In mid October I was contacted by the nephew of Norman L. Keepers.  Norman’s journey to the 417th started at age 16 when he enlisted by lying about his age.  He was an Armorer and Arial gunner on B-25s in the Pacific Theatre, B-29s stateside before being sent home and honourably discharged because they found out he was underage.  He was out for about 60 days, then re-enlisted on his 18th birthday.  He went to Germany with the Occupation Army and ended up at Fitzlar Army Air Base as a P-61 Gunner.    On a training mission on a gunnery range, there was an apparent timing mix-up and a P-47 from the 366th Fighter Group (also flying out of Fritzlar) accidentally shot the wing off Norman’s P-61 which was right down on the deck.  He and the radar operator bailed out so low that they they got one swing in their parachutes before hitting the ground.   The pilot went in with the ship. Norman smashed into a tree and shattered his pelvis.  He spend months in the hospital before returning to Chicago.  Norman’s talents didn’t end with the war as he eventually became a world-renowned Harley-Davidson mechanic.  How cool is that?

Norman’s nephew completed an on-camera interview of him at age 95 and I hope to soon have a link to that interview to post on this website.  Until then, here is a photo of Norman with his P-61,

In April of this year, I was contacted by the the grandson of Charles Farhbach.  His grandfather was a photographer for the 417th NFS and he had a number of photos that he wanted to share on the site.   I did not have a lot to go on with respect to Charles’ full story, but using the photos, a reference in the Illustrated history of the 417th and a bit of searching, I was able to piece together the following:

He joined the squadron on 18 of March 1943 in Kissimmee, FLA.  He likely traveled as part of the 417th group when it left Camp Kilmer in late April of 1943 and sailed for England on the Queen Elizabeth.  He spent time in North Africa (the photo below is Charles in taxi in Oran)

And Southern France:

He photographed a Bob Hope Show, in Germany in 1945:

There were 3 other “group” photos in the collection I received.  None have the names of the individuals in them, or the location they were taken.  If you spot someone you know, or are familiar with the location, please comment on this post.

As I have said before, one of the things that I love about working on this site is helping people to make connections.  Earlier this year, I was contacted by the daughter of an instructor who taught at a Radar School in Boca Raton.  Her father – Tom,  mother –  Elizabeth and aunt – Eileen struck up a friendship with Raymond Christensen of the 417th during his time training in Boca Ratan.    In her possession was a telegram, photo and letter sent by Ray to Elizabeth and Eileen and she wished to pass these items along to someone in Ray’s family.  That connection has now been made and I have copies of these items to share with you.

The telegram was sent by Ray shortly after he left Boca Ratan for Kissimmee.  At the time, he was on orders not to reveal what he was doing and eventually secretly sailed to England.

A letter from Ray to “the girls”  Elizabeth and Eileen.

This is a transcript of what I believe the letter says:

Dear Elizabeth and Eileen,

It’s been months since I’ve heard from you children.  Am I on your casualty list?  Frankly I feel very much alive.  From time to time we work a bit hard or at lease put in a devil of a lot of time trying to make somebody think so.  We have high hopes of a let up soon and a bit of vacation.

By now I have become quite accustomed to the ways of the English and find it quite pleasant to live here.  Socially, I should say – the food is not so hot.  I’ll even forgive some of the stuff we used to get back at Boca Raton.  The food really isn’t so bad but so much of the same.  At present I’m not on good terms with the potatoes.  It seems I’ve seen entirely too much of ‘em.

Aside from that everything is even better than I had expected.  I can almost dance like a good Englishman.  Can’t waltz as gracefully and there’s a number of folk dances I look silly at but I have oceans of for trying.  There are some pretty decent ballrooms I’ve located and some good music.  Loads of girls even in camp we have enough WASPs to hold quite a good sized party.  Not like our stay in Florida and ???.  Not a single Net(?) Cadet.  How wonderful.  Even so, I wish I was dancing with Pompanos Belles in yea old service center cadets or no cadets. Regards to your parents.  Ray.

And finally a photo with a message on the back that is quite poignant , “Somebody has to go up there”

Raymond Christensen and his pilot Joe Leonard failed to return from their mission on May 13th, 1944.  You can read more about Raymond Christensen in the Letters, Diaries and Tributes page of this website.

Happy 2021 everyone!

I’ve been a bit remiss in getting these additional photos from Peter Fitzgerald’s collection up on the site.  Not a great start to 2021 for me, eh?  Finally, here they are.

The photos were taken in Kassel, Germany.  I don’t have a lot of information on the others in the photos but the building behind the 3rd shot down looks to be the same building in several other photos located in the Faces of the 417th gallery (1st gallery about midway down).   I’m guessing this was a popular spot to have a photo take at camp.

If you spot someone you recognize, please get in touch so that I can update the photographs.  Note, I have also added these to the Faces of the 417th gallery.

Merry Christmas to all and too all a good night.  Best wishes for a safe and happy 2021.