Lt. David Kistlers Crew

Standing-(left to right) 2nd Lt. Dave Kistler- pilot; 2nd Lt. Robert (Bob) Laurence- co- pilot; 2nd Lt. Thaddaus (Ted) Gajda-bombardier; 2nd Lt. Paul Heesen- navigator.

Kneeling-(left to right)Will Bentzen- gunner; John Oldroyd- engineer; Sgt. Floyd (Whitey) Schlauch- tail Gunner; S/Sgt. Louie Cimpanelli- ball turret gunner; Sgt. James F. (Mickey) Flynn- nose gunner.

This is the original crew. 14 hours gunnery training at Kingman, Arizona then assigned to Gowan Field, Boise, Idaho for Phase one, two and three training. They were then transferred to Topeka, Kansas. Dave Kistler, the original pilot, and Ben Matthews were killed on there first mission 6-24-44, flying with Bill Hathaway. Kistler was replaced by Craig Morrow.

"On June 24 1944 I was a second lieutenant navigator in the US Army Air Corps stationed in or near San Pancrazio, in the heel of the boot of Italy. I was a member of a bombing crew of the 514th Squadron of the 376th Bombardment Group of the Fifteenth Air Force. On that morning our group participated in a bombing mission to the Ploesti oil fields just north of Bucharest, Roumania in B24 #63 named "Problem Child". As we crossed the Rhine River from Bulgaria we were met by enemy fighters estimated to number 200. We arrived at the initial point about 10 o'clock and proceeded to the target about ten minutes away.The flak was very heavy but some distance off to our right. The lead bombardier was unable to sight on the target because of a smoke screen that partially shielded the target so our Squadron Commanding Officer decided to make a 360, i.e. go back to the initial point and try the bomb run again . By this time the antiaircraft was much closer. Nevertheless we proceeded to the target, got a better view, and dropped our bombs on target.

As we were coming off the target we were hit by flak losing one engine and wounding our nose gunner, George Deputy, in the head,our bombardier, Richard McDowell, in the leg ,and myself, in the shoulder. I gave the pilot a heading to Turkey and while McDowell and Deputy dressed their wounds I climbed into the nose turret vacated by Deputy and fired at some
fighters that were harassing us as we droppped behind the formation.

We were losing altitude as we headed south hoping to reach Turkey but were hit again and lost another engine on the same side of the plane as the first lost engine. First Pilot Hampton gave the order to bail out and we hastily complied. The chutes of our co-pilot, David Kistler, and waist gunner, Ben Matthews, did not open and both were killed. Ball gunner Herman Hucke, Hampton, and I were arrested on landing and taken to the same village and a day or so later we joined the rest of the crew and were taken to Bucharest where we were imprisoned until the latter part of August when the Russians invaded, took over Roumania, and released us.

I don't recall the exact date but it was the last of August or first of September that an armada of B-17's flew in to a field near Bucharest, picked us up, and flew us back to Italy. The 17's had no armament to make room for as many of us as possible. I believe about forty to a plane. But we had a very heavy guard of P-38's to escort us. The B-17 mission had been set up by Coloned Gunn who was the ranking officer in our POW group. A Roumanian fighter pilot flew him back to Bari or Foggia from Bucharest shortly after we were liberated. They flew in a ME 109 with the radio compartment removed to accomodate the Colonel.

Shortly after the takeover we were flown back to Italy, returned to the 514th Squadron of the 376th Bomb Group and after debriefing and medical check up within a few days we went to Naples where after waiting a few more days we returned to the United States.

The foregoing is taken from a report I made to Air Force Headquarters recently and sounds a bit dry and certainly is cryptic. If you want more details don't hesitate to ask. But it may take me a while to reply."

Bill Hathaway