William A Shomo MOH

 

Ok, another in the series of USAF (and predecessor) Medal of Honor recipient.  This recipient is a member of a list of very few but lucky recipients.  He served in WWII where he earned the medal.  He passed away in 1990 at 81.  So, earned the medal and survived the war.  There aren't a lot of those folks.

 

In any case, on with the story which takes place in the Pacific AOR.  I'll confess that I didn't realize that P-51s were in use there.  

 

Source

 

 

I thought the primary fighter for the long range needed in the Pacific was the P-38.  Well, evidently I was mistaken and learned something new.  The P-51 went into action in the Pacifi in January 1945.  So...Thanks Sarge for offering me the opportunity to learn some History.

 

7 of those 8 Japanese flags occurred on  ONE sortie! 

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In any case, the subject for this week is Major William A Shomo. 

 

Major Shomo

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Take a look at that picture. Does he look like a badass or what?  Well, let me tell you his story and believe me, when you've read it, you'll add a new definition to the word "Badass".

 

Prior to December 1944, after Major Shomo had been stationed in Papua, New Guinea and flying very short range P-36's and P-40s (a big problem in the little lake called the Pacific Ocean).   At that point, he was transferred to Mindoro, in the Phillipines.  He was given command of an F-6D squadron at that point.  While armed with the standard P-51 6x50 cal machine guns, the F-6D's primary mission was photo reconnaissance.  

 

F-6D 

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That makes this story a little bit more interesting.

 

On January 9, 1945, Major Shomo was leading a reconnaissance mission over northern Luzon.  On spotting a Japanese "Val" dive bomber approaching it's airfield to land.  Major Shomo immediately dived on it and shot it down for his first victory.

 

Two days later, on another reconnaissance mission to photograph Japanese airfields on Luzon, they saw 12 Japanese fighters escorting a bomber.  Major Shomo immediately pulled up in an Immelman turn (basically an vertical 180 degree turn) and engaged the formation.  In the engagement, he attacked two of the escorting  fighters and then the bomber.  All of which he shot down.  At that point he engaged some of the other escorts, shooting down four of them.  His wingman shot down 3 of the remainng 6 aircraft.

 

I expect morale in the Japanese squadron took a hit. 

 

Folks, flying and fighting like that takes a lot of guts and even more skill.  AND...That's not the highest score for a single engagement.  Just so my Navy friends don't protest.  The highest single engagement victory count is.  Commander David McCamble shot down 9 Japanese fighters and two probables in a single engagement. 

 

President Reagan (and I have quoted him recently) said "Where do we get such men?"

 

Good Question. 

 

 

Citation for the award of Medal of Honor

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Maj. Shomo was lead pilot of a flight of two fighter planes charged with an armed photographic and strafing mission against the Aparri and Laoag airdromes. While en route to the objective, he observed an enemy twin engine bomber, protected by 12 fighters, flying about 2,500 feet above him and in the opposite direction. Although the odds were 13 to 2, Maj. Shomo immediately ordered an attack. Accompanied by his wingman he closed on the enemy formation in a climbing turn and scored hits on the leading plane of the third element, which exploded in midair. Maj. Shomo then attacked the second element from the left side of the formation and shot another fighter down in flames. When the enemy formed for counterattack, Maj. Shomo moved to the other side of the formation and hit a third fighter which exploded and fell. Diving below the bomber, he put a burst into its underside and it crashed and burned. Pulling up from this pass he encountered a fifth plane firing head on and destroyed it. He next dived upon the first element and shot down the lead plane; then diving to 300 feet in pursuit of another fighter he caught it with his initial burst and it crashed in flames. During this action his wingman had shot down three planes, while the three remaining enemy fighters had fled into a cloud bank and escaped. Maj. Shomo's extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity in attacking such a far superior force and destroying seven enemy aircraft in one action is unparalleled in the southwest Pacific area.

 

Sources

 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Shomo

-https://worldwarwings.com/pilot-destroys-40-enemy-planes-wwii/.   

