823rd Bomb Squad - “The Terrible Tigers”

You just never know what you will learn about on the internet. I posted a blog entry for Memorial Day that featured some WWII photos of my father, aunt and uncles. A reader contacted me and told me that he knew of my uncle. The reader (Jeremy) maintains a website “The Heroes of WWII” which features a collection of WWII artifacts and archival material.

I’m learning some interesting stories about my uncle from the links that were provided on Jeremy’s site. One harrowing one was an account of Mission #48 that occurred on April 16, 1944. It is referred to as “Black Sunday” and may be found here. I find it amusing that they refer to Ed Poltrack as “Polecat”, a moniker that has been handed down to all of us with that last name.

My generation was born after the war and it is true that our fathers, uncles and aunts did not talk about the war. It is only in these times as we lose our “greatest generation” that we can take a look back and learn about the sacrifices and dangers of that time.

Ed is still with us and lives in North Carolina. Hopefully we can contact other members of the 823rd via this blog posting.