Robert Mims' Story

Here is a video interview with Mr. Mims in August, 2007, when he was the featured speaker at the dedication of a memorial at Earls Colne to the Marauder crews stationed there during the war. And here is a video of the entire dedication ceremony. The videos were provided by a local newspaper in England, but is no longer available on their website.

mission drawing

This is Billy's drawing of the formation over Frévant on February 5, 1944, his 27th mission. He was in Enderton's plane, in between his friends Mims and Bryan. The photo at right, from Moench (p.143) shows Captain Bryan's plane in flames. Mims' plane went down just before Bryan's exploded. We think the plane in the blue box was Billy's, based on the above diagram and the description of the incident in the Journal.

Go to the Journal's description of the mission
Go to Mims' own description of the mission (from B-26 Marauder at War, by Roger A. Freeman, p.85-87; a PDF file)

 

 Bryan's plane in flames

Here is a picture (from Freeman, p. 85) of Robert Mims' plane, the Swamp Chicken, after its right engine was shot off. There is another Marauder below it, trying to get out of the way of the crippled plane:

Swamp Chicken going down

Swamp Chicken's crash site

The top picture (from Freeman, p. 86) shows the Swamp Chicken still flying, but losing altitude rapidly; below, a reconnaissance photo taken a few days later, shows the crash site. Notice the well-worn track from the flak battery nearby.

Moench's description of the costly mission of February 5, 1944 (p.142) notes that 3 planes and 19 men were lost, along with 30 more planes suffering damage. He also notes that some parachutes were seen.

Mims, as it turns out, was not one of the parachutists. Brush, Vermillion and Miyo, his enlisted crewmates, did bail out; the first two men were captured, but Miyo eluded the Germans, found French resistance fighters and finally made an escape to Spain.[1] Jackson, the co-pilot, also bailed out, but his chute failed to open and he was killed. Mims stayed with the plane to make a crash landing, allowing a steady enough descent to permit his crew to escape. Amazingly, he survived, although he lamented his bad luck in choosing a field containing a flak battery to land in.

(This information is from Mims' description in Freeman. You can see a PDF copy of the account here.)

 

Mims wrote Billy a letter from a German prisoner-of-war camp later in 1944. The letter was dated May 16, but its postmark indicates that it was not mailed until July 31. Here is a transcription of the letter, from "Gefangennummer (prisoner number) 2624":

Hi, Bill--Guess you've heard. Tough luck. But I guess I'm lucky to be alive. After all, we can't ask for everything. I would have written before, but you know how it is; we have to take care of the folks at home first. John Brush is here. Leon Jackson is dead. Outside of that I have seen no one that we know. There is so little space here that I can't write much. Mother is writing to you immediately. And if any of old dead Mims' stuff is lying around, take care of it for me, will you. Did the orders for my medal ever come in? Check up for me, will you? My address is on the back of the letter. Drop me a line will you? Haven't had any mail yet. Give the boys my love, and I'll see you when it's over. Got quite a story to tell. Oh, It ain't true, Bill.[2] Best of luck--Bob.

To see a PDF copy of the letter, click here.

The letter makes no indication of Mims' location; he was probably prohibited from saying anything about that. The "Geprüft" stamp indicates that it cleared the German censors. It was also "passed" by the British censors. At least it did not cost him anything for postage, as "Gebührenfrei" (post-free) indicates.

At the right is a picture of Mims and his crew, taken on the occasion of their 50th mission (from Freeman, p. 87).

Brush, Vermillion and Miyo (back row, left to right) were with Mims on the February 5 mission, as was Leon Jackson (front row, right). Mims is in the center of the front row.

Mims' crew

Below is a picture of Mr. Mims today. He is on the left, and the picture was taken at a reunion in San Antonio in September, 2008. The gentleman in the middle is George Listug, who was also a B-26 pilot, and the one on the right is Bill Gear, who was a tail gunner.

[1] Moench has an account of Miyo's adventures on page 143. Here is an excerpt:

In Marauder Man tradition, S/Sgt. Miyo not only eluded the Germans but joined the Free French of the Interior (FFI) with the rank of Captain—uniquely thereby achieving the highest foreign grade of any person in the 323rd Group.

[from the postwar comments of Michael R. Miyo]:
"After I pulled the rip cord, there was a white flash in front of my eyes. Then I felt a jerk and fell through the branches of a tree before hitting the ground.

About an hour after I landed and while I was lying on the wet, snow-covered ground in a small woods, I heard German soldiers beating the bushes and hollering, "Hello, hello." Eventually, they came to within 15 yards of me but still didn't see me.

Hungry, wet and cold, on the second day of hiding I decided to come out of the woods and take my chances. Soon I saw this house standing by itself and elected to knock at the door. Fortunately, the residents, a Czechoslovakian farmer and his Polish wife, took me in and, for some two months thereafter, sheltered and fed me....

....[eventually] I was approached by a Frenchman ... and sworn into the FFI...."

[2] I was a little confused by this last sentence in the letter. When I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Mims, I asked him about it. It refers to the rumors the flyers often heard that, if they were captured, they would be wined, dined, and offered other luxuries, in order to get them to give information to their captors. He's telling Billy here that the rumor was false.

 

Back to January-Easter, 1944 Journal entries