An Incredible Find today for family.
Liberty Belle Crew
Back row: Frank Craven, Robert Case or Ryle Carl, Joe Patzsch, Jim Ahern
Front Row: unknown ground crewman, John Clark, Lee Treasure, Gary Sinton, Robert Bernard, Frank Biondo, unknown ground crewman
Capt Frank Craven – pilot B-24
https://www.recordcourier.com/news/2002/apr/26/obituary-franklin-bishop-craven/
Friday,
April 26, 2002
Franklin Bishop
Craven, 83, a Carson city resident for the past year, died April 19, 2002, at
his home. He was born Nov. 8, 1918, in Alhambra, Calif., to Edgar Allan and
Winnie Kelly Craven.
He graduated from the
University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif. with a bachelors degree and received
a masters in education from Leland Stanford University.
He married Patricia
Bussert Dec. 25, 1941.
Before moving to
Carson City, he was a longtime resident of Manhattan Beach, Calif. and then
Camarillo, Calif.
Mr. Craven served 30
years in the El Segundo School District in various teaching and administrative
positions.
He served in the U.S.
Air Force during World War II as an instructor and a B-24 pilot in the Pacific.
Among his survivors
are his wife Patricia; children Nancy Grange of Carson City, Mick Craven of
Bend, Ore., Margie Tamori of Carson City and Barbara Cochenour of Hawthorne.
A memorial service
will be at a later date in Southern California.
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Ryle Carl – co pilot?
Passed away in 1992
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Lt Robert Case – copilot?
No information found
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Joe Patzsch – Navigator
Author of the story of July 28, 1945, Kure Bay and the sinking of
the battleship Haruna.
He passed away in 2006 in Memphis, TN
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Lt Jim Ahern - bombadier
Passed away July 12, 2001 , New Mexico
https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/james-f-ahern-birth-1918-death-2001/47312814
James F Ahern(1918 - 2001)
LAST KNOWN RESIDENCE
Albuquerque, Bernalillo
County, New Mexico 87108
BORN
September 3, 1918
DEATH
July 12, 2001
SUMMARY
James F Ahern of
Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico was born on September 3, 1918, and
died at age 82 years old on July 12, 2001.
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TSgt John Clark – flight engineer
Passed away 1997
SSgt Lee Treasure – radio man
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/postregister/name/lee-treasure-obituary?id=20167705
Lee J Treasure, 86, of Ammon, died Friday, Sept. 2, 2011, at
his home.
He was raised and attended schools in the Grant area and graduated from
Midway High School. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II in
the South Pacific. On Dec. 27, 1946, he married Oriole Hanson in the Idaho
Falls LDS Temple; to this union they added seven children.
Lee was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He worked as a mechanic and farmed in the Grant area for many years. He also
worked for the Teton School District for 15 years until his retirement, then
worked as a campground host in the Island Park area. Lee was a master of all
trades and a cowboy at heart. He enjoyed ranching and riding horses, and loved
spending time with his family and grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Oriole Hanson Treasure of Ammon; daughters,
Ronalee (Randy) Baker of Salt Lake City, Gaylin (Kim) Hodges of Provo, Utah,
Terri (Mark) Jacob of Orem, Utah, and Dawn (Roger) Redford of Ammon; son, Wade
(Trudy) Treasure of Alta, Wyo.; sister, Helen (AL) Hieb of Twin Falls, Idaho;
brother, Ray (Mary) Treasure of Vancouver, Wash.; 27 grandchildren; and 20
great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Lue and Kate Treasure; sons, Dell
Treasure and Kelly Treasure; sisters, Audrey Conners and Mary Robinson; and
granddaughters, Elisa Hodges and Aubri Redford.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Eckersell
Memorial Chapel, 101 W. Main St. in Rigby. The family will receive friends for
from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. prior to services and from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Monday, both at the funeral home. Burial will be in Annis-Little Butte Cemetery
under the care of Eckersell Memorial Chapel in Rigby. Condolences may be sent
to the family online at www.eckersellfuneralhome.com.
Published by Post Register on Sep. 3, 2011.
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SSgt Gary Sinton – nose gunner
Separate bio
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SSgt Robert Bernard – tail gunner
No information found
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SSgt Frank Biondo – ball gunner
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/freep/name/frank-biondo-obituary?id=8861981
Frank P. Biondo
- - Passed away on November 22, 2019 at the age of 95 peacefully surrounded by
his loving family. Beloved husband of the late Doris for 71 years. Dear father
of Frank A. (Sally), Michael J., Nicki Gargaro, Stephen F. And the late Lisa A.
Lessa (late Roger). Cherished grandfather of 10 and great grandfather of 7.
