Today in Fort Myers, FL, by chance, I had the pleasure of meeting one of “America’s Greatest Generation.”
An elderly gentleman climbed into the Buick dealer’s courtesy van behind me after I was picked up and he was introduced by the driver as “Jim Sibert.”
Making light conversation, he said “In ’42 I was flying out of Page Field.” (Local Fort Myers air field)
“With the Navy?”
“No, big four-engined bombers with the Army Air Corp.”
“B-24’s?”
“Yes. We were “staging” them to prepare to take them to the theater of operations.”
“Did you fly by way of Greenland?” “How did you get there?”
“San Juan, Trinidad and the Recife, Brazil. From there we flew across the South Atlantic to Accra (Ghana).
“Were you trying to get to England?”
“Oh No, we were supposed to be heading towards Japan! But we were diverted to Egypt”
Now, my mental wheels were spinning! Egypt? B-24’s? Ploesti?
I said “Didn’t they fly the Ploesti raid with B-24’s?
“That was my first combat mission!”
“They didn’t give you much fighter cover on that mission”.
“None. They told us it was going to be a surprise attack, but when we got there, they were ready for us and opened fire. I flew 32 missions and we had NO fighter cover for any of them."
By now we were at the Buick dealer. I told him that it was an honor to meet him and thanked him for his service. He must be about 92 years old.
When I got home I went on the web and searched “James Sibert Ploesti".
It turns out there were two James W. Sibert flying B-24 Liberators during WWII. One of them was killed in a freak accicent testing the planes in Alaska during cold weather conditions and included in the exchange below is the information on eventual Squadron Commander, Major James W. Sibert, who piloted the B-24 Liberator named "Queen B" on the Ploesti Raid.
http://forum.armyairforces.com/tm.aspx?m=65554&mpage=&print=true
Dog Driver: : [Dog_Driver] First Raid on Ploesti (HALPRO) - 09/09/2004
"I just came across a website that includes a "virtual" B-24 museum. In it, they list a group of 15 B-24s that made the first raid on the European continent on 11 June 1942 when they flew from Fayid, Egypt to Ploesti, Romania. The pilot of the "Queen Bee" was a man by the name of Lt. James Sibert. One of the crewmen who died in the crash I am investigating was also named Lt. James Sibert. Does anyone out there now anything about his first raid on Ploesti and in particular have any information regarding Lt. Sibert? I would like to find out if he may have rotated back to the states and gone to work at Wright AAF Base in Dayton, Ohio as a propeller specialist. As always, thanks for your help!!!"
mcoffee:
Re: [Dog_Driver] First Raid on Ploesti (HALPRO) - 09/09/2004 06:42:12 AM
"The 1/Lt. James W. Sibert that piloted Queen B on the HALPRO Ploesti mission remained with the group as it became the 376th Bomb Group. He became 514th Squadron Commander by the Spring of '43, and was promoted to Major. It appears he rotated home in April '43. His rank would preclude him being the Lt. Sibert you seek. The website you referenced lists the 23 HALPRO a/c and their originally assigned pilots. The asterisks denoting those flying the first Ploesti mission are not entirely accurate, as some pilots flew different a/c on this mission due to maintenance concerns. Sibert and Queen B are not indicated as flying, but they did make the mission."
Doing a little more web searching before hitting the send key I just found out what Jim Sibert did after his 32 WWII combat missions. Sibert was an FBI agent until 1972...and was one of the two agents who witnessed the JFK autopsy.
In the interview at the link Sibert says he doesn't buy the single bullet theory and doesn't dismiss the idea that there might have been a conspiracy!
http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2009/11/james-w-sibert-witness-to-history.html
Mr. Sibert is one of what must be a very small handful of living veterans of the Ploesti raids. What a career. He not only had a front row seat for history during his interesting times, he also made some.