464th Bomb Group veteran attends last reunion

Antipodean Andy · Oct 29, 2008

Platte County Record Times Online - some incredible anecdotes.

Don Sherard and wife Alice are back home in Wheatland after attending the World War II 464th Bomb Group Reunion in Tuscon, Arizona. Don said this Sept. 25-29 reunion was advertised as being a final reunion.

"After all it'd been 64 years since the war was over," he said.

Don served during World War II with the United States Army Air Corps from February 15, 1943 to October 15, 1945. He was a bombardier with the group completing 29 combat missions during this period of service.

Don noted that this bomb group had close ties to Wyoming and was stationed at Casper, Wyo. during its final training for action prior to its move in 1944 first to North Africa and its final station at Pantenella, Italy.

The 464th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force flew the B-24 Liberator, a four engine bomber, during World War II from Pantenella Army Air Field. The group consisted of four squadrons, the 776th, 777th, 778th and 779th.

Each squadron, when fully manned, had 15 Liberators and 18 aircrews. The ten man crew consisted of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator, nose turret gunner, ball turret gunner, tail turret gunner and a waist gunner.

The 464th Bomb Group lost a total of 138 B-24 Liberators. During its first month in combat, the Group flew 18 missions and lost 16 B-24s, 14 in combat and two in accidents. On June 6, 1944 (D-Day), the Group bombed a Ploesti, Rumania Oil Refinery. Seven B-24s were lost that day.

The 464th Bomb Group flew altogether 210 combat missions.

When speaking of the reunion held this past September, Don said it was a wonderful get together.

"The camaraderie among us was unbelievable," he said.

At the business meeting, members were asked to recite outstanding experiences they had. There were quite a few hair-raising tales, Don recalled.

The topic of whether or not to have any more reunions also came up during the business meeting. Although the ages of the members ranged from 83 and above, there was a 92-year-old member that made a motion to have another reunion in six months because he wanted to attend.

"Everybody laughed," Don said. "And we young members overrode him," adding that they decided to reunite in a year. "We thought some of us would still be alive in a year."

It was conversations like this that brought laughter to the group throughout the reunion.

There were also, however, moments of silence - such as when the same 92-year-old member was asked to sing a song. "My Way" by Frank Sinatra was what he chose to sing. Don said this was the "most beautiful rendition of the song that I think any of us had ever heard."

There were altogether 50 members from all over the United States that attended this reunion. Members came from California, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Texas, Arizona and of course, Wyoming.

Recalling his service during World War II, Don said he flew the 29 combat missions before he ever got to fly a practice mission.

"They were losing guys so fast," he said.

Of his 29 missions, Don and his group returned over the Alps with only three engines on 12 missions. On one mission, they came back with only two engines.

"Almost unbelievable how we lived through that landing," he said.

Don said during these missions there wasn't one man who didn't say he was terrified.

"In the movies they're very brave. That's bologna. If you had any brains, you were frightened," he said. "Your chances of completing your missions was about 30 percent."

Unlike most of the others, Don kept a daily diary while overseas. Unfortunately, he lost the diary. However, he later wrote memoirs. An excerpt from his memoirs includes an experience he will never forget. During a combat mission Don realized one of the bombers in his squadron had been hit by anti-aircraft flak and was going down. Don glanced through the window in front of him and saw two other planes hit that were also disintegrating and falling.

You might wonder what goes on through one's mind when something like this happens before their eyes. For Don, he recalled a piece of advice that was given to him when he was 17 years old. Before entering the service, he had been befriended by an elderly man who was a World War I vet.

"And he said 'Young man I wanna give you a piece of advice...there's as many or more people killed in combat than from enemy fire because they lose their heads,'" he said.

This piece of advice rang through Don's head during this unforgettable experience. Don and his entire crew were endangered by bombs. He knew he had to go into the open bomb bays and release them manually as quickly as possible.

In his memoirs, Don states he disconnected his oxygen hose from the plane's system and attempted to crawl through the crawl-way from his station in the nose of the plane to the bomb bays.

"In my haste I had forgotten that I could not survive for any appreciable time at that altitude without oxygen. I was feeling the effects of the lack of oxygen and finding it difficult to see, when near the front of the bomb bays, I saw an oxygen outlet. I reached the outlet and plugged in my hose. Shortly, my senses began returning to normal."

As this experience unfolded, Don heard the words of advice the World War I vet. had given him.

"I paused a moment and realized that I should plug into a 'walk around oxygen bottle' before going back into the bomb bays. I was wearing my chest-pack parachute at the time that we entered the target area and I was still wearing it as I started to crowd between the braces to step onto the catwalk between the bomb bays. I realized that if the rip cord ring caught on a rack, the chute would open in the bay, drop out into the airstream and pull me out with it."

Don unsnapped the parachute and proceeded into the open bays walking on the 12" wide catwalk between them. Hanging onto the racks, he manually released each of the 10 500 lbs. bomb clusters and watched them fall.

"This was my first combat mission as a bombardier over Vienna, Austria, and was, without question, the most frightening experience of my life up to that time," he wrote.

Memories such as this extraordinary event and much more are included in Don's memoirs - something that will live on for years and years after Don's time.
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