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Old 21st November 2021, 02:36
Edward Edward is offline
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USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

I came across this interesting passage after randomly opening volume 3 of Christopher Shores et al A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945 (Grub Street 2016) - pages 252-253

Thursday, 14 January 1943
The Italian submarine Narvalo was sailing on the surface south-east of Malta when it was attacked at 1345 by three Beauforts on anti-submarine patrol. . . . carrying six Italian officers being repatriated and 11 Allied POWs plus their escorts. . . . The commander T.V. Ludovico decided to scuttle the vessel, but in the meantime two destroyers (HMS Pakenham and Hursely) arrived at full speed and opened fire, using machine guns to strafe the men leaving the vessel. Thirty-seven were killed including a captured British Squadron leader and seven US pilots from the group of prisoners. . . . "

I expected that U.S. newspapers would reveal a lot more information about the survivors but precious little about those who died. This is what I found.

Four U.S. Survivors - misspelled names in brackets[]
2nd Lt. Earle Spencer Millichamp [Millechamp] - Lake Wales, Florida (B-17 navigator)
2nd Lt. J.C. "Harrison" Lentz - Paris, Texas (P-38 pilot - 94th Fighter Sq, 1st FG)
2nd Lt. Rodman Dexter "Deck" Burley - Port Huron, Michigan (B-17 bombardier)
2nd Lt. Donald MacLeod "Red" Bryan [Bryant] - Kalispell, Montana (B-17 co-pilot)

One British Survivor
Major J.W. Street

Three U.S. pilots lost source: ABMC
1st Lt. Phillip Wagner Bailey (O-661692) - Letts, Iowa (B-26 pilot - 432nd Bomber Squadron, 17th BG)
B-26B shot down by Bf 109 12 miles W of Gabes on 31 December 1942. POW
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...-wagner-bailey
2nd Lt. Richard J. Carroll (O-724703) - Chicago, Illinois (P-38 pilot - 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th FG)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...joseph-carroll
1st Lt. Bedford E. Russell (O-403814) - Abilene, Texas (B-17 pilot - no unit listed)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ford-e-russell
_________________________

"Locked in Italian Sub, Captives Survive Sinking"
British to the Rescue
by Weston Hayes - Associated Press Correspondent
Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan)
January 19, 1943 - pages 1 &10
Valletta, Malta, Jan. 18
(AP) -- The harrowing confinement of four American and three British prisoners of war in the torpedo room of an Italian submarine and their dramatic rescue when the U-boat was blasted by a British plane in the Mediterranean was disclosed Monday -- one of the oddest incidents of the war to date.

The seven allied prisoners had a close call, because when the submarine was bombed the Italians gave way to panic and scrambled for the conning tower and air in an every-man-for-himself dash.

The four Americans were Second Lieutenant E.S. Millechamp, 24, of Lake Wales, Fla., Second Lieutenant J.C. Lentz, Paris, Texas, Lieutenant R.D. Burley, Port Huron, Mich., and Second Lieutenant Don Bryant of Montana.

They told their story upon their arrival here along with Flying Officer J.N. Cartwright; pilot of a British bomber which sighted and bombed their prison submarine. All the Americans and Britons are recovering rapidly from their experience. Burley and Bryant received treatment for exposure and glass cuts. The Americans were airmen who had been forced down in axis-held territory and were being taken to Italy.

"We were aboard the submarine at Tripoli January 13," said Lieutenant Millechamp. "Without life preservers they put us in the forward torpedo compartment with a loaf of bread. We had two Italian soldiers as guards, but they never had been to sea before and got seasick. We had to take care of them.

SUB'S INTERIOR WRECKED
"At 1:35 p. m. the following day there was a terrific bang, which wrecked the inside of the submarine and blew out the lights. The Italians were panicked. They screamed and bumped into one another in a mad dash for the conning tower, which was protruding above water though the deck was awash."

Lentz took up the story:
"All but three Italians got out on deck, then shut the hatch, locking the remaining three and ourselves in the sub. We stumbled in the dark to the officers' mess, which had begun to fill with chlorine gas. There was a leak and the submarine began to sink. So the Italians on deck opened the hatch again to send down mechanics to stop the leak. We charged through that hatch in such a fury that the mechanics never got down."

