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23rd Bomb Squadron Association reunites for last time at Minot AFB

By Maj. Shane Balken, Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs / Published September 02, 2009

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MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Recalling small details of a teenage job is difficult enough for any adult as they progress through life and move on to other professions. But when these small details make the difference between being shot down by enemy aircraft or saving the lives or your crewmembers, they tend to stick with you for a very long time. 

Just ask Dave Renfro, a former staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps and nose gunner on the B-24 Liberator. At 84 years young, Renfro can tell you the exact specs on a .50 caliber machine gun, the wing span of a Japanese Zero fighter plane, or the range needed to shoot down an enemy aircraft as if he were instructing a class on it. These days, Renfro's step is a little slower as he walks with the help of a cane and although father time might have caught up with his body, his memory is still sharp as ever. 

Last Friday, nine members of the 23rd Bomb Squadron Association gathered for their reunion on base as they visited with different units and toured a B-52. All but one of the 23rd BS alumni served in the squadron during World War II when the 23rd BS flew B-17 and B-24 aircraft in the Pacific Theatre. Renfro spent his entire 22 months of active duty in the Pacific amassing 408 combat hours on 45 missions. 

"Every place they had a Japanese airfield, we was bombing the hell out it," Renfro said. 

For Master Sgt. Casey Jones, another nose gunner on the B-24 during the war, his memories of being shot down were equally vivid. Jones described his harrowing bail out through the wheel well of a B-24 and spending 35 days on a Japanese-held island. Jones was eventually rescued by the Navy. Sixty-five years later, Jones and his 23rd BS alumni both jokingly and somberly recounted their amazing stories to young airmen not much older than they were during the war. 

"Getting together with guys again that you have a brotherhood is what I like best about these reunions," said Renfro, a former president of the 23rd BS Association. "It's the kidding, laughing, and talking with my old friends and the young Airmen that makes you want to continue coming back. You look around at the few numbers of us, and you're just happy to still be alive." 

Due to the declining number of members, it was decided this will be the last reunion for the 23rd BS association. Although members can still attend the 5th Bomb Group Association's reunions, it was a poignant end to the day when 23rd BS alumni and their families were invited to the 23rd Bomb Squadron for their Friday end-of-week roll call to socialize and tell stories. As names were shouted out for attendance by Capt. John Burrell, 23rd BS, names and rank of all the 23rd BS alumni were also included. 

George Crippen, a top turret gunner on the B-24, was one of many alumni who stood up and recounted several stories of his time in the squadron. At 89 years old, Crippen's sharp wit and even keener memory were a highlight of the day as he told about his time being stationed at Hickam Field, just days before Pearl Harbor was attacked Dec. 7, 1941. 

"I had caught a ride with a Lieutenant who was able to arrange a flight on a B-24 for the weekend to visit a girl he was seeing on a nearby island and I went to play golf. That Sunday morning we met at the airfield to leave and turned to a Honolulu station where they reported we were under attack," said Crippen. 

Crippen's crew was ordered to stay put and return at night. Before leaving, they were given strict orders when landing at Hickam Field. 

"The Lieutenant flying the plane was told not to circle the runway when landing, which was how they normally did it, and instead just come straight in. Well, he didn't listen and every man with a pistol or rifle fired on us. Luckily we weren't killed and I'm not sure whatever happened to that lieutenant," said Crippen with laugh. 

As Jack Christensen, also a top turret gunner on the B-24, talked to the squadron and recalled similar war stories, some were with less humorous results. Christensen said the month of November 1944 was one of the worst the squadron suffered. 

"We lost two-thirds of our crews that month. I was flying everyday and can still remember watching crewmen from one of our planes bail out over the water during one of the longest strikes attempted in the Pacific," he said. 

"I've been a member of the 23rd association for a long time. I'm proud of the 23rd and I'm just as proud of the men and women in the squadron today. Thank you for what you are doing," said Christensen.
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