Author: SPY

Columbia History – Did you know?

Did you know that a headstone at Laurel Hill Cemetery bears the name of a World War II airman who went missing in action over Japan? It’s true.

Second Lieutenant Paul R. “Gat” Garrison, Jr., whose name appears on his family’s headstone at Laurel Hill, was the navigator on a B-29 Superfortress known as “Waddy’s Wagon.” Garrison, from Lancaster, PA, had enlisted in the US Army Air Forces and eventually became a crew member on the plane, which was part of the 869th Bomber Squadron, 497th Bomber Group.  Waddy’s Wagon was named for the commander, Captain Walter R.”Waddy” Young, an All-American football player on Oklahoma’s 1938 Orange Bowl Team, who had played two years in the NFL.

B-29 raids on Tokyo began on November 24, 1944, with the first raid targeting an aircraft engine factory at Musashino. Of the 111 B-29s sent, Waddy’s Wagon was the fifth to take off for the 6-hour, 3,000-mile trip from Saipan to Tokyo and the first to return afterwards. All but two of the aircraft returned. The XXI Bomber Command’s subsequent raids on Tokyo and other cities were mostly unsuccessful due to adverse weather and mechanical problems, and tactics were changed when Major General Curtis LeMay took over the Command in January 1945.

On January 9, 1945, Waddy’s Wagon was among 72 B-29s dispatched from Saipan to bomb the Nakajima Aircraft Engine Factory in Musashino. Along the way, high winds scattered the 8-plane formations so that only 18 of the planes were able to bomb the primary target, Waddy’s Wagon being one of them. Kamikaze fighters attacked the bombers as they reached their target, and a B-29 to Waddy’s Wagon’s right was rammed by an enemy plane. Captain Young turned back to help protect the damaged plane and escort it out, and to signal its location if it ditched. In the process, Waddy’s Wagon also sustained hits from Japanese fighters, forcing Young and the other plane to ditch into the Pacific Ocean near the island of Hachijo Shima. Waddy’s Wagon was last sighted 10 miles east of Choshi Point off mainland Japan at 27,000 feet and descending into clouds, according to one report. During a search the next day and for the next two weeks, no traces of either aircraft or their crews were found. Waddy’s Wagon was one of six B-29s lost on the mission. Both crews were declared dead on January 10, 1946.

Garrison received the following medals, most of them posthumously:

★ Purple Heart
★ World War II Victory Medal
★ American Campaign Medal
★ Army Presidential Unit Citation
★ Army Good Conduct Medal
★ Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

Garrison is also memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Waddy’s Wagon Crew:
Capt. Walter R. “Waddy” Young – Command Pilot (KIA) O-382584 Ponca City, Oklahoma
2nd Lt. Robert M. Phillips – Pilot (KIA) O-806902 Knoxville, Tennessee
2nd Lt. Paul R. “Gat” Garrison, Jr. – Navigator (KIA) O-698695 Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2nd Lt. John F. Ellis – Bombardier (KIA) O-685457 Moberly, Missouri
2nd Lt. Bernard S. “Bunny” Black – Flight Engineer (KIA) O-866285 Woodhaven, New York
Sgt. George E. “Sparks” Avon – Radio Operator (KIA) 32936470 Syracuse, New York
S/Sgt. Kenneth M. “Windy” Mansir – Radar Operator (KIA) 11097819 Randolph, Missouri
Sgt. Lawrence L. “Lucky” Lee – Central Fire Control (KIA) 37252164 Max, North Dakota
Sgt. Wilbur J. “Sleepy” Chapman – Right Gunner (KIA) 38606304 Panhandle, Texas
Sgt. Corbett L. Carnegie – Left Gunner (KIA) 12214591 Grindstone Island, New York
S/Sgt. Joseph J. Gatto – Tail Gunner (KIA) 12024315 Falconer, New York

The crew of Waddy’s Wagon

Boeing-Wichita B-29-40-BW Superfortress

Serial number 42-24598

869th Bomb Squadron, 497th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force

2nd Lieutenant Paul R. Garrison, Jr. is in the first row, far left.

