On Veterans Day, I was thinking about my paternal grandfather (John Warren) who served in World War I in the Canadian Army. Also, my uncle (Doug Warren) and father (John Warren) (1920-2013) served in World War II in the US Army Air Forces (which became US Air Force in 1947). Also, I (Doug Warren) (1945-) served during the Vietnam War (1968-1972) in the US Air Force.
John Warren
During World War I, my grandfather, John Warren (1891-1978) served in the Canadian Army and was wounded in action in France. He was born 2 Jun 1891 in Pendeen (St Just in Penwith), Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. He emigrated to Ironwood, Gogebic, Michigan, United States in 1911 from Liverpool, England.
He was still a British citizen when the war started, and wasn't able to enlist in Michigan. So he enlisted as a Private with Canadian Overseas Expeditional Force (44th Battalion) at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on 17 Sep 1917 at age 26.
During the Battle of Amiens, Somme, Picardie, France, he received a penetrating gun shot wound in his back and right shoulder with a fractured rib and lung damage. After recovery in England, he was discharged by the Canadian Army and returned to Ironwood and was naturalized as a US citizen in 1919.
I had included a 3-generation photo with my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather (also John Warren) as the feature image for my Family Knowledge post.
Doug Warren
Near the end of World War II, his son, Douglas Milton Warren (1922-1944), my namesake Uncle Doug, was a bombardier for a B-17G Flying Fortress four-engine heavy bomber (nicknamed "Betty Lou"). He was killed in action when shot down over Gellenbeck, Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany (west of Hanover) at age 21 on 11 Jan 1944.
He was in the 532nd Bomb Squadron of the 381st Bomber Group and about 136 miles from their bombing target at Oschersleben, Germany, where there was a major aircraft manufacturing facility that produced Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. His B-17 took off from Ridgewell, England, and was attacked by fighter planes and forced out of formation so they had to fight alone during a half-hour battle.
Eight members of the crew were killed, but two parachuted to safety and were taken prisoner, later released, and returned to the United States. The mother of the navigator who received a visit from the right waist gunner survivor wrote a letter to my grandparents with details.
Doug was killed before the plane went into a spin because the Germans brought in his flying jacket, with the identification picture that he carried in his breast pocket, and there was a large hole through the picture which they figured was a bullet hole.
The ball turret was shot off with the gunner in it, and the tail section was blown off when a German ME109 exploded next to the B-17. Finally, the Fortress exploded and broke into two. The front end went into a spin, so no one could get out, but the tail part leveled off and floated down a little more slowly so the two waist gunners had time to bail out before reaching the ground.
Doug was awarded a Purple Heart and Air Medal after his death, which was presented to my grandparents. See my earlier post about My Uncle Doug with some additional information.
