Found in a Foot Locker
The Forgotten Sacrifice of Robert L. Todd
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
MISSION NO. 224
5th APRIL, 1945
The Ordinance Depot at
The planes were in taxi position when Major Dozier crawled into the lead aircraft to assume his seat as the Air Commander. Across from him was Lt. Donald Snow, pilot. Lt. Snow taxied the craft, MISS IDA, the name given to it early in the war by Major Dickinson in honor of his mother, to the edge of the 6200 foot runway, revving its engines to their maximum output. The portable tower at the end of the runway gave the green light. Lt. Snow released the brakes and MISS IDA began to slowly roll forward down the runway. It steadily gained speed and began to rise on a westward course over the Old North Road As the craft slowly rose, it was evident that No. 2 engine was on fire.
Major Dozier radioed the tower and got confirmation of the fire. He then told the tower to clear the runway; they were going to do a 360 degree turn and attempt to land. As MISS IDA neared the crest of a hill west of the
The delayed departure caused late assembly with the Wing and Division. Near the second Control Point, the bomber stream was sighted off the right. The Group turned right toward the briefed course in order to intercept and assemble in the Division formation. The course to the second to last turn before the IP was flown approximately as briefed. At this turn, the Group departed the bomber stream to the right in order to go to its briefed primary.
Bombing was done by squadrons in trail and visual sighting was performed. The lead and low squadrons had to let down to about 7,000 feet below briefed altitude in order to avoid clouds. Some interference in identification was caused by smoke. The lead squadron identified the target at the IP. The high squadron was unable to release its bombs on the first run for fear of dropping on the low squadron. The high squadron made a 360 degree turn and bombed visually. Bombs were released from 14,300 feet. Bomb results were partially obscured by clouds and smoke.
I carried on searching……………
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
If like me you have an interest in military history, have you ever visited a military war grave cemetery? Walking past the immaculate rows of headstones, at first I tend to look at each individual name in detail, but after a while the names just fade to a blur because there are just so many of them. Soon you are no longer looking at the name but the battalion or regiment, and in the bigger cemeteries after about fifty rows of headstones, the scale of loss is so great it is impossible to appreciate every single stone marker.
Standing back and looking at the whole scene, it’s difficult to remember that each one of those headstones symbolises one lost person, a husband, a father or a brother. Each headstone is a permanent reminder that he [or she] had a face, a family, and a story to tell, a story that saw them lose their lives for the defence of others, surely worth remembering, but as you look again around the cemetery, how many people’s stories buried in there are known to anyone at all?
This book is about one of those stories, Sgt Robert L. Todd.
Nine men lost their lives at 6am on the morning of 5th April 1945 in a B-17 takeoff accident in
About the Author
Paul W R Kelly has been reading, collecting and researching Allied Forces Militaria of the First and Second World Wars for over twenty years.
In recent times, his work has been focused on researching and understanding the people's story, finding named or serial numbered militaria and researching the original owner, in this most recent case the book 'Found in a Foot Locker' travels from a rusty locker in the south of England, to the barren Arizona desert in search of the truth.
In 2008 the author was a material contributor for a Michigan Television TV Documentary which won an EMMY award for the "Best Local Historical Documentary."
Paul lives on the beautiful English coastline of Northumberland with his wife and children.