One of the Britons, a major, had a pair of binoculars and saw a destroyer which he identified as British. He saw a flash, which he first thought was a heliograph signal, but as the shell whizzed overhead he and the others quickly realized they were now an artillery target (!).

FLAG TAKEN DOWN
The Italians next hoisted a flag to the conning tower, but the Americans and British, taking over from the excited crewmen, made them take it down. They also had the two deck cannon dismantled and thrown overboard as a further sign of surrender.

JUMPED INTO THE SEA
But the shells kept coming, and then the Italians jumped into the sea. The submarine was sinking slowly and the Americans had to leave the deck also. Millechamp, clinging to the conning tower, was the last to jump into the water. The Americans and Britons were in the water nearly two hours without life jackets. The Italians, who had life preservers, still were yelling and screaming and alternately praying, the Americans related.

SAVED BY DESTROYER
But the British destroyer finally hove to and rescued all the men struggling in the water. Lentz was so exhausted he had to be pulled aboard.

NARROWEST ESCAPE
But Burley had the narrowest escape. British seamen gave him artificial respiration for an hour and 30 minutes before they restored him to consciousness.

All the men were given hot baths, wrapped in blankets, and placed in bunks aboard the pitching destroyer. The roll was so severe that two British sailors sat on Lentz to keep him in his bunk.

After a time, hot tea, soup, bread and marmalade. An hour later they were served a chicken dinner. "It was the best food we ever had," said Millechamp.

At Port Huron, Mrs. Wilbur West, reporter and Sunday society editor for the Port Huron Times-Herald, was overjoyed to learn of the escape of her brother, Lieut. R. D. Burley, from the Italian submarine. Mrs. West said that a cablegram from her brother informed their parents, Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Burley, of his safety at American headquarters in Malta "after various adventures," but gave no further details. Lieut. Burley's wife Frances, whom he wed last June, just a week before he received his bombardier's commission at Abuquerque, N.M. also lives in Port Huron. Burley attended the University of Michigan for a year.
_____________________

"Italians Think Deck Burley is Still Their Prisoner"
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan)
18 February 1943, Thursday - pages 1& 5

There was a kid wearing British battle dress at our table. He was Rodney D. Burley, of Port Huron, Mich., one of five flyers saved when British destroyers sank an Italian submarine carrying them to a prison camp a few weeks ago.

Burley's most vivid memory of his trip is waking up aboard the British destroyer, groping blindly for a mug of tea, saying, 'What's this stuff?' and hearing a voice say: 'Well, I'm damned. He's American, not Italian.'

"When he talks of the hour that he spent in the submarine while it was being depth-bombed, he is very casual, as they always are when something has hit them hard. He remembers how cold the air felt when they got on deck and the scared faces of the Italians watching the destroyers bear down on them."
___________________

"Army Confirms Death of Lt. Bedford Russell"
Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas)
22 November 1944, Wednesday - pages 1 & 11

. . . The plane piloted by Lieutenant Russell, he said, was returning to a North African base when it was shot down in a bitter fight with Messerchmitts. The B-17 was shot to pieces but Russell "by skillful maneuvering, managed to crash land on the desert without hurting anyone," he said.

The Italians later captured the men and after about 10 days put them on the submarine. . . .

The other prisoners and I were in the water for nearly two hours," Lieutenant Millechamp said. "The shelling went on. A lot of Italians and four of the prisoners were killed. The British, of course, had no way of knowing we were there." Lieutenant Russell, he said, was one of the prisoners who died. . . .
________________________

"Millichamp, a former life-guard, is credited with saving the life of a British officer [Major J.W. Street] by keeping him afloat when the submarine was sunk." [Millichamp was later awarded the OBE]
____________________

"Flyer Missing After Italian Sub is Bombed"
Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois)
Sunday, May 7, 1944

"Lt. Richard J. Carroll flew a P-38 to England in July, 1942, and was one of the first Americans to put a Lightning into action in Algiers, landing there Nov. 8, 1942, according to his mother, Mrs. William P. Carroll . . .

