Very early on the morning of the same day, at the 397-BG air base, a transport arrived and a group of men got off. They all were wearing full American uniforms without unit patches, without rank or other identifying marks visible. As the plane departed, their leader went directly to the HQ for his previously scheduled meeting with the Base Commander. When he came out, the Commander took him to where his team was gathered and presented them with several jeeps each pulling a trailer loaded with rations, booze, and lots of cartons of cigarettes. As they were leaving, the leader told the Commander they would be staying at Tincourt-Boucly as long as necessary and he would be sending back for restocking as required. He asked the Commander if he had received the word about their full support and the Commander told him that he had. He also said that he had a bulldozer on its way to Tincourt-Boucly, and he would lead them to the crash site since he was meeting the Mayor there.
They arrived at the crash site as daylight was breaking and the driver was unloading the bulldozer. The Mayor was there with several people of the village elders and the owner of the field. The Commander asked the Mayor how much damage had been done as it was normal for the USAAF to pay for such damage. However, as he also realized that the crash site was in an active field, his bulldozer was going to push all the wreckage into the hole and smooth the field out so the farmer could re-plow it. The Mayor and the farmer both insisted they would not take any payment for damage when three Americans had died while fighting for the Liberty of France.
The Commander introduced the Mayor to the leader of the group, all of whom spoke French as well as any citizen including several accents from different zones of France. The man told the Mayor, they were there because there was a special investigation in place concerning the loss of the B-17 (purposely designed as B-17 instead of B-24) that made the hole. He asked the Mayor if they could set up their living quarters in the Village Hall/School building. He also pointed toward the trailers and told the Mayor that they had brought their own supplies and would like to make arrangements with the local bar/restaurant to do their food preparation. The Mayor agreed to do that and while he led the way, the small convoy departed to the village center where the Mayor took the Americans into the bar and introduced them to the owner.
The owner was told, they would furnish plenty of food to be prepared, they would do all their drinking there and then, he gave the owner and the Frenchman in the bar, a carton of American cigarettes in memory of the men who had died in the crash of the B-17 (B-24 in fact) and ordered drinks for everyone. As soon as they had put their stuff in the school building they met again with the Mayor about what their investigation was going to involve. Once the hole was smoothed over, the American guards would be removed and as soon as they were done with the Mayor, they were going to split into two-man teams and begin to visit every home with walking and bicycle range of the crash site, to find out if any of them had visited the crash site and if they and taken any souvenirs from the site as it was important for them to see any items taken as souvenirs to see if the item might have caused the crash.
They were going to recover most of the items but they were going to give each family a carton of cigarettes for accepting their visit and their help in finding out what had happened to the B-17 (B-24) that had crashed there. They began their visits and interviews in the connected villages of Tincourt-Boucly and that night, they bought rounds in the bar in memory of the airmen killed in the crash. They also enjoyed a good dinner created from the supplies they had furnished then returned to the school house. Thus ended the day of November 11, 1944, in a happy village to have such generous Americans staying in.
Down at Hattonville, the three Americans who ate there and for which the mess Sergeant had to request replacement rations had arrived in the middle of the night. They asked the Sergeant of Guard if their planned visit had been prepared for and the Sergeant’s answer was that they were free to do whatever they wanted and he would now take them to the house where the civilians had agreed for them to stay.
That day, the men wandered around the village and visited the local watering holes in the village of Hattonville and the villages to the north and south using a jeep that had been prepared for them. That night, they split up and covered every local watering hole to find out what the French were saying about the crash and to see if any of the Americans were drinking too much and talking about something they should not be talking about. As evening ended, they met at the house, discussed what they had found out and their leader went to the HQ plotting center to use a secure telephone to make a telephone call. When this was done, he returned to the house and the men who were not there but who were eating meals that required ration replacements ended their November 11, secure in the fact that no one, the Americans or French realized they were listening to everyone talking in either language.
At the nearby 109th Mobile Hospital, S/Sgt Fross, after the staff learned he could talk to their German POWs was happy escorting them around the hospital even pushing them in a wheelchair. T/Sgt Gustafson had woken up and found a Purple Heart and a handkerchief-sized piece of his parachute on his pillow.
He was then told they were taking him to an evacuation train which would take him to Cherbourg for transfer to England were they would recast him and hold him for some time before he would be sent back to the States. Lt Harland had been on the same train and as he was ready to be returned to his group, he left the train and was taken to an officer’s transit hotel. Harland had been told he could be on a priority flight back to England, but he was in Paris and he told them he was in no hurry to return. S/Sgt Robbins was still in Paris but was told he would be put on a plane to England later that day. Lt Harm was still lying in a bunk, to remain sedated for another day and a half.
At the 397th Bomb Group base near Peronne, Hornsby and his crew had been restricted to their isolated hutch and told they were to be moved to a nearby Chateau, where FM Erwin Rommel had stayed. At that time, the base had at least one courier C-47 arriving from England and going back to England each day. However, enough time had to pass to allow what had happened to them to be forgotten, before they could be sent back to their unit.
