TBT 3.24.21

10 Years Ago -  As published in the March 24 & 31, 2011 Leader

​Rounding up the ‘Sheriff’s Posse’ - the story of a WWII air crew

The crew of the ‘Sheriff’s Posse’ took a break to get their picture taken during their WWII tour of duty in England . Front Row - (L to R) Robert E. Sheriff, pilot - Ohio; John D Kerr, co-pilot, Ohio; Joe Oliver, navigator, Texas; Everett Wagner, bombardier, California; Back Row - Alex Gargac, waist gunner, Ohio; Wayne Dennison, ball gunner, Maine George Jankos, radio/gunner, New Jersey; R.W. Brousseau; O.W. “Red” Farwell, tail gunner, Missouri.

EDITOR’SNOTE:

​O.W. “Red” Farwell of Plattsburg was a member of the ‘Sheriff’s Posse’ during WWII. He and his wife of 64 years, Rachel, made Plattsburg their home in 1966. They met at University of Missouri - Columbia while getting their education degrees.

Red retired from Clinton County R-III in 1983 after 17 years as the elementary school principal. Rachel retired in 1989 after 23 years with the district teaching in the elementary school.

This story will continue next week as we look at the World War II tailgunners and their role in the war.
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As this generation of history passes on it is important to keep their story alive.

– BeckyBlack

written by Wayne R. Dennison
91st Bomb Group
323rd Bomb Squadron World War II, 8th
Air Force Ball Turret Gunner
Army Serial #31317300
In 1943 Robert E. Sheriff of Cleveland, Ohio finished pilot training, and along with airmen formed one of the thousands of aircrews needed to fly the thousands of bombers being made.

Sheriff’s crew was partially formed in Ephrata, Washington, and trained there until they moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma for advanced training. The crew at that time consisted of Sheriff, pilot; Joe Oliver, navigator, of Texas; Everett Wagner, bombardier, of California; Royal Brousseau, engineer, North Dakota; George Jankos, radio, New Jersey; HaleAutry; waist gunner, Tennessee; Alex Gargac, waist gunner, Ohio; and Otis "Red" Farwell, tail gunner, Missouri. At Ardmore, Oklahoma 2nd Lt. John Kerr, copilot, Ohio; andWayne Dennison, ball turret gunner, Maine; completed Sheriffs crew.

All the airmen were assigned a position on the bomber. Crew members who had to man the machine guns attended gunnery schools, with practice firing thousands of rounds of ammo on the ground and in the air from several different types of aircraft. When Dennison arrived at gunnery school, he was amazed to find that not one of the gunners had taken the ball turret position when they joined the crew. They were all so polite and saved it for him. He was too tall for the turret, but managed to see the gun sight by leaning to the right.

Getting to know each other and getting familiar with our positions did not take us long. We practiced bombing using flour bombs so that we were able to see when we hit or missed our targets. The whole crew was needed to fly a bomber. When the new copilot was asked to lower the flaps for take off he reached for the "wheels up" lever. The engineer was quick to stop that action.

Replacement crews were needed at the many U.S. Army air bases in England.

After gunnery school in Oklahoma we headed for Grand Isle, Nebraska, where our new plane was waiting. It was a new unpainted aluminum B-17G, the latest model of the Flying Fortress with chin turret. We were issued our new electrically heated flying suit, parachute, May West life vest, new .45 caliber automatic, helmet, and A-2 flight jacket. All of our unneeded items were sent home.
While waiting to fly east two of us gunners went out on the runway parking area to admire our new B-17. Another new B-17 was landing and we were amazed to see how smooth the landing was. Soon the plane taxied up near us and stopped. Two pilots stepped out. Their flight suits looked different, and when they took their helmets off and their hair fell out we were happy to greet our first women's army service pilots (WASPs). These were the young women who flew the new planes from the factories to air bases throughout the USA. Our hats were off to those girls.

