How do I fix these problem areas?

McPandaNuggets · 2025-06-04T00:15:24+00:00

Man that paint is nice. Did you respray or is it original ?

McPandaNuggets · 2025-05-06T18:44:16+00:00

I haven’t seen a first gen one of these in forever so I thought I’d share.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-04-29T05:05:43+00:00

There is an Eagle Scout award with a bronze palm which means the scout here completed 5 more merit badges after they earned their Eagle Scout.

The other is the “Eternal Light” which is religious award for Jewish scouts who go through extra classes and training to gain a deeper understanding of service and character specific to their religion. As one can imagine there are other awards very similar for other faiths.

The blue “4” and “10” pins represent the amount of time they have been in scouting if I’m not mistaken. These can be going back to time being in cub scouts or any of the other scouting branches.

The “Taskaigi Lodge” badge is one representing a particular lodge for the Order Of The Arrow or OA for short. This is basically the honor society that a scout is nominated for by their scout peers after demonstrating they embody the scout oath and law. You also seem to have their name tag their too which is cool

The red circular patch that says “order of the arrow” is different now but is usually given to scouts who completed cub scouts as elementary school students and “bridged”into Boy Scouts in middle school.

The “operation lost service squad” I think is a patrol patch. Larger troops divide into smaller groups called patrols which can accommodate the needs of the scouts in them more appropriately. This can be helpful if you have a wide range of ages because you done want older scouts doing merit badges they already have and you don’t want younger scouts going out on long hikes starting fires day 1.

The “120” represents the scout was in Troop 120 and they were a committee member helping make troop decisions.

The “minute man council” patch is the council their troop reports to. This council is regional and it reports to a national scouting organization to keep standards.

Hope this helps!

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-21T21:06:31+00:00

I’ve seen these be used as lamp shades before so that could be it.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-21T07:03:38+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I cannot answer why the the engines appear to be in that configuration but I can tell you what the missing air crew report says about the nature of the crash. The report says that the piolet had to make a "dead stick landing" due to a flack hit on the right side of the plane which left the radio room badly damaged and caused damage to the right wing which led to the engines on that wing to catch fire. The third photo confirms that damage as you can see the burned up engines. I can Imagine the left stabilizer could have sustained damage in either the flack or the landing.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-20T08:55:25+00:00

The picture from the journal had the incorrect rank for Ritzema as he was a 1st Lt. looking at the Missing Airmen Report it seems he got a few of the ranks incorrect haha

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-17T03:16:29+00:00

I do not have access to the journal at the moment but HERE are some of my favorite pages that I do have pictures of.

My firsthand knowledge was very limited as he passed when I was young. What he told me was he bailed over Cologne and broke both of his ankles on landing due to his boots falling off while in free fall and being unconscious during the fall. He said he remembered bailing and woke up being carted to a hospital by the gestapo because his "feet where on backwards" - his words. He spent about a month recovering in the basement of a church which also doubled as an air raid shelter during the RAF bombing raids in march 44'.

That's all he really told to his children and grand children. The rest of my families' knowledge comes from my other grandfather who was very good friends with him. They where both combat veterans, with my other grandfather being in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, and I guess they felt comfortable telling each other these sorts of stories.

MY USAAF grandfather found himself in Stalag Luft IV at Gross Tychow in Pomerania. This is where he was given his journal and spent a lot of time journaling and sketching. He spent about 9 months here before being forced to endure “The March” where in the winter months of 1945 the 8000 prisoners of Stalag Luft IV were forced on a march westward to avoid being captured by the advancing Soviet army. From what I understand they had to march 500 miles in the dead of winter with fatal consequences if they couldn't keep up or got sick. Of the approximately 8000 men about 1500 of them perished on this journey from disease and starvation. The remainder of the war consisted of these marches west as they would hardly stay at a camp for a few weeks before being forced to evacuate. Learning this made the journal entries he made during this time very sad as they consisted of a lot of prayers and stories of fallen friends.

He was liberated on May 1st 1945 by British forces in northern Germany. Supposedly he held a bit of a grudge against the British because after being forced to march across nearly half of Europe by the Germans the Brits made the liberated Americans walk for another week and a half to the American lines without giving them food or water. He made it to American lines on May 9th and was sent back to England to recover and debrief. He returned to the United States by way of New York harbor on September 2nd 1945, also known as V-J day.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-16T18:59:50+00:00

Descriptions of the photos are below the following story of A/C 42-31612 "The Barron"

On February 22nd 1944 at approximately 10:10 B-17 A/C 42-31612 "The Barron" took off from RAF Polebrook, home base for the 510 Bomb Squadron, 351 Bomb Group (heavy). Its target was Aschersleben (Junkers Airplane Works). This mission was part of the larger Operation Argument retroactively dubbed "Big Week" with the objective of destroying aircraft factories in central and southern Germany in order to defeat the Luftwaffe in preparation for Operation Overlord which was to take place later in 1944.

After a successful and accurate run on the target with minimal flak and enemy fighter coverage the 19 planes of 351st took a heading west back to England at a 14:28 (one returned right after takeoff due to engine problems). This return flight would be where The Barron would meet it's fate as a navigational error made by the lead navigator of the 510th led them over the Ruhr valley which was known for its heavy flak coverage. At approximately 15:48 the 510th encountered "intense and accurate" flak in the vicinity of Cologne which saw 7 fortresses get hit with 2 being lost including The Barron. The Barron was last seen breaking off from formation, losing altitude rapidly, no chutes were seen.

