John Myers 344th Bomb Squadron 494th BG
Recently I had the pleasure of reading a book by Zoe Myers. The synopsis according to Amazon.com:
February 1944: Sgt. John Harris arrives at Stansted, England with the U.S. 344th Bomb Squadron, the B-26 Marauders. Soon after, he meets Muriel Rumble, a student at the college in the nearby town of Bishop’s Stortford. Though World War II has brought them together, the war also threatens to destroy them. Based on a true story, this tale explores the life of a young U.S. soldier and the Englishwoman he came to love.
Because the book is fictionalized, Ms. Myers used John Harris for the name of the protagonist of this book. Still much effort was made to keep the facts as close as possible to the real events and places related to Sgt. Myers service at Stansted base in England and later in France.
My father Sgt. Frank P. Carrozza left me a good record of his missions and some personal anecdotes. The letters he wrote to my mother have been lost, and my father didn’t tell me much about his day to day life on the base. By reading this book, I got a better feel for what life was like for my father and the rest of the men at the base.
Sgt Myers was one of maybe two or three photographers assigned to the base. My father was assigned to photograph the results of one bombing mission. I wonder if John Myers have him the camera and told him how to use it? Did Mr. Myers develop his pictures. Please read the link about this mission. The use of the camera during that mission may have saved my father’s life!
Elsewhere in this website is a color picture of the Shopworn Angel after being belly landed by Captain Clay. Color film was in its infancy so I expect the image was taken by a base photographer who had access to the new fangled color film. I wonder if Sgt. Myers took this picture?
Please find Ms. Myers book here.