The next day we boarded our new plane and headed east toward Bangor, Maine, but with electrical problems we landed in Grenier Field, New Hampshire. There we waited two weeks until repairs were made. Finally we were on our way to Goose Bay, Labrador, where the snow was so deep on each side of the runway that it looked like we had landed in a tunnel with no top. After a stop in Iceland we landed in Prestwick, Scotland.

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O.W. “Red” Farwell stands in front of one of the bombers the ‘Posse’ flew. If you look closely you’ll see a caricature of a dog sheriff beside a picture of Hitler with a sign reading “Wanted Dead Or Alive” - Airman artist Tony Staffer painted this for the ‘Posse’.

Compiled by Becky Black

Last week we started the story of the ‘Sheriff’s Posse’, a World War II air crew. Plattsburg resident O.W. “Red” Farwell was a tailgunner for the ‘Posse’. He told The Leader back in 1999 that the average life of a tailgunner was nine missions.

Mr. Farwell completed 33.

The ‘Posse’ never aborted a mission, no one received a Purple Heart for being wounded in battle and all ten returned home from the war. Mr. Farwell shared in 1999 that their B-17 bomber had more than 100 bullet and flack holes. He recalled that their worst missions were flown over Berlin.

The ‘Posse’ came home from WWII and when they were discharged they attempted to return to normal life. But like many soldiers, the stress of the war weighed heavy on their minds.

“It took 15 years or so for me to get over the war,” said Mr. Farwell. “There were many times I would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.”

Over the years the ‘Posse’ got together for reunions and kept in touch. Mr. Farwell and Mr. Dennison are the last two living members of the ‘Posse’.
“I am not a hero,” said Mr. Farwell. “I just answered a call from our government and did a job they asked me to do. The more than 40,000 flyers of the 8th Air Force that were killed in action over Germany and German-held territory are the real heroes.”

And now the conclusion of “Rounding up the Sheriff’s Posse”...

I recall seeing the lead weight of the radio aerial dragging behind hitting the wire entanglement surrounding the runway and snapping off From Prestwick we boarded buses to" theWash", on England's east coast, where we paused a few days for more gunnery training. Later we arrived at our destination, Bassingborne at Royston, the 91 st Bomb Group of the EighthAir Force, home of four flight squadrons, the 322nd, 223rd, 324th and the 401st.

We were pleased to find that we had been assigned a modern airbase with solid barracks with running water, electricity and heat. Not all the new bases had such modern accommodations. I had known about this base because my brother Frank: had been there since fall of 1942 as a ground crew airman. He repaired the planes damaged in combat.

I soon discovered his quarters. Not far from his door was a target with a deer outlined on a big wooden box. His bow and arrows were close by. Frank: was glad to see me but I knew how he would sweat out all of my missions. The first mistake some of us made was to watch returning bombers landing with wounded aboard and looking on as wounded were loaded into waiting ambulances.


Our plane had been flown from Scotland and we were soon flying a couple of practice flights. Since our pilot's name was Sheriff we naturally contemplated calling our plane "Sheriff’s Posse"; the pilot was sheriff and the crew was the posse out to get our man, Hitler. We had flown several missions before we had an airman artist by the name of Tony Staffer paint a caricature of a dog sheriff beside a picture of Hitler with a sign reading "Wanted Dead Or Alive".

The first combat for a new crew started with part of the new crew flying with an experienced crew. Our pilot flew as co-pilot with a pilot who had over 20 missions. Two of our gunners flew in their regular positions, waist gunner and ball turret. Berlin was our target on March 22nd. The area was overcast so we bombed by radar. Anti-aircraft guns were accurate and "flak" was heavy that day. On the bomb run a plane off our right wing received a direct hit and began moving in our direction so our pilot pulled our plane back to avoid a collision. The stricken plane disappeared into the overcast below. We found our plane, bomb bays open, directly over one of our own planes with the top turret gunner trying to wave us off. Our ball turret gunner notified the pilot and we moved back prior to "Bombs Away". When the bomb bay doors were closed we headed back to England. As we prepared for landing it was found that the tail wheel would not lock and so collapsed when landing. The tail of the plane dragged down the runway with sparks flying. Fearing fire we got out fast. We counted 125 "flak" holes. Returning to the rest of our crew (some of whom had not flown on this first mission) Autry, of Memphis, Tennessee said to the men, "Y'all boys ain't gonna like this.”

