My obsession with World War II began here. My uncle James Brennan was an enigma when I was growing up. His portrait hung in the bedroom of my grandmother and his uniform lay in the cedar chest along with a folded flag and a purple heart. The history from that side of the family is buried not that far from where I live. I started a search and found information about the mission in which he was shot down, the plane he was crew on and lots of great photos from the 384th Bombardment Group and a little bit of history about a family member I always wanted to meet. It was on his first mission, he was killed.



The "White Angel". My uncle was part of the crew

Keep the Show on the Road - The 384th Bombardment Wing

The 384th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was "activated" (brought into existence by the assignment of personnel) on 1 December 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho. Comprised of the 544th, 545th, 546th, and 547th Bombardment Squadrons, the 384th was assigned to Wendover Field, Utah, on 2 January 1943 to begin training in B-17s for combat in the European Theatre of Operations.



Assignments to Fly


The thirty-six aircraft of the 384th Bomb Group were assigned to USAAF Station 106 near the village of Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, England, and arrived there in the summer of 1943. The tail of each of the unit's B-17 aircraft was emblazoned with the "triangle-P" insignia, that letter chosen to honor the first 384th commander, Colonel Budd J. Peaslee. The unit's primary function was the strategic bombardment of airfields and industries in France, Germany, and surrounding Nazi-occupied areas. They flew their first combat mission as a group on 22 June 1943, bombing automobile parts warehouses in Antwerp. This first mission claimed two of the unit's B-17s and their aircrews.



Notice the written caption: Boys on the line 1/3 of them. I can't tell if any of them are my uncle.



By the time their sixth mission was completed the 384th had lost thirty-five of its original thirty-six aircraft. Replacement crews and aircraft constantly arrived to take the vacancies, but the losses kept mounting. On a mission to bomb the port at Hamburg the 384th first experienced the terrible reality of a "ghost squadron" -- all seven ships and crews of the 544th Squadron failed to return from the mission. The entire squadron was lost.

During their tenure in England the B-17s of the 384th Bombardment Group undertook bombing missions to the airdromes at Orleans, Bricy, and Nancy, the motor works at Cologne, an aircraft component factory in Halberstadt, the steel works at Magdeburg, oil storage facilities at Leipzig and Berlin, railroad marshalling yards at Duren and Mannheim, the ports of Hamburg and Emden, and ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt. They received a Distinguished Unit Citation for their raid on aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944 and took part in the heavy bombing campaign against the German aircraft industry during "Big Week" the following month. On 24 April 1944 the unit received its second Distinguished Unit Citation when, although crippled by heavy losses of aircraft and men due to almost overwhelming enemy opposition, the group led the attack on an aircraft factory and airfield at Oberpfaffenhofen.

In June 1944 the 384th supported the Normandy invasion with attacks along the French coast, then bombed airfields and communications lines beyond the Allied beachhead. The unit supported ground troops during the breakthrough at St. Lo in July 1944 and assisted the airborne assault on Holland in September of that year. During that winter it struck enemy communications lines and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge. The following spring the 384th aided the Allied assault across the Rhine by cutting enemy supply lines.

The 384th Bombardment Group flew 9,348 combat sorties in 316 missions, dropping 22,416 tons of bombs on enemy targets. The unit lost 159 aircraft and 1,625 men in combat, while destroying 165 enemy airplanes (with 34 more "probables") and seriously damaging 116 others. Through it all, the members of the 384th lived up to their motto "Keep the Show on the Road." Today, surviving members of the unit proudly recall that they "always flew the missions as briefed."



An insignia patch


Following the surrender of the Axis powers the 384th Bombardment Group remained in Europe as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe, ferrying Allied troops into Germany, Greek soldiers back to their homeland, and American troops to Casablanca for their return to the United States. The unit was inactivated in France on 28 February 1946


A crash landed B-17 Flying Fortress. I was able to find out that this particular bomber was forced down over France on September 10, 1944--before or after an area bombing of Stuttgart, Germany. By the markings, I was able to determine that it belonged to the 384th Bomb Group (546th Bomb Squadron) stationed in Grafton Underwood, England. Note the battle damage on various parts of the airframe. The B-17 was famous for being able to sustain major damage and still bring its crew safely home (or in this case, to friendly territory.)




