TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

WWII Veteran Gets Long-Due Honor

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: June 4, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - The B-17 bomber dubbed the "Chug-A-Lug Lulu" was on fire.

The engines were failing, and several of the 10 crew members had been hit by enemy fire or shrapnel.

The pilot gave the order to bail out, so Staff Sgt. Joe Walters did.

Walters, who was manning the 50-caliber machine guns in the bomber's belly, floated to earth under a parachute from some 20,000 feet. A German fighter plane circled but did not shoot at him, he recalls.

He landed in an apple tree in an orchard in Boirs, Belgium, breaking his arm.

Sixty-five years later, Walters has finally received the Purple Heart for the injury.

"It's a nice feeling," the 94-year-old said Monday after a ceremony held at American Legion Post 99 in Brooksville.

The frantic fire fight four miles up was only the beginning of a harrowing, four-month odyssey.

A native of Pittsburgh and one of three siblings born to a piano salesman, Walters was drafted in 1942. He volunteered to serve as gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

On Aug. 17, 1943, the Chug-A-Lug Lulu was supposed to carry out one of two bombing raids at the same time - the other was in Regensburg - to diffuse the German response, but fog delayed the takeoff of Walters's plane, ruining the timing.

The Lulu fulfilled its mission to bomb a ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt, but on the return flight became ensnared in a web of German antiaircraft fire and fighter planes.

A Belgian farmer named Lambert Tilken and his son pulled Walters from the tree. They asked him if he wanted to surrender or try to escape.

"Escape," Walters replied. The farmers, part of the underground resistance movement intent on helping the Allies fight Hitler, burned Walters's parachute and hid him in a barn. German soldiers came looking but didn't find him.

He was ferried from place to place, including a short stay with a Belgian podiatrist named Charles Kramer who'd already sheltered several other U.S. airmen. A short time after Walters left, he learned that the Gestapo had arrested Kramer and put him in front of a firing squad.

"The underground never received the thanks and recognition they deserved," Walters said. "They were brave people."

Walters trekked through France and over the Pyrenees into Spain, where he was arrested but eventually released. He was back in Bristol, England, by Dec. 2.

He later learned that all nine of his fellow crew members survived the crash and ultimately the war, but seven of the men were captured and spent two terrible years in German prison camps.

"I was very lucky," he said. "I think it's fate."

When he was first discharged and for decades afterward, Walters figured he wasn't entitled to the Purple Heart. He did receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded to those who display "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight," in 1944. And he earned the Air Medal with oak leaf clusters, which honors multiple meritorious acts while in flight.

But the Purple Heart? He reasoned that he'd only broken his arm, and "I figured it didn't count," he said.

It does. The Purple Heart can be awarded for an "injury caused by vehicle or aircraft accident resulting from enemy fire."

Walters married, had three daughters and son and ran Joe Walters Bar in Pittsburgh for more than 50 years. He and his wife Anna Virginia bought a vacation home in Brookridge around 1978 and moved there fulltime 15 years ago. Anna Virginia died in 1998.

About three years ago, he told his story to a VA rep, who encouraged him to apply for the medal. He had no hospital records for his broken arm, which he tucked against his torso. He passed on a sling for fear it would give him away, so it healed incorrectly.

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's office tracked down the co-pilot of the Chug-A-Lug Lulu, who helped corroborate Walters's story. Walters said he was especially appreciative of Erin Stacy, who works in Brown-Waite's Brooksville office and helped ensure he got the medal.

"It's the least we can do for our great veterans," Brown-Waite said Monday.

Walters used to keep his medals in a drawer. The Purple Heart and the rest will soon be on display, though.

"My kids want them in a case," he said.

Here are the other 11 local veterans honored at Monday's ceremony:

• Clarence Bailey, U.S. Navy, 1962-68: National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal.

• Angelique Kellogg, U.S. Air Force, 1990-98: National Defense Service Medal, Air Force Training Ribbon.

• Paul Kerr, U.S. Marine Corps, 1959-63: Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal.

• Robert Kilgore, U.S. Navy, 1959-65: Cold War Recognition Certificate.

• Joseph Mellen, U.S. Navy, 1962-66: National Defense Service Medal.

• Thomas Murphy, U.S. Army, 1955-57: Korean Defense Service Medal.

• Brian O'Sullivan, U.S. Navy, 1979-2002: Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Navy "E" Ribbon.

• Wayne Sufficool, U.S. Air Force, 1966-70: Air Force Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal.

• Robert Warren, U.S. Navy Seabees, 1943-46: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Service Medal, American Campaign Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Honorable Discharge Button, Honorable Service Lapel Pin.

• John Zydendos, U.S. Air Force, 1963-67: Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT