Decisions at Dawn

Dawn of Waterloo
Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler (PD)

The Duke of Wellington stood in the courtyard of the Chateau de Goumont staring into the cooking fire where a number of Guardsmen were cooking their breakfast. On a smaller fire there was a pot, a teapot he surmised. His glance fell on that pot, without thinking, he sighed. The last three days had been disastrous.

"Tea, Your Grace?"

He turned to look at a sergeant of the Coldstream Guards, he thought he recognized the man.

"It's Graham,¹ isn't it?"

"As it ever was Your Grace," pausing he lifted the enameled cup and offered it, "still hot it is."

The Duke held the cup in both hands, the tea smelled very good, he drank deeply, emptying the cup, then handed it back to the sergeant.

"You're Irish, isn't that right Sergeant?"

"Yes, indeed, Your Grace, County Monaghan to be sure."

"Thank you for the tea, where is your commander?"

Graham nodded towards the manor house, "Lieutenant Colonel Macdonell² is inside, Sir."

"Thank you again, Sergeant. Keep an eye on things here today, I fear it shall be bad today. Very bad."

"That's it then, keep your lads well in hand today Morrisey. I fear the Frenchies are rather thicker on the ground than we are. Oh, and ..." Macdonell paused as he saw a familiar figure enter the room, he stood up.

"Your Grace."

"Macdonell. I am counting on you and your lads today. We are very thin on the ground and I expect no help from the Prussians. If we need to withdraw, your position here will be the hinge. I do not intend to withdraw to Brussels but via Braine-l'Alleud then Halle, I intend to make for Ghent with all haste should this position become untenable. Are we clear?"

"Your Grace, we shall remain here until you order us to leave, or until we have died at our posts."

Uncharacteristically, the Duke thrust his hand out, Macdonell took it in his own strong grip. Neither man said a word, but the emotion in the room was thick. Eventually Lieutenant Colonel Gordon,³ one of the Duke's principal aides, broke the silence.

"Your Grace, we must be off ..."

Wellington nodded, then released Macdonell's hand, without a word he spun on his heel and went out to where Copenhagen was waiting.

"Your Grace ..."

"I know, Sir Alexander, I know. This will no doubt be the hardest day of our careers. Perhaps the rain will continue and we can simply steal away into the mist."

Gordon looked to the sky, as if to defy the Duke, the rain began to lessen.

"One can hope, Your Grace."

Napoléon in 1806
Édouard Detaille (PD)

The Emperor was up early, the noise of his staff moving around in the room adjacent to his sleeping chamber had woken him from a deep sleep. Oddly enough, he felt well-rested and the pain that had been dogging him for so many days had subsided. Not even a dull ache remained.

His Mamelouk servant, Ali⁴ heard the Emperor stir and cautiously checked on his charge.

"Sire?"

"I am all right, Ali. Surprisingly well, is there any breakfast?"

"I will see to it, Sire."

Napoléon got out of bed and dressed himself, not waiting for his valet. As he finished buttoning the undress jacket of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Imperial Guard, he heard a tap on the door.

"Enter."

He was surprised to see two of his marshals, not Ali with his breakfast. He had a sudden sick feeling, had some ill tidings arrived in the night?

Davout spoke while Berthier stood behind him, "Sire, it appears that Wellington has elected to make a stand on the Mont St. Jean ridge. He doesn't really have enough men to cover the entire position. He is very weak on his left, we think ..." he turned to Berthier who stepped forward with a map.

Source
Compare this version with the original at the source,
both sides lines are considerably thinner.

"Here, as you can see here Sire," Berthier pointed to the map, "it seems that Wellington is leaning to his right, towards La Manche.⁵ I daresay he is hedging his bets and with a strong enough push, he will withdraw in that direction."

With his left hand behind his back, the Emperor leaned over the map, he placed his finger near the right edge, near a place marked "Frischermont," then traced his finger over the hamlets and farms labeled "Papelotte," "La Haye," and "Smolhain." His eyes strayed to the positions of units Berthier's staff had drawn in.

"Saxe-Weimar, what does he have here, perhaps a regiment?"