Good info source here, but the number of kills in the URL is wrong he didn't destroy 40 aircraft. I don't know why that is in the URL, that was Dick Bongs kill number

 -https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-a-shomo 

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang_variants#P-51D_and_P-51K 

https://alchetron.com/cdn/william-a-shomo-0721dfb0-d2ec-4bf4-a8a3-a89a433630a-resize-750.jpg 

 

John Jerstad MOH

 

 

OK, like most Medal of Honor recipients (regardless of Service) the actions performed are well "above and beyond the call of duty".  Major Jerstad is no different.  However, I found this a bit out of the ordinary.  

He enlisted in July 1941, was commissioned in February 1942 serving with 2 Bomb Groups in Louisiana, for training I bet.  Deployed to Europe in October of 1942, so...15 months from enlistment to Combat as a Major.  Time sure was tough back then.

In any case in August 1943, the staff officers in London, who didn't have to fly missions, decided that the oil production facilities around Ploesti, Romania.  This mission was titled "Operation Tidal Wave".  

Typical staff officer romantic name.  

Anyhow, on August 1st, 1943, 179 B-24 Liberators took off and flew an 18 hour mission, flying 2400 miles round trip. 

 

 

As they approached the target, Major Jerstad's B-24 was hit by AAA and caught on fire.  The plane was severely damaged and there was a farmer's field within view that would have handled an emergency landing.  Major Jerstad elected to continue leading the formation, releasing the bombs on the target.  Shortly thereafter, the flames in the aircraft became too intense and it crashed into the target area.

7 years later, his remains were located and he was buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery Liège in Belgium along with 5328 other Americans

Source

 

In the end, on this mission alone there were 5 Medal of Honor recipients, 3 of which were posthumous including Major Jerstad. 

Citation for the Award of the Medal of Honor to Major John Jerstad

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. On 1 August 1943, he served as pilot of the lead aircraft in his group in a daring low-level attack against enemy oil refineries and installations at Ploesti, Rumania. Although he had completed more than his share of missions and was no longer connected with this group, so high was his conception of duty that he volunteered to lead the formation in the correct belief that his participation would contribute materially to the success of this attack. Maj. Jerstad led the formation into attack with full realization of the extreme hazards involved and despite withering fire from heavy and light anitaircraft guns. Three miles from the target his airplane was hit, badly damaged, and set on fire. Ignoring the fact that he was flying over a field suitable for a forced landing, he kept on the course. After the bombs of his aircraft were released on the target, the fire in his ship became so intense as to make further progress impossible and he crashed into the target area. By his voluntary acceptance of a mission he knew was extremely hazardous and his assumption of an intrepid course of action at the risk of life over and above the call of duty, Maj. Jerstad set an example of heroism which will be an inspiration to the U.S. Armed

Rest in Peace, Hero! 

Sources

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Jerstad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-24_Liberator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardennes_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial 

 

Singing Waters

So, with the end of Mrs J's medical treatments (and an optimistically good assessment of status), She and I decided we needed to take a day off and go have a bit of fun.  LJW suggested we go visit some wineries in the local area.  Local Area in Texas is roughly defined as the same amount of square miles as in Rhode Island.  

This site says Rhode Island's east/west length is 37 mles and north/south is 48 miles.  This site says the distance from The Burg to Austin via 290 is 78 miles.  The majority of Texas wineries are along or within about 20 miles of that highway.

Not that there's anything bad about RI, mind you.  Just kinda giving a mental picture. 

In any case, having been to most of the "Good" (Greek for "crowded") wineries, LJW suggested one that's a bit off the beaten path, specifically located near the town of Comfort, a thriving metroplex of maybe a couple thousand people, and an awful lot of cattle. 

The winery is named Singing Water due to a creek that ran through the property.  Very nice place, very nice folks,  a quite talented young songstress, a tasty cheese and sausage plate and a very nice red wine* made for quite enjoyable outing.

 

Miss B even had a good time.

She was trying to out "Goofy" her grandfather.  I won hands down!

 

As I went inside to settle up, I noticed a few things that caught my eye.

James Avery has several custom jewelry stores in Texas.  His home and one of his first stores are in "The Burg".  I thought it was interesting that he'd been a pilot in WWII in Europe.

Here is the letter he wrote to the winery explaining the significance of the picture.

Thought that was interesting, crossing the Atlantic with temporary fuel tanks on board.  Lord help them if they didn't feed.  (And I'm sure more than a few crews experienced that disaster.)

