/8th Air Force
The deadliest day for the 492nd was 67 years ago today. Naturally I've been thinking about all of the men that were lost on this mission to Politz but, as usual, one name always seems to dominate my thoughts more than the others. This year, his name is Sgt Miguel Reyes of the Faucher Crew R-12. Since his body was never found, it's assumed he was lost to the Baltic Sea.
Reyes was a 21 year old married man from Tucson, Arizona, which is not all that far from me. According to his enlistment file, he only had two years of high school and got drafted at age 20. Makes me wonder if he had to drop out to get married. If so, perhaps he had a kid or two before going off to England. And if so, how can I find them? Reyes is such a common name I knew this wouldn't be easy.
I checked the next of kin records Al Blue had given me. It lists his wife, Dolores Ann Reyes, and his mother-in-law, Mary A Campbell, along with a note that they both lived at the same address. I searched the net to see if I could find anything using these two names as well as Miguel's. I was hoping to find an obituary or something which listed family survivors. I came up blank. I don't get down to Tucson very often but one of these days I need to spend some time in their library going through old newspapers.
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I'm not the only one thinking of Reyes today either. At the Margraten Cemetery in The Netherlands a local man, Michel Vendelmans, has adopted Reyes' name on the Wall of Missing. Initially he wanted a regular grave but all of those have been taken. Michel contacts me from time to time to see if anything new has been discovered. You know he spent most of today at the cemetery thanking Sgt Reyes and company for his freedom. Me too.
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“Politz II - A Deadly Sequel”
Ernie Haar wrote...
Good thoughts, Paul. In consideration of Veteran's Day ( coming up) I wonder if the local Tucson newspaper would be willing to write the story and, perhaps,family members or friends may respond with some detail??
Rick Centore wrote...
Hi Paul,
After reading your comments I revisited the Mission 34 page. I found the Walter Cronkite article interesting. In it, Cronkite described two attacks on the bombers that hit Germany on June 20, 1944. He wrote, "One group ran into 30 to 40 single-engined fighters that swept in from the rear while the Fortresses were bombing Magdeburg. Another was hit by 50 rocket and cannon-firing fighters just before they reached the German coast. Both attacks were broken up in short order by the powerful American fighter escort, and at least seven enemy planes were downed in the latter fight." The latter was the attack on the 492nd BG which was hardly, "broken up in short order." Maybe it was seen to be in the national interest, but he really minimized the damage inflicted by the Luftwaffe. He mentions the 7 German fighters brought down but not the 14 B-24s of the 492nd that were lost. To have told the truth would have acknowledged the fact that the tactics of the German Air Force were successful. He does say that a record 23 bombers found refuge in Sweden.