After 20 successful missions over enemy territory, Lt. Carroll was shot down over Gabes, Africa, in December 1942, and was captured by the Italians.

No word reached Mrs. Carroll from the war department. Recently she spoke to one of her son's buddies who was rescued: "The last I saw of him was when we were all in the water," was all he could answer to her plea for information."

"It's more than a year since the submarine was sunk and we haven't received any more information than that," Mrs. Carroll said. "If only we had some definite word."
___________________

A full account of this would make a great story.

Edward

Last edited by Edward; 21st November 2021 at 09:12.
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Old 21st November 2021, 08:19
Edward Edward is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 January 1943

I was initially perplexed that the loss of the B-17 piloted by 1st Lt. Bedford Russell was not listed in HMAW vol. 3.

A historian more knowledgeable than I informed me that the bomber was unassigned and being ferried to a U.S. B-17 base when it was shot down c. 3 January 1943.

B-17F "Nameless"
1st Lt. Bedford E. Russell - Pilot
2nd Lt. Donald M. Bryan - Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. Earle S. Millichamp - Navigator
2nd Lt. Rodman D. Burley - Bombardier
+ enlisted flight crew

Below is a description of the shootdown of the B-17 by Lt. Millichamp.

"Florida Pilot [Navigator] Tells of Escape From Italian Sub"
By Merrill Mueller (Newsweek's North Africa Correspondent)
The Miami News (Miami, Florida)
Sunday, February 21, 1943.
New York, Feb. 20 - Last Dec. 19 the Flying Fortress Nameless took off from a field somewhere in America and followed the compass course to war set by her navigator, Second Lieut. Earle Millichamp, 24 of Lake Wales, Fla. Within 25 days the Nameless was destroyed over enemy lines, her crew captured, and then in an almost unbelievable air-force saga, most of here officers were rescued from a sinking Italian submarine in mid-Mediterranean.

Earle Millicamp told me the story: "We'd just started for our base after a raid when Messerschmidts jumped us. It was dusk, and we had difficulty keeping in formation after the enemy's second attack had damaged Nameless. As the rest of the formation another Messerchmidt shot out one engine and the aileron and ripped up the wing so we crash landed. We all piled out and set the plane afire. I helped the bombardier break up and throw the pieces of the Norden bomb sight for miles around the desert.

"Suddenly 50 Italians supported by a light tank appeared and made us prisoners. We were driven immediately to Gabes where we were fed at one of the enemy's largest air bases. We continued to Tripoli, where we underwent a couple of terrific air raids. Those RAF boys surely lay it on. That port was a mess.

On the afternoon of Jan. 13 we were rushed to an Italian liner, but it sailed without us. At dusk, as another heavy air raid started, we were pushed into a 12-year old 600 ton submarine and were told that we were being taken to Taranto and to be prepared for an uncomfortable voyage which would last five days. . . . "

Last edited by Edward; 21st November 2021 at 19:07.
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Old 21st November 2021, 10:25
Leendert Leendert is online now
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

NARA POW records for Russell, Millichamp, Burley provide no info re unit, but Bryan says 346th BS, which was part of 99th BG operating in N. Africa.

Regards,
Leendert
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Old 21st November 2021, 21:19
Edward Edward is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

Thanks Leendert

I had not checked the POW rolls at NARA.

I assume that 2/Lt. Donald M. Bryan would have been assigned to the 346th Sq / 99th BG following his liberation as the unit was not based in North Africa until February 1943.

I hope that someone might know the names of the two other British POWs who were rescued on 14 January 1943 as well as the names of the enlisted men of the flight crew for 1/Lt. Russell's B-17. They would have their own POW experiences and perspective on their shootdown.

Edward
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Old 22nd November 2021, 10:38
Stig Jarlevik Stig Jarlevik is online now
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

This is an odd loss

Why is there no MACR issued?
How come it was shot down over Gabes? If the aircraft was on its delivery flight it is a terribly faulty navigation.

I can understand the loss is not in MAW 3 since, if I understand it correctly, they deal with combat related losses.

Even more strange is that there is no listed claim for the aircraft either.

