rcdann
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2nd Lt Robert H Daniel Jr.
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06/22/2007 09:27:06 AM
My Uncle Robert Daniel flew P-47's. He arrived in Europe August 1944. On October 4, 1944 he was killed in a jeep accident in France on Route N31. He was a passenger. I believe there were 6 in the jeep. Per his records that I have received from the National Personnel Records Center, the Air Force Historical Research Agency, and the US Army Human Resources Command, he was in the 389th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group. He was buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery Champingneul near Chalons Sur Marne, France until 1948 when his remains were sent home to Waco, Texas. Hopefully someone on this forum knew him.
Robert Daniel
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rcdann
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RE: 2nd Lt Robert H Daniel Jr.
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06/29/2007 06:52:36 PM
I have finally located the eye witness account of my Uncle Robert Daniel’s accident. The account is in a letter sent to my Grandmother in 1945. Unfortunately, I have no last names, except maybe the name “Demmonâ€. John wrote to a lady named Yvonne in Baton Rouge Louisiana. A friend of Yvonne quoted John’s account and sent it to my Grandmother. The photo copy I have of the letter is not signed. My Dad may not have photo copied the part of the letter with the author’s name.
" A week ago last Sunday was the most miserable day in my life. Oct. 4 was miserable because Bob Daniel (Dogutt) was killed. He was the closest friend I ever had both in and out of the Army. It's easy to understand when you realize that we'd been living together day in and day out for the last 4 months. For that reason I think a fellow really makes closer friends in the Army than he ever would in civilian life, don't you? Bob and I had shared each others troubles and packages from home, sweat it out at cadet training together and had all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant experiences together, but never once did either of us want to split up. I guess we just got along.
Bob, Geo, Demmon and I had just spent a week in Paris, having a wonderful time, and were on our way to our group in a jeep when we had the accident. We were all thrown out and the jeep turned over about 5 times. I saw the whole thing because I wasn't even stunned. I knew Bob was hurt the worst and after Geo came to, it took me at least five minutes to impress upon him that Bob was hurt seriously and that he had to look after him while I went for help. I ran for a mile before I finally saw a light. I ran the whole neighborhood and conversed with them with my hands and the little French I knew. I know that I'd had an accident. I know there is no other group of people in the whole world as kind and as free hearted as the French. Some of them ran down to the accident with first aid kits while I rode a bicycle a couple of more miles into town to get a doctor. I woke the village doctor and was very fortunate to catch a ordinance road patrol truck. The doctor gave Bob morphine and expressed to me that he needed to be taken to a hospital immediately. Just as we were about to put Bob in the truck, he died. He had been injured internally and there was nothing anyone could have done for him. He never regained consciousness. It was then that I remembered what his mother had told me in the bowling alley in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She said "Take good care of him, John". I've seen a lot of my buddies get killed in plane accidents, but it wasn't anything like this, ever. "
Other Notes:
Lt Robert Daniel was senior at Baylor University when he enlisted in the Army Aircorp
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shooshoobaby
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RE: 2nd Lt Robert H Daniel Jr.
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06/30/2007 01:18:45 PM
Robert - Although a Sad letter , Good to know he had Buddies that cared about him.
Mike
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rcdann
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RE: 2nd Lt Robert H Daniel Jr.
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07/03/2007 02:11:41 PM
John H. Crawford may have been the friend of my Uncle that was in the jeep accident and wrote the letter that is in my previous post. In June 1944, my Uncle Robert Daniel was at Pocatello Idaho getting P-47 gunnery training. John H. Crawford was at Strother Field, Winfield Kansas. On June 16, 1944 he wrote my Uncle. Here is some of the letter: “I suppose you have your share of accidents out there too. But man these sirens are whining constantly here. Just today we had two on the field here. One guy had a flat tire on the take off and he went tearing out across the field. This afternoon, Ozimek landed on the ass of another 47. Fortunately no one was hurt. But the one I like to talk about happened yesterday. My engine conked and froze when I was about 11,000 ft. Boy did I have fun harvesting wheat in Oklahoma. I’m completely clear because the report reads “internal engine failureâ€. It was a lot of fun, good experience, and barely skinned up the plane. The 47 sure makes a swell belly landing. Another guy forgot to put his wheels down and landed here on the runway about one hour after I went down. We had three forced landings the first day we flew. All of them were lost. I expect we have caught up with you on time. We’ll either get gunnery in Galveston or South Dakota. We got in ten new D-26’s last week with bubble canopy’s and paddle props etc. Well, write me again soon Do-gutt and tell me how you’re doing with this damn seven tons of so called “powerâ€. Your Pal Lightningâ€. ==================================================================== As I’m sure most reading this know about Quentin Aanenson’s “A Fighter Pilot’s Storyâ€. Here is the link to his web page: http://pages.prodigy.com/fighterpilot/ One of the story’s on the web site by John Rutherford had this to say about jeeps: “The pilots in my squadron were not allowed to drive any kind of vehicle because we had gotten into too many accidents when we first arrived in France. I often thought about the irony that driving was too dangerous but every time we flew we put our lives in great jeopardy.†================================================================= I speculate that fighter pilots driving jeeps at that time were “fast†drivers. A jeep has a high rollover rate. Note that the accident that killed my Uncle rolled about five times per John’s letter. Also, on the 366th Fighter Group Association web page causality list, there is a 1st Lt George Demmon in the 391 fighter squadron that was a POW on 12/18/44. I wonder if he was in the jeep accident? Robert Daniel
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