The other three trips we made to Berlin were made with Berlin skies clear and waiting in the distance as we prepared our bomb run level. Fifty or more German fighter planes were preparing to meet us head on. As the enemy fighters began their attack all of our machine guns that pointed forward started chattering for the few seconds it took for the fighters to make their attack through us. The ball turret was turned 180 degrees to witness two B-17s explode as they collided behind us and "Red" Farwell in the tail saw several enemy fighters and other B-17s go down into the city. Many parachutes were seen going down with men headed into the city.​

A direct hit by anti aircraft guns usually brings a bomber down. Collisions became more common as the bomber formations grew larger. Even little errors could bring a bomber down. After take off one early morning gunners began to take their positions and as one of them passed the window overlooking the number three engine a mist was seen streaming from the main gas tank between number three engine and the fuselage.

Looking closer he saw that the gas cap was missing. Ahurried call telling the pilot to land quickly likely prevented an explosion. The exhaust from number three engine and the misty gasoline being siphoned from the wing tank: were a dangerous combination. Our pilot cut the rich mixture of gasoline, landed, got a new gas cap and we caught up with our formation. If the gunner hadn't noticed the missing gas cap the plane might have exploded or surely would have run out of gas. Either way would have brought the plane down.

Somewhere along the way, when we had our own plane again, we had the name "Sheriffs Posse" painted on the left side of the plane. We flew 12 missions in our own plane. Then one day when we had a few days off another crew flew our plane. On return from a flak filled sky they were in a line of B17's taxiing back to their dispersal area when their brakes failed and they crashed into a row of GI trucks which were waiting to return fliers to debriefing. The crash ruined the plane and probably the trucks too.

Our crew flew on 12 different planes. All but three were lost to German fighter planes or anti aircraft guns, or were so badly damaged they never flew again.

Our last mission was to bomb gasoline storage tanks beside the Elbe River at Hamburg, Germany. It had been hit earlier but our bombs made a direct hit and I still remember the concentric heat rings as they engulfed the city and then disappeared with smoke rising high behind us.
After finishing 35 missions (officially 34) we were assigned in different directions.

The ball turret gunner was assigned to ground duty guarding the base with 50 caliber machine guns. Parting with the men we went in and out of combat with was difficult for us. We had grown to like each other like brothers. After the war the Sheriff s Posse crew met for reunions in Maine, Missouri, Tennessee, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and California.

Written by
Wayne R. Dennison 
91st Bomb Group
323rd Bomb Squadron World War II, 
8th Air Force Ball Turret Gunner
Army Serial #31317300

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30 Years Ago -  As published in the March 21, 1991 Leader

Plattsburg gets a big "leap" on St. Patrick's Parade 

Francis Hales, left and father Bachnak, right join the Plattsburg Frog in leading the first parade celebrating St. Patrick's in the area. Getting a jump on other communities Plattsburg held their parade on Friday, March 15th. Mr. Frog may be known better as Bob Bloss.

The Senior Citizens Center sponsored the annual event.

Surely St. Patrick is a senior citizen

One of the most active organizations in this area is the Senior Citizen's Center at Plattsburg. Proving this, they sponsored the annual St. Patrick parade in downtown Plattsburg. By the way, the convertible is a beautiful green.

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50 Years Ago -  As published in the March 26, 1971 Leader

TIMBER-R-R-R-R-R

Shingles and other various items were blown around Thursday evening during the wind storm, but the most damage apparently was to Bill Harper's auto. Bill's car was parked beside the home owned by Glyndon Berryman on Clay Avenue when during the evening the huge part of the tree was blown across the top, causing extensive damage.