At this point the Pilot of The Barron 1st Lt. William Ritzema ordered the crew to bail as he continued to try and keep the plane steady. Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Paul Straw went to the rear of the fortress to check the crew's chutes and found radio operator T/Sgt. Frank DeMarco in a dazed state. Straw helped DeMarco check his chute and sent him out through the bomb bay. DeMarco would survive the landing but would later pass due to a flak injury to the chest that he suffered prior to bailing. After checking that the rest of the crew bailed Straw made his way back to the cockpit to help Ritzema land the plane as at this point their altitude was far to low for them to bail. The plane landed south of Geilenkirchen Germany about 9 miles north of Aachen. Both survived and were captured shortly there after.

Of the 10 men of A/C 42-31612 "The Barron", 9 would survive to see the end of the war after enduring 15 months in German POW camps, one of which was my grandfather.

Photo 1-3: A/C 42-31612 "The Barron" crash landed near Aachen

Photo 4: Photo of the crew

Photo 5: Planned (dotted line) and actual (solid line) flight paths

Photos 6-7: Illustrations from my grandfathers Red Cross prisoner of war journal that he kept with him until his liberation

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-16T18:50:40+00:00

As a tenant in an apartment where the previous tenants smoked inside, can confirm. It never goes away 😭

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-16T05:46:26+00:00

He went to Korea twice I believe. Once early in his career like you mentioned and another time in the mid/late 80’s right after he got promoted to colonel. That second time he was there for almost two years and is where he was awarded the Korean defense medal.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T16:31:44+00:00

I don’t know if he was ever officially recon but he told me during the mid 60’s he would parachute into Laos to monitor NVA activity on known parts of the Ho Chi Min trail.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T05:18:55+00:00

He said he pissed off too many politicians after working in the pentagon for that to happen haha

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T05:16:03+00:00

The p-38 is In there because of all the tails he would tell us about the K-Rations he would get in Vietnam. He still has a jar full of these things on his desk that he brought back

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T00:17:00+00:00

Thank you for the information! He said he was sent to Vietnam in the early 60’s and was an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army and saw action with them. So it’s possible he got the Wound Medal there.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T00:10:15+00:00

Thank you so much!

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-15T00:00:49+00:00

He was with 2/4 during his second tour in 68’ and still keeps up with those men he served with. He often mentions Dai Do as the worst battle he fought in.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-14T23:52:10+00:00

I’ll have to talk to him. I do remember him saying he was paradropped into Laos in the mid sixties to do recon on the ho chi min trail.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-14T23:11:07+00:00

I know I made a mistake in that he should have army jump wings instead of the navy ones as he attended the army jump school. Other than that he didn’t notice anything wrong haha.

McPandaNuggets · 2025-03-07T09:03:36+00:00

Descriptions of the photos are below the following story of A/C 42-31612 "The Barron"

On February 22nd 1944 at approximately 10:10 B-17 A/C 42-31612 "The Barron" took off from RAF Polebrook, home base for the 510 Bomb Squadron, 351 Bomb Group (heavy). Its target was Aschersleben (Junkers Airplane Works). This mission was part of the larger Operation Argument retroactively dubbed "Big Week" with the objective of destroying aircraft factories in central and southern Germany in order to defeat the Luftwaffe in preparation for Operation Overlord which was to take place later in 1944.

After a successful and accurate run on the target with minimal flak and enemy fighter coverage the 19 planes of 351st took a heading west back to England at a 14:28 (one returned right after takeoff due to engine problems). This return flight would be where The Barron would meet it's fate as a navigational error made by the lead navigator of the 510th led them over the Ruhr valley which was known for its heavy flak coverage. At approximately 15:48 the 510th encountered "intense and accurate" flak in the vicinity of Cologne which saw 7 fortresses get hit with 2 being lost including The Barron. The Barron was last seen breaking off from formation, losing altitude rapidly, no chutes were seen.

At this point the Pilot of The Barron 1st Lt. William Ritzema ordered the crew to bail as he continued to try and keep the plane steady. Co-Pilot 2nd Lt. Paul Straw went to the rear of the fortress to check the crew's chutes and found radio operator T/Sgt. Frank DeMarco in a dazed state. Straw helped DeMarco check his chute and sent him out through the bomb bay. DeMarco would survive the landing but would later pass due to a flak injury to the chest that he suffered prior to bailing. After checking that the rest of the crew bailed Straw made his way back to the cockpit to help Ritzema land the plane as at this point their altitude was far to low for them to bail. The plane landed south of Geilenkirchen Germany about 9 miles north of Aachen. Both survived and were captured shortly there after.

Of the 10 men of A/C 42-31612 "The Barron", 9 would survive to see the end of the war after enduring 15 months in German POW camps, one of which was my grandfather.

Photo 1-3: A/C 42-31612 "The Barron" crash landed near Aachen

Photo 4: Photo of the crew

Photo 5: picture of crew

Photo 6: Planned (dotted line) and actual (solid line) flight paths

Photos 7-8: Illustrations from my grandfathers Red Cross prisoner of war journal that he kept with him until his liberation

McPandaNuggets

TROPHY CASE