DESTINATION~VIENNA

Destination~Vienna• Destination~Vienna New Historical Narrative Retraces WWII Conflict from

One Air Force Navigator's Aerial View Kevin W. Edwards Delivers Captivating Historical Record and Personal Narrative

• A new book, "Destination Vienna", written about a 783rd Navigator, has just been published. Kevin W. Edwards, the son of the late William W. Edwards, a former 2nd Lieutenant/Navigator who served in World War II with the 783rd Squadron of the 465th Bomb Group, has written a book about the 15th Army Air Corp. centering on his father's experience as a Navigator with the 783rd. "Destination Vienna" retraces a mission, in his father's own words of the events he and his crew experienced on a single day in March 1945 when their plane was hit and the subsequent events that followed. The subject of the book was the 465th. Bomb Group's 166th mission in Italy. The narrative is cleverly interspersed with history and the events that evolved leading up to this particular 'Vienna' mission.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his

life for his friends. John 15:13

 

The Author would like to thank all those who helped with this book.

Many thanks and special appreciation to all the men and women of the World War II generation who worked tirelessly, fought valiantly, and sacrificed greatly to keep the world free from evil.

A debt of gratitude and thanks to all of those who served with the 15th Army Air Corps for their courage and commitment to duty, honor, country in the face of great peril.

Thanks, to all of our Allies, partisans, resistance fighters, and those people of Austria and citizens of Vienna, who despite great personal hardship and danger, provided aid and comfort to U.S. servicemen in need through unheralded and ,at times, even unrecorded acts of heroism.

 

I would like to thank Gene F. and Mary Moxley for their effort and dedication to chronicling the history of the "Missing In Action" crews of the 465th Bomb Group.

A very special thanks to both the brave crews from the 783rd Squadron of B-24 Liberator bomber #44-49894, Call letter Blue "U", and to the Cella replacement crew may their sacrifices always be remembered.

Love and thanks always to my lovely wife, Sharon, and our two children, Kyle and Kelly, for their support and encouragement in the writing of this book.

May you always walk in sunshine, May you never want for more.

May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

Destination~Vienna

          “I know that I shall meet my fate,     Somewhere among the clouds above.” Yeats

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of EarthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirthof sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of, wheeled and soared and swungHigh in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flungMy eager craft through footless halls of air

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blueI’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor ever eagle flewAnd, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trodThe high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God

John G. Magee 3 September 1941

DESTINATION~ VIENNA

This book is dedicated to my father, William W. Edwards, who served his country in World War II as a navigator on a B-24 bomber with gallantry and valor in a time of great peril. And also to the courageous 783rd Squadron crew of B-24L-#44-49894-call letter Blue "U" who flew with him, as they all risked their own lives and made great sacrifices to keep us free.

Let their names always be remembered.

Pilot-1st Lieutenant William E. Herman-KIACo-Pilot-Lieutenant David N. Reeher -MIANavigator-2nd Lieutenant William W. Edwards-MIABombardier-Lieutenant Kern McIlhenny -MIANose Turret Gunner-Sgt. Billy J. Irwin-KIATop Turret Gunner-Sgt. Thomas F. Dennick -MIABall Turret Gunner-Sgt. Ernest Fink-KIAFlight Engineer/Waist Gunner-S/Sgt. Earl E. Eiberger-KIARadio Operator/Waist Gunner-Sgt. Doyle B. Mayo -MIATail Turret Gunner-Sgt. Robert H. Canterbury-KIA

"A Man is not Dead until he is Forgotten

World War II was a great conflagration of unimaginable horror and destruction resulting in over 70 million killed, millions more displaced, families broken or destroyed, great cities and even whole countries left in ruins. This book will backdrop, from the end of World War I or "The War to End All Wars" on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the almost immediate series of events that led up to World War II.

We will chronicle these events as they relate to the life of one individual and his ultimate entanglement with the dynamics of a world engulfed in war. This book will retrace the mission of one solitary B-24 Liberator bomber crew on a single day in March 1945, when they met their "fate, somewhere among the clouds above." We will see the kindred spirit of complete strangers, who were thrust into and subsequently banded together by untenable circumstance, to rise and act to cast off the yoke of evil.

Wales

Central High School-1940

Bridgeport Ritz Ballroom

Peace in our time!

Aviation Cadet-William Edwards-1943

2nd Lt William W. Edwards Commissioned

Cella Crew-Casper Wyoming September 1944

" The Air Force's Business Is to Fly and Fight, and Don't You Forget It!"

General Hap Arnold

The 15th ARMY AIR CORPS IN ITALY

Pantanella Air Base-1944/45

B-24 Bombers take off from Pantanella

B 24 Bombers to Destination

In Vienna, too, the word Gestapo expressed the quintessence of Nazi terror.

Himmler

VIENNA~FINAL DAYS

St Marxer Friedhof-3rd District Cemetery

Tuskegee Airmen- 332d Fighter Group

The combat record of the Tuskegee Airmen

• Over 15,000 combat sorties (Including 6000+for the 99th prior to July '44)• 111 German airplanes destroyed in the air• 150 German aircraft destroyed on the ground• 950 railcars, trucks, and other motor vehicles destroyed• 1 destroyer sunk by P-47 machine gun fire• Sixty-six pilots killed in action or accidents• Thirty-two pilots downed and captured, POWs• NO Bombers were ever lost to Enemy Aircraft while being escorted• 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses earned• 744 Air Medals• 8 Purple Hearts• 14 Bronze Stars

•••We of the 464th and 465th Bomb Groups•••As well as all of the other Groups in the 15th AF"SALUTE YOU!"

Bombing run over Vienna

Bomb bay doors open!.............Bombs away!

“……the air about us erupts into an orange and black inferno. The plane was tossed up violently…..”

Lieutenant William W. Edwards-Missing in Action

I Have A Rendezvous With Death

Missing Man Formation

REFLECTIONS

To fallen soldiers let us singWhere no rockets fly nor bullets wingOur broken brothers let us bringTo the mansions of the Lord No more bleeding, no more fightNo prayers pleading through the nightJust divine embrace, eternal lightIn the mansions of the Lord Where no mothers cry and no children weepWe will stand and guard though angels sleepThrough the ages safely keepThe mansions of the Lord

inspired by the movie- We were soldiers

World War II Memorial-Washington D.C.

Mission Accomplished Cella Crew Stateside-1945

GOD BLESS THE USA !

Special Acknowledgement-Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KEVIN W. EDWARDS

…………is the son of the late William W. Edwards, a former 2nd Lieutenant/Navigator with the 783rd Squadron of the 465th Bomb Group/55th Wing of the 15th Army Air Force in Italy. He was born in Bridgeport,Connecticut and grew up in Stratford, graduating from Stratford High School. Presently, he is a 2nd career high school teacher of Mathematics at Wilby High School , after having been a mechanical engineer and manufacturing executive for over 30 years. He graduated from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut with a Master of Arts in Teaching, Fairfield University(Bridgeport Engineering Institute ) in Bridgeport, Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Norwalk State Technical College in Norwalk, Connecticut with an Associate in Applied Science-Mechanical Engineering Technology.

He resides with his wife Sharon and their two children, Kyle and Kelly, in Waterbury, Connecticut.