James J. Brennan
ID: 19102117
Entered the Service From: California
Rank: Sergeant
Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 546th Bomber Squadron, 384th Bomber Group, Heavy
Died: Tuesday, September 12, 1944
Mission #196, 9/11/44, Target: Eisenach, Germany (Aircraft Depot), Pilot Lt. J Chadwick
Buried at: Ardennes American Cemetery
Location: Neupre (Neuville-en-Condroz), Belgium
Plot: B Row: 38 Grave: 51
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart





This bomber jacket was from another crew. The bomb patches all have names of towns on them.

Text & images from The 384th Bomb Group (H)
and Lost Images of World War II

If anyone has information, please contact me. I didn't look at this blog for awhile and missed all the folks who commented. I would love to get more information about my uncle.

I've been waiting for this museum to open. Imagine: worker housing, jobs for women, great overalls. My kind of utopia. I am always attracted to big ships and engine grease.



Richmond shipyard

I am nostalgic for a time I didn't even experience. My only experience of that time is through the objects we find in old houses and the occasional museum. I keep looking for the German word that describes the pain of longing for one's home, sort of homesickness but not quite the same. I am looking for a book by Jonas Mekas, "I Had Nowhere to Go". I once found this book at the Strand in New York.

Visted the old Naval Air Base. I love the emptiness, decay and ghostlike atmosphere. When I was a kid this place was jumping.



This is the picture I wanted to take.



Park St. 1960


The beach




This reminded me of the familiarity of Robert Bechtle's exhibit at Modern Art Museum. That bright Pacific Coast light and suburban 50-70s California architecture.

Alameda Info has an excellent collection of historical postcards and matchbook covers. Those are the things we find when we are cleaning out houses for estate sales.


Still there, still good waffles, still broasted chicken.

Dreamt that I was taking an art class called, "Bipolar Explorations".

About this time last year I made a trip to the desert for a wedding and met a man. I don't know what it is about Tucson, but it one of the places I feel at home.


I used to take so many photos. When I moved a few years ago I accidentally threw away 20 years of negatives.



Every bus station in every town.

It is so dusty there, and hot. The Mexican food is the best. I always have a good time when I visit. So what is it, that feeling, feeling homesick without really knowing where home is.

But outside the hospital unit, the general looked grim. "There's not a kid in that unit who knew what they were getting into," he said. "When I asked them, are you ready to go?, they would say, 'Yes, sir.' But then I'd look at those 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, two weeks out of boot camp, and thought, no, they are not ready for this struggle. I knew how scared they were, how reluctant they were."

My Fruitvale neighborhood is officially gentrified. The house next door is a twin of my house. Miss Ramsey, now in a rest home, lived her entire life in this house since 1912. Since her stroke, the house has been empty, gathering mice and sliding off its foundation.



I have enjoyed gentrifying neighborhoods such as The Mission, Bucktown, Spanish Harlem, South Denver and now Fruitvale. You would think I would welcome rising property values and safer streets, but I am apprehensive someone will ask me to cut my lawn.

Same old shit. Tea, yoga, meeting, paperwork. Happy birthday to my ex-husband. More paperwork. Sandwich. Looking at the garden. A. is cleaning out a house today. The elderly owners took cyanide while holding hands. Just the facts.




Notice it was never sent.

Execution last night at San Quentin. It is so bad here, in the city I am from, that I live in. Generations of poverty etc. I don't have anything profound to say except that is scares me. I am literally looking over my shoulder when I get in my car, when I walked around the corner to Frank's house, when I walk someone's dog. I feel compassion and then I just hate. I don't know what I can do to make it better except keep my mind on nursing school.

Minutes, Hours, Days

Someone is demanding I update this. I swear I don't have much to say. Today I cleaned up all the dog pee on my blankets, my bed, my rug, my chair. I also washed out the dog barf in the car. I still need to get some Nature's Miracle before everything is ruined. I worried about Skippy and whether anyone would adopt him. I went to an AA meeting and drank some foul coffee. I went to the dump, I sliced open my elbow on something rusty, I found a nice screwdriver, I ate at the taco truck, I took the dog for a walk, I ate a brautwurst with sauerkraut.