"Our scouts tell us that he has three weak battalions holding this area. They also seem to be the only remaining forces of the Netherlands in Wellington's lines."

"The others? Early reports showed three Dutch-Belgian divisions under Wellington's command, where are they?"

Davout answered, "The divisions of Perponcher and Chassé were destroyed around Quatre Bras. Stedman's division was last reported to be retreating through Brussels. It seems the Netherlands has abandoned their British and German allies."

The Emperor seemed to growl, then he said, "Those damned Dutchmen did considerable damage to Reille's corps, from the looks of it, II Corps doesn't have enough men to advance aggressively." He slapped the map where a substantial chateau labeled "Hougoumont" was situated.

No one spoke, unbeknownst to the Emperor, his brother, Prince Jérôme, had died of his wounds overnight, at Genappe.

"Sire, it is true that your brother's division was badly hurt at Quatre Bras, he, uh ..." Davout hesitated.

"What is it?" Napoléon snapped.

"The Prince was wounded at ..."

"I know that, so what ..."

It then struck the Emperor that his youngest brother was dead.

"Not one of you thought to tell me that the Prince was dead?"

Berthier spoke up, we received word only an hour ago, Sire. My condolences."

Napoléon got a far away look on his face, he stayed silent for a moment, then spoke.

"We shall mourn the dead later. For now, what do you propose, Davout?"

The marshal looked at the map, then ran his finger along a slight ridge just south of the La Haye Sainte farm.

"I propose a grand battery here, with which we will pound Wellington's center. While this is going on, I propose sending Foy and Bachelu forward to draw Wellington's attention to his right center. Then I should think we send d'Erlon straight at the English left. They are weak there."

The Emperor nodded, "I agree. Any news from Vandamme?"

"A single Prussian corps, that of von Pirch, withdrew towards Wavre. Vandamme has been harrying them without rest. I have sent for more information, but we had a courier from Vandamme saying that that Prussian corps was dissipating under his attacks, he likened it to a mist fading under a hot summer sun ..." Berthier paused.

The Emperor chuckled, "I never knew Vandamme to wax poetic."

"One of his aides I'm sure, Sire. If I know Vandamme he would have mentioned something about 'kicking their arses,' not mist dissipating in the hot sun." Soult entered with that remark, then turned to his Emperor.

"The army is in position, Sire. The fields are sodden, it might be a while before we can move our guns to create that grand battery Davout has suggested."

"Very well, let us have breakfast gentlemen, we have time before we destroy Wellington. That, is inevitable."

As the leaders of the French army gathered to eat, Wellington rode his lines. He had some hard decisions to make.

Should he stand and fight, with no word having come from the Prussians, or should he withdraw towards the Channel ports? Regardless of his decision, he would be raked over the coals in Parliament by those who had never seen a battle.

His heart said "stand," his head said "flee."

As the sun rose over the fields between Mont St. Jean and La Belle Alliance, Wellington knew that it was going to be a long, hard day, no matter which option he chose.

¹ Sergeant James Graham was a sergeant in the Coldstream Guards, said to be the bravest man in the British Army by the Duke himself.

² Lieutenant Colonel Sir James Macdonell commanded the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards at Waterloo

³ Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon was a Scottish officer in the British Army. The bed where he died of his wounds after the battle is still present in the inn at Waterloo where Wellington had his headquarters.

⁴ Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis (22 September 1788 – 3 May 1856) was a member of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard, leading him to be known in his lifetime as "Mamelouk Ali". He was most notable as a faithful servant to Napoleon I during his two exiles on Elba and Saint Helena. Wikipedia

⁵ What the French called the English Channel, literally means "the sleeve."

Norway

   

 

Ok Folks, you get photographs this round. Why? Well we were on vacay on a cruise in Norway and the scenery is unbelievably beautiful.

Also, I was writing this post on an iPad! There’s no keyboard feel so typing takes considerably longer with more typos.

Mea Culpa!

OK, so on with the show! Journey started a week ago last Saturday, flew Houston to London. 16 hours later in the evening,we met our tour guide. Checked in to the hotel and did a front leaning face plant on the bed. Awakened by a phone call. It was light out. Our son and family were in the lobby to take us to the ship. (They are going with us). Could have swore we’d only been asleep 5 minutes or so. 

