HW45AUTH\LM93P-ML.htm

Crew #99 Marion Lawless AC  93^rd Sqd 19^th BG

by Col Marion Lawless

 

Need Photo

 

 

 

 

As a replacement crew we had to turn over the new airplane we brought over to the 73rd Wing on Saipan. As a member of the 93rd Bomb Squadron we flew any aircraft available for the mission we were assigned to fly. Some were better than others but all brought us to Japan and back.

 

The photo of the crew in the truck after the last mission was of my crew.

 

Three of our crew have "Gone West".  Robert Henry was recalled as a Radar Observer for the Korean War and died in a B-29 crash on Okinawa. Eugene Forsythe, our flight engineer died of cancer at their retirement home in Arizona a few years ago.  Kenneth "Okie" Kinsey died two years ago from a stroke and heart disease. He and his wife had retired in Harlingen, TX. I haven't been able to locate Lou Palczer, our pilot. Lou retired from the Air Force and was working as a hospital administrator for a Catholic hospital in Conroe, TX when I last heard from him (about 1971).

 

Operations

04-26-45  Mission #1

05-05-45  Mission #2

05-10-45  Mission #3  Otake

05-14-45  Mission #4  Nagoya

05-16-45  Mission #5  Nagoya

05-23-45  Mission #6  Tokyo

05-25-45  Mission #7  Tokyo

05-29-45  Mission #8  Yokohama

06-05-45  Mission #9  Kobe

06-10-45  Mission #10  Tokyo

*** to USA for lead crew training ***

08-10-45  Mission #11  Tokyo

08-14-45  Mission #12  Isezaki

09-02-45  Mission #13  Show of Force

 

 

 

 

 

MARION J. LAWLESS 19TH BOMB GP. 93RD SQUADRON GUAM 1945

            I was born on a farm in Essex Township, Kankakee County, Illinois on December 31, 1915. My education started with eight grades in a one-room schoolhouse, with one teacher for all the 15 to 20 students. I graduated from the Reddick Community High School in 1933 and attended junior college for two years, followed by one year in a business college.

            I was employed by the Internal Revenue Service in Chicago as an Internal Revenue Agent on December 7, 1941. I enlisted in the U. S. Army at Chicago on the 25th of March 1942 for the aviation cadet training program and left for Kelly Field on the 6th of June. I was assigned to preflight at Lackland for the Class of 43-B. I completed Primary Training at Chickasha, OK followed by Basic at Majors Field, Greenville, TX and Advanced at Foster Field, Victoria, TX.  Our class graduated on 16, February 1943.

            My first assignment as a pilot was to the Army Air Forces Navigation School at San Marcos, TX. My duty was to fly student navigators in a Beechcraft AT-7. While I would have preferred assignment to a tactical unit with fighter aircraft, I was able to accumulate over 1,000 hours flying twin engine aircraft in the year I spent at San Marcos. In April 1944 1 was assigned to Tarrant Field, TX for transition in the B-24. Upon completion of B-24 training, I was selected for the B-29 Program and was assigned to the 505th Bomb Gp, 483rd Sq at Harvard AAF, NB.  From Harvard I was reassigned to Pyote AAF, TX for combat crew training as a replacement crew,

            I was designated aircraft commander and the following officers and airmen were assigned to my crew: Louis Palczer as pilot, Robert Lucas - bombardier, Joseph Cniesbach - navigator, Robert Henry - radar observer, Frank Wypasek - radio operator, Kenneth Kinsey - CFC gunner, Harry Breiman - gunner, Murray Tepp - gunner, Robert Fike - tail gunner, and Eugene Forsyth was our flight engineer. Upon completion of our training we went to Kearney AAF, NB where we picked up a new B-29 and flew to Mather AAF, CA. We left Mather with orders to fly to Saipan via Honolulu NAS and Kwajalein (Marshalls). We left the U. S. on 17 April 1945. Upon arrival at Saipan we were relieved of our airplane and flown to Guam for assignment as a replacement crew in the 19th Bomb Group.

            We flew our first mission on 26 April and the second on 5 May. I have no records as to the targets of these missions. On 10 May our target was Otake, on 14 May we went to Nagoya, on 16 May we went back to Nagoya. On 23 May and 25 May we flew missions to Tokyo. On 29 May we visited Yokohama and left the place in flames. On 5 June we attacked Kobe and on 10 June we again bombed Tokyo. At this point we were selected for lead crew training and returned to the USA. with a short leave at our homes before reporting to Muroc Dry Lake for a month of training for the navigator, bombardier and radar observer in the latest techniques using radar.

            We returned to Guam early in August and flew a mission to Tokyo on August 10. Our last mission was on August 14 to Isezaki. Enroute to our home base we received word that the Japanese were ready to call it quits. We participated in "Show of Force" on September 2 with an enroute stop at Iwo Jima because several of our crew were very ill from the lunch prepared for us.

Those of us who ate the sandwiches before they started to spoil suffered no ill effects. Some of us were transferred to the 330th Group in October for rotation to the US. Lou Palczer, Joe Griesbach, Gene Forsythe and I flew a "war weary" B-29 back to Mather Field early in November. After a 30 day leave in Illinois, I reported to San Antonio for reassignment. My next assignment was to Mather Field to fly B-29's for navigator training. I elected to be separated in November and returned to my home in Chicago.

In January 1947, I joined Illinois Air National Guard as a flight leader in the 108th Bomb Squadron (L) at Midway Airport, Chicago. The IANG was just being organized after duty in WWII and were designated to receive A-26 light bombers (later redesignated as B-26). Along came the war in Korea and we were ordered to active duty in March 1941. At this time I was operations officer for the 126th Bomb Group (L). We were lucky and were moved to France instead of Korea. At the end of 20 months we returned to the U. S., minus aircraft and reorganized as the 126^th Fighter Bomber Wing. I was appointed group commander of the 126^th Fighter Bomber Group with F-51 aircraft.

            After two years with the F-51's, we were assigned F-84F aircraft (known as the lead sled by the pilots who flew them). We had the F-84F aircraft until 1960 when our mission was changed to air refueling with KC-97 aircraft. During most of this period I was Director of Operations and Training for the wing. I received my promotion to colonel on February 1, 1958 and on retirement, July 1, 1966, I was appointed a brigadier general of the Illinois Air National Guard.

            Caryl Lehman and I were married at St. Emily’s Catholic Church in Mount Prospect, IL on May 7, 1966. We met while both of us were working for the Internal Revenue District Office in Chicago, IL. I retired from the IRS on March 3, 1972 and we moved to Tallahassee, FL where I accepted employment as Asst Chief Corporate Income Tax Bureau, Florida Department of Revenue.  After five years with the Department of Revenue, I left to pursue a career as a real estate broker and auctioneer. When I can find the spare time, I like to shoot Trap and Sporting Clays at the Tallahassee Rifle and Pistol Club and at Tyndall AFB. I am a member of the Daedalians (a fraternity of military pilots) and of the Quiet Birdmen (a fraternity of pilots). I am a past exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge here and past grand knight and past faithful navigator of the Knights of Columbus.