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Jim Marsteller  Wartime photograph of Jim Morris and wife, Sara Anderson I can’t help but wonder as I look at the above photograph, of what all was lost in the Black Forest on March 18, 1944. One can only imagine what might have been had Jim survived the war. Perhaps a farmer like his father, or maybe a lawyer, as he attended Temple University. How many more cousins would I have had? What would they be like? And the most interesting question what would my mother and father have named me? And what would I have been doing for the past 15 years without this research? How about all my research friends like, Ben Jones from England, Carsten Kohlmann from Germany and Bob Books who developed the 392nd Web Site, and the list goes on and on. It would never have met any of them. It’s amazing how one man’s life has touched so many other lives even 55 years after his life came to an end. The research undertaken has lasted over 15 years and has taken many twists and turns. You are constantly being pulled in different directions, but I’ve been careful to stay on a course relating directly to the March 18th mission to Friedrichshafen. You might think that after so many years the drive I had in the beginning would drop off and the intensity of the search would diminished, however the opposite has happened. The more information I received the more I wanted. Time has not diminished the drive for information. We are still finding documents and photographs in the National Archives that we never knew existed. A good exasmple is recently I found a way to view the history of the 392nd Bomb Group on 16mm microfilm, that included day by day directives from the base commanders, squadron histories and photographs of damaged 392nd aircraft returning from missions. Every day has brought something new, but what good is all this information ?? Several years ago when I started down the path of realizing I was getting older, I started looking for some justification for my own existence. I decided this research could be the way to help thousands of 2nd generation family members who were looking for information about their fathers, brothers, and cousins who were killed in the war and had no ideas about where to start looking. My search has been a way for me to give back what I have received and to justify my life and do something good to help other people. I am not alone in this task as other researchers involved with the Books crew project have come together, formed a team, and made ready this knowledge to share with the world. We have been brought together for all the right reasons: to document, understand, and remember what happened to those who came before us so that the terrible price these men and women paid for peace will never have to be paid again. Ben Jones, a crash site researcher from Litcham, England, is young, aggressive, and will try anything once. Just the person I needed to stay excited about a research project. We met in Wendling, England, the wartime base of the 392nd Bomb Group in 1992. A common bond has developed between us that will last for the remainders of our lives. Carsten Kohlmann is a serious German researcher, who is interested in and studied the history of the Black Forest. Our meeting in 1993 was a great stroke of luck. Carsten’s research credentials are unquestionable, and our common research goal has brought with it a bond that will last a lifetime. Without him the questions concerning the crash of the Books Crew would never have been fully answered, and my most valued possession, the compass from the Books cockpit, would never have been found. Bob Books is the son of Lt. Dallas O. Books, 579th Squadron pilot. As Dallas was the glue that held the crew together during the war, Bob is now the glue that holds us together as we build this site in memory of all the men and women who lost heir lives flying and supporting the B-24 during the war. One must only log on to the 392nd Web Site to realize the hundreds of hours he has spent to build this great memorial to his father and all the others who were lost. Greg Hatton, a POW researcher who I met only several years ago, has influenced me in many ways. It’s hard to keep up the intensity after so long a time, especially when the information stops coming in. Greg was a fresh new face with a lot of good ideas on how to present my findings and started me thinking about the computer age of research and video interviews. His new and fresh ideas keep us moving in a new direction with the same final goals, to document and understand. The family members of the crew, who live all over the US, and the information they shared with me made me feel that I actually knew the guys that flew with my uncle. Sometimes along the way I had the feeling that I was giving them more information than they really wanted. I understand that it is hard for them to have the sustained enthusiasm I have had these last 15 years. For some reason it just hung around and wouldn’t leave. It might have come from those letters from Carsten in Germany and from Ben in England. It was like Christmas every day as the photographs, eyewitness accounts, and documents just kept coming and coming and coming. I got so excited I needed to share the information with someone and the families were the ones I shared with. I