LENZ, Thomas D. (1945)
LENZ
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 1/14/2010 at 18:04:36
MAKES 30 TRIPS OVER NAZILAND
Otranto Flyer Holds Air Medal, 5 Clusters
An 8th Air Force Bomber Station, England — Six times decorated for "courage and skill" in aerial.combat, T. Sgt. Thomas D. Lenz, 21, of Otranto, Iowa, radio operator and aerial gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress "Shameless Jane" has passed a milestone in his combat career with the completion of more than 30 flights over nazi-held Europe.
During the course of these operations the Otranto flyer has spent more than 150 hours at an altitude in excess of 4 miles, where a minute without oxygen would result in loss of life. He has flown in temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero, and against targets which were defended by more than 400 heavy flak guns."
Sgt. Lenz recalls one of his early attacks on an airfield in France as the toughest of all his missions. "Flak wounded the navigator, K.O.'d one of our engines -- knocked out the hydraulic system and sheared off our bomb bay doors," said the combat veteran.
Sgt. Lenz, who holds the air medal with five oak leaf clusters to the air medal, has nothing but praise for the effectiveness of the P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt fighter escort of the 8th air force, which drove off the enemy on several occasions before the "bandits" could attack the forts.
The 493rd Bombardier group of which Sgt. Lenz is a member is commanded by Col. Elbert Helton of San Antonio, Texas. The group is a unit of the 3rd air division, the division cited by the president for its historic England-Africa shuttle bombing of Messerschmitt aircraft plants at Regensburg, Germany.
Son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Lenz of Otranto, Sgt. Lenz a 1941 graduate of Otranto high school, worked as a machinist for the California Machining company, Los Angeles, California, before he entered the AAF in January 1943.
[ Mason City Globe Gazette, Monday, February 24, 1945 ]
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