LT. Misiaszek is Hero of 35 B-24 Missions

Atlantic City, N.J., March 8

Nazis never gave Lt. Charles J. Misiaszek a chance to unpack his barracks bags when he arrived in England. He docked at 6 p.m., was just settling down at his new base five hours later when they came over to rip up the field with JU-88s. "Looked like a 4th of July celebration in May," the Wallingford, Conn. Liberator pilot recalled at the AAF redistribution station No. 1 here. "But most of all it was plenty annoying." Lt. Misiaszek had his most trouble overseas because of a freak accident on the way to Munich. "We ran into a cloud bank about 60 miles from the target." he said. "Things got pretty confused and another B-24 just missed my plane to turn the heavy bomber back over, and by the time we got straightened out, we were separated from the rest of the formation. Climbing up through the overcast, I tacked on to another group going my way. Over the target, we ran into the roughest most intense flak barrage I've ever seen. There were more than 75 holes in the plane and the oxygen system was shot out and we had to drop down to 14,000 feet. We were shot at by every ack ack battery on the way home, and by the time we reached there, the Lib looked more like a sieve than an airplane---but none of the crew was even scratched." There are 35 combat missions on the lieutenant's overseas log and he's been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf clusters. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Misiaszek, who live at 77 Bull avenue, Wallingford, Conn.


Published in the Meriden Record, Meriden, Conn., Friday Morning, March 9, 1945, page 8