So, as I finished reading this, I noticed another picture next to it.

If you'll notice in the top right of the picture, there's a picture of a B-25 on the deck of a ship.  Caught my eye, yes it did.  Right away, I thought of the Doolittle Raid and that this guy from Comfort might have participated in it.

I couldn't have been more right.  I asked one of the staff who was in the room with me what the relationship of Richard "Dick" Cole was to the winery.  The guy that answered was about my age and also retired Air Force.  He said that Mr. Cole had, indeed, been on the raid and that he was born, raised and lived in Comfort (TX) up to and after the war.  The significance was enhanced when he told me that he'd been General Doolittle's Co-pilot on the raid.

Here's a picture of the crew before takeoff.  Then Colonel Doolittle is second from the left,  Mr. Cole is second from the right.

Talk about a brush with history.  He'd been present at the grand opening of the winery.   The owner and he were good friends and the owner is also retired military.  Unfortunately, Mr Cole has passed away.  That would have been out of this world amazing to have met him personally.

As one may surmise, the winery staff has a large former number of former military staff on it, So they are inclined to offer a variety of specials for military and former military folks. They also have a significant collection of "Challenge Coins" and will exchange one of their challenge coins for one of yours.  I believe there might be some "encouragement" included in the exchange.  

 

Excellent place to visit with excellent wines (and the food isn't bad either). As I mentioned, Military Vets get a significant discount there.  Mrs. J and I highly recommend a visit.

Peace out y'all!

*

I like the Name

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A New Tale

Lech, Czech, and Rus oaks in Rogalin, Poland.
(Source)

 

... three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all traveled in different directions. Rus went to the east, Čech headed to the west to settle on the Říp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech traveled north. There, while hunting, he followed his arrow and suddenly found himself face-to-face with a fierce, white eagle guarding its nest from intruders. Seeing the eagle against the red of the setting sun, Lech took this as a good omen and decided to settle there. He named his settlement Gniezno (Polish gniazdo - 'nest') in commemoration and adopted the White Eagle as his coat-of-arms. The white eagle remains a symbol of Poland to this day, and the colors of the eagle and the setting sun are depicted in Poland's coat of arms, as well as its flag, with a white stripe on top for the eagle, and a red stripe on the bottom for the sunset. (Source)

So yeah, history. I've decided to start another fictional tale of the Second World War, prior to really digging into that, some research is required. While I do know quite a bit about WWII in Europe, some of that knowledge is rather old and could stand some updating. While starting my research I came across that old legend mentioned above, I truly had no idea ...

So you might get the impression that I've decided to start the tale very early in the war, at least from a European standpoint, fighting in Asia had been going on since 1937 -

On July 7, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War began with a conflict known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Japan was attacked by Chinese troops while carrying out military training—they didn't warn the Chinese they would be shooting gunpowder rounds at the bridge that led to Beijing. This amplified already tense relations in the region, leading to an all-out declaration of war. (Source)

 I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to live in that era, especially in Poland, where the war began at 0445 when the German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire at Polish defenses in the vicinity of Westerplatte. (An excellent movie which covers this is the film 1939 Battle of Westerplatte .Tajemnica Westerplatte is the original title, roughly "Westerplatte Mystery." You can watch it dubbed in English or in the original Polish with English subtitles, which I recommend.)

Though tensions in Europe had been rising ever since the Germans marched their army into the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936, the invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939 began a war which would see millions die, both combatant and civilian, which wouldn't end until the 8th of May 1945. For the Poles, the betrayal by the West, the Nazis, and the  Communists wouldn't really end until 1990.

I did a lot of reading on Poland, the country has a fascinating history, bits of which I have written about numerous times here on The Chant. It's time, I think, to write about the early stages of World War II in Europe, at least up until the moment when Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps is turned back at the gates of Egypt at El Alamein. (Yes juvat, I'll try to end on a high note ...)

Some of the characters from my first novel will show up, at least among the Brits, Poles, and Germans, it's a bit early for the Yanks but you never know ...

It's going to be a few days before I get started, much research remains to be completed, or at least started. I'm looking forward to this, hope you enjoy it. Feel free to offer suggestions, complaints, corrections, etc., just like with the last book. This should be interesting! (Lord I hope so.)