Humbled by a big story

I attended a tree dedication ceremony to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the completion of the runway at Stansted Airport. The star guest at the event was Major Edward W Horn an 88 year old veteran who flew B26 bombers from Stansted in WW2. He was offered the chance to say a few words and what a story he told, I have copied the article from the local paper below as they recorded the story better than I ever could. It was simply amazing how much history he had lived through and how matter of fact he was about it. I felt truly moved and humbled..... I could have listened to him for hours. Only once before have I been in the presence of such a person and that was when I was in the VIP lounge in Keflavik airport in Iceland with a veteran of the Normandy landings, again it was an amazing story told in a matter of fact way.

 

Airport chaplain Chris Bishop led the memorial and along with six local air cadets, he read the names of the all 97 members of the 344th Bomb Group, known as the Silver Streaks, who made the ultimate sacrifice before Major Horn placed a memorial wreath by the tree and gave an emotional speech which visibly moved all those listening.

He said: "Seventy years ago I was a 19-year-old young man, just got my commission and wings and was assigned to the 344th Bomber group in Florida, where I learned to fly a B26 Martin Marauder.

"It had a bad reputation in those days. We had a lot of accidents and they called it the 'widowmaker'. I apologise to the ladies, but it was also called the 'flying prostitute', because it had no visible means of support."

After initial training, the young pilot was transferred to Savannah in Georgia, where he picked up his aircraft, signing a receipt for the Us government to the tune of £192,000.

"I said 'hey, am I responsible for this?' He said 'no worries – the aircraft is expendable and so are you’."

He was then moved to West Palm Beach in Florida, where he now lives, and from there he and his comrades made the 9,000 nautical miles flight to England to join the war effort, arriving in February 1944.

Their first mission was in March and the first casualties soon followed. Two aircraft and two men were lost, trying to fly in fog and cloud before the bombing raids to France, Belgium and the Netherlands even began.

Their first target was the V1 and V2 rocket bases which were terrorising London.

The 344s also played a key role in D-Day. Major Horn said: "They had to honour of leading four groups into Omaha Beach and it was a very successful mission."

It was also the day the group lost the aircraft he had signed for. It blew up and the crew was lost, but Major Horn was not on board and did not take part in the assault on June 6, 1944.

Just days before, on May 28, he was shot down over Amiens in northern France. He said: "My crew got show down and out of the six man crew, two were killed, machine-gunned as they parachuted."

Two comrades were picked up by the French resistance and Major Horn was one of two captured by the Germans, beginning a stint in a series of prisoner of war camps.

First he was taken to Stalag Luft III in Silesia, immortalised in the classic war film, The Great Escape. Unlike in the movie, which featured American icon Steve McQueen, the escape was an entirely British enterprise as the fliers from each country were kept apart.

Major Horn said: "The RAF were outstanding engineers and they were great at building tunnels They made plans to get 200 of their people out - no Americans were involved.”

Unfortunately although the tunnel, called Harry, emerged outside the prison camp’s fence, it was too close to the guards and their dogs and only 76 were able to make a bid for freedom before the tunnel entrance was discovered and all but three men were recaptured.

Major Horn said: “Fifty of them were murdered on Adolf Hitler’s orders and they cremated their bodies and sent them back to the camp.”

Next Major Horn was sent to Berlin before being moved to a site near Nuremberg – which made him a prime target for Allied bombers trying to finish off the Third Reich.

He said: “I spent my time in a slit trench with a board over my head, there was bombing day and night.”

He was finally liberated from Stalag VII in April 1945. by General George Patton and his troops.

Major Horn, who is a member of the Military Officers Association of America, the Order of the Daedalians, the Caterpillar Club, and The American Ex-POWs, and was past Commander of the Suncoast Chapter of the American Ex-POWs, told the audience: “He said ‘I bet you bastards are glad to see me’.”