Guardian AngelGuardian Angel -- A True Story
EPILOGUE
If you have any information on the the soldiers below, please contact us so that we may add that information to our website, to honor them, to honor their history. You can reach us at pbycat@sonic.net
PBY Crew
Ensign Frank M Fisler
Ensign C F Gimber
1st Class Leonard H Wagoner
1st Class William B Watson
2nd Class Wilbur W Warlick
2rd Class Howard C Cupps
2nd Class C C Forbes
KIA
Unknown
Survivor
Unknown
Survivor*
MIA
Unknown
B-17 Crew
1st Lt Earl J. Cooper
2nd Lt Richard J Ebrenz
2nd Lt Jim B Buchanan
2nd Lt John A (Davey) Crockett
1st Lt Joaquin Castro
Private Don McCord
Corporal Mac L Lucas
Tech Sergeant Jesse R. Broyles
Sergeant Lee W Best
Survivor*
Survivor*
Survivor*
Survivor*
Unknown
Unknown
Survivor*
Unknown
Unknown
The rescue on December 30, 1941, as told in the Guardian Angel story, was one of the first during the war in the Pacific during WW II. Other well-known rescues in the Pacific took place later in the war (click to open):
During the battle of Midway from June 7 to the 28th, 1942, Ensign George Gay, after 30 hours in the water observing the destruction of the Japanese carrier fleet, was rescued by Ltjg ”Pappy” Cole, VP-44
February 15, 1944, Ltjg Nathan Gordon during the battle of Kavieng Harbor, New Ireland, made three rescues under Japanese fire and damaged aircraft, rescued 15 Army air crewmen. He was the only PBY Catalina pilot to receive the Medal of Honor;
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July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine. 900 hundred men went into the sea and for the next four days were attached by sharks. Lt R. Adrian Marks, arrived on site, observed the shark attacks, ignored orders and landed his PBY to pull 56 men from shark death. Only 317 Indianapolis crew survived from the 900 that went into the water.
There are many stories of the PBY Catalina and her crews saving lives during WW II and civilian rescue as well. Many of these men went home to have families after the war. Their children and grandchildren are alive because of this aircraft and her crews. The PBY was not glorified like the bombers and fighters but they did every type of combat there was. As one P-38 pilot told me, “If I am in the water, the only plane I want to see is the PBY!” When he was in the Officers Club or in a bar and knew of a PBY crew present, he bought them drinks. He said, “It was cheap insurance!”
This Veterans Day, the children of the rescued need to thank these crews and this aircraft and to remember: But, there for the courage of the PBY Catalina crew, would I be here? “History that is not remembered is history that never happened.”