Brother of Virginia McCarty (late James). Also survived by many nieces and
nephews. Family will receive friends Monday 3-8pm with Scripture service at 7pm
at A.J. Desmond and Sons (Vasu, Rodgers & Connell Chapel), 32515 Woodward
(btwn 13-14 Mile), Royal Oak. Funeral Mass Tuesday 11:00am at St. Thomas More
Catholic Church, 4580 N. Adams Rd. Troy. Visitation at church begins at
10:30am. Memorial tributes to The Wounded Warrior Project or The Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
Published by Detroit Free
Press & The Detroit News from Nov. 23 to Nov. 24, 2019.
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A Story written by Joseph Patzsch, B24 Navigator and shared by Julia Poole
Our
Changing History
The (2nd)
Sinking of the Battleship Haruna
(Written
early 50’s by Joseph Wilbur Patzsch)
It was on July 28, 1945 that all this took
place. I was a navigator on a bomber
crew, flying B-24 Liberators out of Okinawa to
such target areas as Nagasaki,
Shanghai,
Iwakuni and various other target areas on the Japanese Mainland. We were one of many crews assigned to the 7th
Air Force, 11th Bomber Group, 42nd Bomb Squadron.
When it started out, the only thing
unusual about the day in question was the fact that it was my birthday. We were called out at 0600 hours for a
pre-strike briefing. When we arrived at
the briefing hut, I suspected a target of unusual importance since it appeared
nearly all assigned crews were present.
Apparently every available plane was to be put in the air.
After routine weather reports and
changes on crew assignments, the briefing officer with carefully chosen words
announced that the primary and ‘only’ target for the day was the battleship
‘Haruna’. A spontaneous murmur ran thru
the group – for two reasons:
One, it had been understood by all
that Colin Kelly had dived his bomb laden aircraft down the smoke stack of the
Haruna in the early stages of the war, losing his life and sinking the greatest
of battleships belonging to the Japanese Fleet.
Secondly, all thru our combat
training in a B-24, we had been warned and instructed “Never fly a B-24 over an
enemy battle wagon”, mainly because battleships and aircraft carrier were
floating arsenals and the slow moving B-24’s were ‘sitting ducks’.
The briefing officer quickly
explained, that a P-38 photo plane had discovered the battleship Haruna in dry
dock undergoing repairs at Japan’s
Kure Naval base between Kyushu and Honshu. It was
further explained, that contrary to original reports, the Haruna had been
damaged but not sunk and that Colin Kelly’s body and wrecked aircraft had been
found on an island in the pacific near the area where he had inflicted severe
damage to the Haruna.
From all indications, the Haruna was
about to be put to sea again. With this
in mind, an all out effort was being made to put her out of commission for
good. Thus nearly 100 B-24’s from Okinawa and a similar number of B-29’s from Manila were scheduled to
‘hit’ the Haruna on this day.
Heavy casualties were expected;
not only would the fire power of the Haruna and several other naval vessels be
directed skyward, but to this would be added the vast firepower of the shore
installations ringing the naval base.
We departed YonTan Air Strip at
0800, scheduled to be over target at 12
noon. The B-24’s were to go
in first with MacArthur’s B-29’s to follow.
We were scheduled to be the 75th plane over target area.
We were on course and I felt
fine until just before we arrived at Kure. I was standing between the pilot, Frank
Craven and the copilot Ryle Carl watching the naval base come closer from up
over the horizon. Up to this point it
had been a routing mission, but about two minutes before the lead B-24 went in,
I saw a lone P-47 Thunderbolt, dive from about our altitude (8000 ft) directly
toward the center of a number of ships in the harbor area. At this point the sky literally exploded and
turned black from the flack and shell bursts.
I knew then if they would throw that much stuff at a lone P-47, just
wait till the B-24’s came in. Then I was
scared, I just didn’t see how any airplane could fly thru that much stuff and
come out the other side in one piece.
Incidentally, the little P-47 did come out and from all appearances, he
was untouched.
As soon as I spotted the Haruna,
I called the bombardier, Jim Akern, to make certain he had her pinpointed and
was lined up for the ‘bombing run’.
This, of course, was the ticklish part of any bombing raid. Up til this, Frank had been flying evasive
action but now came the time when we had to fly straight and level for the 30
second run, to permit Jim to line up his scopes for ‘bombs away’.
I don’t really know how much
flack came up at us during the run, because Jim and I had a working arrangement
that started months before in training.
