Paratrooper 'Rock' Merritt Dies-- Part 4: D-Day

He asked the chaplain if he could get over the hedge and would he mind helping to carry six boxes of ammunition Merritt assembled into a "daisy chain" over his shoulder.

"He said, 'Praise the Lord, pass me the ammunition,' " Merritt said.

By daylight they picked up another  37 paratroopers and were soon pinned down  by a machine gun.

A lieutenant instructed Merritt, who was a corporal at the time, to take two men and  "knock the machine gun out."

"Here's  somebody who's trying to kill me, and he says it like take two men and go fill up the canteens like it was that normal," Merritt said.

Merritt took a private and a staff sergeant, with the 18-year-old private asking the others to cover him with dire, as he ran with three grenades on top of the Nazis.  Merritt said the private was later given a Bronze Star, but sadly killed at the Battle of the Bulge.

--GreGen

Paratrooper 'Rock' Merritt Dies-- Part 3: Normandy

By June 1, 1944, his unit had been issued ammunition and taken to the airport.  They still had no idea what their destination was.  On June 5, they were briefed on this mission and told it was Normandy, France.  The invasion of mainland Europe was on.

Seventeen paratroopers were aboard his C-47 aircraft.

It took about 120 of these military transports to move his regiment over the English Channel and onto a jump over French soil.

"You could hear the bullets hitting the old metal plane we was in,"  Merritt said.

As the No. 2 man to jump, Merritt figured to follow the hedgerow toward where he had seen the plane crash.  Not knowing where the rest of his regiment were, he used a metal  cricket the Army had issued him and snapped twice.

If he heard a single "click" back, that meant the unknown person he encountered was a "friendly."   Yet, he didn't hear that click.

He was mighty glad to hear someone say in a low voice, "I am an American chaplain."

--GreGen

'Rock' Merritt's Training and England-- Part 2

The recruiter put him on a bus to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where Merritt was sworn in October 14, 1842,  and immediately sent to Camp Blanding in Florida.

In Florida, the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment assembled, where Merritt went through basic and jump school.  And, earned his extra $50 a month.

After jump school, training continued at Camp Mackall in North Carolina for about 14 weeks, followed by a ten-day leave and repeating the training cycle.

Sent to Camp Shanks, New York, and later boarded the USS Parker on Christmas Eve and headed to Ireland for squad and platoon training.  By March 1944, his unit had relocated to Nottingham, England, in preparation for a campaign.

"We got over there and started this training again and making jumps -- night jumps and day jumps -- still didn't know where we were going, or when we was going,"  Merritt said in a 2020 interview.

Where Might They Be Going?  --GreGen

WW II Airborne Legend Kenneth 'Rock' Merritt Dies-- Part 1: 'I Can Fill Them Boots'

From the March 12, 2021, Fayetteville (NC) Observer  'We lost a phenomenal paratrooper,  leader and airborne legend':  The loss of World War II veteran" by Rachael Riley.

Kenneth "Rock" Merritt was well-known around the Fayetteville and Fort Bragg area.  He jumped into WW II battles and retired  as the 18th Air Corps' top enlisted senior advisor.

He died March 10.

Originally from Oklahoma, Merritt was an 18-year-old mess attendant  working with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  He had already gotten the nickname "Rock" by picking up rocks around the camps he was at.

"It was raining.  Someone threw me into the cement mixture,"  Merritt said.  "It was powdered and I got out and my uniform would stand up and they dropped hard rock and came up like a rock

Merritt said a general came over and called him "Rock."  The name stuck.

When the CCC closed down, he joined the Army at age 19.  (He almost joined the Marines, though, as he thought their uniform looked better.  The recruiter convince him to join the newly-formed paratroopers unit after saying he could make $50 more a month in it.

"They had a large picture of a paratrooper floating down, and across his reserve was a Thompson submachine gun and the caption below says, 'Are you man enough to fill these boots?'  I told them, 'I can fill them boots, and since you're going to give me  $50 more we can forget about them Marines."

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor David Payne Turns 100-- Part 3

In 1998, David Payne and his wife returned to Pearl Harbor.  The barracks he was living in then are still there, although the building is now  the Repair Headquarters for Pacific Air Forces.  The building suffered serious damage during the attack, but it has been restored.  But careful effort was made to  preserve evidence of what happened nearly 80 years ago.

"They left the bullets, the damage that the bullets did, they left that there.  They never fixed it, Payne said.

Later, he was a police officer in the Panama Canal Zone and involved with the Berlin Airlift.

