership of Navy forces in the South Pacific. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Colonel Merian C. Cooper (left). Courtesy of the National Archives.
The Zero was the deadliest weapon in the Japanese air arsenal. Dozens swarmed Old 666 during the mission over Bougainville. Courtesy of Jim Landsdale/Donald W. Thorpe Collection.
Captain Jay Zeamer Jr. and his original “Eager Beavers,” in front of Old 666. Kneeling (left to right): William Vaughan, George Kendrick, Johnnie Able, and Herbert “Pudge” Pugh. Standing (left to right): Bud Thues, Zeamer, Hank Dyminski, and Joe Sarnoski. Courtesy of Jim Rembisz.
Resurrected from the Port Moresby graveyard, the plane dubbed Old 666 was rebuilt by the Eager Beavers. Courtesy of World War II Magazine.
One of the photographs taken by George Kendrick as Old 666 flew over Buka Island on the morning of June 16, 1943. Courtesy of Jim Rembisz.
Thanks to the Old 666 mission, Marine Corps units were able to land on Bougainville and eventually occupy the island, securing the Solomon Islands chain. Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps Library.
A gaunt Jay Zeamer Jr. spent well over a year in American hospitals recovering from the wounds he suffered. Courtesy of World War II Magazine.
Marie Sarnoski, with her parents to her right, receives her husband’s posthumous Med
al of Honor from Brig. General Caleb Haynes. To Haynes’s left are Joe’s mother, Josephine; a niece, Marion Dukerich; and two of Joe’s sisters, Helen Sarnoski and Nellie Dukerich. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
Boothbay Harbor honored its local hero on Jay Zeamer Day on June 16, 1993, the 50th anniversary of the Bougainville mission. Courtesy of Boothbay Register.
“He knowingly gave his life for that which we hold most dear”: Members of the Sarnoski family—Joe’s mother and 12 siblings—gather at a memorial dedicated to Joe in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Sarnoski Family.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE been possible without the many people, organizations, and institutions that provided us with a wealth of personal and professional material. We must begin by thanking the extended family of Jay Zeamer, particularly his wife, Barbara; his daughter Sandra; and his nephews Warwick and Geoffrey Zeamer. An equal amount of gratitude must be sent to members of Joe Sarnoski’s family, most especially his nephew Jim Rembisz, who provided us with invaluable documentation; and Joe’s sister Matilda Spodnewski and his nieces Judith Thompson and Kathy Stees. We are also indebted to Boyd Britton and Richard Vaughan for recollections about their fathers, brave crewmates of Capt. Jay Zeamer Jr. and Lt. Joe Sarnoski.
We are also grateful to the men and women who were generous enough to take the time to share their intimate memories and special knowledge of the 5th Air Force during World War II. These include George Anderson, Linda Burton, James Cherkauer, James Diefenderfer, Barbi Greene Evans, Bruce Gamble, Edward Gammill, Kensmen.com and its resources, Michelle Krell Malone, Jack and Alan Matisoff, John McDowell, Melissa Parker, Louise Terrell, and Susan Lanson and all the members of the 43rd Bomb Group Association. More specifically, we are deeply grateful to Daniel Knickrehm, formerly the 43rd Bomb Group historian, who not only assisted us during the early stages of our research but was there toward the end too, by giving the manuscript a thorough read and helping us correct factual errors.
There were many individuals and institutions that were indispensable to us in our research, and we are thankful for their efforts, especially in those instances when they responded to repeated requests for material; they include Mike Leister of the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base; James Amemasor and the New Jersey Historical Society; Randy Andrews; Autumn Arnett and Air Force Magazine; Richard Baker; Rich Bowra; Kevin Burnham and the Boothbay Register; the Carbondale Historical Society; the Carlisle Public Library; Keegan Chetwynd and the Air Force Heritage Museum; Bill Cronauer and the Scranton Public Library; Bruce Crosby and the McCook Gazette; Cara Curtis and the Cumberland County Historical Society; the Dauphin County Library System; Archangelo DiFante; Cindy Drake and the Nebraska State Historical Society; Dennis Fabiszak and the East Hampton Free Library; Double Delta Photo Research; Brian George; Lesta Sue Hardy and the Chapin Library; the Harrisburg Public Library; Clint Hayes; the John Jermain Memorial Library, especially Cathy Creedon and Sue Mullin; the Joseph Clark Collection; the Leesville Public Library; Sharon Leon and the Pacific War Archives at George Mason University; and Richette Wilson Lobban.