Got to the ship. It was pretty easy to determine which was the Disney ship.

                                 

On board and checked in, bags unpacked and ready to sail.

Little J, LJW and Miss B got a welcome aboard from Chip and Dale. This is a Disney greats you. You might have ascertained by now. 

 

Good for a chuckle however.

Monday we spent a day at sea, overcast sky, but the North Sea was fairly calm (in North Sea terms).

 But the Fjords were AWESOME!

 

 To gain an understanding of size.  That white dot just to the right of the center of the picture is a 33 foot Sailboat about 3000' away.  The Fjord mountains are huge!

Tuesday, we arrived at our first (of 5) port, Haugesund (pronounced h aa oh j ee sz uu uu n d) At least that's how THESE folks do it.* I’ll leave it to your imagination. The ladies (4 plus a 4 yo) decided shopping was the mission of the day. It was fun and kind of cool looking as well as temp. At least until it started raining. So we flagged down a cab and RTB’d.

When we woke up Wednesday, we were docked at a medium sized town named Olden. The town wasn’t as old as its name, so we decided to visit the local aquarium.

This fine fellow was pretty old.

Not as old as Sarge, but there’s a strong resemblance!

Just kidding!

Anyhow it was a pretty interesting “kettle of fish”. No pun intended …..RiiiggggghhhhTTTT!!!

So we’re now headed to Alesund, which is down a LONG fjord. Another nice, neat, friendly town. But tonight is “Pirate Night”.  All passengers and crew are expected to be in pirate garb.

 

So the Ladies did. Lots of fun!

Last town visited was Stavenger. Unfortunately, I acquired a digestive problem requiring a close radius to a facility, so didn’t go downtown. The gang said it was nice, clean and the shopping was good.  I got to look at a sailing ship from our veranda when I wasn't.....well, you know.

So the next day we’re back on the North Sea headed to London followed closely by a run through the airport and a 16 hour flight back to Houston. Mrs J decided caution was required so reserved a hotel room in Austin for the night before we driving ourselves to finish the  RTB.

 

Although the flight home was boring, we were in Business Class which was extremely comfortable. (A reward which Mrs J had been given by her travel agent company). However, we were sitting one cubicle behind another. So not a lot of conversation.

 

Upon rising in Austin, a shuttle lift to the airport parking lot and a 1.5 hour drive home and an early to Bedtime, we're back in business.

 

What a great vacation! Friends, Family, and Wine Tasting.  Doesn't get much better than that. 

All in all, a lot of fun! Peace out y’all!

 

*For whatever reason, Haugesund was the only one sounded out on that website that I could find on the web. 

 

Before We Continue ...

L'Aigle blessé¹
Monument to the French army at Waterloo
Source

Okay, I admit it, I enjoy writing about things that many people may not be familiar with. Now most folks know what the Battle of Waterloo was about, the British beat the French and Napoléon got sent to a rock off the coast of Africa (the island of Saint Helena to be exact). No, he didn't "surrender" at Waterloo, as much as I like the band ABBA, they got that wrong. And if you get your history from Ridley Scott films, well, perhaps you'd best move on.

Anyhoo, in this latest historical fiction of mine, I've tried to layout what could have given the French the victory. We're almost there, the Battle of Waterloo is imminent, but it's going to be smaller and perhaps even bloodier than the real thing. The French have virtually destroyed the Prussian Army, its commander and chief-of-staff lie dead on the battlefield, much of the Netherlands army (consisting of Dutch and Belgian troops) has been roughly handled and their loyalty to the Allied cause might be on shaky ground. (After all, many of those soldiers had been in Napoléon's army within the couple of years prior to Waterloo.)

But where are we at now? How did we get here? Time for a couple of maps to illustrate what's been going on over the past few posts. (These maps were all derived from this excellent map at this website.)

