We were hit before reaching Germany. We were on fire. The pilot put the plane in a dive. The fire went out and we headed back. We were hit again over the North Sea. Half the plane was on fire. The order came to bail out. I went first after hitting the water. A low flying B-17 dropped me a dinghy in which I picked two crew members who told me they bailed out. We were picked up by the Germans August 3rd. That is all I know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
S\/Sgt. Thomas J. Holton – Waist Gunner<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: MACR 142<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delivered Cheyenne 23\/5\/43; Gore 25\/5\/43; Gr Isle 3\/6\/43; Dow Fd 1\/7\/43; Assigned: 339BS\/96BG Snetterton 12\/7\/43; EXCALIBER MIA Oschersleben 28\/7\/43 Pilot: Gene Wilcox, Co-Pilot: Jim Stratton, Navigator: Alvin Jorgenson, Bombardier: Ed Johnson, Engineer \/ Top Turret Gunner: Clyde Mercer (5RTD); Radio Operator: Dan O’Neill, Ball Turret Gunner: Jack Lewis (2KIA); Waist Gunner: Tom Holton, Waist Gunner: Horace Holcombe, Tail Gunner: Ross Calvert (3POW- picked up by Germany. ans 3\/8\/43); Enemy aircraft, ditched North Sea; MACR 142. ALCHOLHOL ANNIE.","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"airplane-status":[136,202],"status-date":[167],"status-day":[1869],"status-month":[1852],"status-year":[1894],"production-block":[33],"manufacturer":[130],"delivered":[],"project-number":[],"bomb-group":[293],"bomb-squadron":[308],"raf-service":[],"b17tags":[],"class_list":["post-13706","b17database","type-b17database","status-publish","hentry","airplane-status-lost-by-enemy-aircraft","airplane-status-ditched","status-date-28-07-1943","status-day-1869","status-month-july","status-year-1894","production-block-b-17f-100-bo-42-30332-42-30431","manufacturer-boeing","bomb-group-96th-bomb-group","bomb-squadron-339th-bomb-squadron"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database\/13706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17database"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/b17database"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"airplane-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/airplane-status?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"status-date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-date?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"status-day","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-day?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"status-month","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-month?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"status-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/status-year?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"production-block","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/production-block?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manufacturer?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"delivered","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/delivered?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"project-number","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-number?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-group?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"bomb-squadron","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bomb-squadron?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"raf-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/raf-service?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"b17tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/b17flyingfortress.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b17tags?post=13706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}