November 2004
Officer of the Day
GW Professor Searches for Descendants of Casualties
of WWIIs Worst Aviation Disaster
By John
Carroll
On June 14, 1943, at the Mackay Aerodome in Queensland, Australia,
Captain Samuel L. Cutler, was designated as officer of the day. Among
the duties included in this assignment was oversight of flights to and
from the WWII airstrip that day. Cutler signed off on the flight manifest
and shut the hatch of a B-17C Flying Fortress carrying 35 Army Air Corps
soldiers back to the front lines in New Guinea after a week of leave on
allied soil. Just after takeoff, the plane, nicknamed every morning
fixit, made two abrupt turns and crashed in the cane fields below.
All but one of the 41 men on board died, making it the worst WWII aviation
disaster in the Southwest Pacific.
The cause of the crash was unknown. Eyewitness accounts, technical analysis
and years of speculation by WWII airplane buffs have narrowed the probable
cause down to mechanical malfunction, possible overloading or a combination
of the two. During WWII, circumstances under which soldiers were killed
were kept secret by the US military in the interest of security and morale.
The families of the soldiers who perished at Mackay were told only that
their loved ones had been killed somewhere in the Southwest Pacific.
Long after retiring from the military as Lt. Colonel, Samuel L. Cutler
felt he had yet to complete his tour of duty as Officer Of The Day, June
14, 1943. His son, Robert Cutler, a retired Air Force major and GW professorial
lecturer in engineering, read such sentiments in his fathers wartime
journals and immediately felt an emotional attachment to the story. In
honor to his father and his country, the younger Cutler set out to complete
the unfinished business that had gripped his father for so long.
In his book, Mackays Flying Fortress, Cutler details an uncommon
war story, less about battles and victories, and more about some accidental
heroes of WWII who gave their lives for their country and those who honored
them. The disaster is known to Australians as the Bakers Creek tragedy
for the place where the plane went down. A monument at the site honors
the crew, the victims and the sole survivor. According to Cutler, the
citizens of Mackay grew fond of the American soldiers who visited their
town on leave during WWII. The presence of these young Americans made
a lasting and positive impression. They taught the curious Australians
about America, the superpower protecting their home from an encroaching
enemy.
Young men who spent their recreation here and were adopted into
the homes and hearts of our people, leave an aching void by their passing,
read a local newspaper article published shortly after the crash in Mackay.
While researching for the book, Cutler learned he was not the only American
dedicated to the paying due diligence to honoring the casualties of Bakers
Creek when he met Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Teddy W. Hanks. On the
day of the tragedy, Hanks had been waiting on the front lines in New Guinea
for the ill-fated aircraft to return with four of his squadron buddies
on board.
In 2002, when Cutler and Hanks crossed paths, Hanks unsuccessfully had
been trying for three years to find the passenger list of the B-17C in
order to notify the families of his fallen comrades and the rest of the
men on board. He had been unsuccessful, in part, because of the secrecy
policy observed by the US military at the time of the tragedy. After several
dead ends, Hanks finally found the passenger list in the form of a cemetery
burial record from Townsville, Australia. The bodies had been shipped
there for temporary burial pending their eventual return to the US after
the war.
Inspired by the same longing in Hanks he had known in his father, Cutler
wanted to help him find living relatives and relay the truth he had uncovered
about their loved-ones patriotic death. Recently Hanks has been diagnosed
with a terminal cancer, bringing a new urgency to the search. Ted
has been a central character in the search for the families, says
Cutler. Because of his present terminal condition, his mission to
find those families ought to be recognized. If it werent for Ted,
Id probably have stopped my efforts with the publishing of the book.
Cutler and Hanks traveled to an assisted-living home to meet the one man
who had literally walked away from the crash; sole survivor, Corporal
Foye Kenneth Roberts. An emotional meeting with Roberts bonded the men
in their mission, but yielded little information to aid in the search
process.
With little more than a list of names and hometowns, the two men embarked
on an expedition Cutler calls genealogy in reverse.
Usually, genealogists search for family lines of dead ancestors,
says Cutler, In this case the genealogy researchers are looking
for living family relatives of men who had died, not were born, in a foreign
land.
As they started to contact families, Cutler was amazed at the reactions
of families to being found. In letters, E-mails and other communication
they continue to express genuine gratitude that extends far beyond the
relief of knowing what happened. Many are astonished to learn that long
after their loved ones passing, volunteer efforts to find them and
relay the truth is just as relentless as their own longing to know.
I truly appreciate what the Australians and the Americans have done
to honor my uncle and the men he died with, writes the niece of
Cpl. Charles W. Sampson. It means a lot to know all this had happened
including the truth about how he died.
Cutler knew he could not rest until he was able to relay the story of
Mackay's Flying Fortress to a family relative of every single name
on the flight manifest his father signed had off on some 61 years earlier.
There is a human need to know the truth of what happened to their
loved-ones, says Cutler. History prevented it, but that does
not make it impossible.
Presently a team of five retired Air Force veterans and two volunteer
genealogists who also are military vets are assisting Cutler and Hanks
in their search. Current efforts are concentrated in finding any living
relatives of one of Hanks fighter squadron buddies, Cpl. Raymond
H. Smith from Pennsylvania. Also on the list are two from California,
F/O William C. Erb and T/5 George A. Erhmann.
The mission to find living relatives of all 40 men has become a life goal
for Cutler and one rich with the rewards. Last year Cutler found the descendants
of Cpl. Edward Tenny living in West Virginia. The Tennys have their own
family association and invited Cutler to speak at their annual family
reunion in Buckhannon, WV.
Cutler has traveled to Australia twice to take part in an annual memorial
ceremony at the crash site in Bakers Creek. The tragedy is as much a part
of Australian history as American. Legislation was recently introduced
in the US Congress to make space available at the Arlington National Cemetery
for a memorial marker commemorating the aviation disaster.
Our team will have some measure of closure to our efforts on June
14, says Cutler, when we hopefully will lay a wreath at the
first memorial marker dedicated to the tragedy on American soil.
The publishing of Mackays Flying Fortress has given some
Americans a chance to fill a gap in family history with the truth. It
also gives historical legitimacy and significance to the death of American
servicemen who were the brothers, husbands, uncles, fathers and grandfathers
of living Americans. Grandchildren and great grandchildren of the men
lost are finally given a story to pass down to their children about a
true WWII hero in the family.
These men died not on the front lines, nor in the jungles of New
Guinea, reads an excerpt from the book, but nevertheless in
service to their nation. They deserve to be remembered.
As Cutler sees it, military policies of secrecy and embargoes on news
reporting allowed the largest aviation disaster in WWII history to fall
through the cracks. Advances in technology, news reporting and military
policy would not allow this to happen today, says Cutler. But in
honor to those who came before him, he will carry out the duties of Officer
of the Day, June 14, 1943.
Far removed geographically and almost lost in time, the memories of these
fallen soldiers rested far from home. Cutlers writings, his subsequent
efforts and those of Hanks and the volunteers revive a colorful WWII story
and bring the memories of these men back to US soil.
Americans have a precedent of repatriating their own, says
Cutler. Part of the contract between the military and the families
is that they borrow the boys. One way or another, the sons come home.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
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