The Last Mission

This edition is all about my trip to the final reunion of the 73rd Bomb Wing. I'll catch you up on what went on at the home front in the future.

The 73rd Bomb Wing Association was formed in the 1970s and began holding annual reunions in 1976. The first reunion I attended was in 2006 after I met Mr. and Mrs. Krantz. As you know, I have attended several reunions since then which has afforded me the opportunity to meet many interesting people, including three men who flew with my father and one who shared a Quonset hut with him. I've also gotten to see pictures and documents that I never knew existed and to crawl inside a couple of B-29s. I missed the last two reunions because the kids were getting older and our schedule was getting crazier, however, this being the last reunion ever I decided to make the trip. The organization will disband after this event, though there is a group of people trying to form a new organization to pick up where this one leaves off.

THE ITINERARY. Vicki drove me to the airport Wednesday morning. I arrived in Wichita around 4:30. The Pre-Flight Social kicked things off for the reunion that evening.

Thursday featured a trip by bus out to Pratt, Kansas. This was the site of an Army Air Base back in the war and many men from the 73rd got their flight training in a B-29 there. (Dad was assigned to Clovis, New Mexico, and Kearney, Nebraska for his flight training.) The main purpose of this trip, though, was the memorabilia (more on that below). We ate lunch at the Uptown Cafe in Pratt and then attended a ceremony to honor the veterans of the 73rd.

Friday was our "stay home" day. The 73rd had their final business meeting that morning. Lots of people were thanked for their service to the organization and then we were updated on ongoing efforts to make research and education information available. This was followed by the group luncheons where each bomb group gets together. This has always been the highlight of the reunion for me because you hear things here that aren't shared in any other setting. The tenor of this luncheon wasn't the same as it has been in the past, probably because this was the last one. A banquet was held that evening and the featured speaker was Col. Jennifer Uptmor who was probably one of the best speakers we've had at the reunions I have attended.

We boarded the buses again on Saturday and visited Doc, a B-29 that is being restored to flight status (more on that below). After lunch we took a windshield tour of Wichita before heading back to the hotel. I also spent a little time with my cousin (more on this below) before the recognition banquet and dance that was held that evening.

The final event of the reunion was the farewell breakfast Sunday. I got to enjoy this before catching my flight back home which took me the northern route through Chicago. Vicki met me at the airport and we enjoyed lunch together before heading home.

CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS. The Pre-Flight Social was where I caught up with a lot of my friends, though I wound up sitting with some total strangers. One gentleman I sat with actually flew with the 58th Bomb Wing and told of his experiences flying missions from China and having to fly their supplies in from India over the Himalayas. These supply missions were called "hump" missions because they went over the mountains. They were so treacherous due to altitude and weather the crews got combat credit and the missions were denoted on the planes with a camel. Another gentleman sitting at the table continued in the service after the war for another 20 years. He earned his pilot’s wings and flew in the Berlin Air Lift and then continued to fly heavy bombers--the B-47 and the B-52--until he left the service. After some time in private industry and then flying for TWA he wound up flying private jets for a wealthy family from the Middle East...the bin Ladens. Needless to say, it was not your typical conversation around the table.

I got a chance to catch up with several folks I had met at previous reunions. I spent a lot of time visiting with Carl Barthold who shared the Quonset hut with my dad. He is quite a character and full of all sorts of interesting stories. He also kept a diary (contrary to orders) while he was on Saipan so he has a great tool for aiding his memory and verifying his facts. Mr. Barthold features prominently in Mission to Tokyo by Robert Dorr which was published a couple of years ago.

I also caught up with Bill and Joan (pronounced Jo Ann) Agee and met their nephews who attended for the first time. Mr. Agee will always be special to me because he has been so patient to answer my questions.

Two people I greatly missed at this reunion were Jim and Mildred Krantz, however, their family was represented by their daughters Lynda and Cathy; Cathy's husband, Randy; and their sister-in-law, Linda. I had a good time catching up with all of them.

As far as I know Bob Stangland and Achilles Stathas are the only ones from Dad’s crew still living. Unfortunately neither of them came to the reunion. I missed them as well.

MEMORABILIA. Over the years the 73rd Bomb Wing Association has amassed a large collection of memorabilia. From early on people started bringing their scrapbooks, records, etc. As time went on these things were donated to the association. There are currently over 70 boxes of books, albums, journals, memoirs, records, and war souvenirs. These things have been in the care of one gentleman since 2000 and he has faithfully brought everything that would fit in his van to each reunion. The organization has struggled with the question of what will happen to all this stuff in the future. They looked into many options over the years but none would satisfy the group until an offer by the Bombers on the Prairie Museum in Pratt came to their attention. This museum has promised to properly display the memorabilia and give researchers access to it. After visiting the museum, which has a great start for a new facility, we went over to the Armory where we had about 30 minutes to look through all the boxes that had not been brought to Wichita for display in the memorabilia room at the reunion. I hope to return to Pratt someday and look through what I saw there because most of what was at the Armory none of us had ever seen before.

DOC. Doc is one of eight training Superforts that was built late in the war and named for Snow White and each of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney movie, and is the only one of the eight surviving. We got to tour Doc at the 2010 reunion but this was a much more pleasant experience as it was a cooler day and Doc was inside a hangar this time. The people restoring Doc have made a lot of progress over the last four years and hope to have it airworthy by early fall of this year. Like last time the cockpit area was closed off, but I got to crawl around all over the rear cabin and even back to the tail gunner’s position. I took over 100 pictures in and around the plane.

AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE. My cousin, Penny, and her husband, Don, have lived in Wichita since he was called to be the pastor of Plymouth Congregationalist Church there is 2007. Saturday I decided to give Penny a call since I was in town to say hi and she said she was close by and would come over. We wound up going out to Stearman Field where they have a plane hangared and where a Stearman fly-in happened to be going on (think of this event as something like an antique car show but with vintage airplanes, Stearman biplanes in this case). We sat in the restaurant for a while visiting and watching planes come and go. After that I got a tour of their house and Don’s church which are both beautiful. I didn’t get to spend much time with Don because he was officiating a wedding, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Penny and I am glad I called her up.

WRAP UP. As you can tell, it was a really good trip and I had a great time. I am back home now, but Jenna has gone to Haiti with a mission team from our church and won’t be home until Friday. We are getting regular updates by text from Jenna and the team so we know they are all okay and how things are going. I told her she would have to share her experiences here when she gets back so that will be coming in the next week or so. Please pray for Jenna and the rest of the team while they are away.

Joe