Presentation Date: May 27, 2004
Marauder Men LTCOL Frank Kappeler, USAF (RET)
LTCOL Frank Kappeler, USAF (RET) Navigator on Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, B-26 Navigator, 323rd BG, 8th AF and 1st LT John O. "Jake" Merrill, USAAF B-26 Pilot, 387th BG, 9th AF. Last dinner meeting at WAM.
LTCOL Frank Kappeler, USAF (RET) Navigator on Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, B-26 Navigator, 323rd BG, 8th AF
1st LT John O. "Jake" Merrill, USAAF B-26 Pilot, 387th BG, 9th AF
Written by John CrumpLTCOL Frank Kappeler, USAF (RET) Navigator on Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, B-26 Navigator, 323rd BG, 8th AF
After the daring B-25 raid on Tokyo led by Jimmy Doolittle, Frank Kappeler continued to fly combat missions with the Army Air Forces. Those missions totaled 81 by the end of the war, 53 of which came in B-26 Marauders in the European Theater. As navigator aboard the eleventh bomber to take off from the carrier Hornet and bomb Tokyo on April 18, 1942, Kappeler and his crew bailed out of their B-25 over the coast of China.
Before he left the far East, though, Frank got ten days of rest and recuperation and was involved in operations in Karachi, India (now Pakistan). "I was assigned to another bomb group there. They didn't have any planes or crews yet and I was there four or five weeks, living in a tent in the desert and eating C-rations. One day six B-25s and their crews came in from the States. They decided they were going to bomb a Japanese target in a day or two. They asked some of the Doolittle Raiders if we'd like to go along as observers, since we had so much combat training.
"We took off and bombed an airfield on the Burma Road at Lashio. Then we flew in formation, six planes, over the Himalayas. We were at 8,000 to 10,000 feet, flying around clouds and mountain peaks, when all of a sudden we got into thick clouds. "Fortunately our plane was on the left side of the formation, and I happened to look out the window to see trees and rocks about as high as I could see. About that time the pilot put it into a steep climb and we broke out about four or five minutes later into the clear sky. We were the only plane in the sky."
Later, the B-25 Kappeler was aboard found another of the bombers in the flight and the two Mitchells landed in Kunming. The crew of a third plane bailed out and walked into Kunming ten days later. Three of the six B-25s crashed into mountain peaks, killing all crew aboard them, including three Doolittle Raiders. Kappeler returned stateside via Pan Am flying boat. When he arrived in Washington, D.C., Frank says he was wearing a pith helmet, a shirt, some British shorts and Indian sandals. His duffel bag with the rest of his clothes had all been returned prematurely, the Army Air Corps believing Kappeler had been with the other Doolittle Raiders on the Lashio mission. Frank says his attire on his first day back brought curious stares.
Tampa, Florida was Frank's next base, until he was reassigned to the 323rd BG, 99th Combat Bomb Wing. From November 1943 to June 1944, Kappeler served in the European Theater as a navigator in B-26s, and he became the Group navigator. Early on, Frank had a personal sampling of Eighth Air Force troubles in successfully using the B-26 on bombing operations. The 322nd BG had arrived in England and begun operations a few weeks before the 323rd BG arrived. The 322nd BG's first mission was a low level attack on a power plant at Ijmuiden, Holland. Kappeler recalls the day after his bomb group arrived, the 322nd was due for another low altitude strike on that target.
"I was sent over to their field to see how the briefings and debriefings would go on. I got over there a little late and they'd already taken off on this second mission. "Every plane in the 322nd BG got shot down. I thought it was by fighters, but heard later it was flak. They lost their bomb group commander, squadron commanders and every plane was shot down. The only plane which returned was one that had aborted, mid channel. And I was out at the base waiting for them to come back to hear how they debriefed and nobody came back." Kappeler says this incident stirred deep questions as to the B-26's future, with word that the Marauder would be relegated to non-combat operations. Frank says his own Group Commander talked Air Force brass into one more ‘trial' mission. Instead of a low level mission, he argued the 323rd BG B-26s should be used at medium altitude.
"Two or three days later we flew and bombed the railroad marshaling yards in Abbeville, France, and I was the lead navigator. We bombed without any trouble. We were going to fly five combat missions and if they were successful, the Martin Marauder was supposed to be back in good stead. Kappeler flew lead navigator on three of those five missions, the results of those attacks earning high grades from the Air Force, preserving the active life of the Marauder.
