In Memory of my grandfather-WWII Vet

[skeeter4206]

2 years ago my grandfather Walter R. Martin, a WWII veteran passed away on December 11 at the young age of 90 years old. He was a very special person in my life and was sad to see his passing.

After his death my mother found a buch of old WWII pics and other items from that time that no one even knew about until after his passing.

He was a christian man who loved his wife and family. He spoke very little of his time over there during the war.

I just wanted to share some pictures he took while overthere in memory of my grandfather. I do not know anything about where he was stationed or any of his duties while in the war. If anyone out there could help fill in any information on the whereabouts of his service time I would greatly appreciate it. I have pieced some areas he was just by looking at some of his pictures he took.

I hope you enjoy and please excuse me for all the pictures.

Skeeter Barnes

[skeeter4206]

More pictures

[alanint]

From what I can see. most of the photos were taken in the immediate months following the end of WW2. Your Grandfather appears to have been an Engineer with a Technical rating in the Eight Airforce. He perhaps worked on radio equipment for that branch of service. Photos 3,4,and 5 are of Hitler's Berghof, or Alpine retreat at Bechthesgaden. Other photos appear to show a ruined Cologne and perhaps Frankfurt.
These are not unusual snapshots of a GI on leave after the end of the war.

Great photos of a member of the Greatest Generation. I know how proud you must be.

[skeeter4206]

Going thru his stuff I also found a 9mm bullet with the DWM stamp on the bottom, and with a date of 1917 I think. To bad it wasnt a whole box of them. I also found what looks like some trench art, which a 30-06 was turned into a lighter.

And yes I was proud of my grandfather. He was the one person that kept the whole family together and at peace. I really and truly miss him.











Im curious what the "K" means on the bottom of the casing and what looks like a "3". Any clue

[Edward Tinker]

pretty sure the k is Kalsruhl (sp)

I would love to use the jeep and truck pictures in vol IV of Vet Bring backs, along with the 'Eagles Nest picture for a 1 pager ??

If interested, shoot me high resolution of them (Vol III has not been published yet, but soon)

ed_tinker@hotmail.com
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.
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[skeeter4206]

I would honored to let use them. I have many more pics as well I could just put on a thumb drive and sent to you at no cost at all. I'll even pay the shipping.

My grandfather also has a sauer 38H he brought back from over there with bring back papers. I have been trying my best to get it from my uncle, cause he has it torn apart and sitting in a box in his garage. That just kills me. Hopefully he aint lost any of it.

If your interested in some pics of that gun maybe I can talk my uncle into putting it back together and let me take some good photos of it. That would really show some honor to my grandfather.

[skeeter4206]

Some of these pics I still have the actual strip film that came out of the camera, before they got developed. Ill look through it and see whats on them

[skeeter4206]

A new update on findings of my grandfather. I used a newspaper clipping he saved that had our home town talk a little bit about him. Well they meantioned a little bit about the 479th fighter group with lieutenant Colonel Kyle L. Riddles bomber escort. They flew the P-51 mustang fighters. So I searched to find out a little bit about the 479th fighter group.

I found out they were stationed at Debden airfield in North Essex England. They flew bomber escorts for B-17 and B-24 bombers from the 4th strategic air depot. They patrolled the beachhead during the Normandy invasion. While escorting these bombers they also dive-bombed troops, bridges, locomotives, railway cars, barges, vehilcles, airfields and other targets. They flew area patrols to support the breakthrough at Saint-Lo in the airborn attack on Holland. They received a distinguished unit citation for the destruction of numerous aircraft on airfields in France on August 18 and September 5 1944 during an aerial battle near Munster. They also participated in the Battle of the Bulge.

Well looking through some of the pictures on line there was a certain building that was in a picture of Bob Hope talking with the troops on a parade field. Well, just so happen my grandfather had a picture of him on that same parade field with what looked to me to be the same building. So I downloaded a bunch of pictures off line of the fighters and the aerial photos of the airfield in 1946 and what it looks like today. I also Added some more pictures of my grandfather with some of the buildings in the background to post here. Now I know he didnt fly with the fighter groups or bombers on their missions I know that much, so I guess he was part of the ground crew that helped out around the airfield. You can see in some of the pictures these WWII Nissen Huts that he is in one of the pictures laying brick. My mom said she knows that was where he pretty lived in when he was there.

Enjoy the pics

[skeeter4206]

More pictures of the airfield and fighters. The black and white aerial photo is from 1946 and the color one is off goggle from the modern day. You can see how much the buildings have changed. The hangers are gone. The buildings in pictures with Bob Hope and my grandfather that look alike. I can find that parade field in the 1946 picture and they were more rectangle shaped then. Now they are a "T" shape to them. Looking at some of my grandfathers pictures the original buildings had some of the windows boarded up. Makes you kinda wonder if they were bombed and badly damaged. But I know alot of the old buildings aint there today by the aerial photos.

[mrerick]

Your 12th and 14th pictures from the top were taken post war in Munich.

The 12th shows the Frauenkirche (woman's church) in the background, and I believe the 14th is of the Marienplatz where the famous glockenspiel is located.





Nice collection and memories of your grandfather. Thank you for posting.

Marc

[alanint]

Debden Airfield was also the home of the famous "Fourth Fighter Group", which destroyed over 1,000 enemy planes during WW2. Aces like Don Gentile and Johnny Godfrey were members of the 4th. Their Squadron symbol was the famous Bantam Rooster with boxing gloves on. All the P51s with red noses and the "WD" initial aircraft codes are all 4th. FG planes.
Just one clarification. The breakout at St. Lo was the culmination of the Normandy Campaign. The Holland campaign came shortly afterwards.

You have an unpublished photo of WD-A, the famous "Ridge Runner", Ace Lt. Pierce Mc Kennon's plane.

http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/resource/WD-A.html

[skeeter4206]

Heres a story about a pilot from Debdon airfield that flew the plane called "Shangri-La". It was flown by Capt. Don S. Gentile.

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php...-Forums/Page31

Its in down a little bit inside this thread (Thread #307). Hope it opens up correctly

[skeeter4206]

Originally Posted by mrerick

Your 12th and 14th pictures from the top were taken post war in Munich.

The 12th shows the Frauenkirche (woman's church) in the background, and I believe the 14th is of the Marienplatz where the famous glockenspiel is located.





Nice collection and memories of your grandfather. Thank you for posting.

Marc

[/quote]

Yeah the 15th picture just below the church picture in the town of Munich is the Salsberg Salt mine in Berchtesgaden. I think I got that all spelled correct. I can go to google earth and and almost find that exact location thats still there today. I can also find the bridge that they are standing on with the stream behind them as well. It is just outside of Berchtesgaden. Pretty cool to be able to use google eart to locate that exact spot. Br kinda cool to go there and get my picture taken on that same bridge at the same angle. Just to see how much has changed in the scenery.

[Nomadr]

Funny, the sign in your first photo has "EAGLES NEST" spelled wrong!
Typical sign painter...hand lettering without reading (:

Bob

[skeeter4206]

Funny, the sign in your first photo has "EAGLES NEST" spelled wrong!
Typical sign painter...hand lettering without reading (:

Oh thats too funny. As many times as I have looked at the picture, I never caught that. Even when you zoom in on the hi resolution picture I have scanned in, it definitly looks like a "C" instead of a "G".


What I found to be cool is how they name the jeep, just below the fron windshield. Looks like it says "Helen Jean", But I cant quite make it out. Looking at other pictures off the web, it appeared that they named there jeeps like they did there plans back then. I saw several other pictures of jeeps doing my searching on the web about these pictures that were also named.



I also posted some of these pictures on another forum "airfieldinformationexchange.com" and a member there commented on the markings on the front bumper of that jeep and some of the other bigger trucks. All the bumpers appear to have "8*861E* on them. I fellow from scotland said he thinks that represents the 861st engineering aviation battalion. So I found another forum that is "IX engineering command" and was looking up that particular EAB. They had very little information on people or any pictures from this battalion. So I'm going to join that forum as well and post them pictures and list all the names I have that are written on these photos and post on that forum. I'm curious what information I get back form there. I'll keep yall posted on that.

[alanint]

Also, the photo of your Grandad squating next to a small crate looks interesting.

That looks like a Norden Bombsite in the crate!

[skeeter4206]

Also, the photo of your Grandad squating next to a small crate looks interesting.

That looks like a Norden Bombsite in the crate!

I'm curious what is a Norden Bombsite? Here are a couple more photos of that same spot with that crate in the picture.

