To Kingdom Come

by Robert J. Mrazek

  The renewed demands by General Arnold in September to resume the air offensive against Germany in the wake of the Stuttgart failure, and General Eaker’s subsequent actions limiting the Eighth Air Force to raids within France while replacement crews arrived to make up the Stuttgart losses, are documented by James Parton in Air Force Spoken Here and Thomas Coffey in HAP.

  The sources for the author’s description of the events surrounding the official reprimand of General Travis by Generals Eaker and Anderson were the official military records that included the charges against Travis of having made a “base slander” against the Eighth Air Force, the exhibits of several letters written by Travis that were included with the charges, General Travis’s response to the reprimand, and the final adjudication of the matter. The folder is archived in the papers of General Carl A. Spaatz in the Library of Congress.

  Interlude

  In describing the morale and fighting condition of the Luftwaffe fighter command in September 1943, the author relied on Caldwell and Muller’s The Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich.

  In chronicling the continued success of Egon “Connie” Mayer that September in combat against the Eighth Air Force, the author drew from the record of his victories in Kacha’s Luftwaffe Page and the Luftwaffe Archives & Records Reference Group.

  Paris Blues

  The narrative related to Olen Grant’s stay in the German military hospital in Paris was provided by Mr. Grant to the author in interviews. Additional details can be found in Mr. Grant’s unpublished war reminiscence, For You the War Is Over.

  The account of Mr. Karnezis’s journey from La Chapelle-Champigny to Paris, as well as the story of his weeks at the home of the Maraceaux family, his encounter with a German Wehrmacht officer, and his witnessing of the attack on Paris by the Eighth Air Force was related to the author by Mr. Karnezis.

  The makeup of the crews and aircraft from the 388th Bomb Group that participated in the September 15, 1943, raid on Paris was found in Ed Huntzinger’s The 388th at War.

  Hitting the Road

  In relating the story of Warren Laws’s and Joe Schwartzkopf’s first days on the run, and their being sheltered by Marcel Vergeot and Monsieur Nelle, among other families, while Warren developed his proficiency in French, the author relied on his interviews with Warren P. Laws, Jr., himself a former air force pilot, who traveled to France several times to meet and interview the people who had helped his father escape from occupied Europe, including the Vergeot family, the Nelle family, the LeDantecs, the Bonnards, and the Dorés, all of whom protected or sheltered Warren and Joe during their time in France. Warren and Joe were staying at the LeDantecs’ when Warren saw the wrecked Patricia being hauled back to Germany. The accounts of the French families were related to the author by Warren Laws, Jr., and Elizabeth “Libby” Laws. She also provided the author with the details of their courtship that were included in this chapter.

  Eclipse

  The description of the events surrounding the notification of Braxton Wilken that Ted Wilken was missing in action was drawn from author interviews with Braxton Wilken Robinson. She also provided the author with copies of the telegrams and letters excerpted in this chapter.

  The account of the steps taken by her stepfather, Chester “Red” McKittrick, to ascertain Ted’s fate, and her reactions to the letter from Gene Cordes, one of Ted’s former crew members, were related to the author in an interview.

  Greek Holiday

  All the material in this chapter, including Mr. Karnezis’s final days with the Maraceaux family, his journey to Brittany and then Brest, the reconnection with other fliers shot down on the Stuttgart mission, his five days aboard the French fishing boat with fifteen other escapees, and their voyage to England, was recounted to the author in interviews with Mr. Karnezis. Another perspective on the escapees’ time aboard the French fishing boat can be found in the Wikipedia encyclopedia entry for Wing Commander John Checketts.

  Friends and Enemies

  The decision by General Arnold in the wake of the Stuttgart mission to make the delivery of long-range P-51 fighters and jettisonable gas tanks to England a top priority is documented by both James Parton in Air Force Spoken Here and Thomas Coffey’s HAP.

  The increasing frustration of General Arnold at the perceived failure of Ira Eaker to utilize all the assets Arnold was sending him is covered in significant detail by Mr. Parton. The account of Arnold’s tirade to Air Marshal Portal in Cairo over Eaker’s handling of the Eighth Air Force is recounted in both the above biographies.

