Operation: Dive bombing Paris - Dreux area, France

Date: 21st June 1944 (Wednesday)

Unit No: 429th Fighter Squadron, 474th Fighter Group, 70th Fighter Wing, 9th Air Force

Type: P-38J Lightning

Serial: 42-67765

Code: 7Y:?

Base: Warmwell (Station #454), Dorset, England

Location: 500m (546 yds) east of Hellenvilliers, 20 km (12½ mls) NW of Dreux, France

Pilot: Capt. Merle Elmo Larson DFC (OLC) O-495759 AAF Age 23. Id No. 78363 *, PoW No. 8145 **

* Buchenwald concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany in July 1937.

** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

Above 1st Lt. Larson DFC extracted from article in the Argus Leader, dated 27th July 1943 after his return home from completing his first tour of operations in the Italian Theatre of Operations.

REASON FOR LOSS:

The after mission statements by two pilots from Capt. Larson’s section of eight P-38s describe the circumstances of loss of their section leader:

1st Lt. William H. Banks, O-748874:

“On 21 June 1944, I, William H. Banks, was flying as number three man in Captain Merle E. Larson's flight of four ships on a dive bombing-strafing mission in the area of Dreux, France. At approximately 21:30 hours, we reached the target area and proceeded to circle, providing top cover at 11,000 feet while the leading section bombed railway installations.

We were in the vicinity of an airfield near Dreux and enemy anti-aircraft fire was heavy, intense and the most accurate that I had ever seen. The first burst at our fight evidently hit Captain Larson's plane for it broke between the two of us. I chandelled to the left as I called a warning on the radio.

Chandelle = A flight manoeuvre comprising a steep climbing turn to gain altitude while changing direction.

When I turned beck a few seconds later I saw Captain Larson about 2,000 feet below me in a right turn with coolant and gas leaking from his right engine. I called and told him so, and he in turn called the Group Leader and told him he had jettisoned his bombs and was on single engine returning home. I jettisoned my bombs and followed him to cover him. My wingman followed me.

I closed in on Captain Larson and noticed his left engine feathered and when I passed beneath him I saw hits about the right wing root and right engine nacelle. He was streaming gas and coolant very badly all the way. He tried to start up the left engine again but it smoked very badly end he re-feathered it.

Gradually he was losing altitude and we were already down to 6,000 feet. While in an S-ing turn to the right away from him he bailed out without my knowledge. When I saw his ship next it was in a gentle dive with the right engine flaming, I yelled to him to bale out but Captain Cobb told me he had already left the ship. I noticed his chute open at 4,000 feet and immediately commenced to circle around him.

S-ing turn or Split S = A flight manoeuvre comprises rolling inverted and pulling back on the stick, diving the aircraft into a half loop, which changes the aircraft's direction 180 degrees.

He lit in an open field about one to two miles south of his ship which had hit and blown up on the main highway halfway between Damville and Saint-André, at 21:53 hours, I do not believe he was injured because it took him less than ten seconds to gather up and hide his chute. I never seen him after this.

Since the rest of my flight and Captain Cobb's flight had not dropped their bombs, I told my flight to join Captain Cobb's to the bombing of a marshalling yards about five miles south of Captain Larson's ship. In the meantime, I covered all the road and towns within a ten mile radius of Captain Larson in search of any enemy who might hinder his evasion. I flew at 1,500 feet in an effort to pick up small arms fire in the vicinity but received none nor did I see anyone any place other than one civilian on a bicycle riding toward the wreckage.

I covered the entire area for twenty minutes but saw no one, nor a decent place near Captain Larson to land and pick him up.

I honestly believe he is uninjured and stands a good chance of evading because he also speaks a little French”.

2nd Lt. Joseph Frank Moser O-755999:

“On 21 June 1944, I, Joseph F. Moser, was flying with Captain Cobb as his number three man. We were in Captain Larson's Section. Our mission that evening was to dive bomb and strafe trains or railroads near Dreux. We reached the target area around 21:30 hours.

The 429th Squadron was to be top cover while the two other squadrons of the 474th Fighter Group went down to dive bomb their respective targets.