Here is where we began, on Wednesday, the 14th of June, 1815:

Wellington's army is scattered across Belgium as he couldn't be sure if the French were going to advance on Brussels via Charleroi, or through Mons. The first option would split Wellington from his Prussian allies, the second would sever his supply lines to the English Channel. Neither option appealed to him, but he had to cover all of his bases.

The Prussian army is spread from Charleroi to Liege, with one corps south of Namur. The French army is concentrated around Beaumont, in France, ready to strike north.

In the actual campaign the French started off on the wrong foot. A division commander defected to the Prussians and two corps, Vandamme's and Gérard's, got entangled on the first morning primarily because the Emperor's chief of staff, Maréchal Soult, didn't get the orders out on time, allegedly. So things started slow, in my account, everything went off like clockwork (and Napoléon had gotten rid of the traitor before the campaign).

As the 15th of June dawns, the French have energetically moved against the Prussians around Ligny (having driven Ziethen's forward screen around Charleroi back on the 14th) and Maréchal Davout is driving the left wing of the Armée du Nord north towards Genappe, fighting has already occurred around Quatre Bras (which historically didn't occur until the 16th).

The French VI Corps, under Lobau, by dint of hard marching moved overnight to block the roads north out of Namur. Which Thielmann's III Prussian Corps discovers as they attempt to cross a bridge over the Sambre, which was sabotaged during the night.

The Prussian IV Corps, under Bülow, has yet to receive any orders so they still sit outside, and within, the city of Liege. Later in the morning, a courier gets through and they begin their march to Sombreffe, far too late to assist the main Prussian army (I and II Corps) under Generalfeldmarschall von Blücher.

Wellington, still unsure of the main French thrust is holding his forces close in hand. The Netherlands cavalry division near Mons has fallen back on orders received from the Prince of Orange who is convinced that the main French thrust is coming up from Charleroi.

The Duke of Wellington has ordered Picton's British division and the Duke of Brunswick's corps south, but only to Genappe.

The French are now concentrated between the armies of Wellington and the Prussians, now under the command of von Pirch. Lobau's VI Corps, badly hurt, is still battling with Thielmann's corps just north of Namur. Thielmann has been hurt as well, mostly through bad morale amongst his mostly Landwehr formations.

Bülow, having witnessed hundreds of stragglers and deserters headed for the Rhine, has stopped his forward movement and is preparing to defend Liege, which is not on the French radar at the moment.

Perponcher's Netherlands Division has been largely destroyed, Ziethen's Prussian corps as well, those men not dead or wounded on the field are fleeing towards Liege. The deaths of von Gneisenau and von Blücher have left the Prussians with no firm hand on the controls.

Picton's division and the Brunswick corps are still holding near Genappe but have taken heavy casualties. As torrential rains begin late on the 16th and continue through most of the day on the 17th, the French push is slowed down. Though this allows Wellington time to build his position up at Mont St. Jean, he has far fewer troops to deploy there than he had historically.

The French are still counting their own cost, but morale in the Armée du Nord is sky high. Napoléon is still suffering badly from his piles, but a day out of the saddle while Davout directs the pursuit of the Anglo-Allied army while Soult pursues what is left of the Prussians will give the Emperor a chance of good health on the 18th.

Historically he failed, in this tale, he is set to spend the night of the 18th in the Palais Royale in Brussels. The Duke of Wellington will be approaching absolute exhaustion by that day, he has scarcely slept in two days.

Will history repeat itself in this tale? It doesn't look good.

¹ The wounded eagle.

The Road to Brussels

Wellington at Waterloo
Robert Alexander Hillingford
Source

"How many, Sir William?"

Sir William Howe de Lancey consulted his notes, reports had been coming in since late afternoon of yesterday. They painted a grim picture.

"We have perhaps 40,000 men remaining, Your Grace. Though the reports are incomplete, I reckon that we have no more than 75 guns remaining to us."

The Duke of Wellington's horse, Copenhagen, pranced nervously, sensing his rider's state of mind. And in truth, the Duke was nervous. Things looked very bad and he had yet to hear any report from his Prussian allies.

"What of von Müffling,¹ any word from the Prussians?"

