Author: Clint

According to the order itself, this is late by a day, due to an apparent transcription mistake in my calendar of events regarding the crew. Need to fix that. Yesterday, in 1943, Jay Zeamer was officially awarded his first Silver Star, this one for the November 20, 1942, mission that was, remarkably, his first combat mission as pilot-in-command of a B-17. The mission—a recon of Buna, the Vitiaz Strait, Rabaul, and Gasmata—was originally assigned with Hocutt as pilot and Zeamer as copilot, but when the plane got mired in the mud prior to take-off, Zeamer prevailed on Hocutt to switch places. The mission was no doubt more exciting than anyone expected, not least for Zeamer’s handling of the plane. You can read about it in more detail in the story of the crew on the website, but it’s enough to say here that Hocutt was sufficiently impressed to declare Zeamer… Continue reading