Joe Beam lived a half-mile from my father for three decades. They worked on lawn mowers together, and they were friends. But the most compelling link between them was never discussed. Only after Tom died in 2004, and my book was published in 2007, did Joe learn Tom had served in the same Army Air Forces unit, the 95th Bomb Group (H), as did Joe’s brother, James Beam. Joe was just seven years old in 1944; James was 15 years older, and he was Joe’s hero.
Second Lieutenant James Francis Beam was navigator on Alva Powell’s crew. On April 11, 1944, Powell’s crew was on a mission to bomb Poznan, Poland, where Focke-Wolf 190 fighter planes were built. They were diverted to a secondary target at Rostock, Germany. A German Me-410 firing 37mm cannon knocked off the B-17's right wing tip, and disabled the two outboard engines. The plane was doomed. Ten crewmen donned parachutes and jumped. But they were 35 miles from land, over the frigid Baltic Sea. None survived the cold water. Adelia Beam, James’ and Joe’s mother, was so informed by letter from the Adjutant General of the Army.
James Beam was on his second combat mission when he died. Because it never came up, Joe never had the opportunity to question Tom about the 95th. But through "Tom's War," Joe learned more about the unit in which his brother served for a few short weeks.
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