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor David Payne Turns 100-- Part 2: No Time to Fear... At First

Being stationed in Hawaii before December 7, 1941, was fun and exciting.  But, that morning, he woke up and looked outside the window of his third floor barracks at Hickam Field.

"The battleship Arizona was parked only about a half mile  from where I was.  I seen this torpedo plane heading towards  the, the ship," Payne explained.  "I probably saw the  torpedo that sank the  Arizona.  The loudest sound I ever heard."

At that moment, he didn't know what was going on, it was all happening so fast.  He didn't even have time to be afraid.  Then it came to him what was going on.  "Except when they were.    I was out there on the ground when they were shooting at me.  I was scared then.  I was praying then," Payne said.

He was one of the many men who rushed outside  and tried to save the planes at the base as the Japanese planes flew low, just 20 feet overhead.

"I'd lay down.  I'd see a plane coming, I'd lay flat , figured I'd be a smaller target..  Ans when he got over me, I'd rise up and shoot at him with a .45 pistol.  All I had was a .45 pistol,"  Payne said, laughing.  "1,000 to 1 I'd probably hit him, but at least I was throwing lead at him."

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor Turns 100: David Payne-- Part 1 'Gotta Get To Hawaii'

From the March 3, 2021, WPSD 6 NBC "Service & Sacrifice: WW II veteran, Pearl Harbor  survivor turns 100" by Jennifer Horbelt and Mason Watkins.

Air Force veteran David Payne turned 100 on Feb. 28.  And, he was at Pearl Harbor and has memories of that attack.

In 1939, he was 18 years old and he read in a local paper that he could join the Army Air Corps and then go to Hawaii.  He said, "I said, 'I've gotta get to Hawaii.' "

"I weighed 112 pounds and had a hard time getting into the service.  First sergeant said, 'Uh, ell, you go home, drink some milkshakes, eat some bananas or something.  Come back and see me.'  So I went back to see him several weeks later, and put some silver dollars in my pocket.  I weighed 112 pounds.  He weighed me with my clothes on.  I got up to 115 pounds,"  Payne said with a grin.  "That's how I got in to the service."

And, he ended up in Hawaii, which was a huge change from his native Kentucky.  He remembers being in a store there, "I was in the drug store.  I don't know what I went in for, maybe to get some cigarettes.  I did smoke back then.  And then, John Wayne  walked in."

--GreGen

The Greatest Generation Receiving Honors: Alfred Chard, Anthony Pircio and Walter Rindy

**  Ohio  WW II Veteran celebrates turning 100:  Dublin, Ohio.  Navy Lt. (JG) Ret.  Alfred Marion Chard celebrated turning 100 March 5 by watching a parade in his honor.  He was born in 1921 in Iowa and grew up there.  He joined the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1941 and enlisted in the Navy a few months later.

During the war, he served on the battleship USS Washington in the South Pacific.  After three years in the Navy, he was in the reserves for a few years more.

**  Manlius, New York  WW II Veteran turns 100.  Anthony Pircio had a parade and military honors March 5.  He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during the war as a weatherman.

**  Walter  Rindy, WW II veteran, has been a member of the Mayville, North Dakota, American Legion for 75 years and recently had a surprise ceremony at the Legion.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Survivor, Lou Conter, Has Second Book Signing

Lt. Cmdr. Lou Conter signed books and smiled for photographs during a second book signing for his new book "The Lou Conter Story:  From USS Arizona Survivor to Unsung American Hero"" by Annette C. Hull, Louise A Conter and Warren R. Hull.

The book features his true life adventures and USS Arizona survivor during his service in the U.S. Navy.

You can purchase it for $19.95 from Amazon.

A Book I'd Like to Have.  --GreGen

Funeral of Britain's Sir Tom Moore

Feb. 27, 2021, CTV News "Second World War plane flyby marks Capt. Tom Moore's  funeral" AP.

Church bells rang  and a Second World War II-era plane flew over Saturday's service to honor Captain Tom Moore who single-handedly raised millions of pounds for Britain's  health workers by walking laps in his backyard.

Soldiers  performed ceremonial duties for Moore, who died Feb. 2 at age 100  after testing positive for COVID-19

The service was small, attended by just eight members of his immediate family.  But soldiers carried the coffin and fired a gun salute while a  C-47  Dakota Transport plane flew past.

Moore served during the war in India, Burma and  Sumatra.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in a socially distant ceremony at Windsor Castle.

--GreGen

Charles 'Bud' Early Ready to Celebrate 100th Birthday

From the March 7, 2021 Trib Live "World War II veteran from Freeport  ready to celebrate 100th birthday" by Julia Felton.

