- The 17th Bomb Group Reunion - 1996 -
On October 16-20 of 1996, the 17th Bomb Group held their annual reunion in Saint Louis, Missouri. Approximately 135 veterans of the group attended, plus as least three of us "second generation" enthusiasts. As is usual, the reunion spanned about five days and consisted of daily activities, a "hospitality suite" where the members gathered to exchange war stories, and a banquet at the end of the reunion.
I attended the reunion, as I did last year in San Diego, but this time I was
able to bring a small story of my own; my visit to the crash site. Also, I brought with me
some of the fragments of the aircraft which I had dug out of the ground, a couple of xerox
copies of the memorial plaque, and the two photo albums of my trip.
I had were several questions for the group (crew positions in the
airplane, bombing altitudes, 
and others) and they were gladly answered. As was the case with
the reunion in 1995, it was wonderful meeting the men who had served and fought alongside
my father some 52+ years ago.
One of the emotional highlights of the gathering took place on the last
day. I noticed a couple of women flipping through my photo albums. I started talking with
them and they asked a few questions. I explained what the pictures were and what I had
done and showed them a xerox 
copy of the plaque. After a few minutes, the husband of one of
them wandered over and she began explaining Operation Roccalbegna to him. He listened with
interest but then his eye caught the xerox copy of the plaque and he stepped back in
surprise. As it turned out, he had been a crew member of the plane that crashed! About 10
days before the crash he had been transferred to another crew. On the day of the crash
another member was absent due to illness. My father and Irwin Harder filled in for those
two people. The man did not know my father or Irwin but was very familiar with the
remainder of the crew and had often wondered just where the plane had crashed and what had
become of it. We had a long discussion during which I told him all I could about the
accident. Then I asked him to keep the xerox copy of the plaque and gave him a fragment of
the airplane. It was a special time for both of us.
The next reunion will be in Salt Lake City on September 3-7, 1997. I hope to be there!