Posted:
By: Josie Navarro
On: 08/27/2005
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Hi Simon,
The photos we took of your group with my Uncle turned out very nice. Meeting all of you was a real highlight for my Uncle and myself as well! He loves to talk to others about the 401st Bomb group and his experiences there and it warms his heart that others, especially the younger generations are interested.
We are attending a reunion of the 8th Army Air Force in Washington DC this September to visit the newest Memorial and see the sites. I think there will be 600 veterans there so that will be cool! I plan to make a video of my Uncle at that time with him answering many questions about his time at Deenethorpe and talking about his WWII experience in general so we will have a record of it on tape and video. I would be happy to send you a copy if you wish at some point. Just let me know. Also, let me know if your photos did not turn out and I can send you one of ours with your group.
We had an awesome day at Deenethorpe. There were army vehicles there to transport us and then a private company provided a Navajo Piper 6 seater airplane to take the veterans up over the airfield! My Uncle went up and it was such a wonderful experience to fly over and see his old field and then they dropped down low and fast and passed us all by! It was AWESOME and such a great memory for my Uncle. I asked him how it was when he got off the plane and he said, "It was great, but I miss my machine guns!" :)
Best wishes to you! If you wish to look up my Uncle's crew on the 401st website it is under Crew Photos listed with the 613th Squadron with John J. Connolly as the pilot(not sure of the spelling but similar to that) Some photos have him listed at the Ball Turret Gunner, which he was, and others do not have the correct info.
What a nice surprise to see your email tonight! I will let me Uncle know you put a message on the website!
Take Care,
Josie Navarro :)
josiegn@hotmail.com
253-858-6075
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