Originally, the navigators and the bombardier were located in the nose
of the B-24. Jim noticed one night
during a flight that I had trouble taking celestial shots thru the astral dome
due to my short stature. Standing on the
floor, I couldn’t quite reach the necessary height to get clear and steady
shots. As an alternate, I would stand on
a machine gun housing which placed me too high and in a cramped position. As soon as Jim noticed my predicament, he
laughed, layed down on the floor and told me to stand in the middle of his
back, which I did and found this to put me at the ideal height for celestial
navigational shots.
Later, when navigators were
moved to the flight deck, I learned that Jim had trouble spotting his ocean
bomb bursts in the target area, so we devised a system. As soon as Jim started his bomb run, he would
notify me via intercom and I would lie down on the flight deck floor and stick
my head out in the bomb bay. From this
vantage point, I could follow Jim’s bombs from aircraft to target, as soon as
they hit and exploded, I would locate the bursts on a sketch of the designated
target, pre drawn on my navigators log sheet.
So on this day, July 28, 1945 I watched 4
500 lb. bombs leave their shackles in
the bomb bay and head earthward. Down
they went, headed directly for the target. I watched, tense and excited, as the
4 500 pounders formed their gigantic arc and zeroed in on the battleship. They hit simultaneously, one at the water
line of the great ship, two on the forward deck and ‘one miss’. The one at the water line must have done it,
because the huge ship started to roll on it’s side moments after the
explosion. It continued to roll, slowly
but surely capsizing.
Jim had done it, I always said
he was the best bombardier I had ever seen and now I know it. Under the heaviest fire we had ever
experienced, he calmly directed his bombs to a vital spot and once again the
Battleship Haruna would be out of action, for good this time.
You can’t imagine the thrill and
pride as I notified the crew what had happened.
But then I got scared again. Up
til now I had been too busy to notice, but explosions from the anti aircraft
fire were actually rocking the plane. In
every direction I could see B-24’s burning and crippled. I could hear the aluminum skin of the plane
creaking from the air noise of near misses.
Black smoke seemed to puff and disintegrate on the windshield and wing
surface. But with all the flack and
metal in the air, the engineer, John Clark, could find no holes in the plane
after 2 complete inspections. Every crew
member answered the intercom voice check.
It was hard to believe that with all the plane casualties that day, we
had flown thru literally a wall of metal and came out the other side,
untouched.
(I’ve always felt this was in
some way sort of a special birthday gift to me from the master sky Pilot of
them all).
From all reports, Jim’s bombs
were the only direct hits of the day, although, Gen MacArthur claimed the
credit for the B-29’s out of Manila.
However he later retracted this and gave credit to the 11th Bomb
group, after supporting evidence was submitted thru our intelligence section.
Several months later, I learned
that a former commanding officer of mine, Col. Wesley Gordon, was occupation
officer at Kure Naval base in Japan. I had corresponded with Col. Gordon all thru
the war and I had written him to let him know that I was stateside and out of
the service. His answer to my letter was
from Kure Naval base. I wrote him back,
giving the story of the Battleship Haruna.
He later advised that he received my letter concerning the details of
the sinking, on the day he was to send a salvage crew to clear the harbor of
the Haruna, still on it’s side where it had remained since Jim’s bombs had
scored their killing blows.
This is not intended to ‘take
away’ anything from Colin Kelly, since he severely damaged the Haruna, thereby
saving many American lives and gave up his life in the process. He deserves all the credit given him thus far
and more.
This is more to set the record
straight and to pay tribute to a great bombardier, Jim Akern.
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And lastly, excerpts from a letter written by Frank Biondo on Nov 5, 2005 to our Bill Sinton after Poppop's death referencing the same events.
Frank talked about a phone call between Gary and Frank where they reminisced and talked about the above story.
"" Toward the end of out conversation he reminded me of a particular bombing mission over Japan on July 28, 1945. The target was Kure Bay, the Japanese navy's largest base in southern Japan, It was well protected by anti-aircraft batteries whose accuracy was well known. As Gary put it "that was the day you looked out and it seemed that you could get out and walk on the flack they were throwing at us". Well, given the view he had from the nose turret as the flack exploded around us, it was, to say the least, pretty scary. I told him that Lee Treasure had taken snap shots of the action that day and had recently sent me a copy of one that he might like to see." ..... If your dad ever spoke of his war time expeiences this is one he might have mentioned. (Note: the picture was taken from the top turret at the precis moment the plane to the right was hit. I don't remember if they made it back to Okinowa. The intensity of the flack that you see in the snap shot only increased as we grew closer to the target area).""
Flak photo
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Haruna bombing July 28, 1945
Haruna sunk (probably the first time spoken of)
B-24 Liberty Belle, notice nose turret
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Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2023. All rights reserved.
