 |
| Staff Sergeant Paul Haney served in the 568th Bombardment Squadron. http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/12181 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5980740/paul-f-haney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/568th_Strategic_Missile_Squadron |
Paul F. Haney never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 16, 1919 in West Virginia. His parents Francis and Edith were also both born in West Virginia. His father worked as a farmer and died in 1920. His mother died in 1925. Paul had two older brothers and one older sister. By 1930 Paul and his two brothers were living with his 76 year old widowed paternal grandmother. By 1941 he was attending Marshall College and was a guard on the football team. That same year Paul married Jeanne Anne McCormick. They had one daughter in 1942.
He was drafted into the army on June 7, 1943. At some point he volunteered for the Army Air Forces and eventually became a staff sergeant and waist gunner in the 568th Bombardment Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. It was based out of Farmlingham, England.
By late July 1944, the Soviets were on the east bank of the Vistula River in Poland. The part of Warsaw on the west side was under control of the Germans, but the Polish resistance took them on and gained temporary control of the city. When the Russians decided to provide no aid to the Poles, the Germans allocated resources to destroy the Polish resistance. Winston Churchill orders efforts to supply the Poles at night with low level night drops. Over two months the RAF lost 41 planes and 360 aircrew trying to keep the Poles supplied.
The Americans got into the act relatively late and only flew one supply mission to Warsaw of 107 bombers on September 18, 1944 as part of Operation Frantic. Paul Haney, serving as a right waist gunner in the B-17 I'll Be Seeing You, was part of that mission. Only one plane was lost - I'll Be Seeing You crashed near Warsaw. At least two of the crew survived and became prisoners of war. Sgt. Haney was killed in action. Only 20 percent of the airdrop made it to the Poles with the rest falling in the German or Russian zones. It was the last supply mission sent. By October 2, the Germans had wiped out the resistance. The casualties among the resistance exceeded 20,000 and upwards of 200,000 civilians were killed.
His grave is at Marshville Cemetery in Marshville, West Virginia.His widow never remarried and died in 1999. Their daughter died at age 5.
Last year on this date I profiled New Guinea airbase MP Jack McKean. You can read about Jack here.
Last year on this date, in a change from the normal, I profiled TWO of the fallen: Battle of the Bulge Silver Star hero Stanley Dec, 28th Infantry Division, and B-17 flight engineer Gerald Craven. You can read about Stanley and Gerald here and here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
No comments:
Post a Comment