Name | Stanley R CHICHESTER | Rank | 2nd Lt |
Number | 0-681334 | Date of Birth/Age | 25 September 1918 |
Unit | 94 Bomb Group, 333 Bomb Squadron, USAAF | ||
Aircraft | B-17F-105-BO
42-30453 TS-K 'Thunderbird' |
Crew position | Co-pilot |
Based at | Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK | ||
Target | Schweinfurt, Germany | Failed to return | 14 October 1943 |
Escape Network | Possum Line | Escape | Lysander
pickup (operation MAGDALEN
II) 17 November 1943 |
Arrival home | RAF Tangmere, Sussex, UK - 17 November 1943 | References | NARA:E&E/205
- joint report with NARA:E&E/204 - Charles Breuer NARA:RG498/290/55/27/2 Box 58 - Awards' file - Marguerite Bulart NARA:RG498/290/55/27/2 Box 209 - Awards' file - Guilbert Huot |
Last updated on
10 June, 2009
|
SYNOPSIS
14 Oct 1943 |
Breuer and Chichester crash landed near Mareuil en Brie (40 kms SW of Reims). They spent 2 nights sleeping rough. |
16 Oct 1943 |
At La Chapelle sous Orbais
(5 kms S of Mareuil en Brie) sheltered by the Huot family. |
8 Nov 1943 |
Raymonde Beuré came and took
them by bicycle to Mme. Rinette le Gras in
Epernay (~25 kms NE of La Chapelle sous Orbais)
and then by train to Reims. |
14 Nov 1943 |
Raymonde Beuré took them to Paris and turned them over to Edgard Potier who took them to an apartment in Chateaurouge (Suzanne Bastin's). |
15 Nov 1943 |
Potier returned with two girls, Monique
de Briey & Mlle. de Guitant, who took them
to the railway station. A man took them by train to Chauny. Georges, a Belgian, (Georges d'Oultrement) took them, by van, to a house. |
16 Nov 1943 |
Potier arrived with Sgts. Murray
& Maddox (USAAF) and Johnson (RAF). At 2045, after Georges had listened for a message over the wireless, they went to a large factory 1000 yards away. At 2330 they went to a field a mile away. |
17 Nov 1943 |
At 0215 they heard two planes approach. First plane landed & took Johnson, Breuer and Maddox aboard and left. Then the second plane came in, and Chichester, Murray and Potier boarded it. They were met in UK by Maj. Langley. |
NARA:E&E/205
(joint report with Charles Breuer - NARA:E&E/204)
Members of crew
Pilot | 0-798452 |
2nd Lt Roy G DAVIDSON, Jr | MIA |
Co-pilot | 0-681334 |
2nd Lt Stanley R CHICHESTER | NARA:E&E/205 - narrator |
Navigator | 0-803455 |
2nd Lt Alden L FAUDIE | MIA |
Bombardier | 0-673854 |
2nd Lt Charles BREUER | NARA:E&E/204 |
Radio operator | 16095608 |
T/Sgt Louis C KOTH | MIA |
Top turret gunner | 20758568 |
S/Sgt Fred C KRUEGER | MIA |
Ball turret gunner | 34035784 |
S/Sgt Carl Frederick GIBSON | MIA |
Waist gunner | 12198624 |
S/Sgt Arthur F HOWELL | MIA |
Waist gunner | 36259998 |
S/Sgt Claude W PAGE | MIA |
Tail gunner | 32592169 |
S/Sgt Richard H MUNGENAST | MIA |
On the way to SCHWEINFURT, 14 October 1943, our formation was attacked as soon
as we got over Germany. We were not damaged in the first attacks although our
armor-plating near the left waist-gunner stopped one of the rocket shells. Three-quarters
of the way to the target our ball-turret guns failed, followed a few minutes
later by the tail guns. These were technical failures and not due to enemy action.
We dropped our bombs and started home in formation. During the next concentrated
attack by FW's our aircraft was badly shot up. The tail-gunner was wounded in
the side and the ball-turret operator had an injured leg. Lt DAVIDSON called
the waist-gunners and told them to render first aid to the tail-gunner who went
unaided into the radio room. The tail gunner called back to say that the radio
operator and waist gunners had baled out over Germany, and that the ball-turret
gunner was also badly wounded.
Number three 'prop' ran away and was feathered. The elevator controls were shot
up. We had fallen behind formation so we decided to dive for cloud cover. The
clouds turned out to be more of a thick haze than anything else. We went on
down to deck to dodge the fighter which had followed us. The upper-turret and
nose guns were the only ones firing. Number one engine was hit and feathered.
Then we decided to crashland. The navigator, who had been busy firing, thought
we were over France. The 'IFF' and 'G3E' equipment was destroyed and. everyone
went into the radio room to take crashland positions.
We came down in a field and the aircraft plowed about thirty feet into the woods.
Lt DAVIDSON and I (Lt CHICHESTER) started to the rear but the engineer said
we couldn't get out that way. The aircraft was on fire so we tried to chop a
hole to crawl through. Finally the engineer got the door into radio room open.
The navigator and Lt BREUER had carried Sgt GIBSON out and administered morphine.
Everyone got out of the plane safely.
The engineer ran into the woods alone, followed by the navigator, pilot and
tail-gunner. While we (Lt CHICHESTER and Lt BREUER) were trying to make the
ball-turret operator comfortable an ME109 buzzed us. It had radar equipment
in the nose and while it was circling us, we ran into the wood, got out our
compass and started south. It had taken us about five minutes to get out of
the plane, help Sgt GIBSON and get into the wood.. As soon as we had discarded
our flying clothing we set a fast pace through the wood, avoiding all paths
and clearings. We moved as quietly as possible and in half an hour came to a
small lake surrounded by open fields.
