Richard Reid Cheswick, 1924 - 2006.

Dad flew as navigator and later lead navigor in the 351st heavy bomber squadron out of Polebrook on 29 bombing missions over France and Germany in 1944, starting six days after D-Day.

These are his mission notes (PDF).

Here are some additional memories (PDF).

Ches was buried in Arlington Cemetary with full military honors an May 2006. It had surprised him when I had suggested earlier that he would be eligable for Arlington. It was an amazing experience.

Our family went to Savannah for an Eighth Air Force reunion in, I think, 2005. My father walked up to one fellow and said "You are (some name), and I watched your plane go down over (some place in France) on (some very specific date.) What happened to you next?" This happened a couple of times.

There were two answers: POW, or evadee. The former survived the rest of the war in a POW camp, of course. The latter "f**ked their way out of France," evadees. In general, evadees were not allowed to resume flying, because they might reveal evading secrets if they were captured and interrogated.

My Dad was especially pleased to shake the hand of General Anderson.