The crew posing to duplicate their caricatures in the nose art of Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Waddy’s Wagon,” 869th Bomb Squadron, 497th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force. Isley Airfield in Saipan, 24 November 1944. 

The crew, not necessarily in order, are as follows:

Plane Commander, Captain Walter R. “Waddy” Young, Ponca City, Oklahoma, former All-American end; Lieutenant Jack H. Vetters, Corpus Christi, Texas, pilot; Lieutenant John F. Ellis, Moberly, Missouri, bombardier; Lieutenant Paul R. Garrison, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, navigator, resting his head on his hand; Sergeant George E. Avon, Syracuse, New York, radio operator; Lieutenant Bernard S. Black, Woodhaven, New York, Flight Engineer; Sergeant Kenneth M. Mansie of Randolph, Maine, Flight Technician; and gunners – Sargeants Lawrence L. Lee of Max, North Dakota; Wilbur J. Chapman of Panhandle, Texas; Corbett L. Carnegie, Grindstone Island, New York; and Joseph J. Gatto, Falconer, New York.

An airman paints the crew’s mascot, “Damit,” onto Waddy’s Wagon’s nose. Captain”Waddy” Young can be seen holding Damit at the cockpit window. Damit was also lost when the plane went down. The third man from the left on the plane’s roof is believed to be Garrison.

Document listing the names of the missing crew members

Waddy’s Wagon is seen very briefly in this video, at about 13:21 and 14:19.

Sources:
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/japan/tokyo/missions-tokyo.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/7r7hkb/crew_imitating_their_caricatures_in_isley/

https://soonersports.com/news/2012/5/28/208405628.aspx

https://tylerpaper.com/news/local/focal-point-campfire-stories/article_237a4fde-a1c2-5a11-b371-f2e22f8dd0a1.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56131123/paul-r-garrison

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=361171

https://etvma.org/veterans/robert-m-phillips-8202/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_(10_March_1945)

Honolulu Memorial

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1990395/honolulu-memorial

This week’s photos of Columbia

Guys doing things up high . . .

In remembrance . . .

The Columbia Borough School Board will meet virtually Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m. Live streaming will begin at 5:55 p.m. All details, including how to make a public comment, are on the website HERE.

UPDATE: THE MAY 20 HARB MEETING HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO LACK OF A QUORUM:
https://www.facebook.com/2114471538639775/posts/2964981430255444/

The photo of the notice shown above recently appeared at 134 Locust Street, a vacant lot at the intersection of Locust Street and Bank Avenue. The notice announces a May 20 meeting of Columbia Borough’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) to consider a proposed change to the property. The notice does not specify a time or address for the meeting, although HARB meetings are typically held at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the municipal building (308 Locust Street). No agenda or other information about the meeting appears on the Columbia Borough website or Facebook page, except for a legal advertisement dated 12/26/19 HERE.

The property in question is owned by Eberly Myers LLC (now 789 Main Street LLC), which had planned to construct a 4-story, 33-unit apartment building there before the project was postponed, reportedly due to a lack of funding. The company had requested $400,000 for the project from the borough’s now-defunct revolving loan fund. At the borough’s October 22, 2018 Finance Committee meeting, Benjamin Myers of Eberly Myers requested an increase from the original $400,000 to $650,000 and a change in terms for interest and principal payments due to increased costs of the project from $4 million to $4.8 million. The loan request was subsequently denied.

The company, which has now apparently obtained funding, is proposing changes in materials and design for the project, in a marked departure from the original plan. Those changes will be the subject of discussion at the May 20 meeting. HARB green-lighted the original design at its August 16, 2017 meeting by approving “Certificates of Appropriateness” for demolition and new construction.

 Previously proposed and approved design for the building

This week’s photos of Columbia