![Cowboy Coffee and Army Toast.Of the 4,000-plus planes flying in formation, 1,000-plus Allied fighters, and 17,000-plus tons of bombs being dropped on Germany, emerging from the statistics and the clouds and falling into the thick of now sixty-six years ago this past Monday was my Grandfather, George Kostoulakos, a Tech. Sergeant who had been manning the bubble in a B-17 named Big Time Operator when the plane was hit, the glass exploded and went into his eye, and — while reaching down to grab a handkerchief to wipe off his face — spotted the Captain with a chute already on, shouting, “What are you doing? Bail out!” then clambered down into the main body of the ‘craft, grabbed an extra chute, and jumped.
From today’s Lowell Sun — front page! Above the fold! —
When the Allies began to move west, Kostoulakos and his fellow prisoners were ordered to walk 16 days to another camp in Bavaria, begging the locals along the way for “sawdust bread,” which was made with half sawdust and half grain. His prison camp was liberated on April 29, 1945.
One detail: the day he was liberated, General Patton was on the lead tank that knocked down the gate, and when the gate came crashing down, flags — and there is no other word for it — erupted everywhere. Just — kaboom: there they were. All the prisoners had secreted away — and been working on — all kinds of hand-scrabble flags, tiny to large, made with whatever they could find, and when the day came, out came the flags. Earlier today, it was mentioned that the new Fleischer family car was sold to us by the husband of a woman who came from a long-standing Dracut family (the “M’s,” let’s say), and it turns out that GK built their house, and one afternoon, many years ago, he was out in the yard and watched a car plow right into the front of the house — so he walked on over amid all the frightened and surprised yelling and screaming, saw that most everyone was okay, and when he was spotted himself, Mrs. M said, “George! What are you doing here?” and GK said, “Well, you’re going to need somebody to rebuild this, aren’t you?” and heaving a broken lamp to the side, Mr. M said, “Talk about your ambulance chaser! Jesus.” Pictured above is the air base they flew from in England, Thorpe Abbotts.
Here’s the mission list the LWG — Lower Gunner? — provided a website about the 100th Bomb Group:
16-Mar-44 Augsburg, Ger 19-Mar-44 Calais, Fr 28-Mar-44 Chateau, Fr 1-Apr-44 Belgium 11-Apr-44 Rostrock, Ger 12-Apr-44 Belgium 13-Apr-44 Augsburg, Ger 19-Apr-44 Lippstadt, Ger 20-Apr-44 Abbyville, Fr 22-Apr-44 Hamm, Ger 24-Apr-44 Friedrichafen, Ger 1-May-44 St Omar, Fr 7-May-44 Berlin, Ger 11-May-44 Liege, Belgium 12-May-44 Brux, Czechoslovakia 20-May-44 Brussels, Belgium 23-May-44 Toyes, Fr 24-May-44 Berlin, Ger
Two Quotes About The War:
1. GK: … the pilot got way down as low as he could to avoid those clouds and everything else. And they all thought that we had to land in Germany. And the word got back to the Quonset Hut — there were two crews in each Quonset hut — and one of those guys took my coveralls. I used to be so fussy with my clothes that I … The gaberdeen coverall that we had — a [—] suit, we called them — was kind of loose, I thought. And I had gone to the lady who did our wash for us, in fact, and would give her a couple of dollars — they lived on base — and I had her take it all in and fitted to me perfectly, you know. And one of the guys had taken it. And when I got in I looked at him and he looked at me and said, “Take it. I thought you were gone.” And I said to him, “You son of a bitch. You couldn’t wait?” 2.GK: … and nobody knew when we got back and nobody knew what kind of a ship it was — none of the officers we spoke to had any idea. We described what we could see and they all said, “Well, if we get complaints, it was a friendly ship,” so … we didn’t get any complaints, and we got credit for sinking a ship. Can you believe it?Once you drop the bombs — no matter where you are — the pilot will just tip the plane — just a little bit, so he could look down and try and follow the bombs, try and see where they’re gonna land. And then there was a break in the clouds — just a bit — and we looked down, and there’s a ship down there in the Channel taking evasive action! X: Why did you have to lighten the plane?GK: ‘cause we didn’t have enough gas.X: Again, the gas!GK: Same reason. We didn’t have enough gas. If you had a long mission — a long way to fly — they couldn’t give you enough gas, you know? You had to skimp wherever you could. Getting back — you’d realize you couldn’t make base if you stayed loaded up. We threw everything out. Even our jackets and whatnot went out. All the ammunition. As soon as we got over the Channel, everything went out the window.
