500th Bomb Group (VH), 871st Bomb Squadron

Aircraft Commander

Aircraft Serial Number

Nickname

MAJOR ROBERT GOLDSWORTHY

42-24656

Rosalia Rocket

source: Ancestry.com

Tributes to
1st Lt Henry Hewson Warde

Honor States

Scott Muselin's
500th Bomb Group Virtual Cemetery

Assistance of the following is appreciated :

Jim Bowman
Scott Muselin

Al Schutte
Roy Wall

Ken Fine

Ed Lawson
Bob Mann

Wes Injerd
Mansell Pacific POW Database

Fold3

Air Force Historical Research Agency

Perry Castaneda Map collection
University of Texas, Austin

************
Descriptions within the
Recovery
section
May Be Disturbing to Some
*****************

Editorial Comment

The official statement of 1st Lt Henry H Warde's cause of death is
Died of Wounds .

In the Mansell Pacific POW database his cause of death is listed as
Execution

Jim Bowman's thoughts ( Day By Day ) are along the lines of
Death by Poison

Wes Injerd, Mansell Pacific POW Database,
sent me information that Lt Warde did not die from poisoning.

Some of this will be addressed in the
Elements of Doubt
section

The Offical Cause of Death
will be used in these pages.


_______________________________________________

There are situations that I have not been able to resolve:

Major Goldsworthy's B-29 crashed in the vicinity of Sawara, Japan.
Four of the 12 man crew died in the crash.

Five were taken to the Kempei Tai Headquarters in Tokyo.

Lt Warde was one of the three taken to Chiba City.

They died on 4 December 1944.

Three of the twelve men in the crew survived captivity.
________________________

1. The official cause of death of the three at Chiba is questionable.

_____________________________

2. Coordinates of their recovery location in
Chiba do not appear to be accurate.

________________________________

In other IDPFs, remains were transfered directly
from Yokohama Japan
to Fort Mason, San Francisco.

3. There is no data in Lt Warde's IDPF concerning
when he departed Yokohama.

The first entry in his Record of Custodial Transfer
is at Army Mausoleum Number 3, Oahu.

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In the
Introduction
section
are

Maps with the location where Lt Warde's parents lived in New Jersey,

Pages from the January 1938 Kearny High School yearbook,

and two pages with Newspaper Clippings.

 

Lt Warde's parents were
Edgar Dewaine Warde ( 1876 - 1943 ) and Lillian Bessie Hewson ( 1892 - 1956 ).

They lived at 106 Linden, in Arlington, New Jersey, a part of Kearny.
He was the oldest of their three children.

Mrs Lillian Warde moved to Gladstone, New Jersey,
in June 1945 with her two daughters.

In January 1938 Henry Warde graduated from Kearny High School.
His next step was to attend the Newark College of Engineering
majoring in Chemical Engineering.

He enlisted in September 1942.
His below list of stations does not begin until May 1943.

Lt Warde was commissioned a 2nd Lt in April 1943.

His position in the B-29 was Flight Engineer.
His time at Smoky Hill AAF, Salina Kansas and Lowry AAF, Colorado,
most likely was spent at schools training for this position.

Below is his Registration Card dated 1 July 1941.
This is followed by his
Enlistment Record from the NARA online database.
and a partial list of stations.

****
Information in AFHRA Reel B067 does not
completely agree with his List of Stations

*********************
source of the following:
Air Force Historical Research Agency
Reel B0667

Lt Warde's time with 884th Bomb Squadron,
500th Bomb Group ( VH ), was at two locations.

The month-end March 1944
500th Bomb Group Roster of Officers,
Clovis AAF, New Mexico has
Lt Warde and Lt Patykula
with the 884th Bomb Squadron.

At the end of April 1944 they, along with Lt Edwards,
were with the 884th Bomb Squadron at Walker AAF, Victoria, Kansas.

In the 31 May 1944 Roster these three officers were
with the 881st Bomb Squadron at Walker AAF.

_________________________________________________

The 500th Bomb Group transfered from
Clovis AAF, New Mexico, to
Walker AAF, Victoria, Kansas in April 1944.
The number of Bomb Squadrons was reduced from
four to three during this month.

The men of the 884th Bomb Squadron were
transferred to one of the other three.

____________________________________________________

The Goldsworthy Crew departed Kansas for Saipan on 16 October 1944.

Their B-29 flown by Major Goldsworth was lost
during the 3 December 1944
73rd Bomb Wing Mission to the
Musashino Aircraft Plant ( Target 357 ).

____________________________________________________

In order for the reader not to have to jump back and forth between sections,
you will encounter considerable overlaps within these pages.

Major Goldsworthy's Oral History and his statements within the

Crew and Mission sections

add some clarity to the official documents.

Also, the 6 pages from Jim Bowman's
Day by Day , 3 December 1944,
in the above sections
contain unique perspectives.

Mrs Lillian Warde was a prolific writer
and about 40 of her letters and the replies are in the
Coming Home
section.
These date from 1947 - 1950.

In there are two pages titled
The 991st.

These concern Mrs Warde's successful efforts to convince and educate the
United States Army in 1950 that her son WAS in the 881st Bomb Squadron ( VH ).

More of her letters from 1946 are in the
Correspondence
section.

The
Elements of Doubt
section
focuses primarily on Lt Warde's cause of death.


The Missing Air Crew Report ( MACR )
section
adds additional information found in the
Crew and Mission
sections.

Within the MACR is a 10-12 page document titled
S.R. & D ( Status Review and Determination .

ENLISTMENT RECORD
PAGE 2

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