Rather than go into the open we decided to stay in the edge of the wood overnight.
We opened our Aids Boxes and examined them; then got out the maps to see if
we could locate our position. We weren't sure that we had gotten into France
although the navigator had been confident.
After dark we crawled into the high grass by the lake and tried, to sleep, the
ground was damp, wet and cold and we wished we had kept our flying clothing.
We soon gave up trying to sleep and started walking south. For a. short distance
we kept in the shadow of the wood but soon had to get into the open. Because
of bright moonlight we followed a. winding course and lines of trees so we couldn't
be seen from a distance.
Once we crossed a stream and stopped to fill our water bottles, We took banzadrine
tablets here and found that they helped relieve our fatigue. Eventually we got
into another wood but after stumbling around in the dark decided to look for
a haystack or barn. An hour later we found a farmhouse. After circling it several
times we failed to find the barn or a haystack so we went into the yard. The
barn was attached to the house and when we opened the door it fell off and made
enough noise to awaken any one in the house had there been people living there.
We crawled into the hay and did get some sleep though we were much too cold
and some nervous.
We stayed in the barn the rest of the night and all day. Occasionally we heard
voices but not very close to us and although we thought the house deserted we
didn't investigate. There were some apples in the barn and we ate Horlick's
tablets though we were not very hungry. One of us had a hole in a sock and used
the needle and thread from the aid Box to mend it.
We stayed in this barn for two days and a night. At 0200 hours the second day
we went in search of water and discovered that our barn was on the edge of a
small village. We found a well but were afraid to use it because of the noise.
However our search turned up nothing else so we returned to the well, tied our
water bottles to the rope and lowered them into the water. We made plenty of
noise but got back to our barn without arousing anyone in the village. During
the second day we heard children playing near us and although we thought, the
language sounded French they were too far off for their words to be clearly
distinguished. A little later a woman passed near the barn speaking loudly in
French and that decided us about starting our trip. We left about 2030 hours
walking south with the idea of looking for help.
On this night the weather was cloudy so we got onto a road. We were stiff and
sore and in the dark made very slow progress. Once, at a crossroads we chose
a road leading west rather than southeast because we didn't know how far, if
at all, we were into France. We came to a farmhouse with a lighted window and
thought of going in to ask for help. We sneaked beneath the window and heard
several men inside talking. There were more voices in the room than we wanted
to meet at once and because there was a radio antennae on the house (S-2 had
warned us not to go to houses like this) we walked on.
The moon came out about the time we reached a main road but fortunately the
road was tree-lined. We were passing several farms and decided to find help
because we were exhausted. At the first house a dog barked and we avoided going
in there. While we were moving to the second house a man on a bicycle passed
us. He was pedalling rapidly and as soon as he got up to us we saw that he was
masked. (Later we learned that black market operators often travel like this)
We called out, "Ami, ami" but the cyclist did not stop or slow down.
We circled then to the rear of the house where we were going to ask for help,
and watched a woman working in the kitchen. We started to the barn to look for
hay and then changed our minds and went to the door of the house and knocked.
The woman came to the door and seemed very frightened. We wanted to be sure,
first, that we were in France and asked "France?" We kept repeating
this but she seemed puzzled so Lt BREUER said, 'Je suis americain aviateur,
"
She pulled us inside the house immediately and ran upstairs to get another member
of the family. Questions were asked us and we produced everything we had which
would help prove our identity. We lived in this house until 8 November while
our journey was arranged for us.
[Note: this page was copied from a handwritten Appendix C]
Lts Breuer and Chichester were members of a crew which crash-landed near MAREUIL
EN BRIE (18 kms SW of EPERNAY) on 14 October 1943. At LA CHAPELLE SUR ORBAIS
(5kms S of MAREUIL EN BRIE) they were taken in by ODETTE HUOT, her father, and
her brother, GILBERT. GILBERT went to PARIS for identity cards and returned
with a note in English from his aunt, SUZANNE QUINET. SUZANNE came to see Breuer
and Chichester on 2 November and stayed until 5 November. She said that she
was in touch with an Irish girl who had handled such matters before and that
the two Americans must be patient. On 8 Nov. Mlle. RAYMONDE BEURE (22 years
old) came and took them on bicycles to EPERNAY to the home of ODETTE’s
sister, Mme. RINETTE LE GRAS. Mme. LE GRAS took them to the railway station
and bought tickets for them. Mlle. RAYMONDE then took them to RHEIMS, stopped
at a house where two Americans were staying, and then accompanied by two girls
took them to the house of M. and Mme. ANDRE AUBERT, 28 RUE VICTOR ROGELET. There
they remained until 14 November. On 13 November a short, swarthy French-Canadian
who had a scar on one cheek told them that Mlle. RAYMONDE would call for them
the next day. On 14 November she took them to PARIS and turned them over to
CAPT. MARTIN who took them to an apartment in CHATEAUROUGE. The next afternoon
CAPT. MARTIN returned with two girls whom Breuer and Chichester followed to
a railway station. Thence a man took them by train to CHAUNY. There GEORGES,
a Belgian, picked them up in a camionette and took them to a house where he
stayed with them. The next day CAPT. MARTIN arrived with Sgts. Murray and Maddox
of the USAAF and Johnson of the RAF. At 2045 hrs., after GEORGES had listened
for a message over the wireless, they went to a large factory 1000 yards away.
At 2330 they went to a field a mile away. At 0215 they heard two planes approach.
One plane landed, took the RAF man, Breuer and Maddox aboard and left. Then
the second plane came in, and Chichester, Murray and CAPT. MARTIN boarded it.
They were met in U.K. by Maj. Langley.