Frank also flew as a togglier on some of his missions, and during one of these, after his B-26 had dumped its payload, he was reminded of the ever-present dangers of bombing. "I was sitting there with my map case over my lap and my feet, I guess, about six to eight inches apart, and a piece of flak shell came up through the nose of my plane. It went between my two shoes, went right though my map case, missed my face and hit something above me and took off.
"When I got back to headquarters, the intelligence officer wanted to put me in for a Purple Heart. I told him you can't get a Purple Heart for just a couple of burn marks on your shoes." Kappeler also got a chance in the war's final days to see the Luftwaffe's jet, the Me-262. He says while the 323rd's escorting P-47s were hitting ground targets, the enemy aircraft flew in front of his bomber. Yet he couldn't get a shot off for fear of hitting the formation of B-26s in front of his. When he last saw the Me-262, it was being chased by Thunderbolts which had been called back upstairs.
By war's end, Frank Kappeler had flown on 45 missions in B-26s. He stayed with the Air Force after the war, at postings in Texas, Ohio, California, North Dakota, and Japan. In the Korean War, he flew on 26 missions in B-29s - - for a career total of 81 combat missions.
1st LT John O. "Jake" Merrill, USAAF B-26 Pilot, 387th BG, 9th AF
Jake Merrill was an 18 year old freshman from Illinois attending the University of Wisconsin on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. Soon thereafter, he was living in a fraternity house when three Army Air Corps captains in full uniform showed students films of the Russian front and, "told us how the opposite sex would not be able to resist us if we became pilots." Aviation cadet training for Merrill came in Tulare and Merced, California, followed by more training in the AT-17 trainer in Arizona. Next came transition to the B-25 Mitchell bomber at Mather Field near Sacramento.
After Jake had about 20 hours in B-25s, his instructor wanted him to go on a cross-country flight - - from Sacramento to Cheyenne, Wyoming to Chicago to New Orleans and back to Sacramento. The plan was to form up at four o'clock in the afternoon at 12,000 feet over Mather Field, with the instructor piloting the lead B-25. Merrill says he arrived at altitude on time, at the right place, but couldn't find the other plane. He decided to go on ahead anyway.
Aboard his Mitchell was a co-pilot with eight hours of experience, an engineer and three GIs hitching a ride to Chicago. Somewhere near the Rockies, Merrill found himself in the clouds, unable to climb over or escape them by flying north or south. By this time he'd been in the air for seven hours and the plane was low on fuel. "I did what we were taught to do... find a railroad track, get down to about 100 feet and fly along it until you come to a railroad station. They always have the name of the town painted on the roof. You're also supposed to lower your gear and flaps so you're going slow enough you can read the sign.
"So, I'm flying down the main street of this town... trying to read the name on this railroad station. Guys are bailing out of their cars, running. They think somebody's going to land on the main street." Meanwhile, Merrill says the three GI's aboard his B-25 weren't very happy. They'd seen jagged peaks through the clouds, and given the low fuel situation, Jake had told them to put on their parachutes and be prepared to jump.
"Suddenly here's the biggest, most gorgeous runway I'd ever seen right in front of me. We shot out red flares, went in and landed. It turned out to be Hill Field in Ogden, Utah, which I'd passed over three and half hours before. I don't have a clue where I was those three and half hours.
"I'd made every mistake a young, inexperienced pilot could make, but God was looking after me." Merrill says the three hitchhiking GIs disappeared, and he can only assume they now tell their grandchildren about their ride with the crazy pilot back in 1943. Jake later found out the instructor pilot of the other B-25 had battled bad weather on his way to landing in Cheyenne, then had lost an engine on the New Orleans leg of the trip. The instructor had been the one called on the carpet instead of Merrill.
Next came formation flying and practice bombing at Greenville, South Carolina. Merrill says when it came time to pick up his crew and fly a B-25 overseas, he was called into the commandant's office. "He said, ‘We would like you to volunteer and stay as an instructor pilot for a few months.' I was kind of dubious about it. I wanted to get going.
