Hemrich Crew – Assigned 755th Squadron – May 9, 1944

2Lt Raymond Hemrich’s crew arrived at Horsham in May 1944 and was assigned to the 755th Squadron.  Their first mission was on May 25th to the marshaling yards at Mulhouse, Germany.  Two days later, the crew was witness to an ever-present danger in the process of assembling large groups of aircraft, when they saw two Liberators of their squadron collide over Cromer.  Ray Hemrich was called upon to make a statement for the official report.  “ I was flying on the right wing of the lower left element.  We were starting to turn to the right and we swung in toward the center of the formation.  I seen two ships hit but only got a glance as I was busy.  It seemed the wing of one ship hit the other on the tail section or that he drug his tail across the wing.  I seen the tail section start to bend to one side and come completely off.  The ship started a slow spiral dive to the left and passed close over the top of our ship.  My men watched the damaged ship until it disappeared thru the clouds and reported seeing no one bail out.”

The crew flew two missions on D-Day and one mission as deputy lead for the group on June 12th. In mid-July Hemrich was selected to be a lead crew.  As lead, they needed an extra navigator, and 2Lt Charles F. Gaine was assigned to the crew.  He had come to the 458th with 2Lt Charles W. Quirk in May.  Lt Quirk and the rest of the crew had been shot down July 12th on their 12th mission.  Four of the crew were able to evade capture and return to England, while the others were made POW. The crew’s bombardier, 2Lt David C. Jelinek and Gaine were not on board for this mission, and they both went to other crews.

Hemrich’s crew had a lengthy break from combat flying from the end of August to the beginning of October, flying only one operational mission – a Truckin’ flight on September 22nd to Lille, France.  After this they resumed their tour.  On October 21st the entire crew was sent on Rest Home Leave, which normally would have taken place around their 15th mission, not the 27th.  After their return, they flew an additional four missions in November to round out their combat tour.  Most crew members were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and returned to the States (Zone of the Interior) in December. Ed McLean, sent on Temporary Duty to Grove in Berkshire (AAF 519), was awarded the DFC in January, and Fred Gaine was awarded two DFCs, one in January and one in March 1945.

Raymond Hemrich was promoted to Captain in January 1945, and appointed as “Instructor Pilot” on the Proficiency Board. He is listed as flying the group’s assembly ship Spotted Ape on five occasions in January and February.  After a stint at the 32nd Ferry Squadron, with Charles Gaine, both men were returned to the US in March.

Tragically, Charles “Fred” Gaine died in July 1946 at the age of 22 from polio.

Horsham St Faith – Flight Line

Maurice Saliman, Claude Watson

R&R

Standing: Bernard Gehring, James Charlton, Ed McLean, Gene Young, Maurice Saliman
Kneeling: Ray Hemrich, Eusebio Montano, Richard Leahy, Vernon Freeman

L-R: Bernard Gehring, Charles Gaine, Maurice Saliman, Eusebio Montano, James Charlton, Vernon Freeman

Albuquerque – October 1995

L-R: Vernon (Shorty) Freeman, Ed McLean, Eddie Montano, Ray Hemrich, JM Charlton, Eugene Young

Additional Images

All photos on this page supplied by: Brian Leahy & Mark Wilson