WWII vet awarded Distinguished Flying Cross

  • Published
  • By David L. Tijerina
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) --  Retired Col. Vincent Fonke, who ended his 30-year career here, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross July 20 for actions he took during World War II while a bomber pilot assigned to the Army Air Corps 91st Bomb Group, 324th Squadron.

The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight in combat and ranks between the Silver and Bronze Star. 

"All of us look to you as the embodiment of the warrior spirit," said Lt. Gen. Christopher Kelly, Air Mobility Command vice commander, before presenting the award to the colonel. "The warrior spirit you helped build still lives on today." 

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge was the guest speaker at the event, as his office helped Colonel Fonke obtain the medal. 

Rep. Etheridge said it was unfortunate some of the awards which should have been bestowed on military personnel have fallen through the cracks, but the ceremony allowed for one of those mistakes to be corrected. 

"I'm just positively overwhelmed to receive this award," the colonel said. 

The actions for which the colonel was recognized occurred on Aug. 16, 1944, when he was a second lieutenant. At the time, he and the 10-man crew of his B-17 Flying Fortress were part of a strike force of 36 planes tasked with taking out the Siebel aircraft factory in Halle, Germany. 

The strike force was a little more than an hour away from the target, flying at 25,000 feet above Eisenach, Germany, when the escort fighters were forced to return to their base due to low fuel.  Unfortunately, their replacements were five minutes behind schedule and the strike force was spotted by a group of German fighters flying at about 30,000 feet. 

The German fighters took advantage of the vulnerability of the bombers and swooped behind them, firing 20- and 30-millimeter cannons. 

Colonel Fonke didn't realize the group was under attack until cannon shells exploded about 30 to 40 feet ahead of his plane and smoke filled the air. 

During the next 40 seconds, seven of the strike force's bombers were shot down, including the colonel's. 

"I didn't notice I was hit until I saw an emergency light come on," he said. 

According to the colonel, and to the after-action report of the incident and the publication "Aviation History," the plane's No. 2 engine was destroyed and the right wing was hit between the No. 3 and No. 4 engines, immediately engulfing the wing in fire.

Sgt. Willis Holden, the tail gunner, was killed when the first cannon rounds struck.  Sgt. Charles Brudo, in the ball turret, was blown out by subsequent blasts.  Exploding cannon shells blinded Sgt. William Weaver, the waist gunner, in both eyes and knocked his microphone out of reach, leading the crew to believe he was dead. 

Colonel Fonke said the first thing he thought when he realized the right wing was hit was that the crew needed to bail out because the wing contained the plane's fuel. 

"At the time the battle took place, if I had wasted time I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you because I was sitting on 2,000 gallons of gas," he said during the ceremony. 

He ordered the crew to bail out of the plane, but didn't exit himself until he believed everyone else had. Seconds later, the plane exploded. 

Reached by phone at his home in California, Mr. Brudo, the ball-turret gunner, said the colonel "inspired confidence" in his men. He credited the colonel with saving his life that day by requiring him to wear his chest parachute, despite the absence of a regulation requiring him to do so. 

Mr. Brudo said the colonel tried every position manned by the crew so he would know what conditions they worked under. He also noted the colonel had cared for his wounds after the two landed and were captured by the Germans. 

"I was lying down and became aware of moisture in a very intimate part of my body and he looked and with my permission he pulled out a piece of metal that was maybe two or three inches long. He did that with no hesitation, just taking care of me," Mr. Brudo said. "That may have prevented all kinds of complications." 

As a prisoner of war, the colonel was transferred to five different camps. He was at the Stalag Luft III POW camp southeast of Berlin until Gen. George S. Patton and the U.S. Third Army liberated it on April 29, 1945. 

After the war, the colonel said he was a "basket case" because except for Mr. Brudo, he didn't know what had occurred to the rest of his men and was unclear about some of the events that occurred that day. But a year later, he learned Mr. Weaver had lived, and it turned out the remainder of the crew also had survived. 

For years, Colonel Fonke has told his story as a POW to search, evasion, rescue and escape students at Camp Mackall, N.C.  While teaching a class there in 1988, then Capt. Ron Bowman asked him if he had ever requested the record of the air battle from the U.S. archives. 

The colonel told the captain he never knew he could request the record and gave the captain permission to do so on his behalf. Two years later, he received the records.
 
In 2005, his son David initiated the process through the wars and decorations process at Pope AFB.  Mr. Fonke's efforts got a boost when Colonel Fonke met Retired Master Sgt. John Elscamp, who helps veterans who qualify for awards obtain them through Rep. Etheridge's office.

"This event which happened 64 years ago in August of 1944 would never have happened if the U.S. military and the U.S. Army Air corps didn't require after action reports," Colonel Fonke said, adding he was indebted to all the people who had helped him receive the award. 

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