Noury Raymond A.
The first of many
Raymond A. Noury, bomber gunner, member of 343rd Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Army
During World War II, countless air battles between the Allied air forces and the Nazi Luftwaffe took place over pre-Monarch Czechoslovakia. While the first period of the air war over the Protectorate was directed by the British Bomber Command, from the beginning of 1944, the American "Fifteenth Air Force" bomber formations, later joined by the "Mighty Eighth", began to appear in the Czech skies in increasing numbers.
The first ever engagement between American air forces and German aircraft over the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia occurred on 22 February 1944. On the same day, several American airmen lost their lives for the first time. By the time the war is over, the sad list of American Air Force personnel, made up only of casualties counted on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia, will number several dozen soldiers. For many of them, the telling "Unknown" will be listed; in other cases, the memory of the dead airmen will be preserved by the existence of a name. But there will also be a number of survivors. Among the lucky ones will be the diminutive American Liberator gunner, Sergeant Raymond A. Noury. A man who, after decades, has returned to the place where he was born a second time.
During a raid by the 15th U.S. Air Force on a Messerschmitt aircraft factory in Reims, Bavaria, on February 22, 1944, several attacking four-engine aircraft were shot down by the Nazi Luftwaffe in pre-Monarch Czechoslovakia. Among them was Lieutenant Goddard's bomber. It crashed near the Dubeč grove near Nepomuk. A monument was erected at the expense of the town at the site of the tragedy to the ten men of the crew who paid the ultimate toll of the war. The inscription commemorates not only the victims, but also the name of the only man who survived the Goddard bomber disaster - gunner Raymond A. Noury.
Noury had joined the U.S. Air Force in 1943. That same year, he participated in several combat missions with the U.S. 15th Air Force, then operating from bases in Italy. He originally wanted to fly the twin-engine B-25 Mitchell, but because crews were needed for heavy bombers, he became a gunner on Liberators.
In December 1943, he took part in an action in which he saved the life of one of his comrades by pulling him back into the bomber after it fell through a hole ripped in the fuselage by a missile fired by an attacking Messerschmitt. He was then awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in combat. In 2002, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, known by its acronym DFC, from senior military officials. "The decoration belongs not just to me, but to all the men in our crew. It should not be forgotten. It wasn't just our plane that didn't make it back. The ten men - brothers, husbands, fathers and sons - who died left empty chairs at the tables of ten families. I think of them every day. They will always remain in my heart," Raymond A. said humbly at the time, as he handed over the DFC. Noury and went on to reminisce:
"In January 1944, we were attached to the 98th Bombardment Group. On 10 February of that year, with the 'Fifteenth', we made an attack on the coast at Anzio to assist our invading forces. The flak was terrible and we came back leaky as a bucket. On the morning of 22 February 1944, our fateful day arrived. Ten young lives were lost forever. From that morning I felt uneasy in my soul. It started with Adams, who fell ill at the last minute. Adams was replaced by Sergeant Hauser for the mission over Regensburg. I noticed he was a little nervous, but I knew what had happened to him on the mission before. A large shrapnel from an anti-aircraft grenade knocked the flashlight out of his hands as he was trying to fix the generator to get his plane back. After the briefing, the pilot told us, 'Guys, it's Regensburg and we can expect the worst there.'
During the flight to the target, plane after plane was coming back, which we didn't like because our firepower was dropping. We were hit very hard. Holes were everywhere, but we kept flying. And then the fighters attacked us. Carter, our ball turret gunner, called out that his guns were frozen. Flak kept firing and about eight German fighters were coming at us too. The fourth one broke off from the formation and attacked. I noticed that the 20mm cannon rounds were coming at us. Engines 3 and 4 were on fire. I saw the wing break away from the plane and fall on the right side. I figured that was the end of it. Suddenly I lost consciousness and didn't wake up until I was at three or four thousand feet. My parachute was full of holes, yet it opened on its own. I didn't see the plane fall and I didn't see any of our crew," described Sergeant Raymond Noury, who shot down Lieutenant Goddard's bomber.
The strike against the aircraft factories was part of a massive operation called "Argument" that took place during the week of 19-25 February 1944. It involved both the two American air armies fighting over Europe, as well as the British Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force. It was the most concentrated bombing of a relatively small number of targets by a large group of aircraft up to that time. Their task was single - to destroy the factories supplying the Luftwaffe with new or repaired machines so that the impending invasion of Normandy would not be threatened by the enemy's deployment of massive formations of German fighters.
Shoeless and with a shrapnel wound to his foot, Noury landed in the snow near the forest above Chocenice. The rumbling of the aircraft engines, the firing of the deck guns and the subsequent explosion aroused the attention of the entire population of Nepomuk. The rescued Ray was discovered by local citizens and subsequently taken to the gendarmerie station in Chocenice, where he was given first aid. Here he was discovered by the Blovice Gestapo, who subsequently handed him over to one of the camps for captured Allied airmen for internment. Raymond Noury survived the war and returned to the USA.
In May 2009, Ray returned to the Czech Republic for the umpteenth time to attend the unveiling of a new memorial at Dubč, the site that would become the grave site for ten of his friends. His story came alive once again, drawing dozens of onlookers to the silence of the forest within sight of Zelená Hora. Among the visitors to the commemoration were also war veterans who can boast the imaginary title "Liberators of Pilsen". Erik O. Petersen of the "Sixteenth Armored," Earl Ingram of "Indianhead," and even the grandson of the legendary General G.S. Patton, George "Patton" Waters, all shook hands with Ray and, in a place full of secrets, paid tribute to the young American airmen who helped fight the final victory over the Nazi invaders. For those who accept their sacrifices as a message of self-sacrifice and courage to face the enemy, meeting Ray and other war veterans at Dubč u Nepomuk became a moment to remember.
From the book 500 Hours of Victory by Karel Foud, Milan Jíša, Ivan Rollinger
