With thanks to Christine Mickiewicz, the daughter of Ed Ochen, Andy Tarapchak's co-pilot on the B-26 they flew into combat over Germany back during WWII, I finally have some faces to put with the names of these brave men from my parent's generation.
From time to time, I tried to get some stories out of Andy about his war experiences, but except for a few rare times as I was growing up, most of the stories he told happened while he was in a retirement home near Annapolis. Sadly, his memory was failing, and some of the details were gone.
Andy spent the last few years of his amazing life reliving the war with new buddies who also fought in the "Great War" and were also living in this home. Many times I would knock on his door during a visit and find the History Channel showing scenes from his past on TV.
I spent many Christmas visits sitting around a table with these men, listening and marveling at what they had to endure to preserve our freedom. How much more should we have done for these brave men. I hope me being there brought them some comfort. I know I was proud to be able to hear their tales. These were America's heroes!
Their stories were seared into their minds, and I doubt even a day went by without those memories sneaking back up into the background of their day to day living there.
As they said: "War is Hell!" Reliving it has to be hard on them!
Nose Art
I always wanted to build a model of Andy's airplane, something I did a lot of way back in high school. One of the cool things crews did back then was to name their airplane and decorate it with some (politically incorrect) artwork. Andy said his crew did not do that, but the did name the bird the "Sky Queen".
Here is an example of one B-26 with artwork on the nose:
Most crews stuck together for a fair amount of time. But injuries, or time on station caused some to transfer out, and others to transfer in. Andy's crew for most of his missions was listed on his article, I included in a previous post (Andy's Story), Andy listed his crew:
- Pilot: Andy Tarapchak
- Co-Pilot: Ed Ochen
- Navigator/Bombardier: Joe Tverdak
- Engineer: George Cardinale
- Tail Gunner: Jake Yungling
- Radioman: Frank Miccuilli
These were just names to me, until Chris sent me pictures of these men.
Sky Queen's Demise
Andy once told me a tale about getting shot down on one of his missions. I never forgot the story, but Andy did toward the end of his life. I was almost ready to give the story up, thinking it was not Andy who told the tale, when Ed's daughter came to my rescue with a picture of Sky Queen in a beet field in Belgium after the crash. The crew all made it out of the bird, and they were spirited back home by the French Underground. You have to thank those brave folks who lived among the enemy and still found a way to help the Allies fight the battle.
Here is Sky Queen resting in the field:
Based on Andy's stories, I doubt that this plane was ever recovered. So I suspect the crew picked up another plane, perhaps it was named "Sky Queen 2" In any case, the crew flew many more missions through the rest of the war.
Andy's Crew
Chris sent pictures which show the crew:
Here is Andy, ready to fly and fight.
And, here are Andy and Ed, in the cockpit of their bird.
Here is Joe, the man responsible for guiding the ship to the target and dropping the bombs. I assume we used the Norden Bomb Sight on these ships, with meant the Bombardier actually flew the ship the last few minutes to a target and pushed the button to release the bombs. Then Andy and Ed would take over and high-tail it back home to fight another day.
I got to sit behind one of these sights on my B-17 ride. Here we are flying over Texas (no bombs were dropped in the making of this picture!)
Here are the rest of the men who rode in back.
Every Man is a Hero
Each man's job was important. They all worked together to protect their craft and do their jobs. Regardless of how you feel about war, you have to respect the bravery of these young men, all in their early 20's. They flew into battle against those who would control the entire world. They managed to stop the enemies of freedom. Some lived to tell the story. Far too many did not.
I like to think that those who serve today are the products of these great men. Today's soldiers probably grew up listening to stories like those Andy told me, and decided to dedicate their lives to protecting those who cannot do so. We say we are preserving freedom when we join up. We swear an oath to "protect and defend". Not just the citizens of our country, but also those of other countries who would be oppressed if we were not strong enough to come to their aide!
Remember to thank a veteran for the service they do for you. And, if you get a chance, thank a vet from WWII. There are not many of them left, but history tells us they did something amazing for us all.
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