Life’s Coincidences Connecting Us to the Past

                                            Life’s Coincidences Connecting Us to the Past
                                                           September, 2009

 Ccoincidences can be one of the great pleasures of life; here are some of mine centered on just one book.

As a book collector, I haunt yard sales and thrift shops for bargain-priced treasures to build my eclectic library. History is just one of my book collecting interests. Earlier this year I found a book, titled “The Memphis Belle Home at Last”, written by Menno Duerksen, published in 1987, by the Memphis Belle Memorial Association, Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Belle, a World War II, B-17 high altitude bomber, was based in England with the U.S. 1^st Air Division, 8^th Air Force. When I first looked at the book, I had a hunch that the inscription (to Evie) on the inside fly leaf could be from one of the surviving Memphis Belle crew. Besides, the book including its dust jacket was in fine condition. So, for $1.00, I   bought it. That same day, with the help of my wife, Thea, and the use of a magnifying glass we decoded the name of the inscriber who was none other than Col. Robert Morgan, the pilot of the legendary B-17 aircraft, the Memphis Belle. Subsequently, I went on-line and found other items with Robert Morgan’s rather unorthodox signature style and was satisfied that my book’s inscription appeared authentic. I don’t know how the book landed in Damascus, Maryland, but what a sweet find!   

Let me digress a moment to point out that US-built B-17’s, nicked named flying fortresses, caused havoc on enemy war installations over German occupied France, and later on pounded the German home land. When the day-time precision bombing campaign began in early 1942, so many bombers and their crews were lost to enemy fire that the Allied Air Command issued new orders limiting bombing missions to a maximum of 25 flights. Although the Memphis Belle was the first bomber to complete 25 day-time combat missions, bear in mind that the odds against reaching this goal were formidable: on average, one third of the planes didn’t make it back after each combat mission.

After their amazing accomplishment, pilot Captain Morgan and his famous ten-man crew flew the patched-up, battle-worn Memphis Bell across the Atlantic Ocean back home, landing in Memphis Tennessee after a brief layover in Washington, DC. Following two weeks leave during the summer of 1943, the Memphis Belle and her crew went on a 76-day war bond tour visiting many cities across the Country – see the 1945 photograph of Cpt. Morgan, his crew and Margaret Polk appearing in front of her aircraft namesake in the photo section of our family web page.

Regarding the book I purchased, I read a library copy of the same book which referenced a full page photo of Robert Morgan tightly embracing his sweetheart, Margret Polk AKA The Memphis Belle, on the last page of the August 3, 1943 issue of Life Magazine(Alas, Morgan’s romance with Miss Polk fell apart shortly thereafter.  So, by happenstance, since I had all of the weekly Life magazines from WWII - given to me by my niece, Ann and her husband, Travis Creamer about five years earlier - I found the cited Life magazine issue with the romantic photo and placed it beside my recently acquired copy of “The Memphis Belle…”

But wait, further coincidences are involved here. 

Additionally, some photos of a much older Col. Robert Morgan – see elsewhere on our family web site - were taken by Sam Yu, head Frederick News Post photographer; Sam is the husband of another niece of mine, Sherry Johnson. You see Sam, who was assigned to cover the 2000 Wings of Freedom Air-Show, took Sherry's son, Mason Johnson, with him. While at the show, Mason - who was then about nine years old -nonchalantly walked up to a tall, older gentleman, who just happened to be Col. Morgan, and asked if he could go inside one of the neat looking old bombers; Mason didn’t know he was intersecting the renowned history of Col. Morgan, his crew and the Memphis Belle. Anyway, Col. Morgan graciously agreed to Mason’s request resulting in these photos, three of which are inscribed to Mason by Morgan.  

 

Coincidentally, on the same day the ancient bomber contingent landed at the Frederick Municipal Air Port, I was outside in my garden when I heard, and then saw the loud, lumbering low flying aircraft overhead. I was enthralled, but ignorant as to their destination let alone that Robert Morgan was one of the airborne crew. It was only after I told Sherry about my recent purchase of the Memphis Belle book that she showed me these remarkable photographs.

By the way, the airplane and its crew were the subjects of a wartime documentary and later served as the inspiration for a 1990 Hollywood movie “Memphis Belle”, starring, among others, Matthew Modine, Billy Zane, John Lithgow, and Harry Connick Jr. And, one more thing that might be of interest, the Memphis Belle, which spent 60 years in Memphis, Tennessee, now is undergoing total restoration under the domain of the U.S. Air Force and is presently located in Dayton, Ohio.

Now a copy of “The Memphis Belle Home at Last”, inscribed by Robert Morgan, the August 3, 1942 Life magazine issue with the famous photo, the 1990 Memphis Belle movie DVD, and these three 2000 Wings of Freedom Air-Show photographs reside together in the WWII history section of my home library. What a series of happy coincidences indeed! Someday, I hope to purchase Robert Morgan’s signed autobiography, “The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle.”    

Note: Robert Morgan passed away in 2004 at the age of 85, preceded in the death of Margaret Polk in 1990.