The FReeper Foxhole Remembers John J. Briol - Warrior Wednesday - Jan. 15th,2003

http://www.cloudnet.com/~jfb/ ^

[The Real Deal]

Of course this is IMHO and I've got my Fire gear on, so if you feel inclined to flame me, I'm ready.

If they flame you, they better have their fire suits on. I think you are correct.

[knighthawk]

My town, Helden, was liberated by the British on November 14 1944.

But American troops were the first to set foot in the Netherlands, near Maastricht.

First a recon partol entered (from the 113th Cavalry) the Netherlands on September 9 1994, and the first liberation of a part of the Netherlands was on September 12, by soldiers of the 30th infantry division 'Old Hickory'.

Most parts of the South of the Netherlands were liberated during Operation Market Garden, by British, American and Polish troops.

[The Real Deal]

Thanks for the links Ma. I book marked the B-17 page and took this from one of the movie pages.

In World War II, thousands of B-17 bombers flew over Nazi Germany, using millions of tons of bombs to reduce the German military industrial machine to rubble. In each bomber, a man sat in a glass bubble hung below the fuselage, his hands on the controls of an anti-aircraft gun designed to protect the planes from attacks from below.

?Flying the ball,? as the men who manned these exposed guns called it, was one of the most dangerous assignments of the war. But it was also essential to the survival of the bombers and?ultimately?the Allied victory. BALL TURRET GUNNERS uses extensive World War II combat footage and interviews with the men who performed this suicidal task to bring home the horror and danger that they experienced everyday. It is a portrait of danger that few will ever face, a harrowing glimpse into a deadly duty that was justified only by the dire circumstances of war.

[Argh]

Guess who just got summoned for jury duty in the Air India trial? Twenty-four to thirty-six months...

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

bump

[top of the world ma]

Sam might be able to confirm or not, but I seem to recall from that History Channel program, that the ball turret position was filled by volunteering, not by assignment. Sam??

[Victoria Delsoul]

"I've seen more on a few seconds than most men will see in their lifetime"

John J. Briol In Cadet Class 43K

Glatton Airfield, England In 1944

B-17G (Flying Fortress) 457th Bomb Group

[Victoria Delsoul]

Great pics, Sam.

[SAMWolf]

Market-Garden, there was a fiasco!

The British didn't use the L.O., K.P., R.V.V. or the O.D. or the intact Dutch phone system for intelligience and it cost them dearly.

ORANJE

[PhilDragoo]

I read Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted W. Lawson, Random House, 1943, in grade school. What an eye-opener.

Your account of John J. Briol and the B-17 Medal of Honor recipients testify to the courage of our bomber crews.

I have always found the statistics numbing beyond words: an example:

B-17s dropped over 640,000 tons of bombs in WWII and just over 5,000 were lost in combat.

Now the B-2 crews in Diego Garcia will be five hours away from Baghdad with a high certainty of returning unscathed.

They fight with such an advantage due to the epic courage of John J. Briol and his fellow airmen.

Godspeed swift victory and safe return to the finest fighting force on earth.

Saddam-free in '03.

Making Kim Jong ill thereafter.

[The Real Deal]

Well guess what! I think that I will take Mama to the Outback for supper on Sat. night.

[SAMWolf]

Ball turret gunners were in short supply partly because they needed to be small enough to fit into their position in the belly of the plane.

I believe the postitions were assigned based on your size. Of course volunteers were welcomed.

[SAMWolf]

Good Evening Victoria.

Everytime I see photos or film footage of the bomber formations I get the mental image from my Mom's perspective. She can still describe the sights and sounds in detail.

[SAMWolf]

Evening PhilDragoo.

The world will never see massed bomber formations again now one plaane can devestate a city.

[SAMWolf]

Sounds like a plan!

[The Real Deal]

I just love it when a plan comes together.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Good evening, Sam.

Everytime I see photos or film footage of the bomber formations I get the mental image from my Mom's perspective. She can still describe the sights and sounds in detail.

I imagine so. That must be an unforgettable experience.

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

It's sort of neat to get perspectives from both sides.