Nudge In Rear Came Too Soon, So Mitchell Gunner Bombed Wrong Target In China
By Sgt. Marion Hargrove
SOMEWHERE IN CHINA–This story has been held back for a while because the fellow was mighty sensitive about it, and he happens to be a tech sergeant, 6 feet 2 and weighing 200 pounds. He’s cooled off a little, so now it can be told.
The tech sergeant is Karl May of Yakima, Wash., an aerial engineer and gunner in one of the local Mitchell B-25 bombers. The tale goes back to the time when he was still a buck private, working as an armorer in his squadron and bucking like hell for a job on a combat crew.
They finally let him go on a few missions to try him out. He got along fine until his third trip. That was the raid on the big Jap base at Hankow, former Chinese capital, on the Yangtze.
There were two minor defects that day in the bomber to which May was assigned: there were no racks in the ship for fragmentation bombs and the interphones were temporarily out of commission.
Well, they were working the thing out all right without fragracks or interphones. They had Pvt. May squatting by the photo hole with a stack of frag bombs and the understanding that when the turret gunner nudged him in the behind he was to cut loose with all he had.
It happened that the bomber had a passenger that day–maybe an observer from Washington, maybe a newspaperman, maybe just a sightseer.
This worth person grew unaccustomedly chilly, saw that the draft came from the open photo hole and decided to ask the private beside it to close it. The private – yep, it was May – had his back turned, so the passenger sought to attract his attention with a gentle nudge in the rear.
Pvt. May reacted like the eager beaver he was. He held one frag bomb over the hole and let it drop. Then he turned another loose into thin air. He was preparing to drop every bomb in the ship – until he was rudely and violently stopped. To May’s dismay he learned: 1) that the ship was nowhere near Hankow, 2) that he had been given no signal and, 3) that he had just wasted a couple hundred dollars’ worth of U.S. high explosives.
The mission proceeded to Hankow, where May dropped the rest of his bombs through the photo hole, an armful at a time. But his heart was heavy at the thought of having goofed previously.
When the plane returned to its base, there was an intelligence report from the Chinese Army waiting for it. According to this report, two bombs dropped on a Japanese barge on the Yangtze had scored direct hits, sinking the barge and drowning 160 Japanese soldiers.
T/Sgt. May never tells the story himself and he gets mad when he hears anyone else tell it. Only those who’ve seen the records will believe it.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Wayne Bauer – Las Cruces, NM; US Army, WWII, ATO
Harry Carlsen – Chicago, IL; USMC, WWII, PTO, 2nd Marine Division, KIA (Tarawa)
James Fleischer – Detroit, MI; US Army
John Guice – Greenville, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO
Robert Hegel – IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 15th Air Force, navigator
Claude A. Rowe – Chuka Vista, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Tuskegee
Elizabeth Schwantes – Kaukauna, WI; US Coast Guard, WWII
Leslie Thickpenny – Pukekohe, NZ; NZ Air Force, WWII, flight engineer
Henry Wheeler (100) – Buffalo, NY; US Army, WWII, 12th Army, Intelligence, Bronze Star
Robert Zeigler Jr. – Ft Lauderdale, FL; US Army, Korea
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Posted on October 11, 2018, in First-hand Accounts, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged Air Force, Army, aviation, CBI, History, Military, Military History, Pacific War, veterans, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 85 Comments.
Oh. My. Goodness. That’s some tale.
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A Lucky accident?! 🙂
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Now that’s some kind of beginner’s luck!
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Is there such a thing as a happy accident? 🙂
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That’s a great story. Good to see it preserved.
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Something different for the readers. Thank you for stopping in to see it too, Simon.
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You always have something interesting to read. I’ve been a bit slack about visiting other blogs lately.
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We all get like that, Simon. It’s natural.
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Glad for these excellent posts
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Thank you.
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Salute
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I am honored
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Truth is stranger than fiction indeed GP, I don’t know why he goofed he was told to drop the bombs when nudged and that’s exactly what he did, scored a bulls eye, Methinks they should have given him a couple of special medals.He obeyed orders and sunk a Jap ship doing so
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Sounds good to me, Beari, I suppose the Brass didn’t think so.
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Excellent telling of the event. We never know how things turn out sometimes but must trust in our making the best decision we can at the time, with available information and capability.
That’s what May did, although the decision was triggered in error. Thank you.
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Happily for us, his mistake turned out for the best. Thanks for coming around.
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Reblogged this on depolreablesunite.
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Thank you for this.
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A great story Thanks for sharing it
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My pleasure!
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Een heel goed verhaal dat dn toch nog goed afliep maar dat je niet wil horen vertellen als je er zelf mee gecvonfronteerd wordt maar er stond blijkbaar een engel aan zijn zijde.
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Goed gedaan, Mary Lou. In feite is de patroonheilige van de Airborne Michael de Aartsengel.
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This tale is especially well written
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I suspect the gentleman was there at the time, or at least read the official report! 🙂
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I think that was a lucky accident!
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And I firmly agree with you, Emma. Have a great day!
