Soldier News continued, 1944

MPs Payne, Hankins & Donovan at Work in Northern Ireland

Bainbridge News & Republican, April 20, 1944

 

An Eighth AAF Composite Command Station, Northern Ireland:  Nabbing draft dodgers in the ETO or solving murder mysteries--it's all in the day's work for a trio of veteran investigators serving in the military police unit at this station.  In the nine months they have been in northern Ireland, Sgts. William S. Payne, 31, in civilian life Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY] police chief; Frank A. Hankins, 45, formerly on the vice squad of the Binghamton [Broome Co., NY] police force, and John J. Donovan, 38, medical investigator for the Massachusetts State Police in Boston before entering the Army, have built up quite a reputation as investigators here and in Belfast, where their unit previously performed town duty.  Cases they solved range from murder and hit-and-run accidents to robbery and assault and battery.  But most unusual task of the three MPs was to capture a draft dodger overseas. 

 

Discharged from his job as a civilian technician, the draft dodger had opened his own business in northern Ireland instead of returning to the United States.  He ignored several communications from his draft board.  The MP investigators were put on the case, and it was not long before they tracked the offender.

 

"Warden Payne of the Blue Room" is the name which Sgt. Payne acquired a provost sergeant of the Belfast military police before coming to this station, a post he held for eight months.  He was responsible for prisoners confined in the Belfast detention room, popularly known as a hotel "Blue Room."  He is now sergeant of the guard at this station.  Sgt. Payne is anxious to get back to his old job as Bainbridge police chief after the war, and thinks his newly acquired international experience will be valuable.  He was given a leave of absence in July, 1942, to enter the Army, and received his basic training at the Military Police Replacement Training Center, Fort Riley Kan.

 

Sgt. Hankins, of Binghamton, is veteran of World War I, serving in the same company with the following men from Bainbridge:  Jasper Partridge, Thomas Cartledge, Clifton Oles, Edward D. Knight, Don C. Copley, Algwynne Collins, Edwin Collins, Kenneth Payne, and Charles Bentley.

 

Sgt. John Hill Awarded Four Oak-Leaf Clusters

Bainbridge News & Republican, June 8, 1944

 

Headquarters United States Army Forces in South Pacific:  By direction of the President, the Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of an additional Air Medal was awarded by Lieut. General Millard F. Harmon, Commanding United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area on May 12, 1944, to Technical Sergeant John N. Hill, of Bainbridge, as aerial gunner from 14 March to 22 March, 1944.  On May 12, 1944, Sgt. Hill was awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster for action 16 February to 2 March.  On May 13, 1944, Oak Leaf Cluster for services 4 March to 12 March 1944 and on May 13, another Oak Leaf Cluster for services on April 2, 1944.  A bronze Oak-Leaf Cluster is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in sustained combat operational missions of a hazardous nature during which enemy antiaircraft fire is effective or where enemy fighter patrols are habitually encountered.  The missions for which the awards were given were with the 13th AAF.

 

Lt. Herman Hoegger Killed in Action

Bainbridge News & Republican, June 8, 1944

 

Word was received a few days ago by his mother, Mrs. Ida N. Hoegger from the War Department, that her son, Lieut.. Herman Hoegger, had been killed in action.  There were no details given.  Lieutenant Hoegger enlisted in the Army in February, 1941, and was sent overseas last December, to the Italian front, where the action was heavy.  Besides his mother, he is survived by two brothers, Alvin T. Hoegger and Arthur Hoegger, and one sister Lillian Hoegger, all of Sidney [Delaware Co., NY].

 

Tech. Sgt. Anthony Wright Has Narrow Escape

Bainbridge News & Republican, June 8, 1944

 

At the Eighth Air Force Bomber Station, England, the other day, the Liberator "Son of Satan" came back from "a hell above earth" recently with two of its crewmen dead and three wounded, but its mission over Germany a success.  Riddled by 2,500 bullet, shell and flak holes, "Son of Satan," which numbered among its crew Tech. Sgt. Anthony Wright, of Downsville [Delaware Co., NY], slid down at the first English base after barely clearing the channel after unloading its bombs on a German target and shooting down four German fighters.  In the ensuing battle toward the channel, "Son of Satan" took a terrific beating and was punctured by at least two dozen 18-inch holes in its already flak-battered hull, but it held its position in formation and the crew took its toll of attackers.

 

Lt. Donald Patchen in One of longest Escort Missions

Bainbridge News & Republican, June 15, 1944

 

An Eighth AAF Fighter Station, England:  Lieut. Donald J. Patchen, 21, of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], participated in one of the longest escort missions on record recently when mustangs from the group commanded by Col. Donald J.M. Blakeslee, of Fairport Harbor, Ohio, swept across southern Germany to Brux, Czechocovakia.  While American bombers attacked a synthetic oil plant, the Blakeslee group engaged a force of enemy fighters of which they destroyed 10.  Lt. Patchen is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Earle V. Benedict, of R.F.D 3, Bainbridge.   Apparently this was the mission in which Lieut. Patchen was reported missing as the postmark of the above information was May 24, and the telegram from the War Department reported him missing since May 19.