42-30370 Little Caesar, Veni Vedi Vici

media-15756.pdf (3.57 MB) Document 15756 William L Beigel Collection Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Staff Sergeant Joseph A Wolozyn of the 96th Bomb Group researched by historian Bill Beigel. The file contains copies of primary documents that discuss the return of personal effects, circumstances and causes of death, and memorialisation of the fallen airman.

Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) researched and donated by Bill Beigel: www.ww2research.com

Object Number - Document 15756 - Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Staff Sergeant Joseph A Wolozyn of the 96th Bomb Group researched by historian Bill Beigel. The file...

Delivered Cheyenne 23/5/43; Gr Isle 4/6/43; Dow Fd 27/6/43; Assigned 338BS/96BG [BX- ] Snetterton 4/7/43 LITTLE CAESER; then 337BS; Missing in Action Warnemunde 29/7/43 with Cecil Walters, Co-pilot: Jim Olsen, Navigator: Jerome Boland, Bombardier: John McIlvaine, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe Wolozyn, Radio Operator: Ralph Lewis, Ball turret gunner: Roland Domenick, Waist gunner: Joe Truitt, Waist gunner: Barnett Goodman, Tail gunner: Frank Wade, Observer - Lt Joe Lewis (11 Killed in Action); mid air coll with 42-5908 (388BG); crashed North Sea, off Cromer, Nfk. Missing Air Crew Report 144. VENI VEDI VICI.

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 96th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 338th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 338th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 35390046
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 338th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 338th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Observer
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 96th Bomb Group 338th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 31077856
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator

Places

Missions

Events

Event Location Date Description

Crashed

Cromer, UK 29 July 1943

Other

Failed to Return (FTR)

Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany 29 July 1943

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Added the A/C nickname listed in the A/C “Description” section.

Date
ContributorkstrykerAK
Changes
Sources

Snetterton Falcons II: The 96th Bomb Group in World War II by Robert E Doherty & Geoffrey D Ward. Second Edition with Errata & Supplemental Information. Taylor Publishing Company. 1996. pages 38, 40, 41

Date
ContributorkstrykerAK
Changes
Sources

Snetterton Falcons II: The 96th Bomb Group in World War II by Robert E Doherty & Geoffrey D Ward. Second Edition with Errata & Supplemental Information. Taylor Publishing Company. 1996. page 38

Date
Contributorphil marchese
Changes
Sources

File photo

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

MACR 144 gives Bomb Squadron as 338th, not 337th Bomb Squadron.

Date
Contributornewsbureau
Changes
Sources

Delivered Cheyenne 23/5/43; Gr Isle 4/6/43; Dow Fd 27/6/43; Assigned 338BS/96BG [BX- ] Snetterton 4/7/43 LITTLE CAESAR; then 337BS; Missing in Action Warnemunde 29/7/43 with Cecil Walters, Co-pilot: Jim Olsen, Navigator: Jerome Boland, Bombardier: John McIlvane, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Joe Wolozyn, Radio Operator: Ralph Lewis, Ball turret gunner: Roland Domenick, Waist gunner: Joe Truitt, Waist gunner: Barnett Goodman,Tail gunner: Frank Wade, obs-Lt Joe Lewis (11 Killed in Action); mid air coll with 42-5908 (388BG); crashed North Sea, off Cromer, Nfk. Missing Air Crew Report 144. VENI VEDI VICI.

1st Lt. Sidney Rosberger, Navigator, and 2nd Lt. Edward Quigley, Bombardier, were recovering from combat injuries when the Little Caesar perished on July 29, 1943.

The following is a brief, but gut-wrenching synopsis of Little Caesar's final mission, excerpted from the book, Snetterton Falcons:

". . . The final 96th testimony comes from Lt. Ed Quigley, bombardier aboard Lt. Cecil Walters' Little Caesar. There was nothing left of the lead squadron by now. The lead and his deputy had been shot down. The others had aborted. Over in the lower squadron, Hugh Moore had been shot down and the others, heading for home, were running a terrible German gamut.

At this juncture in the slaughter, Captain Francis Madsen had taken over the 96th lead from his high squadron position. He didn't have much of a group left behind him, just Walters, Bob Hodson and Charlie Mooreland (and perhaps that mysterious 5th plane mentioned in the press release, which was lost near the English coast.)

Bombardier Quigley finishes the Oschersleben story from his perspective just before the approach to the target:

'Fighters were pressing home savage attacks. A fortress broke out in flames across all four engines. I saw 5 chutes open. A German fighter exploded, a ball or orange flame hanging in the air. Another fort' twisted out of control, en engine burning, it's tail sheared off. In the nose of Little Caesar, empty shell casings were piling up. Jerry was coming in for the kill and was swarming all over our tiny four-ship element.

I began firing from the right nose gun. A Yellow Nose dipped to go under. All the guns on Little Caesar were firing now. I could hear the pounding of the top-turret and the distinctive CHUG-CHUG of the ball. Tracers were everywhere. I started to turn back to the nose guns when something smashed me in the back. I was thrown face-down upon the bombsight. I looked around. Sid Rosberger, the navigator, was sprawled on his back, almost on the escape hatch. The unmanned guns were swinging wildly and smoke was pouring through the shards of plexiglass. Then, Sid and I both got up. Walt, the pilot, was calling on the interphone. Told him everything was OK and got back on the guns. About ten minutes later, when the Germans gave us a breathing spell, I knew that I had been hit. I put my hand under my jacket in back and showed Sid the blood. He took a closer look and said he thought it wasn't too bad. I went back to the fighters again."

Lt. Quigley eventually put his bombs on target. "I guess there must have been flak," he writes, but I don't remember. We turned on the I.P., the lead ship shot off its flares and I opened the bomb bay doors. I tried looking for the target, but it was too painful to bend over. The lead ship dropped and I let our bombs go too and close the doors."

On the way home, Quigley had time to think of his wounds for once. "When England appeared on the horizon," Quigley recalls, "I went into the radio room, where I became scared for the first time. I started shaking and smoking my way through a pack of cigarettes. We came over the field, shot off a flare to tell the Sawbones to be ready with the meat wagon and came in. Walt pulled off the runway, leaned out cockpit the window and waved to me as I struggled between two medics. That's the last I ever saw of him."

The tragedy of Oschersleben did not end today. Quigley would be hospitalized for months; but tomorrow, as we shall see, the rest of his crew, except for Sid Rosberger, would be lost.

In November, when Ed Quigley returned to combat, the only person he recognized was fellow bombardier Ray McKinnon. 'Dear God, Ray,' Quigley would ask, where is everybody?' McKinnon didn't have an answer. Inside the lonely Nissen, the two charter-member bombardiers embraced and wept."

-- Snetterton Falcons, Page 40-41

Date
Contributornewsbureau
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Sources

See photo

Date
Contributornewsbureau
Changes
Sources

"Snetterton Falcons, the 96th Bomb Group in World War II"
by Robert E. Doherty and Geoffrey D. Ward
Taylor Publishing Co. (1989)
ASIN: B001AV372Q

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 144 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

42-30370: Gallery (1 items)