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Anyone who discounts the human factor — whether in successes, failures, or flat unbelievable events — just doesn’t know much about people. This is a wonderful story. It reminds me of the day a friend’s old cat (whose first name began with “S” and rhymed with kitty) jumped into his truck, bumped the gear lever into neutral, and drove the truck into the creek. Granted, it was a cat that did it rather than a person, but it still proves the point: You just never know.
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Fact is always stranger than fiction!! Love the cat story. Thanks, Linda!!
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Much appreciated, John!
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Happy to do it.
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That was quite a story. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
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You said it, Adam!! Thanks for dropping in!
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Reblogged this on Dave Loves History.
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Thank you very much, Dave.
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Every cloud has a silver lining as they say!
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In this case – Most definitely!!
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Dear GP Cox
yesterday we tried out our new car going to the Norfolk Broads, an area like the Everglades without alligators. We visited a late medieval church with paintings of the saints. There we read that Saint Michael, the most senior of the three Archangels, is the patron saint of the paratroopers. We didn’t know that the paratroopers had a patron saint. Do you know why Saint Michael is your patron saint?
I like your May-story 🙂 Maybe Saint Michael helped against the Japanese 😉
We wish you a great weekend, wonderful, happy and creative.
With love from the North Norfolk coast
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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He is often called Saint Michael, but to be technical, he is an Angel. Michael the Archangel to Catholics. He is often shown with armor, or a weapon of some kind as he drove the devil out of Heaven. Who started the tradition of Michael as the Airborne patron saint, I do not know.
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HA! Thanks for this another great story.
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Not ALL mistakes are disasters, eh, Anne?! haha
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Mercifully! 😀
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Good story, and can I add that the War In Afghanistan image is poignant, sad, and just beautiful..if that makes sense.
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It’s from a veteran who knows, David at…
https://mywarjournals.com/
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Enjoyed the story. Surprising how a little nudge will sometimes get us into territory we hadn’t intended to enter.
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Could you just imagine? If it was me, I KNOW the results would have been catastrophic!!
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Sounds like it all worked out in the end.
Quick note about that top image in your post– it’s depicting a moment over Ormoc Bay on November 10, 1944. Jack Fellows is the artist. You can find out more about this painting on our website: http://irandpcorp.com/products/ormoc-bay-a-dangerous-place/
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Thank you, I’ll have to go back and edit the post. I thought it looked like his work, (I’m quite the fan), but the site I took it off of didn’t mention anything about Jack Fellows.
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TinEye and Google Images might be of assistance with reverse image searches when you need to track down the original source.
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Thank you. I feel bad because he is such a good artist! There’s emotion in his work.
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You’re welcome. Don’t feel bad about it, just search around for a bit if the artwork you come across looks like a particular artist’s style. If anything, it’ll broaden your knowledge of their work and give you a chance to introduce it to others. We count ourselves lucky to be able to work with Jack Fellows.
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Agreed all the way around!
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Must have been a difficult job conscience wise, something I can only speculate on.
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I think he did pretty well for his first time up, don’t you think?
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Definitely so
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Good story. I understand his trepidations about releasing it but really, he wasn’t the first nor last!
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I’m sure he wasn’t, it had to be tense up there!!
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A super story….and so good to see it available for people of later generations.
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Thanks, Helen. Not all mistakes turn out disasters, eh?!!
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An unbelievable story! But it can happen to the best of us.
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It sure can, Peter. (I think I caught a few people off guard with this story… chuckle, chuckle….
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So, they were basically just tossing bombs out the window. .
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That’s the size of it… 🙂
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Another story that can’t help but bring a laugh. Thanks, GP.
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That’s what I figured, John. We can use that after talking war and carnage for so long!!
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That is true.
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A wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it.
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You are very welcome, John. It’s good to hear of these kinds of errors for a change.
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Great story. At least those bombs did not go to waste. They killed some Japs even if it was the wrong location.
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haha He was just trying to do his duty, maam – can’t see why he was angry with people repeating the story, I think it’s great!!
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I can see the movie title now… A Nudge Too Soon! Great story with a positive result.
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haha – LOVE the title, John!!
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Interesting, and indeed a fortunate mishap! I wonder how many such fortunate mistakes have occurred throughout our history? I would bet a great many. However, there were some not so fortunate ones too.
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It’s amazing how in each book I read there appears to be some; if we put in how many websites are out there – I wouldn’t even dare to guess-ti-mate!!
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This is great story. I can only imagine how he felt. You didn’t mention what he did to the passenger – I hope it was someone that had some rank to protect him.
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I’m sure the passenger felt bad enough when he reprimanded! (At least I hope so)
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These stories are just great….the more that are written down the more they can be remembered from a disappearing generation….well done….chuq
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Thank you. It’s the reactions from readers like yourself that are making me lean toward a blog with the stories I’ve missed – that’s AFTER this one ends certainly (and a break – I have some things I need to do for the Nat. WWII Museum.
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Keep me up on any changes for I love these reports and stories….chuq
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It’ll be a while, but I’ll let you know.
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Thanx…chuq
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So his flub turned out for the better anyway.
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A pleasant accident – wish I’d have a few of those!!
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A nice quirky story, and a happy ending too. No doubt there are thousands of similar wartime tales to be told. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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There are – wish I could have told them all!
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