Make a selection - which to send back...
On June 1, General Eaker sent a letter that was to create more myths and legends regarding the Memphis Belle than any other item. It is a document ordering the Commander of 8th Bomber Command to select a particular crew and aircraft to be sent back to the USA after completing 25 missions. It seems that from this document springs the legend that the Memphis Belle and her crew were the FIRST bomber and crew to achieve 25 missions and be sent back! As can be seen, nowhere in the document does it say that it has to be the first crew or first aircraft, merely that all have completed 25 missions. Also, nowhere does it say that the crew had to be intact - they rarely stayed together anyway for a whole raft of different reasons. Clearly, though, Eaker saw the need to send back a crew with first-hand experience for training purposes - and he also had enough political instinct to realise that such an aircraft and crew would carry enormous political and propaganda ‘weight’ that could be used to bolster the efforts of the USAAF in general and the 8th Air Force in particular.
Eaker’s letter that decided the selection of which aircraft and crew to return to the USA.
Interestingly, it is dated June 1st - apparently some time after Bob Morgan suggests all was
decided at Bassingbourn!
Just how and when was this to be decided is unclear, for the June 1 letter seems to be little more than a ‘cover-up’ exercise to make things appear still open to a decision when in fact, it was already a done deal - and they already knew who was to go! However, pages 212 and 213 of the Morgan/Powers book appear to shed some light. It seems that when Morgan returned from his 25th mission on May 17, one person not out on the tarmac to greet them was Colonel Stanley Wray, Commanding Officer of the 91st. Morgan suggests that one reason for this was he thought that Wray was beginning a jealous streak over the fact that they were going home, taking the Memphis Belle with them, and that he - Wray - would remain at Bassingbourn. That seems an odd suggestion to make, for the very next day in the 91st BG Daily Diary it was announced that Wray was to be promoted to being the Commanding Officer of the 103rd Provisional Heavy Bombardment Wing with effect from May 22, Lt Colonel William M Reid taking his place.
So were plans for Morgan, his crew and the aircraft to return to the US already in hand then? It certainly looks as if there was an orchestrated effort that once Morgan and the majority of the crew had completed 25, the next thing to do was to get the Memphis Belle up to that magic number to fulfil Eaker’s requirements with Anderson/Gladhart flying one last mission for the aircraft on May 19. Morgan/Powers also suggest that within a few days it was decided by Colonel Wray and General Eaker that there was to be an ‘official’ Memphis Belle crew. Gene Atkins, because of the frostbitten fingers incident, had not been able to complete his 25, neither had Scott Miller, one of the waist gunners. The final line-up decided upon therefore was Morgan, Verinis, Evans, Leighton, Hanson, Loch, Scott, Winchell, Nastal and Quinlan.
Colonel Stanley T Wray, Commanding Officer of the 91st Bomb Group.
But how was it decided? For many years the crew that returned to the US demonstrated a marked reluctance to talk about some aspects - particularly their part in being a member of the Memphis Belle’s returning crew. When Menno Durksen was in the process of writing his book, he finally broke down the barriers. ‘Cas’ Nastal explained his reluctance. ‘I was sitting there with my 25 missions completed. One of the Belle’s crew didn’t have enough missions and, since I had flown a few missions on the Memphis Belle, they simply told me to pack my gear and go with them. I didn’t have any choice in the matter. It was an order. I’ve been uncomfortable about it all these years - that story that I was a member of the original crew’.
By now the publicity machine was in full swing - Margaret Polk was notified by telegram that Bob would be broadcasting on the BBC...
To give the reader some idea as to just how many personnel were reaching the magic number, the 91st Daily Diary for May 25 records: ‘Several officers and men have completed their tour of operations. For the time being they have been assigned special jobs on a temporary duty basis. This is one of those procedures necessary so the Group will be able to requisition replacement combat crews to take their place in the effective force of the Group available for operational missions. Among those to receive special assignments were Captain Robert Morgan, Assistant Group Operations Officer; Captain Dean W Bohlen, Assistant Group Bombardier; Captain Lawrence Y Dwyer, Assistant Group Operations Officer and Captain Charles B Leighton, Group Navigator. Ten other officers and 19 non-commissioned officers were given similar temporary assignments in the four tactical squadrons’.
...previously she had been advised in writing from New York.
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