Cheers
Stig
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Old 22nd November 2021, 12:16
Leendert Leendert is online now
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

A cached article in the South Florida newspaper Sun Sentinel of Sep. 19, 2021 relates Rodman Dexter Burley's story. He says the shoot down was on 3 Jan. 1943.

Burley enlisted on March 21, 1941, when he was 21. After some time in the infantry, began flying missions as a bombing officer on a B-17.

"On Jan. 3, 1943, his ordeal began. That day his crew was shot down while flying over the Sahara Desert. He survived the crash with a small shrapnel wound to his thumb, and he and his crew were captured."

USAAF Chronology has no heavy bomber missions for 12th AF that day.

Missing crew and/or B-17 must be recorded somewhere indeed...

Regards,
Leendert
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Old 22nd November 2021, 14:40
RSwank RSwank is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

Interesting story about Burley printed at the time. Burley was from Michigan:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8936...-times-herald/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8936...-times-herald/
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Old 23rd November 2021, 02:12
Alex Smart Alex Smart is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

99% sure that 1Lt. Phillip Wagner BAILEY, O-661692 was in B-26B 41-17905, 432nd BS, 17th BG.12/31/1942.

LENTZ a/c was I believe 41-7582, 1st FG/94th FS. 01/07/1943.( January 7th,)
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Old 23rd November 2021, 02:53
edwest2 edwest2 is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

From joebaugher.com No MACRs mentioned.


41-17905


17905 (17th BG, 432nd BS, 12th AF) shot down by Bf 109F-4 flown by unknown pilot of JG 53/5 near El Hamma, Tunisia

after being hit by flak over Gabes, Tunisia Dec 31, 1942. 5 crew KIA, one bailed out and returned to duty.



41-7582


7582 (2 FTS) crashlanded 5 mi Ne of Berteaux, French Morocco Dec 28, 1943
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Old 23rd November 2021, 04:14
Edward Edward is offline
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Re: USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943

Stig, I believe that some of the reasons for the lack of documentation on the loss of the 1st Lt. Russell's B-17 is that the bomber and crew had not been assigned to a combat squadron at the time of the loss.

However I cannot explain why an Axis claim for the shootdown of the B-17 does not appear in HMAW vol. 3.

Leenert, thanks very much for locating the 2003 South Florida Sun-Sentinel article on R. Dexter Burley receiving the Purple Heart.

"A Private War"
By Susan J. Park Staff Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 28, 2003

"Burley and the other prisoners scrambled to the surface, only to be greeted by three allied destroyers shelling the submarine. "The aftermath was the worst part of the whole thing," Burley said, wincing at the memories. "People getting blown all apart."

For hours they were fired upon, and Burley struggled to stay alive by diving into the water and holding onto the side of the submarine. With the shelling, he realized that he couldn't stay in the area, so he swam out in the bitterly cold water without a life preserver. Miraculously he was spotted and fished out by the British destroyer. But by that time the rough waters had taken their toll on Burley. He was thought to be dead."They shot me in the heart with adrenaline," he said. "They got me breathing and my heart working again."
_____________

Below are excerpts of two articles noting Millichamp's rescue of Maj. J.W. Street and the subsequent award.

"Florida Pilot [Navigator] Tells of Escape From Italian Sub"
The Miami News (Miami, Florida)
Sunday, February 21, 1943 - page 24
" "We swam away toward one destroyer, which now stopped firing, but Major Street, who had been a prisoner longer, rapidly tired. I had shed most of my clothes and was managing all right in the choppy sea." (Millichamp is a former life guard). So I asked the major: 'How are you making it?' He nearly choked as he tried to continue to swim and told me: 'All right son. You go ahead.' I just grabbed his shirttail and pretty soon we were having a cigaret with the crew on the destroyer."

"Halifx Decorates 12 U.S. War Heroes"
Confers Awards for Aiding British on Behalf of King George
The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey)
24 November 1943, Wednesday - page 5
"Lt. Earle Millichamp, Army Air Forces, Lake Wales, Fla., was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). . . . Millichamp's heroism as a prisoner of war in Africa on a sinking enemy submarine under Allied fire, when he rescued a British Army officer and got him aboard "one of His Majesty's ships."
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