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Post Scriptum:
The Bloody Hundredth
Family
In 1968, a meeting of several former members of
the One Hundredth took place in the living room
of Robert and Phillis Rosenthal. Among them
were Harry Crosby and his wife, Horace Varian,
Jack Kid and others. The meeting gave rise to the
idea of starting a veterans’ organization with the
two goals of starting a magazine and organizing
a reunion. It was supposed to take place at the
Rosenthal’s in the garden. It was assumed that
around 30 people would participate. After the
first rounds of searching for former comrades
and invitations, it turned out that there would be
more than 200 participants, who would not all fit
into Rosie’s garden. So the meeting took place in
1969 at Andrews Air Force Base. And so, the 100th
Bomb Group Association was founded. Since then,
veterans and their families have been meeting
every few years. A few years ago, the Associa-
tion turned into a Foundation. Its mission remains,
even though most of the original members of the
Blood Hundredth have left us. The task was tak-
en over by their children and grandchildren, and
now even the great-grandchildren of the veter-
ans, together with unit historians, photo archi-
vists and other friends of the Hundredth, working
on a volunteer basis. The foundation maintains its
core mission in terms of the Bloody Hundredth
legacy, holding reunions and publishing a jour-
nal, as planned long ago in the Rosenthals’ living
room. The foundation also supports a number
of educational and museum projects.
B-17G 42-97696 ‘Terrible Termite’ during POW repatriation flights in which the 100th Bomb Group participated from 15 May to 3 June 1945. (Percyk collection)
From the 100th Bomb Group reunion in 2003 in Houston, TX - from left, Col. Edward A. Gallagher, U.S. Defense
and Air Attaché in the Czech Republic, center, the author of this article, and on the right, Gen. Thomas J.
Jeffrey, one of the commanders of the 100th Bomb Group. (Museum of Air battle over the Ore Mountains)
100th Bomb Group Reunion 2023 at the National Mighty
Eighth Museum, Savannah, GA. (Museum of Air battle
over the Ore Mountains)
In 1977, Englishman Mike Harvey and a group
of friends decided to save the still standing, but
overgrown and neglected original control tower
at Thorpe Abbotts and rebuild it as a memorial to
the American airmen who had made a temporary
home there many years prior. The owner of the
land, Sir Rupert Mann, was sympathetic to the
idea and leased the land, including the control
tower, for 999 years. The long-lasting, demand-
ing reconstruction and landscaping also included
clearing the former control tower of the mess left
by the wild pigs that lived there in the 50s and 60s.
Already in the early days of the repair of the con-
trol tower, and the reconstruction of other build-
ings, strange visitors occasionally came around.
They were curious American tourists wandering
the English countryside. However, they were not
just any tourists. Former members of the Bloody
Hundredth, who spent several months of their
youth there in the 1940s, came to see their forgot-
ten base. Soon, the 100th Bomb Group Memorial
Museum in Thorpe Abbotts and the 100th Bomb
Group Association linked up and museum pho-
tographs, uniforms, equipment, awards, notes,
and memories began to surface. The museum
opened in May, 1981. Over the following decades,
the care of volunteers has made it a truly unique
memorial to the history of the 100th Bomb Group,
and it continues to grow. However, it is not just
a collection of exhibits, but a truly living place
Top to bottom:
Forgotten control tower at Thorpe Abbotts, used
as a pig shelter and straw storage in the 1970s.
Part of a team of English volunteers who in 1977 began
building a museum commemorating the activities
of the 100th Bomb Group at this site. From left: Mike
Harvey, Paul Meen , Peter Adcock and daughter, John
Goldsmith, Jim Mole, Ron Batley, with Richard Gibson
kneeling in front.
Today the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum is one
of the finest air war museums in the UK. The core of its
exhibition is housed in a restored control tower.
(100th BG Memorial Museum collection)
HISTORY
Speciál B-17F / The Bloody Hundredth 1943 INFO Eduard
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June 2024