Memories come flying back for ex-air corpsmen

(EXCERPT)

JOSEPH B. NADEAU , Staff Writer 09/10/2003

LINCOLN -- They gathered on a grassy hill beside North Central State
Airport and waited for the sound many had not heard in nearly 60
years.

And then a little after 3 p.m. the memories flooded back as the drone
of a four-engine World War II bomber sounded in the distance and
increased steadily as the plane made a long, low-level approach.

The plane, the restored "Nine-O-Nine" B-17G Flying Fortress, landed at
North Central as part of it’s "Wings of Freedom" national tour
honoring veterans of World War II.

A second World War II era bomber, a restored B-24 Liberator had also
been scheduled to participate in the visit but was forced to land at
an airport in Fitchburg due to an engine problem, organizers said.

That left former Blackstone Selectmen Thomas Devlin, 80, a former B-24
tail gunner, a little disappointed but still reveling in the sight of
the B-17G screeching tires on the tarmac as its engines powered back
and the plane settled into its landing.

Devlin flew 50 missions over Europe during 1942 and 1943 and made it
back home from an air campaign that claimed the lives of so many
others.

As he watched the B-17, Devlin remembered how a stay in the hospital
for frostbite from high altitude on his 14th mission, likely saved his
life.

His fellow crew members in the 450th Bomb Group of the 723rd Squadron
took their 15th Air Force B-24 out on a 15th mission during his stay
in the hospital and did not return, he said.

"They were shot d...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com