The Search continues

I'm still at a massive standstill searching for my Grandfather's military history, however, in that search I have forund out that I had a great uncle Louis Swiridow in the 8th Air Force. 839th Squadron as a Navigator. He usually flew Tintary Crew (High Hopes) B-17 but he also flew with Schwab Crew (Box Car) B-24H out of Lavenham. His service #697935 2nd Lieutenant. On June 7, 1944 he was flying with Box Car and the plane was shot down over Montjean, France. He was the only loss. The odd thing is that I found all that out very easily on the web. Not a darn thing about my Grandfather John though. I'm stating to think the info my Grandmother gave me before she passed may be incorrect, although his burrial papers do say 8th Air Force, 2nd Lieutenant. So strange. I got pictures of the two planes my great Uncle was with and one of them has him with his crew. THAT is pretty cool. View attachment 15234 My Great Uncle is 4th man in the last row.

 

"High Hopes' appears to be a B-24 as well.

Both Had Tricycle undercarrage's but the B-24 had it's forward and the B-17 aft which gave each a distintive look on the ground.

 

Thanks for the correction. I'm fairly new at this research business,lol. I was looking up info on the crash and found an article in The Pilot Tribune, That's got to be him they are referring to that was the Navigator in place of Howard Seaborn.

Storm Lake Pilot Tribune: Features: French search for roots of Nemaha WWII airman (02/28/11)

 

Hi Reebukk,

Would you be interested in having a copy of the aircraft loss report? I can likely get it, if you're interested.

Regards,

 

Oh that would be incredibly nice of you, if you can get it, of course. The aircraft number is 4252624 if that helps any. Thanks so much.

 

I got the report. This is the first page. Send me an email and I'll send the rest over (there's about 20 pages).

View attachment 15242

Regards,

 

I'm sorry I don't have it but min is dna1grizz@hotmail.com. I can't believe you got that for me so quickly. You Rock! you Rock Out Loud! (my daughter says that,lol)

 

Email sent. Its a fairly large file, so let me know if you get it.

 

Hello there and welcome

 

Thanks Lou. I'm happy to help out.

 

I got them. This is a grand gift and I thank you. I cied when I read "He went down with the ship". Now I can search for any awards due him and create a widow box for him. Thank you. I can't express it enough.

 

Its not a problem. Its my pleasure to help out. If you have any other things I can help with, don't hesitate to ask.

As for the medals, your great uncle probably recieved the following: Europe-Meditteranian-African (ETO) Campaign Medal (probably with one battle star), Purple Heart, and he would have had navigator wings (Navigator Badge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Additionally, he may have received an Air Medal.

Good luck with your shadow box, and be sure to post pictures of it!

 

Wow Alan, things just keep getting better and better. Your my lucky charm. Thanks for all you've done to help, along with everyone else. I hope I can return the favor some day. You got a friend in Pennsylvania! Thank you. I will post Louis's shadow box as soon as I can get it finished.

 

Well, now that you mention it, next time I'm in PA I'm expecting dinner at a nice restaurant of my choice (nothing too fancy, maybe a nice steak, but not over several hundred bucks). Lets move onto more important things -- I've wanted a Sherman Tank for a while now. See if you can get on that for me. -- just joking.

Once again, its my pleasure to help. If there is anything else you think I can help with, feel free to ask!

Regards,

 

Is it for your famous driving skills...?

Great work Alan!

 

Not quite. I always thought this would look great on my front lawn:

[video=youtube;cBiSKaAms5E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBiSKaAms5E[/video]

 

The steak dinner, you got it!! The tank, I can hear the neighbors now, lol. "Oh I'm just holding it for a friend."

 

Just wanted you all to know I have ordered what I think I need for my Uncle Louis' shadow box. I have to wait for his purple heart paperwork (eventhough I could just buy one online) but it's worth it. New News on my grandfather John Swiridow. I finally found his enlistment info online. It says he was in the Army Air Corps Reserves.?? So I'm all confused. I had mentioned before that the info my grandmother gave may have been wrong. There are so many 8th Air Force web sites and I never come across his name. That's what his interrment papers say but maybe he wasn't with the 8th. I got nothing. I'm so disapointed.

 

Somehow I missed this thread. Good to see you've had luck with finding out about your great uncle. I read the story of "Box Car" today, sounds like there was a lot of confusion in the group that day. My uncle flew with the 487th also and had somewhat the same thing happen to him. Flew with a different crew and they were shot down (4/10/45) too but all members parachuted safely and became POW's.

Good luck with the search on your Grandfather.