After the war, GK built houses. His crew was almost entirely Greek. When they broke for lunch one day and everyone was unwrapping their wax-paper sandwiches, one guy unwrapped the decapitated head of a lamb, which led to a vollying chorus of “What? what did I do’s?” and “Are Americans usually this afraid of lunch?” as one person ran out of the room screaming.3.… taking a taxicab to his family farm in Dracut, Massachusetts at the end of the war, seated next to the girl he was awfully sure he was going to marry, he in his uniform and she with her waiting cigarette, and — in order to be a gentleman — leaning over to light it with his lighter, burning his hand, stopping off at Alexander’s to get something to wrap his hand up in, walking down the lane to the house and up the doorstep and into the living room only to hear, “Oh! You were wounded!” 4.
John Legg wrote something about his time on a B-17 that was shot down in WWII. My Grandfather — George Kostoulakos — was a member of that crew.Here are some excerpts —
As I mentioned above, four of the five in the front of the plane were already out. I was told later that after the explosion and being blown out of the plane, Savino was unconscious for a short time, and when he came to he thought he was in water. So he moved his arms as if to swim, but quickly realized he was falling and pulled his rip cord. … Then early the next morning I was taken outside to line up with other prisoners, and there stood four members of our crew, Jesperson, Atkins, Savino and Kostoulakos. Seeing them improved my spirits so much I think I may have shed a few tears. Although we were not allowed to talk, we each knew that at least five of our ten-man crew were alive, while wondering if it were possible that others may have survived. George Kostoulakos was in rather bad shape. … I do not recall the condition of the others, but George Kostouiakos had been wounded in the face, arm and leg and was in misery. I do not believe that he had received any medical treatment back in Ratzeburg, and I wondered why they had treated my head wound. This was a bad night for George, and I remember him groaning and moaning.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l33wsgYBKw1qavtjjo1_400.jpg)
Cowboy Coffee and Army Toast.
Of the 4,000-plus planes flying in formation, 1,000-plus Allied fighters, and 17,000-plus tons of bombs being dropped on Germany, emerging from the statistics and the clouds and falling into the thick of now sixty-six years ago this past Monday was my Grandfather, George Kostoulakos, a Tech. Sergeant who had been manning the bubble in a B-17 named Big Time Operator when the plane was hit, the glass exploded and went into his eye, and — while reaching down to grab a handkerchief to wipe off his face — spotted the Captain with a chute already on, shouting, “What are you doing? Bail out!” then clambered down into the main body of the ‘craft, grabbed an extra chute, and jumped.
From today’s Lowell Sun — front page! Above the fold! —
When the Allies began to move west, Kostoulakos and his fellow prisoners were ordered to walk 16 days to another camp in Bavaria, begging the locals along the way for “sawdust bread,” which was made with half sawdust and half grain. His prison camp was liberated on April 29, 1945.
One detail: the day he was liberated, General Patton was on the lead tank that knocked down the gate, and when the gate came crashing down, flags — and there is no other word for it — erupted everywhere. Just — kaboom: there they were. All the prisoners had secreted away — and been working on — all kinds of hand-scrabble flags, tiny to large, made with whatever they could find, and when the day came, out came the flags.
Earlier today, it was mentioned that the new Fleischer family car was sold to us by the husband of a woman who came from a long-standing Dracut family (the “M’s,” let’s say), and it turns out that GK built their house, and one afternoon, many years ago, he was out in the yard and watched a car plow right into the front of the house — so he walked on over amid all the frightened and surprised yelling and screaming, saw that most everyone was okay, and when he was spotted himself, Mrs. M said, “George! What are you doing here?” and GK said, “Well, you’re going to need somebody to rebuild this, aren’t you?” and heaving a broken lamp to the side, Mr. M said, “Talk about your ambulance chaser! Jesus.”
Pictured above is the air base they flew from in England, Thorpe Abbotts.