While circling over Dreux in France Captain Larson was hit by flak. He then feathered his left engine. His right engine was also hit, as fluid of some kind was coming out pretty fast. Captain Larson took a heading for home, after about five minutes after getting hit his right engine caught on fire. Captain Larson bailed out. His plane crashed on a highway northwest of Dreux. Captain Larson landed about one mile from where his plane crashed. After landing he gathered his parachute up. Then I couldn't tell where he was any more. We then looked all around the area for any military installations, but couldn't find any, nor could we see anyone on any or the roads around where Captain Larson landed.

Figuring Captain Larson would be alright we went back to the Squadron. The place where he landed was about 15 or 20 miles north-west of Dreux”.

Note: 2nd Lt. Joseph Frank Moser then a 1st Lt., was shot down on the 13th August 1944 and was held with Capt. Larson at Buchenwald and Stalag Luft 3.

German documents record that the aircraft crashed some 500m (546 yds) east of Hellenvilliers which is 20 km (12½ mls) NW of Dreux, France at 21:49 hrs.

He was then taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This was where French political prisoners were held and ordinarily Allied airmen, after questioning, were moved to a PoW Camp. In the summer of 1944, with the Allies having liberated Paris and closing in, the Gestapo guards started reducing the prison population by execution, and then relocating surviving prisoners to various concentration camps east of France. On the 15th August 1944 they were amongst 169 Allied PoWs and hundreds of French men and women who were packed into a freight train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp on a journey lasting five days. Buchenwald was located 8 km (5 mls) north of Weimar, in the German province of Thüringen. It was established and administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Fg Off. Joel Mathews ‘Tex’ Stevenson C27788 RCAF, the pilot of 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF Lancaster X KB727 VR:H escaped from the train and successfully evaded.

Sqn Ldr. Lamason and Fg Off. Chapman succeeded in getting all but two of the Allied PoWs transferred to Stalag Luft 3. Two airmen, 1st Lt. Levitt Clinton Beck Jr. O-736945, US AAF and Fg Off. Philip Derek Hemmens, 152583, RAFVR died in the sick barrack.

Recognition:

For decades the International Red Cross (IRC) had stated that there were no military personnel in Buchenwald despite the overwhelming documentary and anecdotal evidence. It was not until 1988 that the IRC eventually confirmed the airmen were illegally held at Buchenwald.

The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments also consistently denied that any of their service personnel were ever held in concentration camps and refused to investigate the claims made by a 'mere’ handful of men.

Reparations were made to the British airmen who had been illegally held at Buchenwald in 1965. Eventually in 1988 the Australian, New Zealand and it is believed the Canadian governments acknowledged that their airmen had been illegally held in concentration camps.

American airmen were among those who received compensation and the US Air force have acknowledged the Buchenwald airmen with an exhibit at the Air Force Museum, albeit the airmen are shown in uniform rather than in civilian attire. Furthermore, there is no mention of decades-long denial of their experiences by other branches of the government.

1st Lt. Larson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on the 30th June 1943.

Citation reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Corps) Merle E. Larson (ASN: 0-495759), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight in the North African Theater of Operations as pilot of a P-38 type aircraft. Over the Sicilian Straits on 5 April 1943, Lieutenant Larson led his flight in attacking more than fifty JU-52's, escorted by fifteen enemy fighters, bringing in vital supplies to the Axis Forces. He destroyed three of the transports and by his leadership aided materially in the destruction of many others. Lieutenant Larson's initiative, courage, and devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.

He was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster to his DFC on the 22nd June 1945.

He was transferred to Stalag Luft 3 over the period 15th to 20th October 1944.

On the 28th January the evacuation was ordered, and a train loaded with mostly sick and wounded were transported to Stalag Luft 1 at Barth, Germany. On the 2nd February another train load was transported to Stalag 13D at Nürnberg, Germany. He suffered so such that he could not make the march from Nürnberg to Stalag 7A Moosburg and he remained behind in the hospital at Nürnberg.

Capt. Merle Elmo Larson was one of four Larson brothers. He also served in Korea and Vietnam.

Merle Elmo Larson ( 8th November 1920 - 10th December 1997)

His brother S/Sgt. Lloyd O. Larson 6937993 of “F” Company, 33rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division was KiA on the 17th November 1944 in the Eschweiler area, NE of Aachen in Germany.

Burial Details

None - Survived the war

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this Pilot (Jun 2023). Update to include forced-march information (Jun 2024).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt