An Airman's Christmas in England in 1943

Airmen from the 482nd Bomb Group, 813th
 Squadron.  Standing - Harold Armstrong, Tom
Kon (KIA), Edmund Gates, Jr.
Kneeling - Edward Frierserger (KIA)
and William H. Wescott (POW)

             Seventy-five years ago, my father, a Tech Sergeant serving as an upper turret gunner and flight engineer on a B-17 flying Fortress, flew combat missions on a B-17 Flying Fortress crew. Each of his missions originated in England. During 1943, the 482nd bomb group, the only bomb group activated outside the United States, was formed specifically to designate crews trained to use Pathfinder, the latest technology to bomb through the overcast. As a Pathfinder crew, Dad's crew always led the squadron during his final seven missions.

Christmas Card to Dad from Mother

           The following excerpts from the chapter entitled 1943 from Dad’s World War II memoirs, Okie Over Europe, provide insight to a Christmas celebration on the Alconbury Air Base located in the shire of Cambridge, 67 miles from London. This marked the third Christmas in succession Dad had spent away from his family in the Big Bend. The primary sources for his memoirs were Dad’s memories and Dad’s v-mails written to my mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, a 19-year-old Bender, and preserved by her. All of his v-mails were censored before being sent to my mother so nothing about his missions was ever mentioned.

Postcard from Lt. Marion Roberts, Dad's

 brother-in-law, serving in the Pacific Theater

Gift from Home

Edmund wrote in his v-mail to Bernyce of December 19, 1943, of receiving a two-pound box of pecans. He told her the other boys on the crew had already eaten them. He wrote, “Nuts are very scarce in England.” Incidentally, pecans are indigenous only to certain parts of the United States. Edmund had received a “swell” Christmas greeting from the Belford Sunday School where Bernyce and her family attended weekly.

A Gift from the Belford Sunday School

A small Pictorial Gospel of John was another piece of memorabilia in Edmund’s tattered, old World War II keepsake box. The Belford Sunday School had sent this to him. Bernyce’s mother had written the inscription to Edmund inside the front cover of this little missal. All young servicemen from the Big Bend community had been mailed one of these miniature booklets of scripture. This small gesture shown by a loving, but tiny congregation exemplified the level of support ordinary citizens gave to all servicemen deployed. More importantly, all over the nation, congregations were fervently praying for the safety of the troops and the preservation of freedom and liberty for the country.

Planning for Christmas

On December 22, 1943, when writing his v-mail to Bernyce, he described the night as “quiet” because his crew was sitting around reading, writing, and listening to the radio. They had just gotten back from being in London on a three-day pass. His comment to her was: “We don’t get three days very often.” He also told her that they were hosting a party for the war orphans. The ages of the children were from five to nine years of age. He said they were going to each escort one child. He also gleefully related that he and the other soldiers had lots of candy and gum saved up for the children. He said they “sure will enjoy it.”

 December 25, 1943

Most of the children were evacuees from London. Christmas of 1943 was a time for Edmund to make others happy. The entire squadron “adopted” English children for the day. He celebrated with two little English girls who had been displaced due to the blitzkrieg. Edmund visited with them and then watched them open gifts that brought so much delight to the three of them. Nothing like the analogous difficulty of displacement from the comfort and security of their loving homes and families could provide such common ground for these three souls to bask in a few moments of happiness during that holiday celebration.

Writing My Mother about His Christmas Day

Edmund penned a v-mail the day after Christmas to Bernyce describing his Christmas dinner as “swell.” They had turkey, cranberries, and everything to go with it. Ice cream was a treat for dessert. In the afternoon, they had a party for the children from nearby towns, approximately two hundred in all. The holiday events consisted of a “kiddie” show and a trip out “on the airdrome” to see a bomber. He told her they also had given out toys, gifts, and all the ice cream and candy the children could eat. Edmund reported that the children had the time of their lives. Edmund and the two little nine-year-old girls he entertained shared one afternoon that transcended the horrors of war and the painful separations that it dictated, enabling them to revel in the joy that so intrinsically defines Christmas the world over.

Afterthought  - As I researched this blog post, I stumbled onto the photograph to the left on the site,  http://www.482nd.org/history . The photograph was taken of the midnight mass at Alconbury Air Base in England in 1943.
My father was not a Christian when he flew the combat missions in Europe. He indicated when talking of his military experiences that he went in "with the Catholic boys" before his missions.

Throughout my life, I heard Dad often say, "A person needs to know Jesus." After returning to the States his relationship with the Lord began when he received Jesus - much as so many of us will receive joyfully a precious gift from a loved one this Christmas season. Dad nurtured the relationship on a daily basis. He talked or prayed to the Lord with simple, but trusting statements like this in his prayers- Lord, We know You control the weather. 
May each of us celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas season but continue to foster daily our relationship with Him, filled with trust, all throughout the year.