On April 2, 2012 the National Archives released the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. It is a snippet of America and its citizens following the Great Depression and during World War II. Kevin and I were recently called as Stake Family History Directors and have been challenged to excite and encourage our stake members to get involved in family history.
We decided that the 1940 U.S. Census project was the perfect way to start. The Church has a personal goal to index and publish the 1940 census in 6-9 months. Since the 1930 census took 3 years that is an ambitious goal. We decided to use our own ward YM/YW as a test group and see if we could excite them about family history. We put together a slide and video presentation and kicked off our project with our own ward YM/YW. As part of that presentation we shared the story of Charles W. Robins, Kevin's uncle. Uncle Charles is on the 1940 census--this is the real story of a real person!
Uncle Chuck, as he was known to the family, joined the 8th Air Force 398th Bomb Group in the 603rd Squadron when he was 18 years old. Shown in the photo below he was one of a crew of ten.
Charles was the ball turrett gunner on a B17. The ball turrett gunner was the only member of the crew unable to keep his parachute on at all times. When he climbed into the ball turrett, it was too small to allow you to wear your chute so the chute was placed up near the radio shack in the body of the plane.
Charles and his crew deployed on their third mission on July 7, 1944. Their mission was to drop their bombs on an oil refinery in Leipzig, Germany. The map below shows their charted course.
They were in the second wave in a group of 35 planes. We are unsure why but they only flew with a crew of nine that day. Their B17 was piloted by Pilot 2nd Lt., Boyd A. Nisewonger.
As they neared Leipzig, Germany, Charles placed his parachute by the radio shack and climbed into the ball turrett.
They turned south, dropped their bombs, and began their return to flight to England.
South of Leipzig, they encountered heavy flak. The following is an eyewitness report given by Wauldeam H. F. Like the left waist gunner in the B17 piloted by Lt. Rudlow (#2597-V).
"I was flying left waist gunner on Lt. Rudow's crew in the high squadron of the low group on the mission to Leipzig, Germany 7 July 1944. About two minutes after bombs away, I saw flak hit the number four engine of Lt. Nisewonger's ship over in the low squadron of our group. The wing broke off at number four engine. Then his plane, completely enflamed, shifted sideways to the right for about five thousand feet down, then it started in a spin to the left. About that time four chutes came out, and a little later another cam out (totaling five chutes). The plane dropped some more and then blew up completely at about five or then thousand feet above a wooded area about three or four miles from the target."
"We were proceeding down the bombing run and ahead the flak was very intense. I was flying umber two of the second element of the low squadron ad ship number 508 piloted by Lt. Nisewonger was number two in the lead element of the low squadron therefore he was directly in front of m ship. We had passed over the target without dropping our bombs and were just out of the the flak when I noticed that his ship was giving him trouble. There was either smoke or gasoline coming from behind his number three engine. Suddenly there was an explosion wit the large flame at the number three engine. The right wing and number four engine went sailing through the air and the main part of the ship started cart wheeling downward through the air. I had no further view of the falling ship but members of the r said that as many as six chutes came from the falling plane."
Eyewitness description given by 2nd Lt. Ernest W. Spitzer Pilot of B17 #2562-G which was flying directly behind Uncle Charles' plane in the formation.
This is an eyewitness account given by S. Sgt. Perry J. Livingston, the tail gunner on B17 #7348-R piloted by Gallager.
"I heard our pilot say over the interphone that a ship had been hit at nine o'clock. Then I heard our waist gunner say a wing had come off and was coming by, I looked out of the tail position toward nine o'clock where I saw a wing float by with one motor still intact. This happened about one or two minutes after the bombs had been dropped.
I didn't see the actual explosion, but after the wing went by quite a few pats also came by. I didn't notice the rest of the ship until about five minutes later after a turn to the right where I saw the trail area. This area seemed to be left and a few miles from the target. That would be about southwest of the target.
I counted five chutes floating down after we had gone a little way I counted then two or three times to make sure I was right They must have been about four thousand feet below us at the time I counted them. They were closely grouped so they probably landed close together."
Charles fell in the ball turrett about 26,000 feet without a parachute and landed in a tree. He was captured by the German's and spent nine months as a prisoner of war. He was knocked unconscious and had no memory of the week following his capture. He had a badly broken leg and was in and out of the hospital several times during his captivity for treatment for his injuries. He never talked much about the accident but we discovered these details through indexing work at a website called Fold3. It was a treasure trove of information and helped us gain a new appreciation and love for our uncle and those who served to protect the freedoms we now enjoy. It was so exciting for us to discover the details of his story and develop a greater love for him and his sacrifice in our behalf. The people of the 1940 U.S. census truly are "the greatest generation"!
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