Mr. Early served in George Patton's  Third Army, 80th Infantry Division where he was assigned to the 905th Field Artillery Battery C.

He saw President Roosevelt while in Basic Training and went across the Atlantic Ocean on the ocean liner RMS  Queen Mary, leaving July 4, 1944.  His group landed  on Utah and Omaha beaches about two months after D-Day.

According to his son, 'He had a lot of close calls  and harrowing experiences during the war.  he was blown out of a foxhole  one time by artillery.  He wasn't injured, but the shell landed so close it blew them out of their foxhole."

Early moved through France before fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

"He was an artillery spotter," according to his son.  "He and his officer, they'd get in a jeep and go  very deep into enemy lines and radio back to their artillery to show them where to fire."

Early's service earned him several awards, including a Bronze Star.

He was discharged in September 1945 and traveled home on the USS Breckinridge -- which was fitting because he lived in Breckenridge at the time.

--GreGen

Humble World War II Vet Turns 100, George Roberts of Gulfport, Mississippi

From the March 1, 2021,  Sun Herald (Mississippi) "Humble World War II veteran tuns 100 in Gulfport. 'The Lord has blessed me.'

George Roberts served as a radio operator during the war,  in the U.S. Army Air Force and completed 31 bombing missions over Germany and received the Purple Heart.

He immigrated to Pennsylvania from England with his family while still a toddler in 1924 and was drafted into the Army Air Force.  From a base in an English village, he flew the 31 missions over Germany in 1843 and 1944.

He remembered one raid on October 14 over Schweinfort on ball bearing factories as Black Thursday because Allied airmen suffered such high casualties.  His 367th Bomb Squadron was known as "The Clay Pigeons."  "Something that gets shot down -- that was us," he said.

Roberts and other airmen slept in corrugated metal structures known as  Nissen Huts.  They kept a gallery of small photographs of each man living in the hut.  When one was shot down, they removed his picture then a new man would move in and up would go his picture.

Roberts also flew in a lead group on D-Day at Normandy, but said, "It was easy.  We had command of the air."

--GreGen

Wilmington, N.C. Gets Its New Signs: 'First WW II Heritage City'

From WWAY 3 ABC, Wilmington, N.C.  "Wilmington adds 'First WW II Heritage City' to welcome signs" by Peyton Furtado.

You might just notice a change in those welcome to Wilmington signs around town.  A  new plaque has been added saying "America's 1st WW II Heritage City."

Wilmington was given this honor last September largely through the efforts of Wilbur D. Jones.

Of course, in my humble opinion, Wilmington should also add the words "Photo Enforced Stop Light City of the U.S."  They sure have a lot of them.  Probably more than even Chicago.

--GreGen

Operation EF (1941)-- Part 2: Not Much Accomplished

THE ATTACK ON KIRKENES

Aircraft from he HMS Victorious attacked this port.  The only shipping in this harbor turned out to be a German naval training ship and two merchantmen.  The Fulmars were escorting two wing Albacore.  This force was attacked by German fighters and 11 of the 12 Albacores were shot down.

The British sank and damaged the three ships.

THE ATTACK ON PETSAMO

Planes from the HMS Furious were in on this.  One Fulmar was lost when it developed engine trouble.  (This most likely was the plane of Burke and Beardsley).  The harbor was found to be almost deserted except for some anti-aircraft guns.

Torpedoes were dropped, but little damage done.  German planes shot down an additional Fulmar and am Albacore.

Overall, the raid has to be called a failure.  Mot much damage was done to the German war effort.

--GreGen

Operation EF (1941): The Raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

This was the attack which claimed the lives of  Edward Burke and James Beardley.

It took place on July 30, 1941.  The plan was to attack German merchant ships and warships in these two places and inflict as much damage as possible.  It was meant to be a surprise to the Germans, but the midnight sun in those high latitudes precluded that from happening.

A major part of the operation was to keep the supply line to Murmansk open.

The attacking British force consisted of two aircraft carriers (the Furious and the Victorious), two cruisers and six destroyers.  The two carriers had some 61 planes of various sorts.  Eighteen of the planes were Fairey Fulmars of the type Burke and Beardsley were in.

--GreGen

Some More on the Loss of Edward Burke and James Beardley

From August  18, 2017, Forces/Net "Bodies of two WWII Airmen found after  more than 70 years." 

The graves of two World War II naval aviators lost in one of the most disastrous aerial attacks in history have finally been found.  Seventy-six years ago, the two men were seen  climbing into a dingy after their aircraft went down and that was the last anyone ever saw them alive again.

