Our Shrinking Planet
There is an element of American society that is always pessimistic. It believes the worst of the many nations around the world. It fails these days to take into account the major influence of the internet. Not only do we have instant communications through it, but the search for knowledge, truth and the unblemished way of life of faraway communities is readily available. Tyrants, despots, and others can no longer hide realities and critical opinions from their subjects. These facts alone move us toward a world in which better options can be sought.
One unusual example of far and wide communications came to me about two months ago. Because of search engines and because I have articles on the Cameron County Historical Commission website, I received an e-mail from a woman in a small town in northern France. It turned out that she was an English woman who had retired in that town five years ago. She had picked up the fact that I had written about the Harlingen Army Gunnery School at the Harlingen Army Air Field in Texas.
Mary Joyce asked if I had any information on a Jack Cooper. She related that a French friend of hers named Stephane Oniszczyk was compiling a history of the small village of Fillevres and had run across a Harlingen Gunnery School connection. Cooper, it turns out, had told people there that he had gone through the school in 1943. The villagers had sheltered the American serviceman during the Second World War. She went on to write "I'm sure you know this part of France was occupied by the Germans throughout the Second World War, and it was extremely hazardous to shelter Allied forces. The family remained in contact with Mr. Cooper for a while after the war but lost contact a long time ago mainly because of language difficulty. After the war Monsieur Merchez received a letter from General Eisenhower acknowledging their help. The area was liberated in September 1944 by Polish troops. Would you be able to give me advice on how it might be possible to contact any relatives of Jack Cooper please? Owing to the passage of time I expect Mr. Cooper is no longer with us."
This first e-mail didn't provide much to go on. It did however say that Cooper had celebrated his 20th birthday with them in 1944. There are no personnel records of the school here in Harlingen, and the Department of Defense does not have the resources to honor such requests as this woman sought. At first I checked the Social Security Death Index and found 49 John Coopers who had been born in 1924. Art Cohan did the same with the name Jack Cooper and discovered 23 born that year. Art uncovered no clues in cemetery and obituary searches for a Jack Cooper.
I e-mailed back to Mary seeking more information. When she came back that his middle initial was "L", that he was hiding for six months with the birthday period likely between 1/4/44 and 3/9/44 and that he was likely from Ohio, we had a little more to go on. This latter date fitted a Jack Cooper who had been born March 1, 1924 and had died January 3, 1989. His death residence locations placed him in Bexley and Columbus, both in Franklin County Ohio. No other of the 23 Coopers came close to this profile. An online telephone directory search revealed many too many Coopers in the Columbus area to even begin a trace.
Next from Mary came an e-mail showing an illustration of the B-24 named Crud Wagon and a list of its crew, including Cooper and other relevant information. The plane was assigned to the 8th Air Force – 2nd Bomb Division 448th Bombardment Group (heavy) – 712th Bomber Squadron. The plane was identified as B-24H- 42-52098 CT, code "Circle I". The group operated out of Seething Airfield, Silvertops, Norfolk, England. This is northeast of London near the English Channel. The field designated Station 146 was used for combat missions between November 1943 and July 1945. Its restored control tower presently contains a war history museum operated by the Tower Association.
The Crud Wagon was assigned bombing mission No. 287, target Strasbourg, France, which is adjacent to the western border of Germany. Returning to its base the B-24 had to be abandoned as it ran out of fuel, in part due to navigational errors. The ditching was in northwest France in Pas de Calais Province just northwest of the town of Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise.
Here is a list of the crew, the positions they had on the plane, and their fate after the plane went down: pilot Lt. Charles Knorr, prisoner of war (POW); co-pilot Lt. Herbert L. Bunde, POW; top turret gunner T/Sgt. Clarence L. Campbell, POW; radio operator T/Sgt. Ralph S. Callahan, POW; navigator 2nd Lt. Star Baranofsky, evade; bombardier-front gunner 2nd Lt. Charles C. McBride Jr., evade; ball turret gunner S/Sgt. Albert c. Padilla, POW; right waist gunner S/Sgt. Ernest J. Schulz, POW; left waist gunner Stanley J. Sarna, POW; tail gunner S/Sgt. Jack L. Cooper, evade.
The three crewmen who evaded capture by the Germans after safely bailing out and parachuting were among 4,000 other servicemen in WWII who either evaded the Germans or escaped from POW camps. The three were among 24 hidden in the Pas de Calais region.
A search engine scan of the Crud Wagon crewmen elicited no clues as to their post-war activities. The only exception was on a POW site entry of September 2001 where the daughter of Clarence Callahan sought information from soldiers imprisoned with her father. Donna McLean of Rochester, NY noted that he had spoken little to her about the experience.
After a while I got a brainstorm and contacted Ms. Joyce. I provided her the name and e-mail address of Columbus, Ohio's biggest circulation newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch. I suggested that she write the editor outlining her information in pursuit of Jack Cooper's relatives. She agreed that this would be a good idea. If the newspaper runs the inquiry, this research avenue might pay dividends.
This is where matters stand today. Perhaps, however, this article itself may generate useful information in our shrinking world. Time will tell.