"But he said, "If you don't, you'll be the oldest second lieutenant in the Air Corps." Merrill accepted the assignment, and in retrospect says it was great. His flight time had been 80-100 hours a month. By the time he went overseas in the summer of 1944, he had more than 600 hours flying B-25s, a lot of flying experience in those days. By the time Jake was assigned to the 559th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group, 9th AF, the Normandy invasion had already occurred. The 387th was based in France, and was flying B-26 Marauders.
He says he got seven hours of training in the Marauder before his checkout flight as a first pilot. "I was about as unknowledgable about the B-26 as anybody ever was. The only two things I learned were - - first off, you didn't land them like a B-25.
"In a B-25 you came in at a reasonable angle, leveled off and landed. In a ‘26 you came in, dropped straight down, leveled off. And the last thing you wanted to do was drag it in low and slow, hanging on the props. We had one terrible accident in that regard..." Merrill was a replacement pilot in his squadron, flying co-pilot for his first six missions before settling into the left seat for the remainder of his time in the ETO. The Battle of the Bulge provided the backdrop for ten of Merrill's early missions over Europe. His most memorable combat mission came in February, 1945, in an attack on a bridge in Mayen, Germany. "Most of our targets were in support of the ground troops - - we were bombing bridges, marshaling yards, and road intersections. This particular day they decided there could be a lot of flak. We were sending 36 airplanes at 12,000 feet against this bridge. They got an idea to send three ships in, about two minutes ahead of the bomb group at 9,000 feet, and we were going to drop fragmentation bombs on the flak positions to get them to pull their heads down.
"They gave me the honor of leading the three ship formation as my first Iead pilot position. I wasn't really enthusiastic about this, but we took off and everything was going fine. "I pulled out ahead of the formation about 3,000 feet above me. We were on our bomb run, had the bomb bay doors open. There was one burst of flak off to the left, right at our altitude, and one off to the right, and it didn't take a genius to guess where the next one was going. It went through our right wing tanks, knocked the engine out, and set the plane on fire. We finished the bomb run and dropped the bombs, but couldn't get the bomb bay doors closed and all the flames were coming in. So I made the decision to get everybody out of there."
Because he was the lead ship, Merrill's B-26 had eight crewmen, four in front, and four aft. To get out of the front of a B-26 required dropping the landing gear, as the escape hatch opened into the nose wheel well. "You've got to go out headfirst, because if you go out feet first, your feet get into the slipstream first and slam you against the side of the nose wheel well."
Merrill says the bombardier got safely out, but the co-pilot went feet first and was killed. The navigator then followed head first, as did John, who soon found himself floating down through the overcast. "They were shooting at the formation above me and you could hear the shells going by. I was trying to make myself as small as possible. I broke out at a couple thousand feet, over what looked like the biggest city I'd ever seen in my life. I'm trying to aim at the town square, but I lit on a German rooftop, very steep, and I fell off the edge. And I'm thinking, ‘this is gonna' hurt.' "But my chute caught in the chimney top and I'm swinging back and forth. I can't get down and they can't get up and they finally get a ladder. I think they were boy scouts or Hitler Youth down below.
"By the time I get down there are a lot of mad civilians and they're getting pretty nasty. But then the German army came and chased them away." Merrill was interrogated, taken to a stalag near Nuremberg, then marched through the Black Forest to Moosburg, where he was held with other American aircrew. John says the biggest problem they had as prisoners was being strafed by American planes.
"That happened on two or three different occasions. There were about five thousand of us marching, and they thought we were Germans. Some P-51s came over one day and killed quite a few of our guys. Somehow there was radio contact between the senior American officers and for the rest of that trip, every morning as it got daylight we'd have an escort of P-38s. They'd circle us all day long and make sure no other Americans came along and mistook us for German troops."
In late April, after what John recalls as a pitched battle outside the camp, General Patton's Third Army repatriated the airmen. Merrill remembers Patton himself atop a tank, driving on after the POWs had been freed to fend for themselves. Hitching an airplane ride to Le Havre, John Merrill made his way back to the United States.
When Merrill got out of the service, he found he'd received a commendation for the Distinguished Flying Cross. A friend and Merrill's wife got involved in tracking back the paperwork.
In 2003, John Merrill was awarded the DFC for that mission on 24 February 1945. "When I received the Distinguished Flying Cross I made it very clear - - I said, flying a bomber is a joint effort, it's a teamwork process. I really accepted it on behalf of all the crew members. I made a point that it wasn't me, it was everybody that really deserved it."