The United States Army Air Forces fielded two major air arms for the Allied invasion of France in 1944. The more famous of the two was the Eighth Air Force, the strategic arm whose four-engine bombers devastated Nazi Germany’s industrial capacity by day, while Britain’s Royal Air Force pounded it by night. The other American contribution was the Ninth Air Force, the tactical arm whose twin-engine aircraft supported the ground troops.
Among the the Ninth’s many outstanding pilots was the only Martin B-26 Marauder crewman to be awarded a Medal of Honor.
When the United States entered World War II, Iowan Darrell Robins Lindsey enlisted as an Army Air Corps cadet in Des Moines on Jan. 16, 1942. His training included introduction to the B-26 at the 314 Bombardment Group’s base at MacDill Field, Florida, followed by bombardier training at Kirtland Field, New Mexico.
He got his second lieutenant’s commission on Aug. 27 and soon after he got his operational assignment to the 585th Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group (Medium) at Kellogg Field, Michigan, where he rose to first lieutenant in 1943 and to captain that December.
On March 10, 1944, the 394th Group arrived at Boreham, England, and attached to the Ninth Air Force. Capt. Lindsey was a flight leader as his squadron bombed military installations, trains, airfields and any other targets in German-occupied France. As of June 6, that included supporting the Americans’ advance from Normandy and to the port of Cherbourg.
Aerial opposition was relatively scarce because aircraft of VIII and IX Fighter Command and the RAF had largely swept it from the sky — and what remained was occupied defending Germany from long-range bombers and their fighter escorts, or the growing quantity and quality of Soviet aircraft approaching from the east.
One threat, however, seemed constant: a variety of German anti-aircraft guns, ranging from 20mm to 105mm, installed at every target.
Opposing the Ninth Air Force’s bombers, which normally attacked from 10,000 to 12,000 feet altitude, AA guns seemed to take their toll upon every sortie.
On July 24, the 394th moved to Holmsley South, so it could be closer to the advancing Americans. By Aug. 9, Lindsey had logged 46 missions encompassing 143 combat hours and 1,497 overall.
At that time the Germans were striving to retake the strategically important towns of Mortain and Avranches, where the 30th Infantry Division, nicknamed “Old Hickory,” held that hard-won ground against the XLVII Panzer Korps.
In that context, Lindsey, flying his B-26 Marauder, led 30 planes to bomb the railroad bridge at L’Isle-Adam, a junction between the Seine and Oise rivers, 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Paris, over which the Germans were bringing up troops, supplies and equipment for their counterattack.
L’Isle Adam being one of the precious few railroad junctions still at their disposal, the Germans’ main defenses were their notorious 88mm anti-aircraft guns, equally deadly against aircraft and tanks.
As Lindsey’s strike force neared the bridge he was greeted by heavy flak, but by skillful evasive action he was able to elude much of it before entering his bombing run — at which point his plane was peppered with holes. Suddenly, his right engine burst into flame, producing a concussion that threw his plane out of the lead position. Undeterred, Lindsey maneuvered his stricken machine back into position without disrupting the formation.
At this point, Lindsey was aware that his gas tanks might explode any moment but was determined to complete the mission before all else. With fire streaming from his engine and the right wing half enveloped in flames, he led the formation to drop their 2,000-pound loads on the bridge.
Once that was accomplished, he ordered his crew to take to their parachutes, while he kept the descending B-26 on a steady glide. The last crewman out, the bombardier, offered to lower the landing gear so Lindsey could escape out the nose, but he refused until the bombardier had bailed out. Then, just as he tried to follow, the right tank exploded, the plane went into a steep dive and upon striking the ground, exploded.
The bomb run on L’Isle-Adam capped a series of bomb raids since Aug. 7 that demolished four bridges, destroyed an ammunition dump and contributed to the failure of the German counterattack, which led to the partial trapping of the German army and most of its armor at Falaise, leading in turn to the liberation of Paris by the end of August. For that three-day success, the 394th Bomb Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation.
On May 30, 1945, Lindsey’s widow received a posthumous Medal of Honor from Major Gen. Robert B. Williams, commander of the Second Air Force, at the First Presbyterian Church at Fort Dodge.
The contents of his citation was noteworthy for its relative informality: “All who are alive today from this plane owe their lives to the fact that Captain Lindsey remained cool and showed supreme courage in this emergency.”
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