Meehan Family Has 3 Sons on Casualty List
Bainbridge News & Republican, August 31, 1944
Sgt. William Meehan, of Sidney [Delaware Co., NY], has been reported missing in action. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Meehan, of Delhi, who have had two other sons on the casualty list. T/5 Lawrence T. Meehan, of Sidney, was wounded in action and is in the Rhoads Veteran Hospital at Utica, where his condition is reported good. The other son, Clarence Meehan, of the Navy, lost his life in a ship explosion off the coast of North Carolina in 1942.
Mrs. Gertrude Meehan has received word from the War Department that her husband, Tech. Sergt. William Meehan, returned to duty Aug. 4. He had previously been reported missing in France [Binghamton Press, Sept. 16, 1944]
Frank Cole Gunner with Combat Crew
Bainbridge News & Republican, August 31, 1944
A girl corporal in the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Molly MacArthur, who won the first American beauty contest for British service women in the ETO, christened a Rockdale, N.Y. gunner's Marauder recently at the Ninth Air Force Bomber Base in England. The gunner is Staff Sgt. Frank W. Cole, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ora Fisk, of Rockdale [Chenango Co., NY]. His wife resides at 53 Willow street, Sidney, Sgt. Cole, an engineer-gunner, now flies with the combat crew of the Marauder piloted by Capt. Elden Z. Shimmin, a flight commander of Patterson, Calif. WAAF Corporal MacArthur, who is stationed at an RAF field where she is a truck driver, named the plane, "Lilli Marlene," after she received a silver cup at the Lilli Marlene beauty contest inspired by the famous war song of the same name. The plane flies with the Silver Streaks Marauder Group, which is commanded by Col. Reginald Vance, of San Antonio, Texas. Sgt. Cole has completed 48 combat missions over Europe, where he helped to bomb airdromes, railroad bridges, flying bomb launching sites and other Nazi military installations. He wears the Air Medal with eight oak leaf clusters for "meritorious achievement" with the Ninth, and is now working in close support of advancing ground forces on the Western front. Formerly a machine operator with the Scintilla Magneto Division of Sidney, he attended Mt. Upton Central School and entered the Army at Binghamton in April, 1942. He studied aviation mechanics at Keesler Field, Miss. and received his gunner's wings at the AAF gunnery school at Trudal Field, Panama City, Fla.
S-Sgt. Paul Robek on Furlough from England
Bainbridge News & Republican, August 31, 1944
A little family on Bainbridge East Side [Chenango Co., NY] was made very happy last week with the arrival of a tail gunner on furlough from England. S/Sgt. Paul J. Robek, who arrived at Camp Upton Aug. 20, is spending 21 days with his wife, nee Bernice Cook, and little daughter, after serving as a tail gunner on a Flying Fortress for more than a year in the European Theatre of Operations.
S/Sgt. Robek has completed 30 missions over Germany and occupied countries, and has been instructing in England since Apr. 22. He was the first Bainbridge service man to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; he also wears the Air Medal with five Bronze Cluster, the European Theatre of Operations ribbon with two Bronze Stars, and the Good Conduct Medal. The entire group of his original crew finished the 30 missions with no replacements. The pilot was grounded because of his eyes, one boy has received a medical discharge because of flak injuries to his leg, another crew member received a severe injury to his hand from flak. He stated that his worst experience was during the raid over Schweinfurt, on Oct. 14. This was the raid that our bombers met extremely heavy flak and approximately a 100 planes were lost. He said that his first experience with the German rocket plane was during his second mission over Poland. They were very ineffective, he declared, because they couldn't control them.
At the end of his furlough S/Sgt. Robek will report at Atlantic City, N.J., for re-assignment.
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