We’ve been learning about Minneota’s Frank Josephson who enlisted in the Army Air Forces in Minneapolis and went through a series of training cycles, beginning in March of 1943 with Aviation Cadet training in San Antonio, Texas. He then completed Primary, Basic, and Advanced Flight Training at different Army airfields in Texas and Oklahoma, receiving his pilot wings and officer’s commission after Advanced Flight Training.

Frank completed operational training in Fort Worth, Texas, learning to fly the B-24 “Liberator,” a 4-engine heavy bomber. The Army Air Forces assigned him a flight crew of nine and they completed crew training at Pueblo Army Airfield in Pueblo, Colorado.

The Army Air Forces assigned the “Josephson Crew” to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), so they flew a new B-24 bomber across the U.S. and Atlantic in stages, arriving in the United Kingdom on July 31, 1944. They soon reported to the 752nd Bomb Squadron of the 458th Bomb Group stationed at Horsham St. Faith airfield just outside Norwich, England.

The “Josephson Crew” settled into a routine of flying combat missions over Germany, interspersed with training missions. Frank explained how the objective of the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was to cripple its war-making capacity.

“Our bombing pattern was ball bearings, oil refineries, railroad marshalling yards, airplane ramps, airplanes sitting on the ground – and factories. They were running out of parts or we kept them short of oil.”

Frank described the mission that lingered most in his memory.

“December 24th 1944 our Group was to bomb a railroad marshalling yard in a small little city called Schonecken. Before we reached the target the deputy lead, which was on the right side of the lead airplane, got a hit that blew out one of his engines and without that power he just peeled over and almost hit the lead airplane. The pilot saw it and he had to duck to get away from that guy. We dropped our bombs and just after we dropped the bombs the airplane flying just behind and below the lead airplane got a direct hit. He got blown into two or three parts. I couldn’t see it at the pilot’s position, but my guys could and they saw bodies and stuff falling out of there.”

This mission hit the 752nd Bomb Squadron hard.

“(O)ut of the nine planes in the squadron, there was only four of us, really, that could stay together. The lead plane was crippled, but led us (away from the target) and then he turned it over to me. So I led the four or five planes that were left. We all had flak damage – every one of us.”

Amazingly, three members of the crew of the aircraft blown apart over the target managed to bail out and survived the war as prisoners of war. Years later Frank met the daughter of that bomber’s pilot. She wanted to know more of the father she had never known. She and Frank remained in contact for the rest of his life.

The entire squadron felt the loss of a bomber crew. Frank recalled how the Army Air Forces tried to support crews that were struggling with combat stress.

“I never was on what they called “flak leave.” They’d rest (a whole crew) for a week or 10 days and send them to a castle someplace that they had leased from the English. And for about a week or 10 days they’d have psychologists there and they’d — kept the servants there to look after them. It was complete rest. Got away from it.”

Frank reflected on how his crew supported one another.

“You’re defending each other and we were together for all that time — we were real close and we all supported each other. They were just good guys all the way.”

Frank described what they would do when they had an off-base pass.

“There was a dance hall where we’d go to relax and meet some girls and dance and stuff like that. If there was a 24-hour, I usually headed to London — my co-pilot and I and the navigator. We’d go to London and see the different sights there. (We’d stay in) a hotel. And then in Grosvenor Square there was an American Officers’ Club, so we’d go there for a meal.”

The “Josephson Crew” completed their 35th mission in March 1945, fulfilling their combat requirement. They received orders back to the States for leave and reassignment.

“We never saw each other. We got all split up. I came back on the (passenger liner) “Ile de France.” I met a guy from St. Paul on the same orders and we just hung together there and afterward we got the same assignments — we got sent on to Long Beach, California. We both did some flying there.”

The Japanese government surrendered while Frank was in Long Beach. He requested release from active duty and returned to Minneota. Shortly thereafter, he met his future wife when she came from Arkansas to visit her aunt in Minneota. They married and farmed together for almost 35 years, raising a family of five children.

Frank explained what he found most satisfying about his time in service.

“I think knowing these people that I was with, especially my crew. The outcome of WWII was very satisfactory and I was a part of it. But you find out in the service that you’re a part of something bigger – we all are.”

When I asked Frank what surprised him the most about his service, he laughed and replied, “That I came back!”

Thank you for your service, Frank.