"No, Your Grace. All we know is that the Prussians suffered a massive defeat near Ligny. There are reports that they are retreating in great disorder and that the field marshal is dead."

"Blücher? Dead?"

"I'm afraid so, Your Grace."

Kellerman’s Cuirassiers capture the Colours of the British 69th Foot’s 2nd Battalion at Quatre Bras
Victor Huen
Source

Seven miles to the south of Wellington's headquarters, Wellington's 3rd Division, under Sir Charles Alten,² had reached the main Brussels road after hard marching from the direction of Nivelles. The sky had burst in the meantime, drenching the men as the rain came down hard. Amidst the thunder and the lightning, the 69th Regiment of Foot, being in the lead, gained the roadway only to discover that the French were approaching in great force.

The 69th formed square in a hurry but to no avail, they were still forming when they were hit by a sizeable force of French heavy cavalry emerging from the pouring rain. They were badly torn up and they lost one of their colors.

The remainder of Alten's division was still deploying when the main body of the French Armée du Nord hit them as they were trying to deploy.

De Lancey's estimate of 40,000 men dropped to around 35,000 as most of the 3rd Division was destroyed.

Napoleon I in 1814
Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (PD)

The Emperor was on horseback, watching his triumphant army marching north. HIs doctor had given him just enough laudanum to somewhat quell the pain. But being in the saddle was not helping. After a division of Reille's had marched past, he dismounted and tried not to stagger as he entered an inn in Genappe, on the road to Brussels.

The dining room was a mess of bloody bandages, scraps of torn uniforms, and various bits and pieces of medical apparatus. The Dutch had been using the inn as a hospital during the action at Quatre Bras. According to one prisoner, the Prince of Orange himself had been treated here before being evacuated to Brussels.

Napoléon entered one of the larger rooms on the ground floor where Berthier had set up headquarters. He saw Davout, Ney, and Berthier huddled over a map. Soult should have been there, but was not.

"Where is Soult!?" he barked, though the laudanum was starting to make him feel drowsy, his temper was flaring.

"Sire, Maréchal Soult is forward, directing the fighting there, we caught an English division deploying alongside the road, Kellerman's heavies tore one regiment to pieces and drove the rest of the redcoats to disperse." Ney had answered the question.

"What are the casualties in my Guard, Ney?"

Ney drew himself erect and looked the Emperor directly in the eye, "Perhaps a thousand have fallen, Sire. The Guard covered themselves in glory."

"Damn it, Ney ..."

Before he could continue, Davout cut him off. "We have the victory, Sire. We can recruit more Guardsmen, the victory they bought you at Ligny made victory possible. Wellington's forces are on the run, scouts tell us that they seem to be gathering along the ridge before Mont St. Jean, but they don't have enough men to cover the position adequately."

The laudanum hit him, hard, his vision grew blurry, so he simply said, "Very well, carry on, I must lie down. Keep the army moving. Davout, drive the English out of Belgium!"

After the Emperor left, the three marshals all stood there, staring at each other until Berthier broke the silence.

"You all know what to do. I have messages from Gérard's chief of staff and from Lobau. What is left of III Corps is marching to join us. What was left of Lobau's men after their gallant stand against the Prussians at Namur remains on that battlefield in case the Prussians wish to try again. Vandamme and d'Erlon are driving what remains of the Prussians before them. A few formed units are marching north to Wavre, Vandamme will destroy them with two divisions while d'Erlon continues to push towards Liege. I will give you further orders, if necessary, once the Emperor awakens."

Source

A dismounted officer of horse artillery raised his helmet as the Duke trotted past. Wellington nodded but kept riding on, he had to reach the field at Mont St. Jean before nightfall. The French were driving hard up the road, even in the torrential downpours which kept popping up. He feared that he wouldn't have enough men to hold the ridge and began to consider pulling back to the fortifications around Brussels.

Those fortifications were in a sad state, having gone unmaintained for a number of years. He felt that he had no choice but to make a stand on the ridge to the south of his headquarters. He had already sent a message to King Louis XVIII and his court at Ghent, recommending in the strongest terms that they evacuate across the Channel, back to England.

