HISTORY
Elwyn Righetti christened his first Mustang Katydid and used it from December 1944 to March 1945
itself – 34.5 destroyed German aircraft to
your credit – 27 on the ground and 7.5 in
the air, and enemy ground installations
too numerous to add up. All of us of ole
Five and Five salute you, Eager El”.3)
Virtually all believed that they would
again see the CO soon. Germany was breathing its last, and by the sounds of the
last broadcast by Righetti, he would be
headed for an interrogation and a detention camp for airmen.
Extinguished Hope
The War Department sent a telegram to
Cathryn Righetti on May 3, over two weeks
after her husband was shot down, where
the situation as it stood was outlined. The
telegram held out hope that the two would
meet again. She waited with Elwyn’s parents and siblings for another telegram
or phone call that would add some information, but no such thing came. For more
than a month, they sent letters as though
Elwyn was still a member of his unit. They
waited for him. And they continued to wait
for some good news. The days turned into
months, but they still believed in his return. This was understandable. Europe
was in the midst of post-war chaos, and
there were constantly stories of the discovery of soldiers and airmen who, for
various reasons, were turning up outside of the POW camps. There was hope.
Major Tom Welch, who was Elwyn’s good
friend and still in Europe, searched for
him and held out hope for Righetti’s family, but that hope was slowly but surely fading. Apparently, the first to come to
grips with the worst was Cathryn, while
Righetti’s parents and siblings continued to reject the notion. Righetti’s mother
wrote a letter to the military governor of
the American occupation zone in Europe,
General Dwight Eisenhower, and later to
President Truman. She pleaded for help in
the search for her son. But this yielded
no results. At the end of 1946, she received a letter from another one of Elwyn’s
friends, Fred Gray, who claimed to have
conducted his search along other than
official channels. His own description of
February 2023
the events of April 17 compared very well
to the official report, except on one point.
Allegedly, about ten minutes after setting
down, Righetti’s voice came on the radio
describing the approach of farmers … But,
if this were true, Henry wouldn’t have
kept such information to himself and there would be no reason to not include it in
his report. The lynching of downed Allied
pilots was not uncommon and quite a few
Germans were tried and convicted of the
practice. Gray, in his aforementioned letter, said that he had received unofficial
information from the Pentagon that one
of the interrogated Nazis confirmed that
Righetti was murdered by civilians, five of
which were already hung and two were
awaiting their verdicts. Even that is unlikely, as the area was occupied by the
Soviets, so if anyone was carrying out
sentences for the murder of an American
pilot, it would be them.
Of course, the possibility that Righetti was
murdered by civilians, as were others, is
the most likely reason for his disappearance. It could have happened shortly after his forced landing, or even after several days of hiding. He could also have
been killed because someone wanted his
boots and gun, and he could’ve been shot
after falling in the hands of the SS, which
also happened.
Over the years, many questions, hypotheses and speculations cropped up.
More light couldn’t be shed on the mystery even by an investigation by JPAC (Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command), or statements by Germans. To confuse things,
there were even doubts raised as to the
exact location of the crash landing. Although he spoke of a course of 270°, due
west, Henry pointed out a spot on the
map where Righetti landed his aircraft,
northeast of Riesa. This threw into question even which airfield he and Righetti
attacked.
A little out there, but with that, a little
more distressing, is a hypothesis that suggests he was taken prisoner by the Russians who didn’t believe his identity (he
could have been on the run dressed as a
civilian). They may have executed him or
taken him to one of their gulags where
he remained until his death. The American embassy requested the Soviets to
look into the whereabouts of the son of
Elizabeth Righetti in 1945. In November of
that year, they responded that no Elwyn
Righetti was found in the territory of the
Soviet Union. Whether or not they actually
looked …
The truth will probably never be known.
None of those directly involved or any
witnesses are likely still with us. Perhaps
someone somewhere may locate someone’s log or journal that may shed some light on the matter, but in all likelihood the
remains of Colonel Elwyn Righetti lie in
the ground somewhere near Riesa…
Acknowledgements
The author sincerely thanks Jay A. Stout,
author of Vanished Hero: The Life, War and
Mysterious Disappearance of America’s
Strafing King for his kind permission to
use quotes from his book for the purposes of this article, and for help in sourcing
photographs from the Righetti Family.
STOUT Jay, Vanished Hero: The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King,
Casemate Publishers, 2016
2)
MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) 13916
3)
55th FG Mission Summary Report, April 17th, 1955
1)
Sources
Books
STOUT Jay, Vanished Hero: The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King,
Casemate Publishers, 2016
OLYNYK Frank, STARS AND BARS: A tribute to the
American Fighter Ace 1920–1973, Grub Street Publishing, 1995
HESS William: Down to Earth, Strafing Aces of Eighth
Air Force, Osprey Publishing, 2003
Documents
MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) 13916/ NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) M1380
Webpages
jayastout.com
valor.militarytimes.com
INFO Eduard
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