Replacement tail gunner on Frank J. Rezek's 409th crew for Bremen on 20 December 1943, not yet 18. Flak shot into his oxygen line. He tried to unfreeze his guns, could not use his hands, found the microphone dead, and went to sleep. Radford and Schuil dragged him to the flight deck and forced oxygen into him. He reached Hardwick frostbitten and unconscious; the copilot had shaken his head as if he would not make it. At the hospital they put him in a tub of ice water and cut his clothes off. The crew did not expect to see him again.
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.
Articles, columns, and letters naming this airman in the 2nd Air Division Association journals and the group’s own newsletters. The summaries below are ours; the pieces themselves belong to the writers and publications that produced them.
Hubert Radford, bombardier on Frank Rezek's 409th crew, describes the 20 December 1943 Bremen raid — their second trip to that city in four days.
Original documents behind what this page says about this airman — reports, records, and histories the archive holds and is free to reproduce. Check the sources for yourself.