Friends, I have a very special and touching story that I wanted to share with the group! It's not often that we can truly make a difference in one's life, particularly a member of the "Greatest Generation," and I was recently afforded just such an opportunity to do so!
The story began in early February of last year, when I purchased on eBay 150 letters written by a B-29 Tail Gunner from the 9th Bomb Group to his parents during WWII. When I first saw these letters late one night while searching for B-29 items, I thought they were somewhat "interesting" at first, but personal letters were not something I necessarily collected, nor actively sought. But for some strange reason, perhaps because it was very late at night and I was half asleep, on a whim I just decided to bid on them in one of those "why not?" moments in life where we do things without really thinking about what we're doing, or why we're doing it. The next day I awoke to surprisingly find myself the new owner of 150 letters written by a B-29er during WWII, and thus began a journey which would ultimately lead me to Dayton, Ohio last Tuesday.
The letters were an amazing collection spanning the Tail Gunner's entire service during the war; being every single letter he wrote home to his parents and began when he first joined the Army in November 1943, and continued through all of his training and bombing missions over Japan, and ended in December 1945 when he was on a "long boat ride home." The seller had told me they acquired them at an estate auction some 12-14 months prior, and I just naturally assumed that it was the Veteran's own estate from which they were sold.
As I began to read the letters, perhaps the first person to do so since the war as they were all still neatly secured in bundles just as the Veteran's mother had left them some 65+ years ago, an incredible story soon started unfolding before my very eyes. As a person who is "fairly well versed" on the Second World War and all things B-29, I found the letters were full of stories and personal insight of the "daily life" on a level of which I had never seen before. "History," that wasn't in the history books. A smile was often on my face as I read the letters, gleaning insight and knowledge of what the daily life was really like for a B-29er during the war; but that smile was often short lived as I drifted back to the somber reality that the B-29er who penned these letters, was no longer of this earth.
Like so many of the 16½ million Americans of his the Greatest Generation who served our Country, he had taken his stories and experiences of the war with him to the grave, forever to be lost. But not all of them. I had his letters, and I was determined to make his voice heard! This was a story that needed to be told, and I soon embarked upon a mission, a journey to see that his service and sacrifices for our Country would not be forgotten! The idea of a book was quickly born, based on the letters and chronicling his experiences of the war through his own words, together with the greater story of the B-29 and 20th Air Force which I began weaving within his own saga.
I was still under the impression that the Veteran who wrote the letters was deceased, and had no reason to suspect otherwise. But a funny thing happened when I began researching the Veteran. I contacted his Bomb Group Association seeking some information about him and his crew, and I received a reply a few days later that left me stunned, and literally changed my life.
The Veteran, was still very much alive!!Sgt David J Lemal, the man for who so long I had wished to of had but one chance, just one chance to talk to about his time and experiences of the war and the B-29, was alive! The letters had been "accidently" sold at an auction in 2008, and Dave had NO IDEA they had been sold, or that they were missing! Perhaps even more amazing is that he had no idea his mother had kept them after the war, and only discovered them just prior to the auction from which they were sold (they had been stored in the attic of his Uncle's house since the war, and were discovered by workers gathering items for the auction and mistakenly taken by them for the sale.)
I was deeply honored to meet Dave in person for the first time this past Tuesday at the 9th Bomb Group's reunion in Dayton, and personally returned all 150 of his lost letters back to him. The local NBC affiliate in Dayton, WDTN did a story about us and this amazing reunion, and I'll let it tell the rest of the story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HpbrO2STZQDave flew 22 combat mission during the war, below is a picture of his B-29 "Limber Richard" 44-70072, X-55 of the 9th Bomb Group, 99th Sqd.
Dave and crew; this picture was taken just prior to their mission of July 28th, 1945 - their target was the Uji-Yamada urban area. Dave is kneeling on the far right.
I have to say that it was quite an amazing experience to meet Dave, and was quite literally a dream come true for me as for so long I had assumed he was deceased, and had often wished that I would of have but once chance to talk to him about his experiences during the war. This was a dream that remarkably came true, and was an emotional time for all of us!
I brought a few B-29 items from my collection to put on display for the Veterans and their families, some of which you can see in the news story and pictures below. The biggest hit was the Sighting Station (a gunsight, but a bit more involved than that!) which was the exact model Dave used in the tail compartment. If anyone would like to see some close ups of it and the other display cases, let me know and I'll post some more pics!
Setting up the displays
The news crew interviewing me before Dave and the other Veterans arrive
Some of the Veterans and their families starting to arrive
Meeting Dave for the first time, what an amazing moment!!
Presenting Dave with his letters, he hasn't seen any of them since he wrote them during the war!
Dave sent many things home with the letters to his parents, and what we're looking at here was an especially poignant one. It was his Christmas dinner menu from 1943. For many of the guys, this was to be their last Christmas dinner...
Dave showing me some pictures he took during the war; the small photo in front of me showed a massive hole in their right stabilizer from a flak burst! (a couple
feet of the stabilizer was gone!)
Showing Dave the displays, the particular one we're looking at had to do with the B-29's air dropping supplies to POW camps after Japan surrendered (Dave flew some of these missions.)
Dave and I with the sighting station
Dave, his wife Eileen and me
The next day all of us with the 9th Bomb Group reunion went to NMUSAF, where we were treated with a very special tour. They opened the doors for us an hour early before the museum opened, lead us to where Bockscar is displayed, took down the barrier and let all of us have free reign over the aircraft! Of course we couldn't get inside, but I have to say that it was quite an amazing experience to be standing in the forward bomb bay, from where "Fat Man" was slung and dropped...and to also be surrounded by the Veterans, talking to them about their experiences with the B-29 and hearing their stories! It was quite an amazing experience that I cannot fully express with words, and I was truly humbled and honored to of been there in their presence for this once in a lifetime opportunity...
I was so caught up in the moment that I literally forgot to take as many pictures as I had planned to (I even forgot to get a picture of me standing below the nose!) but here's some misc pics of Bockscar I took after everyone cleared out. If anyone would like to see more pics of the bomb bay, etc just say the word!
Overall this week has been just one incredible experience after another, truly one of the highlights of my life so far, and I consider myself very fortunate to have been a part of it. Reuniting a Veteran with his "lost" letters from the war, meeting him and all of the other Veterans from the 9th Bomb Group, listening to their stories and experiencing Bockscar with them...absolutely amazing beyond words! This is what Warbirds are all about, and what keeps me striving to make a difference everyday in the lives and legacy of our Greatest Generation! Let us never forget, what they sacrificed for us...
~Trevor McIntyre
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