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June By Monte Railsback In my first article writing about the men we lost in World War II, I mentioned the 1941 Shellsburg Basketball Team and that Lyle T. Roszell who lost his life in a Japanese POW camp was standing in the back row. Sitting in front of Lyle was Donald Peacock who lost his life at 10:30 a.m. on 24 December 1944. Donald was the son of Mr. & Mrs. James L. Peacock and had several brothers and sisters, three who most of you know who lived around Shellsburg were Hollice, Jim and Evelyn. Donald's remains were never returned to the United States and he lays at rest in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England Donald was a Waist Gunner on a B17 and the mission statement of that fatal flight is as follows: A relentless and stubborn December weather had held the 8th Air Force on the ground for most of December and it was at a time when the Allied troops on the continent were facing a major German thrust into the Ardennes forest (known today as the "Battle of the Bulge.") The ground forces were desparate for air support. On Christmas Eve the weather was predicted to be good enough for a maximum effort and the 8th put up over 2000 heavy bombers plus fighters. The 457th planned on putting up 45 planes. On the morning of Dec 24th, the weather was not as predicted and Glatton airbase was covered with the densest fog anyone had seen since arriving in England. The target was to be Coblenz, Germany and it's marshalling yards. Takeoff was delayed by the heavy fog until 10:24 AM, when the word was given to takeoff. Five of the lead planes, using instrument takeoff methods, managed to get airborn when the next to last of the leads crashed on takeoff due to the fog. The field was then closed. The fog was so thick that the fire fighting rescue equipment had trouble finding the downed plane. The six planes that were airborn were told to proceed to the target. They flew part way with another group but had to leave the bomber stream to proceed to the target area. The six were accompanied by five P-51's which warded off a single ME-262 which attacked the small formation. The target was bombed from 26000 feet and results were good. Upon returning to Glatton, the field was still fogged in. All planes landed at one of the clear British fields in southwest England. The plane that crashed was s/n 43-38819 and miraculously only one of the crew was killed. Donald Peacock. As you can see, Shellsburg has paid it's share of the cost of freedom and we should never forget the individuals that this community has lost.
The trivia for this month is why do Marines when marching in a joint-service color guard, always occupy the spot second from the right? When marching in formation, the Army occupies the most forward right position, followed by the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Air Force and then the Coast Guard. The order is most likely based on service seniority, according to the Marine Corps History Division. But there is debate over whether one should use the date when Congress authorized the service, the date when the service commissioned its first officer or the date when the service became a functional fighting force. The current order roughly corresponds to the date when each service commissioned its first officer. The Army commissioned its first officer in June 1775 followed by the Marine Corps in November and the Navy in December of that year. With the Air Force established after World War II, it comes second to last. And what is a rule without an exception? The Coast Guard, which has existed since the late 18th century, is furtherest left, as set forth in Defense Department directive 1005.8.
A reminder that the Ray & Virginia Boyer Post has good quality American Flags for sale at the cost of $25.00. If you are in need of a flag, contact a Legionnaire.
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