In addition, our research would not have been complete without the assistance of the McCook Public Library; Tim McFadden and the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library; Darla Moore and the Winter Park Public Library; Newark Public Library; New Jersey Historical Society; Lydia Olszak; Ryan O’Malley; Janice Olson; the Orange, New Jersey, Public Library; Melissa Parker; Pensacola Public Library; Jessica Pratt and the Carbondale Library; Holly Reed at the National Archives and Records Administration; the Richmond Public Library, especially Linda Holmes, David Kilmon, and Karen Roy; Barbara Rumsey and the Boothbay Harbor Historical Society; Denise Shellehamer; Robert Sligh; the Steelton Public Library; Sara Swan and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force; Justin Taylan and Pacificwrecks.org; U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center; Peggy Vignolo; Alisa Whitley and the Library of the Marine Corps; and the Youngstown Public Library.
Words cannot convey the appreciation we feel for the expertise and enthusiasm of our editor, Jofie Ferrari-Adler, and the other members of the Simon & Schuster team, particularly Jonathan Karp, Richard Rhorer, Leah Johanson, Stephen Bedford, Susan Gamer, Marie Florio, and Julianna Haubner. Moreover, with us at every step of the way during the reporting and writing of this book walked our literary agent, Nat Sobel, and his invaluable instincts, as well as Adia Wright and the helpful elves of Sobel-Weber Associates. Further support was provided by Michael Prevett at the Rain Management Group.
Fortune plays a role in all facets of a book project, and we were fortunate enough to be able to fall back on the crack if unofficial editorial committee of Marty Beiser, Bob Kelly, and David Hughes.
Finally, we have been blessed with family support systems that not only endure through thick and thin, but also inspire. For that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Denise McDonald, Liam-Antoine DeBusschere-Drury, Leslie Reingold, Kathryn Clavin, and Brendan Clavin.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
BOB DRURY (left) is the author/coauthor/editor of ten books, four in collaboration with Tom Clavin. His last solo book was A Dog’s Gift and his adventure narrative The Rescue Season was adapted into a documentary by the History Channel. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ, Men’s Journal, and Men’s Health. He is the recipient of several national journalism awards, is a three-time National Magazine Award finalist, as well as a Pulitzer Prize–nominee.
TOM CLAVIN is the author or coauthor of eighteen books. For fifteen years he wrote for The New York Times, and he has contributed articles to many magazines, including Golf, Men’s Journal, Parade, Reader’s Digest, and Smithsonian. He lives in Sag Harbor, New York.
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NOTES ON SOURCES
AS WITH OUR PREVIOUS BOOKS, the generosity of staffers at libraries, museums, and other institutions has been our salvation. In wars since time immemorial it has been said that history is fable agreed upon, but contrary to that perceived wisdom it was indeed fortunate for us that World War II has been so well chronicled by historians and others in Japan, Germany, and other countries as well as in the United States. However, learning what the most authoritative sources of information are, and gaining access to them, is another matter. From major government institutions to military facilities to community libraries and historical societies, we were blessed by the competence, curiosity, and even enthusiasm of the caretakers of those sources of information.
Sadly, it is increasingly difficult to gain firsthand accounts of World War II events because of the aging of that generation. Even the youngest participants in the Pacific war of 1942 and 1943 are in their nineties. We were fortunate to find sons, daughters, grandchildren, and other family members who were willing to share the memories and documents passed down to them. Letters, recollections, and other papers provided to us by members of the Zeamer, Sarnoski, Vaughan, Britton, and other families offered invaluable and irreplaceable information. The 43rd Bomb Group Association was especially helpful, particularly its surviving members who were stationed in the Southwest Pacific as well as the descendants of those who fought there but are now no longer with us. For more information about the men and exploits of the 43rd that we could not include in our narrative, please visit the
website kensmen.com.
Also of enormous help to us were the hundreds of pages of declassified documents, After-Action reports, and official records and histories of units deployed to Australia and New Guinea during the first two years of the war. A particular wellspring of research was the official history of the 43rd Bomb Group. This history’s clarity, attention to day-to-day detail, and even humor under such trying circumstances are a credit to its compilers, who were no doubt motivated by a combination of pride and desire for thoroughness. Its inclusion of contemporary newspaper accounts, maps, magazine articles, and photographs lent our research into the era a true sense of “You are there.”