As he rode, he saw a party of horsemen, in Prussian uniforms, coming up from the south. He recognized his liaison officer, von Müffling. The man reined in next to the Duke.

"Your Grace, bad news I'm afraid ..."

"Blücher, the field marshal, is he ..."

"Dead, Your Grace, as is von Gneisenau, his chief of staff. The headquarters was overrun north of Sombreffe by French dragoons, all were killed or taken prisoner."

"What of your forces?"

"A single corps, that of von Pirch, is marching on Wavre, but the French are hot on their heels, giving them no rest. Thielmann's corps is south of Namur, I don't know anything more than that."

"What of Bülow, and Zieten, are they ..."

"Bülow has withdrawn into the defenses at Liege and refuses to move, Zieten's corps was destroyed at Ligny, Zieten is dead, the remainder of his forces either rotting on the field or marching south as French captives. My apologies, Your Grace, it seems as if my country has no more role to play in this campaign."

The Duke of Wellington sat upon Copenhagen, afraid to speak for fear of losing his temper. He watched as von Müffling and his party rode north. Then he turned to de Lancey.

"Sir William, we must make haste for, what's the name of the farm?"

"La Haye Sainte, Your Grace."

Leaning in so that no one else would hear, he whispered, "Evacuate the people from Brussels, I want Bonaparte to hold no British civilians hostage should we lose this gamble."

"Yes, Your Grace. And for the government?"

"Tell them nothing, lest they panic prematurely."

¹ Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Wellington's liaison with the Prussian army.

² Lieutenant-General Count Sir Charles Alten, a Hanoverian officer serving with the British army, his division consisted of a mix of British and Hanoverian regiments.

Raymond Harrell Wilkins MOH

  

 

Maj Raymond Wilkins

Source 

OK, I've got to admit, before researching this name, I had no recognition of this man,   Most of the names of Air Force awardees, I recognize and know a bit about the circumstances.   Sure, he'd attacked a dangerous target in a dangerous target area.  Rabaul Harbor was one of the most heavily defended Japanese bases in the Pacific in WWII.  But lots of folks have attacked lots of highly defended targets.  So, why him?

Well he was a pilot who received 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Silver Star and his award of the Medal of Honor during WWII.  That requires an awful lot of talented yet dangerous missions and a great degree of courage.

So let's get on with it and research what had happened on the mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.  

One of my prime sources for this series of posts has always been wikipedia.  However, this particular article was sadly lacking IMHO.  Below is just about the whole story.

Wilkins was then assigned to the 8th Bombardment Squadron of the 3rd Attack Group, Fifth Air Force. Flying B-25 Mitchells in combat missions out of New Guinea, Wilkins was promoted to first lieutenant, captain, and then to major. In September 1943 he was made squadron commander.

On November 2, 1943, he participated in a bombing raid on Japanese ships as part of the Bombing of Rabaul. Wilkins repeatedly exposed himself to intense anti-aircraft fire and successfully destroyed two enemy vessels. Despite severe damage to his aircraft, he continued to attack until his plane was shot down into the sea, killing him. For his actions during the mission, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor four months later, on March 24, 1944.

 

 Well, folks when I'm wrong I'm REALLY wrong.

 

Source

So, while I'm surfing through various websites looking for sources, I came across this YouTube Video.  It very well tells the story of this mission. I highly recommend viewing it.  

 

Without a doubt, Major Raymond Wilkins was well deserving of the Medal of Honor 

 

 Rest in Peace, Major Wilkins!

 

Citation to accompany the award of the Medal of Honor to Major Raymond H. Wilkins