The final resting place of Sub Lt. Edward "Seymour" Burke and  his gunner Leading  Airman James Beardley have now been located in Russia.  The two men crewed  a Fairey Fulmar fighter plane, launched from the British aircraft carrier HMS Furious.

The mission they were on when they were lost involved a task force  strike at German forces in two key ports in German-occupied Norway  close to the Russian border:  Petsamo and Kirkenes.  These forces posed a severe threat to the Allied efforts to keep the Soviet Union supplied during the war.

During the operation, 13 of the 29 aircraft launched  were lost and nothing was accomplished.  The two dozen aircraft launched by the Furious found the harbor of Petsamo empty.  One Albacore bomber and two Fulmars were lost, including Burke and Beardsley's.

The men survived the crash and were witnessed scrambling into a dingy, but then they were lost.  No effort was made at the time to rescue them because of the possible presence of German planes and submarines.

Seventy years ago, their bodies washed up at Vaida Bay on the Rybachy Peninsula about 70 miles north of Murmansk and 30 miles from Petsamo.  Here locals buried their bodies.

GreGen

Russia's Vaida Bay Military Cemetery

From Commonwealth War Graves site.

The graves of Edmund Seymour Burke and  James Beardsley are located here along with those of fifty other Russians who died in World War II.

Probably not a place you'd want to visit because it is extremely barren, cold most of the year and all sorts of travel problems will be encountered.

Here's what the site has to say:

The cemetery is a 7 to 8 hour drive from Murmansk across largely rough  and poorly maintained roads.  Access by road is only available for a short period of time during the summer months and should only be attempted with a well-maintained  4X4 vehicle.

Permission to visit the Rybachy Peninsula must also be obtained from the Russian Northern Fleet before attempting the trip.

--GreGen

Irish Airman's Grave Found in Russia-- Part 4: Edmund Seymour Burke

Prior to the outbreak of the war, Burke had studied at Pembroke College in Oxford and had desires to be an actor once the war was over.  But all that was put on hold when he signed up to fight the Germans.  He never realized his dream, however.

In an ironic twist of fate, Ian Campbell Burke, Edmund's younger brother,  was shot down and killed  when returning from a bombing raid over Germany just two months after Edmund went missing off the coast of Norway.

*******************************************

COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES

Sub-Lieutenant EDMUND SEYMOUR BURKE

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

F.A.A. 800 Squadron HMS Furious

DATE OF DEATH

30 July 1940

Age 24 years old

BURIED OF COMMEMORATED AT

Vaida Bay Military cemetery

Grave 5

Russian Federation

--GreGen

Irish Airman's Grave Found in Russia-- Part 3: Finding Relatives and the Ceremonies

The JCCC place an advertisement in the Duplin People newspaper seeking the long-lost relatives of Edmund Seymour Burke who was born in Dublin.  The story was picked up by a popular radio show host and Maureen Hayes, whose mother was Burke's maternal first cousin came forward saying that as a child she'd heard stories about Burke.

She said that her relatives never knew what had happened to him.  She attended the ceremony in 2017.

Meanwhile Finders  International, a genealogy company, also heard the story on the radio and commenced their own search and found three of Burke's first cousins.  Two of them attended the ceremony in England.

Another distant relative, Andrew Furlong,  even attended a ceremony in Russia at the Vaida Bay Military Cemetery on the Rybachy Peninsula where Burke and Beardsley are buried.  

Furlong said there were about fifty Russian airmen also buried at the cemetery who were shot down  during the Second World War and that the cemetery had been revamped in 2017 and that a Greek Orthodox priest had blessed the graves of the Russians and a British Navy chaplain had done the same for the two British aviators.

--GreGen

Irish Airman's Burial Site Found in Russia-- Part 2: Identification

In 2017, a Russian journalist told the British Consulate in Moscow that he had found  two unmarked graves on the Rybachy Peninsula  in northern Russia.

The graves simply noted that they were of two unknown British airmen, so the Consulate and the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC)  set about identifying the two men.

The two young pilots had evidently drifted  along the Norwegian coast until their dingy beached  in Rybachy, a desolate and bleak peninsula jutting out from northern coast of Russia.  Nomadic people in the area reported finding the bodies of the two men dead in the dingy.

Despite being pitched into the sea in the middle of the summer, the conditions were still extremely cold and they probably died of hypothermia.

They two organizations discovered who the two men were and then set out to find relatives. 

The Ministry of Defence and the JCCC were going to have a re-dedication ceremony in south England in 2017 and wanted to have relatives of Burke and Beardsley in attendance.

The JCCC must be like the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.

--GreGen