Gale Winston Cleven

Military
Portrait of Gale Cleven, 100th Bomb Group UPL 68726 UPL 68726 Studio portrait of Gale Cleven, 100th Bomb Group
Gale Winston Cleven On

Object Number - UPL 68726 - Studio portrait of Gale Cleven, 100th Bomb Group

Major Gale "Buck" Winston Cleven (27 December 1918 - 17 November 2006) was a pilot with the 100th Bomb Group. He was one of the group's original members and was given command of the 350th Bomb Squadron in July 1942. 

He was shot down on 8 October 1943 in B-17 Flying Fortress "Our Baby" and was held as a Prisoner of War in Stalag Luft III. 

Cleven was portrayed Austin Butler in Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air (2024)

 

Biography



Gale Cleven's military career mirrored that of his best buddy John Egan; beginning at Randolph Field Texas in March 1940 where he signed up as a flying cadet, and picked up the nickname 'Buck'. From there he progressed via Kelly Field and an advanced flying school In Louisiana to McDill Air Force Base where he was assigned to the 29th Bomb Group in May 1942  as an instructor. 

Two months later Cleven was promoted to commander of 350th Bomb Squadron at Boise, Idaho. In January 1943 he was sent to Kearney Air Force Base, a training and assignment centre for the 100th Bomb Group, where the unit prepared for overseas duty. After three months at Kearney the 350th Bomb Squadron was shipped overseas to join the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts. In June 1943, he was reuinted with his friend John Egan, who was had arrived in the UK earlier with the 418th Bomb Squadron.  

Cleven's first mission was to Bremen on 25 June. His eleventh mission - for which he was to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross- was to Regensburg on 17 August 1943. Cleven was flying the lead plane in the low squadron for that mission, the Group flying 'tail-end Charlie'. The enemy fighters hit them in force as soon as they crossed the Channel, the 350th getting the worst of the attack. Harry Crosby:  lead navigator on the mission wrote in his memoir 'A Wing and a Prayer' that Cleven's lead plane had taken several hits before it reached the target, with one man dead, another seriously injured and the hydraulics and electrical systems damaged. When another 20mm shell ripped the nose of the plane and wounded the bombardier, the co-pilot began to panic and prepared to bail out- Cleven told his co-pilot to stay put and successfully landed the plane in Africa. 

Cleven was shot down on 8 October 1943, on a mission to Bremen - during 'Black Week'. There were problems with his ball turret before they reached the target, and then over the target they were hit by three fighters 'at 10.00 clock high, out of the sun' which caused considerable damage and knocked out No 2 engine. Control cables were severed and part of the left wing was blown off as shells ripped through the nose. Cleven's crew threw out all gear to lighten the load while he tried to fly the stricken aircraft to the Dutch border. The plane was forced down by further attacks and the order was given to bale out. 

According to Cleven's account, he landed right at the front door of a farmhouse lying on his back with a pitchfork on his chest. With his pilot who had landed nearby he was then taken to a Luftwaffe station near Osnabruck, where more members of the crew eventually gathered. Then followed the usual pattern of interrogations, before eventually being moved to Stalag Luft III in Sagan on 23 October 1943. Not long after Cleven was joined by John Egan- who had been shot down two days after Cleven on the Munster raid. Cleven greeted Egan with the words 'What the Hell took you so long?' 

So they both adapted to life as prisoners of war, fortunate in that they were old friends together and that the camp was commanded by Luftwaffe Colonel von Lindeiner-Wildau who exercised firm and fair control (until being relieved of his command following the 'Great Escape' in March 1944). Red Cross parcels arrived regularly and neutral observers visited them. The senior officers - British and American- exercised firm control over all activities and supplies. The Americans were not directly involved in the 'Great Escape' of March 1944 but from then on life was tougher, with more appeals and spot searches. Following D-Day, as the Allies moved in from the West and the Russians from the East, rations were reduced, privileges withheld and discipline hardened. 

During that time, the winter of 1944 to 1945, the senior officers ramped up preparations for what was to come, stockpiling food supplies, gathering information and preparing for all contingencies, and illegal radios keeping them appraised of the situation. 

The call to evacuate the camp came very suddenly on 27 January 1945  at 7 pm. with orders to move out in one hour.  The men initially left the camp four abreast, some men pulling the makeshift sledges they had prepared. Within a very short time - after fifteen miles - it was single file and heavy items already thrown out. Cleven recalled one night when they took shelter in a building previously used by Polish and Russian forced labourers, the straw mattresses were 'so infested by bugs they could have moved by themselves'. In the general chaos of the march, Gale Cleven evaded - leaving the column somewhere en-route to Moosburg- and was back at Thorpe Abbots twelve days later. 

After the Second World War, Cleven stayed in the US Air Force serving in Korea, Vietnam and with a spell at the Pentagon. He retired in 1964 with the rank of Colonel. While in the service Cleven had earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a doctorate in physics and following retirement initially worked in IT for Hughes Aircraft. Later he took over the management of Webber College in Florida which at the time had only fifty students and a poor reputation. He was able to turn it around and it later became a university specializing in business studies. 

Gale died on 17 November 2006 and was survived by his second wife Lee, his first wife Marjorie having died many years earlier. 

Connections

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Units served with

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 100th Bomb Group 350th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Flight Officer
  • Role/Job: Co-Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 100th Bomb Group 350th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner

Aircraft

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

27 December 1918

Other

Prisoner of War

8 October 1943 Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser) 49-11.  

Died

17 November 2006

Buried

19 November 2006 Santa Fe National Cemetery 

Revisions

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ContributorKDonohoo
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Minor grammatical amends to biography

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Contributorjmoore43
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Added some Punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid readability.

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Contributorjmoore43
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Updated Born, Died and Buried events per Find-a-grave Memorial ID 18089976.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18089976/gale-winston-cleven

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ContributorAl_Skiff
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Added some Punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid readability.

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ContributorHattie
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ContributorHattie
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Contributorjmoore43
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Added " / " in the "Role/job" field as a separator to aid readability.

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Biographical summary compiled by Helen Millgate from information in 'Splasher Six' ,100th Bomb Group Foundation at https://www.100thbg.com.

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Contributorjmoore43
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Added POW camp info to the POW event and a S/N from WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).

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Contributorjmoore43
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Added a connection to the 100th BG mentioned in the book"Flying Fortress" (pg. 173) by Edward Jablonski.

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Contributorjmoore43
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Added a "#" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.

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"Eighth Air Force", By Donald L. Miller.

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Contributors nelson
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I knew Buck Cleven personally

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ContributorAAM
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Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 950 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Gale Winston Cleven: Gallery (2 items)