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Rabaul, New Britain, on 2 November 1943. Leading his squadron in an attack on shipping in Simpson Harbor, during which intense antiaircraft fire was expected, Maj. Wilkins briefed his squadron so that his airplane would be in the position of greatest risk. His squadron was the last of 3 in the group to enter the target area. Smoke from bombs dropped by preceding aircraft necessitated a last-second revision of tactics on his part, which still enabled his squadron to strike vital shipping targets, but forced it to approach through concentrated fire, and increased the danger of Maj. Wilkins' left flank position. His airplane was hit almost immediately, the right wing damaged, and control rendered extremely difficult. Although he could have withdrawn, he held fast and led his squadron into the attack. He strafed a group of small harbor vessels, and then, at low level, attacked an enemy destroyer. His 1,000 pound bomb struck squarely amidships, causing the vessel to explode. Although antiaircraft fire from this vessel had seriously damaged his left vertical stabilizer, he refused to deviate from the course. From below-masthead height he attacked a transport of some 9,000 tons, scoring a hit which engulfed the ship in flames. Bombs expended, he began to withdraw his squadron. A heavy cruiser barred the path. Unhesitatingly, to neutralize the cruiser's guns and attract its fire, he went in for a strafing run. His damaged stabilizer was completely shot off. To avoid swerving into his wing planes he had to turn so as to expose the belly and full wing surfaces of his plane to the enemy fire; it caught and crumpled his left wing. Now past control, the bomber crashed into the sea. In the fierce engagement Maj. Wilkins destroyed 2 enemy vessels, and his heroic self-sacrifice made possible the safe withdrawal of the remaining planes of his squadron.

 

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_H._Wilkins 

https://ww2gravestone.com/people/wilkins-raymond-harrell/ 

https://www.portsmouthvamilitary.com/medal-of-honors/raymond-harrell-wilkins 

https://www.ghostsofthebattlefield.org/medal-of-honor/medal-of-honor-raymond-h-wilkins-world-war-ii-air-mission-november-2-1943 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-b-25-pilot-who-turned-back-into-rabaul-s-guns/ar-AA251U8B 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dk3s8qLx60 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-2629/ 

 

2Lt Robert Edward Femoyer MOH

 

 Here's a new listing (for me) of a Medal of Honor recipient.  After reading his story and after you do also, I think you'll agree with me that this Medal was entirely deserved.  

So, let's get on with it. 

Source

 

2Lt Femoyer's B-17

Ok, Lt Femoyer was 23 years old and on his 5th mission as the Navigator on a B-17 bomber over Germany.  

 

That's an AWFUL lot of AAA bursts 

Source

On this mission, the bomber his crew was flying was hit by 3 anti-aircraft rounds and extremely crippled.  Lt Femoyer was severely wounded back and side.  The pilot's realized the aircraft could not continue the mission, so turned around to get back to safe ground.  Lt Femoyer could not stand up, so asked some crewmembers to prop him up so he could see the maps and charts and direct the pilots how to get home. He realized if he took any medication to ease the pain from the wound, he would not be able to perform this mission, so he refused it.

For 2 and 1/2 hours!

Upon successfully getting the crew back to base, he accepted some pain killers.  Unfortunately, he passed away from his injuries shortly after landing.

Rest in Peace, Hero! 

 To quote a movie and President Reagan "Where do we get such men?"

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell

 

Source

 

 Citation for the award of the Medal of Honor to  2Lt Robert Edward Femoyer

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Merseburg, Germany on 2 November 1944. While on a mission, the bomber, of which 2d Lt. Femoyer was a navigator, was struck by three enemy antiaircraft shells. The plane suffered serious damage and 2d Lt. Femoyer was severely wounded in his side and back by shell fragments which penetrated his body. In spite of extreme pain and great loss of blood he refused an offered injection of morphine. He was determined to keep his mental faculties clear in order that he might direct his plane out of danger and so save his comrades. Not being able to arise from the floor, he asked to be propped up in order to enable him to see his charts and instruments. He successfully directed the navigation of his lone bomber for 2 and one half hours so well it avoided enemy flak and returned to the field without further damage. Only when the plane had arrived in the safe area over the English Channel did he feel that he had accomplished his objective; then, and only then, he permitted an injection of a sedative. He died shortly after being moved from the plane. The heroism and self-sacrifice of 2d Lt. Femoyer are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army. 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Edward_Femoyer

https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/robert-e-femoyer 

https://www.refuelagency.com/blog/inspirational-veterans-quotes/ 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/investigations-and-features/2026/04/16/mortally-wounded-wwii-navigator-refused-morphine-guide-his-b-17-home.html (5th Combat Mission)