Samuel D. Rose
Samuel D. Rose was a pilot. He and his crew were in the 514th Squadron.
His son, Terry, submitted Sam's story, which he wrote after the war. Click on the various segments to read about his experiences.
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April 4th we got back to base as the group formation was going out. My plane (The Lady Be Good) that I flew over seas was in the flight to Naples, the last time we saw it. A note on the Lady Be Good, a book has been written about her by Dennis E. McClendon. John C. Vyn a cousin of the navigator on the plane, used the Lady Be Good for a thesis in modern history in college. From April 4, 43 to May 1959 the airplane lay in the desert undiscovered, then an oil research team found it and the story goes on from there. |
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April 22 we had to fly a plane with new engines for one hour, slow time before it was taken in combat. We took turns at this, by looking over the country and beautiful coast. We also took a couple of crates of homing pigeons out over the water 50 miles and dumped them out the bottom hatch. The English at Benghazi had a pigeon loft and we helped train their birds. On most missions we took a couple of birds with us in case we went down in the water, we could send a location note home on them. |
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We flew every two or three days and laid on the beach the rest of the time. Most missions weren't bad, shot up a little, lost a few men and ships but got back home each time. The first mission over Greece (Solonika) we hit an air field used to put together airplanes shipped from Germany. Some of us had 500 pounders, the rest fragmentation bombs. The air field had planes lined up like a flying school here, we tore the place up bad. The pretty part was going in over all those islands in clear weather. I flew off the wing of a guy with a naked woman painted on the side of his plane and all I could think was my thermometer showed 500 below and her out in that cold and wind. |
July 15th our sqd. C.O. made Maj. and he promised Smitty and I we could have his old cap. bars. when we got back from our next mission and of course a promotion came with them.
Life after his return to the US.
The website 376bg.org is NOT our site nor is it our endowment fund.
At the 2017 reunion, the board approved the donation of our archives to the Briscoe Center for American History, located on the University of Texas - Austin campus.
Also, the board approved a $5,000 donation to add to Ed Clendenin's $20,000 donation in the memory of his father. Together, these funds begin an endowment for the preservation of the 376 archives.
Donate directly to the 376 Endowment
To read about other endowment donation options, click here.
Reunion
NOTE change in month !!!
DATES: Sep 18-21, 2025
CITY:Rapid City, SD
HOTEL:
Click here to read about the reunion details.
