Bugler Howard I. Carroll, my grandfather
117th Trench Mortar Battery, 42nd (Rainbow) Division, WW1, 1917 – 1919
The 117th fired more rounds than any other AEF trench mortar battery, supporting every infantry regiment in the Rainbow and for other divisions, earning 9 battle streamers for their flag.
The French High Command credited the battery, at a strength of about 150 men working in gas masks in No-Man’s Land, overrun seven times by German infantry but staying at their guns on 15-17 Jul 1918, with killing 2,400 German infantry and knocking out 25% of their tanks in their part of the 4th French Army’s breaking of the Fifth German Offensive.
(1) Luneville sector, Lorraine, February 21 to March 23, 1918;
(2) Baccarat sector, Lorraine, March 31 to June 21, 1918;
(3) Esperance-Souain sector, Champagne, July 4 to July 15, 1918;
(4) Champagne-Marne defensive, July 15 to 17, 1918;
(5) Aisne-Marne offensive July 25 to August 11, 1918;
(6) St. Mihiel offensive, September 12 to 16, 1918;
(7) Essey and Pannes sector, Woevre, September 17 to 30, 1918;
(8) Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 12 to November 1, 1918;
(9) Meuse-Argonne offensive, November 5 to 10, 1918;
They stood before Sedan with the most advanced units of the AEF, and participated in the Rhine Occupation
Awards: Victory Medal with 5 bars, Occupation Medal, Croix de Guerre
Granddaddy Irvine died after the war at age 36 from effects of being gassed.
Capt. Donald L. Gambrill, my father’s best friend, best man and my Godfather,
Lead Pilot, B-24, 830th Bomb Sqd, 485th Bomb Group (Heavy), WW2
55 missions over Germany, Yugoslavia, Romania, Austria & Italy
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart
KIA 10-Apr-45
My Dad was a B-24 engine mechanic during WWII. After finishing his maintenance work, he'd go along with the flight crews on their check flights, sort of a guarantee he did the job right. He hated B-24's, calling them "Torches" and "Flying Coffins" for their propensity to burn and the difficulty of bailing out of them. The gasoline tanks were above the crew, pretty much dooming them if a fire started.
On 10 Apr 1945, Captain Gambrill was lead pilot with the Squadron Commander for copilot and an extra navigator. Coming off the target of German defensive lines near Lugo, Italy, heading for the rally at 22,000 feet, his plane was hit by flak on the forward bulkhead of the open bomb bay, starting a raging fire there. Normally, the navigator and bombardier bail out the nose wheel, two gunners go out the rear camera hatch, and the other seven crew go out the bomb bay, now engulfed in flames, inaccessible. The plane stayed wings level, decreasing speed and descending to a lower altitude for one to two minutes according to the after action report from other aircraft on the raid, and seven men were seen to leave the plane, the last being the copilot who went out through the cockpit window right after the plane exploded into multiple pieces.
At the crash site, one body was found with an unopened parachute, three burned to death in the rear fuselage wreckage, and three others apparently were killed by the Germans on the ground. The three survivors, one a POW and the other two successfully E&E, all reported they were fired on by the Germans while descending in their parachutes. Don's body was found still strapped into his pilot's seat in the nose wreckage. He remained at his post to buy his crew time to escape.
Earlier, Dad wrote to him saying "Don, you've done your duty, come home!" Don said he had to stay, because "I have to train these kids they're sending over here now. They don't even know how to transfer gas." He was twenty years old when he died.
117th Trench Mortar Battery, 42nd (Rainbow) Division, WW1, 1917 – 1919
The 117th fired more rounds than any other AEF trench mortar battery, supporting every infantry regiment in the Rainbow and for other divisions, earning 9 battle streamers for their flag.
The French High Command credited the battery, at a strength of about 150 men working in gas masks in No-Man’s Land, overrun seven times by German infantry but staying at their guns on 15-17 Jul 1918, with killing 2,400 German infantry and knocking out 25% of their tanks in their part of the 4th French Army’s breaking of the Fifth German Offensive.
(1) Luneville sector, Lorraine, February 21 to March 23, 1918;
(2) Baccarat sector, Lorraine, March 31 to June 21, 1918;
(3) Esperance-Souain sector, Champagne, July 4 to July 15, 1918;
(4) Champagne-Marne defensive, July 15 to 17, 1918;
(5) Aisne-Marne offensive July 25 to August 11, 1918;
(6) St. Mihiel offensive, September 12 to 16, 1918;
(7) Essey and Pannes sector, Woevre, September 17 to 30, 1918;
(8) Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 12 to November 1, 1918;
(9) Meuse-Argonne offensive, November 5 to 10, 1918;
They stood before Sedan with the most advanced units of the AEF, and participated in the Rhine Occupation
Awards: Victory Medal with 5 bars, Occupation Medal, Croix de Guerre
Granddaddy Irvine died after the war at age 36 from effects of being gassed.
Capt. Donald L. Gambrill, my father’s best friend, best man and my Godfather,
Lead Pilot, B-24, 830th Bomb Sqd, 485th Bomb Group (Heavy), WW2
55 missions over Germany, Yugoslavia, Romania, Austria & Italy
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart
KIA 10-Apr-45
My Dad was a B-24 engine mechanic during WWII. After finishing his maintenance work, he'd go along with the flight crews on their check flights, sort of a guarantee he did the job right. He hated B-24's, calling them "Torches" and "Flying Coffins" for their propensity to burn and the difficulty of bailing out of them. The gasoline tanks were above the crew, pretty much dooming them if a fire started.
On 10 Apr 1945, Captain Gambrill was lead pilot with the Squadron Commander for copilot and an extra navigator. Coming off the target of German defensive lines near Lugo, Italy, heading for the rally at 22,000 feet, his plane was hit by flak on the forward bulkhead of the open bomb bay, starting a raging fire there. Normally, the navigator and bombardier bail out the nose wheel, two gunners go out the rear camera hatch, and the other seven crew go out the bomb bay, now engulfed in flames, inaccessible. The plane stayed wings level, decreasing speed and descending to a lower altitude for one to two minutes according to the after action report from other aircraft on the raid, and seven men were seen to leave the plane, the last being the copilot who went out through the cockpit window right after the plane exploded into multiple pieces.
At the crash site, one body was found with an unopened parachute, three burned to death in the rear fuselage wreckage, and three others apparently were killed by the Germans on the ground. The three survivors, one a POW and the other two successfully E&E, all reported they were fired on by the Germans while descending in their parachutes. Don's body was found still strapped into his pilot's seat in the nose wreckage. He remained at his post to buy his crew time to escape.
Earlier, Dad wrote to him saying "Don, you've done your duty, come home!" Don said he had to stay, because "I have to train these kids they're sending over here now. They don't even know how to transfer gas." He was twenty years old when he died.
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
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