Here’s the mission list the LWG — Lower Gunner? — provided a website about the 100th Bomb Group:
16-Mar-44 Augsburg, Ger
19-Mar-44 Calais, Fr
28-Mar-44 Chateau, Fr
1-Apr-44 Belgium
11-Apr-44 Rostrock, Ger
12-Apr-44 Belgium
13-Apr-44 Augsburg, Ger
19-Apr-44 Lippstadt, Ger
20-Apr-44 Abbyville, Fr
22-Apr-44 Hamm, Ger
24-Apr-44 Friedrichafen, Ger
1-May-44 St Omar, Fr
7-May-44 Berlin, Ger
11-May-44 Liege, Belgium
12-May-44 Brux, Czechoslovakia
20-May-44 Brussels, Belgium
23-May-44 Toyes, Fr
24-May-44 Berlin, Ger
Two Quotes About The War:
1.
GK: … the pilot got way down as low as he could to avoid those clouds and everything else. And they all thought that we had to land in Germany. And the word got back to the Quonset Hut — there were two crews in each Quonset hut — and one of those guys took my coveralls.
I used to be so fussy with my clothes that I … The gaberdeen coverall that we had — a [—] suit, we called them — was kind of loose, I thought. And I had gone to the lady who did our wash for us, in fact, and would give her a couple of dollars — they lived on base — and I had her take it all in and fitted to me perfectly, you know. And one of the guys had taken it.
And when I got in I looked at him and he looked at me and said, “Take it. I thought you were gone.” And I said to him, “You son of a bitch. You couldn’t wait?”
2.
GK: … and nobody knew when we got back and nobody knew what kind of a ship it was — none of the officers we spoke to had any idea. We described what we could see and they all said, “Well, if we get complaints, it was a friendly ship,” so … we didn’t get any complaints, and we got credit for sinking a ship. Can you believe it?
Once you drop the bombs — no matter where you are — the pilot will just tip the plane — just a little bit, so he could look down and try and follow the bombs, try and see where they’re gonna land. And then there was a break in the clouds — just a bit — and we looked down, and there’s a ship down there in the Channel taking evasive action!
X: Why did you have to lighten the plane?
GK: ‘cause we didn’t have enough gas.
X: Again, the gas!
GK: Same reason. We didn’t have enough gas. If you had a long mission — a long way to fly — they couldn’t give you enough gas, you know? You had to skimp wherever you could. Getting back — you’d realize you couldn’t make base if you stayed loaded up. We threw everything out. Even our jackets and whatnot went out. All the ammunition. As soon as we got over the Channel, everything went out the window.
After the war, GK built houses. His crew was almost entirely Greek. When they broke for lunch one day and everyone was unwrapping their wax-paper sandwiches, one guy unwrapped the decapitated head of a lamb, which led to a vollying chorus of “What? what did I do’s?” and “Are Americans usually this afraid of lunch?” as one person ran out of the room screaming.
3.
… taking a taxicab to his family farm in Dracut, Massachusetts at the end of the war, seated next to the girl he was awfully sure he was going to marry, he in his uniform and she with her waiting cigarette, and — in order to be a gentleman — leaning over to light it with his lighter, burning his hand, stopping off at Alexander’s to get something to wrap his hand up in, walking down the lane to the house and up the doorstep and into the living room only to hear, “Oh! You were wounded!”
4.
John Legg wrote something about his time on a B-17 that was shot down in WWII. My Grandfather — George Kostoulakos — was a member of that crew.
Here are some excerpts —
As I mentioned above, four of the five in the front of the plane were already out. I was told later that after the explosion and being blown out of the plane, Savino was unconscious for a short time, and when he came to he thought he was in water. So he moved his arms as if to swim, but quickly realized he was falling and pulled his rip cord.
…
Then early the next morning I was taken outside to line up with other prisoners, and there stood four members of our crew, Jesperson, Atkins, Savino and Kostoulakos. Seeing them improved my spirits so much I think I may have shed a few tears. Although we were not allowed to talk, we each knew that at least five of our ten-man crew were alive, while wondering if it were possible that others may have survived. George Kostoulakos was in rather bad shape.
…
I do not recall the condition of the others, but George Kostouiakos had been wounded in the face, arm and leg and was in misery. I do not believe that he had received any medical treatment back in Ratzeburg, and I wondered why they had treated my head wound. This was a bad night for George, and I remember him groaning and moaning.