[alanint]

The Norden Bombsite was a super secret electromechanical site, (The airforce had armed guards escort the sites to and from the bombers when they were removed and in certain missions with a high probability of aircraft loss, such as low altitude raids, the bombsites were stripped from the planes so as not to fall into enemy hands). The Norden's purpose was to calculate aircraft speed, wind speed and direction, altitude, etc. in order to drop the bombs with a certain amount of precision. The Sperry Corporation, who manufactured these, claimed they could "put a bomb in a pickle barrel from 30 Thousand feet".
Then again, that might just be a gas generator in that crate! 8^)

[skeeter4206]

Heres a pretty cool link with some old pics taken of D-Day.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured...mandy-beaches/

[skeeter4206]

Heres some stats I found on another forum written from a memeber name Tom from Dayton, Ohio. I believe there is a US air force museum there. This gives you stats on plan crashes a various airfields for teh 8th air force during WWII


Quote from Tom:
I've been crunching the numbers of the USAAF 8th Air Force Overseas Accidents (non-battle related) and have a couple lists for everyone to mull over. The first is the Top 20 Types of Accidents. The second is number of accidents by Base.

Tom


TOP 20 TYPES OF ACCIDENTS
ACTION NUMBER
landing accident 1408
taxiing accident 904
killed in a crash 299
take off accident 290
mid air collision 193
crashed belly landing 186
killed, mid air collision 182
ground accident 162
crash landing 154
ground looped 113
crashed belly landing due to engine failure or fire 76
forced landing due to engine failure 67
crash landing engine failure 61
bailed out-engine failure 55
killed in crash landing 47
unknown 47
take off accident due to engine failure 46
crashed on take off 43
killed, crashed on take off 42
bailed out due to mid air collision 40
=======================================
ACCIDENTS BY HOME BASE (over 10 accidents)


BASE NUMBER
Atcham, Shropshire 226
Duxford, Cambridgeshire 156
Debden, Essex 149
Goxhill, Lincolnshire 147
Boxted, Essex 145
Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire 141
Warton, Lancashire 141
Martlesham Heath, Suffolk 128
Raydon, Suffolk 123
Honington, Suffolk 114
Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire 109
Wattisham, Suffolk 106
Bodney, Norfolk 103
Kings Cliffe, Northanptonshire 101
East Wretham, Norfolk 100
Leiston, Suffolk 100
Wormingford, Essex 98
Mount Farm, Oxfordshire 95
Watton, Norfolk 82
Snetterton Heath, Norfolk 79
Halesworth, Suffolk 78
Thurleigh, Bedfordshire 72
Molesworth, Huntingdonshire 68
Great Ashfield, Suffolk 65
Horsham St. Faith, Norfolk 65
Bottisham, Cambrdigeshire 64
Glatton, Huntingdonshire 62
Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire 62
Podington, Bedforshire 62
Burtonwood, Lancashire 60
Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire 60
Ridgewell, Essex 60
Wendling, Norfolk 59
Deopham Green, Norfolk 58
Little Walden, Essex 58
Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk 57
Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire 53
Chelveston, Northamptonshire 53
Hethel, Norfolk 53
Thorpe Abbots, Norfolk 52
Bungay, Suffolk 50
Rattlesden, Suffolk 50
Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire 49
Knettishall, Suffolk 49
Hardwick, Norfolk 47
Eye, Suffolk 46
Harrington, Northamptonshire 46
Polebrook, Northamptonshire 46
Horham, Suffolk 45
Attlebridge, Norfolk 43
Deenethorpe, Northamptonshire 43
Shipdham, Norfolk 42
Membury, Berkshire 41
Seething, Norfolk 41
Franlingham, Suffolk 40
Old Buckenham, Norfolk 39
Tibenham, Norfolk 39
Lavenham, Suffolk 37
Alconbury, Cambridgeshire 36
Mendlesham, Suffolk 36
Bovindon, Hertfordshire 35
Langford Lodge, Northern Ireland 33
Metfield, Suffolk 33
North Pickenham, Norfolk 33
Rackheath, Norfolk 33
Chievres, Belgium 29
Debach, Suffolk 26
Keevil, Wiltshire 23
Sudbury, Suffolk 22
Chalgrove, Oxfordshire 19
Heston, Middlesex 19
Aldermaston, Berkshire 17
Cheddington, Buckinghamshire 17
Membury, Wiltshire 17
Denain/Prouvy, France 16
Toome, Northern Ireland 16
Troston, Suffolk 16
Hendon, Middlesex 11
Hitcham, Suffolk 11
Maghaberry, Northern Ireland 11
Wittering, Northamptonshire 11
Cluntoe, Northern Ireland 10
Goxhill, Lincolshire 10
Prestwick, Scotland 10