By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Nearly 65 years have passed since Doris and Laurel Griffin were tracked down at a Georgia movie theater and told that Doris’ older brother, William Edward Shivers, was missing in action and presumed dead.
Today, Doris knows little more about the circumstances of her brother’s death than she did in December 1944. His body was never recovered; the B-24 Liberator on which he was a gunner was never found.
Her served with the 13th Air Force, 307th Bomb Group, 372nd Squadron. The group initially served in a defensive role in the Hawaiian Islands, but eventually moved into the New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands, Wake Island, New Guinea and the Philippines. They attacked long-range targets, earning the group the name “Long Rangers.”
The Griffins, who live in Orwell Township, think of Edward every Veterans Day and on his birthday, June 8. Laurel, who served in the Army stateside during World War II, says his brother-in-law was so close to coming home. The B-24 crews typically flew 30 missions, then returned home.
The Dec. 2, 1944, mission was his 29th.
What little they know of that day is that the squad was heading to a bombing target when they encountered “tremendous” weather and were ordered to return to base, Laurel says. The B-24 Edward was in, plus one other, never showed up.
“The nearest they could figure out, the two planes had come together in the storm,” Laurel says. He said a crew member from one of the planes that made it back reported hearing what he thought was an explosion, but no evidence of the same was found.
Doris says the only personal belonging the family received from the Army Air Force was Edward’s journal. The small, black book is quite unusual for World War II, says Dr. Ken Lawrence, an Orwell dentist and military historian
“It was a court-martial offense to have a diary,” he said. If the diary were recovered by the enemy, it could yield useful information that could jeopardize the lives of other troops and the security of military operations.
“It’s actually easier to find Civil War diaries than those from World War II,” Lawrence says.
Doris and Laurel donated the diary and photographs of her brother to Lawrence’s collection of military memorabilia. The couple were impressed with his dedication to preserving the stories of local servicemen and women, and felt the material would be best entrusted to him.
At some point in its history, Edward Shivers’ handwritten journal was transcribed and subsequently posted to the Internet at a site dedicated to finding the missing “Coleman” air crew from another B-24 that went down in that area (www.missingaircrew.com).
The journal
The journal traces Shivers’ combat assignments during 1944. He started at an airfield on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands in early June.
Spellings have been corrected when a likely match could be determined and punctuation added for clarity.
Circa June 6: Finally in combat. Suppose to go on mission ... but was called because of bad weather.
July 20: Bombed Japs today. Took off from Los Negros at 6:00. Landed at 7:00. 13-hour flight. Weather very bad. ... 5 aerial bombs dropped around us, but not none hit. My guns jammed twice; only skinned h— out of my hands.
Aug. 6: Mission to Japs flew 12 (hours) 45 minutes. Weather was very rough going and coming. No further opposition, but heavy (anti-aircraft fire). One ship was hit in nose turret but no one hurt. On way to Japs, was checking my guns (and) one ship pulled out from under us. Almost shot the darn fool.
Aug. 19: Had U.S.O. show today ... Bob Hope, Francis Langford, Jerry Colonna, Patty Thomas and Larry Ross. Pretty good. ... First mission from Wakde (Island) the 24 of August 1944 — 20 men killed from this squad ...
Aug. 25-26: Capt. Dixon shot down today in ship 603. There were 10 men with him. Flak hit ship in bomb bay and blew bombs up. No one got out. That makes 32 men in 3 days. Well, better luck from now on we hope. Combat is hell.
Sept. 2: Lost a plane today. Don’t know what happened. ... That is 6 planes in 8 missions.
Shivers enjoyed a 17-day leave in Australia during October 1944. The 13th Air Force experienced extensive losses during that time. “While we were in Sydney every plane we had was shot down or shot up.” On Nov. 10, Shivers’ squadron was moved to Noemfoor in the Biak Islands to a beach where they were bombed almost every night and had to take cover in fox holes. “We are having air raids every night and they sure are rough. Up nearly all night and then flying.”
Nov. 13: We hope to have all our missions in soon and will if we get another pilot when Hoffer is through. He only has 1 or two more. The Japs dropped there bombs about a mile away from us last night. Were aiming at us. Glad they didn’t hit.
Nov. 16: We were supposed to hit Japs’ task force at Borneo but didn’t get off. Our navigator forgot his maps. The mission was rough. The plane flying in the position was hit but back O.K. The group lost five planes.
Nov. 28: Started a mission to Sipalay(?) but had to turn back because of plane trouble. The Japs are really hitting our planes and personnel here every night.
Nov. 30 (final entry): We almost cracked up coming in for a landing. Our co-pilot was trying to land and had to make 2 approaches. The Jap bombers got 5 P-47s and a few other ships last night, also a few men.
Family of vets
World War II touched the Griffins in other ways, as well. A native of the Plains, Ga., area, Doris said she played with Jimmy Carter in the cottonfields as a child. Carter’s mother and Doris’ aunt worked in the same hospital together. When war came to the nation, so did an Army airfield and an ordinance plant to her town. Doris worked on bombs during the war; Laurel was assigned to the airfield as an instructor. The war thus brought them together; they were married in 1944.
Laurel never saw action, but his late brother, Dale, went through the entire Battle of the Bulge experience. He was a cook with the U.S. Army.
Laurel says Dale rarely talked about what he saw in that fight, although he escaped unscathed physically.
“I never could get him to talk,” Laurel says. “If he did, he’d break down in tears.”
Doris had a younger brother, Marion, who also served during World War II. A sailor, Marion made it through the war and safely returned home. But he became ill a few years later and died while awaiting treatment in a hospital.
Both deaths remain tightly wrapped in unanswered questions many years later.
To honor her brothers, Doris and Laurel named their sons “Edward” and “Marion,” although Marion took the name “Tiger.”
And what of that relationship with Jimmy Carter that started back in those cottonfields? Doris followed his race to the White House and attended the inauguration.
“I couldn’t miss that,” she says.
