Worcester Historical Museum Makes a National Project Local
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 – On the morning of October 10, 1943, Nathaniel Mencow awoke at 3 o’clock.
The day began at an airbase in Framingham, England, the town the namesake of Framingham, Mass., close to his home town of Worcester. After three hours of briefing, the 185 planes in his wing took off to bomb the railroad yards in Munster, Germany.
Mr. Mencow was in front, navigating the lead plane of the 390 th Bomb Group, as it led the whole wing across the English Channel. From the moment they entered European skies the B-17 bombers came under heavy fire from German aircraft and deadly, ground-based anti-aircraft artillery, known as flak. It was more than a year before D-Day, and the German air force still “ruled” the skies, Mr. Mencow recalled. Even at five miles above the ground, planes were dropping on all sides.
Mr. Mencow, in an interview this week, said each mission was “a horrible experience.shear terror.” This mission was particularly deadly, however: Munster was very heavily defended and as they reached the designated “initial point,” his group peeled off and dropped their bombs, then flew to the “rallying point.” They would wait there, he said, “to see whichever planes were still living” at the end of the mission, and lead them back to England.
Many planes-and men-didn’t return to Framlingham. Of the 17 planes of 390th, only nine came back. The 100 th -a sister group in the same wing-only saw one plane return. “I knew a great many friends who were lost, and I miss them terribly,” Mr. Mencow said.
Mr. Mencow was discharged with five Air Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses later that year. One Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded for completing the required number of missions, he said, and the other was for the Munster mission, because of its difficulty and danger.
A brother, Lt. William Mencow, was shot down and killed in 1944, “a great tragedy for the family,” Nathaniel Mencow said. Five Mencow brothers fought in three branches of the U.S. Military in World War II. After the war Mr. Mencow served for 23 years in the Air Force Reserves and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Mr. Mencow, who is 87, is one of approximately 70 Worcester area World War II veterans who have been interviewed by Robyn Christensen, librarian for the Worcester Historical Museum. Their stories eventually will be transcribed, and copies sent to the Veteran’s History Project at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
The Veteran’s History Project, which is now in its fifth year, is the largest oral history project in the country, boasting more than 40,000 archived stories which are available for study and will be preserved for future generations. Veterans of conflicts from World War I through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan told their stories. Diane Kresh, director of the project, said the goal is to collect one million personal accounts.
Ms. Christensen came to the idea of interviewing veterans on her own, before she knew about the Library of Congress project. Her interest in World War II and the men and women who lived it dates back to childhood, when she watched war movies with her father, a Marine. He had a great respect for veterans, she said, and passed that reverence on to her. Ms. Christensen’s father had seven uncles who had fought in different theaters of World War II. All passed away before she could really interview them and preserve their stories.
Ms. Christensen studied military history in college, and after graduate school went to work at the Worcester Historical Museum. She said she didn’t feel she could approach veterans for their stories on her own, but with the museum behind her she began collecting pictures, uniforms, and even one or two diaries of people who served in World War II.
Having a story to go along with the artifacts makes a huge difference. “If you don’t have a story behind it, ‘Oh, it’s just a Purple Heart,’” she said.
All veterans’ stories are equally important, Ms. Christensen said, but she finds the accounts of former Prisoners of War particularly compelling. One gentleman told her the story of being imprisoned in a German camp one winter. The GIs were given Christmas decorations by their captors to celebrate the holidays, ornaments they hung, happy for the distraction. The Germans showed up with movie cameras, however, clearly planning to use the relatively cheery scene as proof they were treating their prisoners well. “It took them three hours to put them up and about five minutes to take them down,” said Ms. Christensen, recalling her interviewee’s words.
She is taking a break from interviewing veterans right now, because the cold and dark of November is keeping many of them at home. Ms. Christensen said she plans to resume the interviews in the spring and is hoping for grant money to help with the cost of cataloguing and digitizing the stories before they are sent to Washington.
The stories are available in audio form to anyone who wishes to go to the museum library and listen to them, provided they call ahead. Ms. Christensen said she could use some volunteer help transcribing the interviews, and perhaps collecting them as well. She said she plans to expand her collection to include veterans of other wars, but has not yet had time.
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