  Eaker’s humiliation at the way he was removed, and his subsequent anger at Arnold, was drawn from Miller’s Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany.

  The cables between Eaker, Arnold, and Eisenhower after Arnold informed Eaker that he was being “promoted” to his new assignment in the Mediterranean were reviewed by the author at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.

  Desperate Journey

  The account of Warren Laws’s first thwarted attempts to escape from France was provided to the author by Warren Laws, Jr., who interviewed two of the American escapees who were with Mr. Laws in Paris when their underground contact was arrested by the Gestapo. Mr. Laws, Jr., also interviewed Abbé Bonnard, the Catholic priest who related the account of Mr. Laws’s mission with the S.A.S. to resupply the local Maquis unit.

  The narrative of Mr. Laws’s perilous journey over the Pyrenees in December 1943, including his efforts to save the life of his comrade who asked to be left behind in the mountains, was related to the author by Warren P. Laws, Jr., who had read the written account of his father. In 2009, Mr. Laws, Jr., retraced his father’s steps by making the same climb over the Pyrenees. The author chose to change the name of Mr. Laws’s fellow escapee to Henry Krueger to avoid any embarrassment to his family.

  The account of Mr. Laws’s time in the Spanish prison at Girona, as well as his subsequent release to an American military attaché, was drawn from interviews with Mr. Laws, Jr., and Elizabeth Laws.

  The Telegram

  The copies of the telegrams Braxton Wilken received from the War Department, along with the other letters excerpted in this chapter, were provided to the author by the recipient. The section related to her actions in the wake of the devastating news was related in interviews.

  On the Run

  The narrative of Mr. Armstrong’s remarkable adventures as an escapee in France, including the many occasions when his plans were thwarted by bad luck, unreliable contacts, inclement weather, German collaborators, a failed rendezvous, snowdrifts in the Pyrenees, and German foot patrols, culminating in a harrowing voyage by boat to England in the middle of a vicious storm, was related to the author in his interviews with Mr. Armstrong. Additional details were supplied by Mr. Armstrong in his book, Escape!

  After the war, Mr. Armstrong also interviewed many of the French people who assisted him, and their own accounts are included in his book.

  Against All Odds

  The author’s observations on the diminished fighting strength of Luftwaffe fighter command in March 1944, as well as the relative training experience of the American and German pilots after attrition cost the Luftwaffe many of its more experienced pilots, were drawn from The Luftwaffe Over Germany and Weal’s Jagdgeschwader 2 “Richthofen.”

  The details of Egon Mayer’s final combat mission were based on Jagdgeschwader 2 “Richthofen,” Kacha’s Luftwaffe Page, the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command Report on Active Operations for that day, and Norman Fortier’s book, An Ace of the Eighth: An American Fighter Pilot’s Air War in Europe, in which Mr. Fortier, himself a decorated fighter pilot, states that based on gun camera footage, it was Lieutenant Walter Gresham who shot down Egon Mayer.

  Cloak and Dagger

  The final episode in Andy Andrews’s wartime career in Europe was related to the author in interviews. The narrative of his months in the temporary holding camp in the J
ura Mountains, which details his efforts to raise the men’s morale by teaching several academic courses, and his own demoralization after his crew’s transfer to the former ski resort at Adelboden, Switzerland, were also drawn from interviews, as well as the account researched and written by the American Swiss Foundation. Additional material about Mr. Andrews’s time at Adelboden can be found in the excellent book Refuge from the Reich: American Airmen and Switzerland During World War II, by Stephen Tanner.

  The story of the recruitment of Andy Andrews by OSS Station Chief Allen Dulles to become a courier of top secret intelligence information was provided to the author by Mr. Andrews in their interviews. Mr. Andrews also described his experiences with Mr. Dulles in an account he wrote after the war. This subject is also covered in the American Swiss Foundation account, as well as by Stephen Tanner in Refuge from the Reich. The details of Mr. Andrews’s trip across wartime Germany, and his subsequent debriefing at OSS Headquarters in Virginia, were recounted to the author in interviews.