The driver had delivered the Colonel to the HQ of the XIX TAC at the Etain air base, the same air base that Robbins had passed through on November 9. After the meeting, they drove back through the First World War Zone to Eisenhower’s HQ, located a short distance to the northwest of Rheims. The Colonel drove the staff car and gave the driver a verbal tour that few would enjoy for years to come. At the HQ, the Colonel asked the driver how he felt about driving in England. The driver told him that he had a lot of experience driving in England and the Colonel told him to fuel up the car, put together clothes for a few days, and come back to the operation center to pick him up. As they were leaving for a nearby airfield where a ride to England was ready. They would leave the car at the airfield and pick it up when they returned. They ended their November 11, boarding the C-47 which was going to take them to England.
The Colonel had contacted Gen Eisenhower several times that day because he had to report his progress and laid out the next steps he had to accomplish, the first of which required the Colonel to go to England. He was to meet with the commanders of both places Group or Squadron then ensure that not only did the XIX TAC but the Ninth Air Force and the Eighth Air Force commanders were fully informed about what he had done had to be done and how they had to help it to succeed as only an actual success would insure what all of them were becoming involved in was never to become public knowledge.
Each of them agreed because if the Colonel failed, each of them could kiss their career goodbye and they would be lucky to be allowed to retire and not go directly to jail. Obviously, what the Colonel was doing was being done with all the power of Gen Eisenhower, or you would not be reading this article. Thus, the Colonel ended his November 11 when he visited the Officer’s club and enjoyed a few drinks in Celebration of the Armistice of November 11, 1918. He did tell his story if it had not been for the help of Americans, he would not have been born an American. Instead, he would probably be in a German POW camp, or dead by now.
That day, many telephone calls crossed back and forth along the chain of command as each commander was told what he had to do as well as if he did not he would be gone tomorrow. US Army documents, the 566th SAW Battalion, the one that had directed the night fighter early on the morning of November 10, 1944, soon ceased to exist and its personnel was spread among other battalions. The official records of the 425th Night Fighter Squadron documents would soon state there were no P-61 Black Widow Night Fighters at the Etain air base. Regulations and official histories of all the involved units had begun to be rewritten within a short time to eliminate any documentation of the truth of the B-17 and the B-24 crashes.
A day later, November 12, 1944, will find the Colonel in England visiting the commanders of both the 452nd Bomb Group and the 36th Bomb Squadron (RCM) including an additional discussion with Gen Donovan, the Commander of the OSS. The only documented proof of their participation consists of gaps in historical entries that should have been created but did not exist. Rations were drawn at both crash site areas, including extra ration draws to replace food that no one officially existed who would be eating those rations.
Lady Jeannette – Time to Lay it to Rest
Since 1994, we have had constant contact with historians informing us that we have the wrong name, because numerous books have the name of the dual Medal of Honor B-17G as ‘Lady Janet’. As a historian, I am willing to change anything I have found. However, there is one requirement, the questioning historian must send me copies of the research he is using to dispute what I have found so I can re-research his research, and if I am wrong I will change all future inclusions of that information.
In the summer of 1994, I was presented with copies of newspaper articles of the time, May/June 1944, when General Order #38, May 16, 1945, awarded the Medal of Honor to the pilots of the ‘Lady Jeannette’ by the surviving waist gunner. As the research blossomed that summer, the complaints of having the wrong name grew and each time it was based on the bibliography of one or more books that they have read. While I have traveled all over the USA and Europe over the past twenty-five years of research, few of them moved beyond reading a group of books and then, rewriting what they wanted, all based on books based on other books. None of them verifying the train of bibliographies to their original foundation in an original book.
Upon tracing each and every book’s bibliography down the tree to the root, I found that all of them had begun with the ‘The Mighty Eighth’ book by Roger Freeman. He had included the information on the dual Medal of Honor B-17G, #42-97904 and he used the name, ‘Lady Janet’. As a historian who will change anything that I have found, if I can prove it is wrong, either by continued research or someone claiming I was wrong, I sent Freeman the following articles, along with other information I had found.
Suggesting that he change the name of the B-17G in his book from ‘Lady Janet’ to ‘Lady Jeannette’ in future publications of the book, including a statement about new information being available. Freeman replied that he was given the name by the mother of a flight engineer in the 452nd, who did not return. The man had written his mother and told her, he had flown with Lt Gott, as his flight engineer, aboard the ‘Lady Janet’. He added that he would not change the name of the bomber in his book as people would begin to doubt his research if he admitted such a mistake. He did, however, also include the name of the letter writer.
I have a microfilm reader and at that time one had to depend on microfilm rolls to research such units so I had obtained the 452nd Bombardment Group (H) World War Two micro-film records from the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base. Freeman’s book does have the correct date of the loss of the ‘Lady Jeannette’, November 9, 1944. The correct name ‘Lady Jeannette’ was used in the newspaper articles of the day documenting the award of the medals and the correct bomber name. During basic research before accepting such information as validated, I have to verify the new information with two and hopefully, more sources.
