DEATH OF A SOLDIER, WW2
Letter To Mrs. Belle Clark, Dated October 11, 1945. King George, VA.
Found at the Stafford County Dump, in 1980, by chance.
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October 10, 1945
Dear Mrs. Clark, I do appreciate your interest in me and my boy. But he has been unheard of for nearly 19 months. Five of the crewmembers, Lt. Herrick, Lt. Hensley, Lt. Shuitt, and Sergeant Eldon Jones and Sergeant Ralph Alfarro, were able to get out of the plane when it was flying at 22,000
ft.Lt. Herrick wrote me in June that he and the 4 others were imprisoned that same day they crashed. March 6, 1944. Lts Herrick, Hensley, Shuitt, all three wrote us, that the plane was found and that the rest of the men were dead. Houshalter the pilot, Lee and Langston and Nesbit and Creery were all killed. They have never been heard of since. The other five were kept in prison camps in Germany for over a year and couldn’t write any thing about the plane or what happened to the men. So we heard nothing until June of this year after the war with Germany ended. Lt. Herrick wrote me on June 5, 1945 that he knew Harry would never return as it was impossible for him to get out of the plane from where he was up in the top turret. The oxygen tanks and the hydraulic system was shot out and the air was too thin to breath and the bomb bay door could not be opened as the system wasn't working and the whole nose of the ship was shot off and the plane was all on fire besides all of their bombs were inside as they still hadn’t reached their target.
Lt. Herrick said that Harry’s last words were: "Happy Landing Fellows, I’ll see you all in Heaven." Lt. Herrick was terribly burned and shot in the leg, and spent some time in the German hospital when captured. Lt. Shuitt was also burned and was wounded in 32 different places. Lt. Hensley was cut by glass when the nose of their ship was shot off Sgt.‘s Jones and Alfarro
suffered mental anguish to the point that neither remembers what happened, only that the other five were dead.So you see Mrs. Clark we have nothing to base any hope on.
If Harry was alive he would have gotten a message through to his wife and mother long before now. It has been over 18 months since he was killed. The War has been over nearly 6 months and the other five crew members has been in the country for some months and on August 17 my daughter in law received the enclosed from the War Department.
I am glad for brother Sarden and all the rest whose boys has come home or is coming. It was impossible for them all to return and my boy was not better to be spared than the rest. He never thought he would ever return. He said so many times that he would never see America again after he left. And he hated so bad to go, but he went and he wrote as cheerful as he could, but he said he gave himself to the Lord to be used of Him and
if it was His will for him to give his life for his country when he was ready to go. I thank God he was ready.It is hard to convince myself
that I will never see him again in this world but he is waiting Over There.I hope you and Mr. Clark are both real well, we are all about as usual.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Ruby Lee
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POSTSCRIPT:
Staff Sgt. Harry E. Lee, 33207961 Army Air Corps.
From Dundall Maryland, Lee Enlisted in Army Air Corps at the outbreak of the war. He was serving as a crew member on a B-17 (Flying Fortress) bomber which flew from the war time base at Ridge Well England.
On March 7th 1944 the plane was in the number 3 position of his flight in a daylight raid on Erkner Germany. Attacked by German fighters it was hit in the nose and cockpit. The plane began a slow spiral and was observed coming to earth at a point about 20 miles south of Berlin.
He was declared "Killed In Action" after being missing over 12 months. He left behind his young wife and loving parents.