  The End of a Tour

  In summing up the outstanding combat career of General Robert F. Travis, the author relied principally on official documents, as well as the letters written by General Travis. A complete list of his combat decorations was found in the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.

  The general’s evident pride in his awards is evident in the letters he wrote to his father during his wartime service with the Eighth Air Force. After he was reprimanded by General Eaker for security breaches, General Travis was careful in his letters to avoid censorship concerns. Many of his letters to his father are archived in the Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

  In writing about General Travis’s role in the Eighth Air Force’s mission to Oschersleben, Germany, on January 11, 1944, the author relied on the mission report of the 303rd Bomb Group (303rd BG [H] Combat Mission No. 98), which is archived at their Web site. The nearly five-thousand-word letter written by General Travis to the widow of copilot William Fisher after the battle is also published on the same Web site. This letter never mentions the recall order issued by General Jimmy Doolittle that General Travis said afterward he never received.

  The details of General Travis’s mission to Berlin, Germany, on April 29, 1944, during which he was wounded, was related to the author by pilot Don Stoulil, who was with General Travis in the cockpit at the time.

  In describing General Travis’s last mission to the marshaling yards at Mainz, Germany, on September 21, 1944, the author relied on his interview with Captain William Eisenhart, who was the lead pilot of the entire Eighth Air Force that day, and flew with the general. The account of the incident in which Mr. Eisenhart’s urine accidentally sprayed the general’s face, leading to a dressing-down of him by General Travis after the mission was over, was also related to the author by Mr. Eisenhart, who added that following the mission, his navigator and bombardier were each awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for leading the successful mission. Mr. Eisenhart, the lead pilot, said that he received no award at all.

  Reb

  In chronicling Olen Grant’s many months of captivity at Stalag 17 in Krems, Austria, the author relied on his interviews with Mr. Grant, in which Mr. Grant recalled the deprivations of life faced by every Allied POW in a German prisoner-of-war camp. Mr. Grant also supplied the author with copies of the letters he wrote home while he was a prisoner.

  The sources for the narrative of Mr. Grant’s extended recuperation period in the German military hospital in Paris, followed by his arrival by train at Frankfurt, which had been bombed shortly before his arrival, his escape from a German mob intent on killing him, and his time in solitary confinement before being transferred to Stalag 17 were provided in interviews with Mr. Grant, although some additional material was drawn from Mr. Grant’s unpublished reminiscence, For You the War Is Over.

  The account of Mr. Grant’s subsequent exchange for a wounded German soldier in Marseille, France, followed by his voyage home aboard the ocean liner Gripsholm, was drawn from interviews, as well as the story of his whirlwind courtship and marriage to Priscilla Hutchinson that appeared in the New York Daily News six days after his return to the United States.

  Epilogue

  In describing the air bases from which the men in this story took off for Stuttgart in 1943, the author relied on the memories of his own visits to them. Donald Miller’s Masters of the Air was the source for the casualty figures.

  The narrative on the subsequent life of Martin “Andy” Andrews after the war came from author interviews, as well as letters Mr. Andrews wrote detailing his participation in the production of the newsreels about President Truman and the Hungarian Revolution.

  The Armstrong segment was drawn from interviews.

  Part of the account of General Arnold’s final years was derived from official sources, but most of the factual material was presented by Thomas Coffey in his biography HAP.

  The Eaker segment came from official sources, as well as Air Force Spoken Here, the biography of General Eaker written by his former aide, James Parton.

  The two segments on Reb Grant and Demetrios Karnezis were drawn from interviews. The narrative related to Bud Klint also came from interviews, along with material in Brian D. O’Neill’s Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer: B-17s Over Germany.

  The material on Warren Laws came from interviews with his widow and son.

  The narrative on Ted Wilken’s widow and daughter came from author interviews.

  The section related to General Travis’s possible demotion, and the steps he took to avoid it, are documented in nine letters archived in the Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

  The account of Mr. Schwartzkopf’s life after the war was drawn from an interview with his daughter, Lori Sarnese.

  The account of General Travis’s death came from the official Air Force Accident Summary. The description of the dedication ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, as well as the ensuing mutilation of his painting, can be found at the Arlington National Cemetery Web site (www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rftravis.htm).

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

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