The microfilm records proved the man had been a Flight Engineer assigned to the 452nd BG, and yes he had been Killed in Action. However, there was a major problem with the supporting documentation in that the letter writer had not reported to the 452nd BG until November 11, 1944. Thus, it was impossible for him to have flown with Lt Gott as written, thus the name of the bomber provided by him was also proven wrong.
There had been a ‘Lady Jeannette’ assigned to the 452nd BG, but it had been destroyed in May 1944. When I supplied Freeman with the new information, I wrote that I fully understood how hard it was when he was researching the dual award in the 1960s and such a letter would have been a great find, but it was obvious that he had not verified the information. So, he now had three sources of hard data that proved his original name for the bomber was wrong and he should change the name in his next edition and use the correct name in any new reference he might use.
It was important to do so as his books were used as a reference by many armchair historians and then used again in their books and so on. Until the overall weight of that book, references were making it very hard to use the correct name. As I had to constantly prove to others that all their previous references were wrong. Again, he refused, and so after having similar input from the November articles I decided to lay it to rest! I realize that Freeman is not here now to defend against this. However, we do have copies of his letters and will furnish a copy to anyone who wishes to question this at a reasonable cost for labor and mailing.
(Notes)
(Doc Snafu) These newspaper clippings have been recreated using AI for improved readability; the original versions are included at the end of the document. The Lady Jeannette photo has also been created with AI.
(Willis Sam Cole) The article about S/Sgt Robbins was printed on January 8, 1945, and it supports the proof, that the Medal of Honor Citations description of the mode of death and death of his fellow crewmen are wrong. It also proves, along with the MACR (Missing Aircraft Aircrew Report) that the Lady Jeannette nor B-17G #42-97904 was not lost to an explosion in Germany. For this reason, no MACR was issued!
Actually S/Sgt Robbins was given a copy of the Group’s MACR, containing information S/Sgt Robbins had furnished upon his return to the Group on November 12, 1944) copy that S/Sgt Robbins had been given. There was no ‘Fog Of War!’ Proving the misinformation was provided to the application writer with the full intent to hide the truth of what had been done.
How can anyone ever find out what we have done when we have put so many walls in place to prevent that happening? Included in this submission, are the tools that not only broke down those walls, but they prove illegal intent on behalf of the highest American Commander in Europe, Gen Eisenhower. At the same time, following everything that was known at the time and what was done with the dead at both crash sites, the B-17 and the B-24, realizing that Gen Patton knew about the original situation and found out about the two falsified Medals of Honor, one can easily understand that he did have possession of information, that would destroy those who were attempting to destroy him!
The above articles and many more were in the newspapers when Gen Patton visited the USA on a Victory tour in 1944. He knew all about the B-17 and the Friendly Fire shoot down of the B-24. Both, the Lady Jeannette B-17 and the I Walk Alone B-24 had happened in his area of command and he had even agreed with what was done. However, Gen Patton was extremely disturbed to realize that Gen Eisenhower had debauched the greatest military medal of the USA, by using it to cover up what had been done to the dead of both aircraft. It continued to eat at him until December 8, 1945, when he was told by his Staff that he was going home, quit the Army, and use what he knew to destroy those trying to destroy him. The next day he was injured in an accident supposing that Patton was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It is this author’s opinion that Gen Patton would not have survived the suddenly set up pheasant hunt in a field in Germany.
Also to be noted: By November 12, 1944, the true information was available to the Squadron, Group, 3rd Air Division and the Eight Air Force knew the truth of the general location of the crash, near Verdun and the certain low-level crash. Within days the crash was now from high altitude and disintegrated even after the survivors were returning. It is obvious from this MACR that the commanders of the Squadron, Group, 3rd Air Division, and the 8th USAAF joined in the illegal hiding of military dead.
When Mr Emile Berger, volunteer at the Souvenir Français retired in the 1960s, he decided that the grave of the unknown aviator deserved to be restored. He was able to get a French military marker and a plaque providing the information concerning the dead therein. He discussed the grave with the village elders and they decided they would change the year by one. That way, if American officials ever discovered the grave and wanted to know when the grave was made they could tell them when they were occupied by the Germans they were forced to bury the dead. That way, they would not have to tell the truth that the Americans who were located at the nearby air base had hidden their own military dead.
Missing Aircraft/Aircrew Report – MACR
The Lady Jeannette was lost inside Liberated France, so no MACR was issued! Actually, S/Sgt Robbins was given a copy of the Group’s MACR, containing information Sgt Robbins had furnished upon his return to the Group on November 12, 1944.
Another official document that proves the two Medal of Honor applications were based on a false description of the crash and death of the two men awarded the Medal of Honor on GO 38‐16 May 1945, with no ‘Fog Of War’ involved as the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency claims!
