Charles N. Foster

Charles N. Foster and his crew were assigned to the 514th Squadron.

His granddaughter sent in the following story of his life:

My grandpa, Charles N. "Chuck" Foster was in the 376th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 514th Squadron.

Records indicate that he enlisted on May 8 1942 in Seattle WA. He was called into the Air Corp for cadet training on Oct 1 1942. He attended Parks Air College (contracted with the US government to provide the first phase of training) at Curtiss-Parks Airfield in East St. Louis IL, where he completed Primary Flight Training. He then moved to Garden City KS Army Airfield where he completed Basic Flight Training. He next completed Advanced Flight Training at Pampa TX Army Airfield and B-24 specific training at Liberal KS Army Airfield, Alamegordo NM Army Airfield and Charleston SC Army Airfield. His crew may have been put together in Salt Lake City UT, as we know he was there in mid-Nov 1943 and I've read that that SLC was a crew formation site.

He completed B-24 training in Charleston on Feb 28 1944 and was sent to Mitchel Field on Long Island NY, a staging area for Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers and their crews before being sent overseas. The timeline indicates he arrived in Italy the first week in Mar 1944. I found a letter published in a local Michigan newspaper written on Apr 7 1944 by his gunner, Jerome Gardels. He states that his crew had been in Italy for about a month and that they flew over in their own plane.

His cache of official AAF documents place him in Italy from Mar-Jun 1944. His personal records say he flew 46 combat missions. Several Western Union telegrams indicate he was on his way home by the first week in Jul 1944 and an article in the Spokane WA Review in Sep 1944 mentions that he was home on leave.

He was then assigned in Oct 1944 to Gowen Field in Boise ID as a  B-24 flight instructor. He was lastly sent to Fort Lewis WA on Jul 13 1945, where he was discharged in Sep 1945.

While in Italy, he piloted a number of planes on single missions including Black Saturday, The Duchess, Miss Oklahoma, Yum Yum, Sexy Sal, The Four Fruits, #61 and #75. His usual plane was B-24 Serial #44-40149, #77. He called her the Betty Baby, after my grandma. She went down outside of Munich on Oct 4 1944, having been transferred to the 456th Bomb Group some time after Grandpa went stateside.

During a mission to the Ploesti Oil Fields in Romania on Jun 24 1944, his plane took heavy flak and the plane was shot up and his landing gear was taken out. Making it back to base, running on fumes, he landed the Betty Baby on her belly, saving the lives of his crew. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on Aug 9 1944. The citation mentions this specific mission.

He died in 2005 and the only thing he wanted people at his funeral to know was that on the Jun 24 1944 mission, "he got his guys home".

He was an extremely successful radio news man and television anchor here in Portland, but at the end he didn't care about that. The seminal moment in his life was the day he got his crew home from Ploesti.