will always be grateful to the 392nd veterans who helped me and gave me encouragement and told me what a great job I was doing. I remember a special phone call I received from California from a 392nd veteran who had read an article in the 392nd Memorial Association newsletter about our proposed original trip to Germany. To say the least I had a great many reservations about the first trip and the information we could possible find. The caller told me what a great thing I was doing, and he wished me all the luck in the world. That was all it took; one small phone call from a veteran and the trip was on with no more reservations on my part. I remember the first time I called Cliff Peterson who then was the 392nd group contact on the phone and asked him about some information on my uncle. He said, “Oh, incidentally, I was shot down on that same mission." Just one of hundreds of coincidences. Ian Hawkins, the world renowned English aviation author, with all his contacts throughout the world, has been a great help in my search. Ian can put you in-touch with just about anyone in the world who has anything to do with the air war over Europe. I consider him a great friend, and we continue to communicate. There are many more people with whom I have crossed paths during my research that shared information with me. Many stories have come to light in the past few years that are very interesting and are similar to my story. I hope my experiences will be an inspiration to others who are just beginning their own searches and can see from my search what information is available and can be found. Bill McGuire is another one of my closest research friends whose father was killed on the Friedrichshafen mission. Bill has researched his father’s death with the same intensity that I have used for my Uncle. We have shared information with each other, and I have always been impressed with Bill’s concentration on the smallest details of his search. As I have chosen this web site to document my search, Bill has chosen to write a book After The Liberators: A Father’s Last Mission, A Son’s Lifelong Journey. I remember that he would send me information and ask me to comment on some of his thoughts for his book. I would start to read, and tears would stream down my face as I would read his words about growing up without a father. What a lasting tribute to his father this book will be. I’m proud to know him. I stood up and cheered when he took a B-24 ride in the All American. With his son filming, the B-24 took off from Republic Aviation Airport in New York City. Bill was shown on the video. As the plane lifted off the runway and gained altitude, I could see the excitement building on his face. Bill was probably thinking about his dad as he pointed out the right waist window towards the Statue of Liberty and shouted over the engines, “God Bless America !” Watching the video I couldn’t help but grin, cry, and think to myself, “Good for you, Bill McGuire, good for you." I had that same feeling one year later when I took my B-24 ride. My wife Karen has been an active participant in my research, and none of this would have been possible without her full support. She seemed to enjoy herself as I dragged her all over the world: tramping through the Black Forest and skipping dinner and supper till she almost dropped over from lack of nourishment. When I asked her if she wanted to go along on the 1996 trip she said, “No thank you, dear. Been there, done that. You go and have a good time." I remember a conversation I had with the only survivor of the Books Crew Chester Strickler during a visit with him in 1993. We were talking about the day he bailed out of the plane and his memories of his buddies going through training and then into combat. Chet said, “I don’t know why I wasn’t killed with the rest of the crew. I don’t know why I was spared,but your Uncle Jim was killed. Maybe it was meant for me to live and tell you the story. I just don’t know?" Was that the reason? I don’t know either, but it’s something to think about. How many aircrews were there with one survivor? Were they just at the right place at the right time, or were they supposed to come home and do something important in their lives, or was one of their offspring meant to invent something the might cure a disease and save thousands of lives? What is the Master Plan? As the Books Crew research came to a close, my questions became deeper. What about the German boys that were killed? Weren’t they praying to the same God to protect them? Another statement I constantly hear that brings up questions is “Your Uncle gave his life for his country." I guess there is no other way to say it. To bring comfort to the families of the soldiers is Number One. I have formed my own opinions after talking to family members for 15 years. My Uncle didn’t give his life for his county, but rather it was taken from him. Maybe it doesn’t matter, and the whole thing is just a play on words; however , it is interesting to note after I talked with one of the families from the Books Crew, that the mother, still to this day, 50 years later, doesn’t blame the Germans for her son’s death, but rather our government for sending him into harms way. Opinions on questions like these come and go, and I am constantly changing my mind. My search for justification for my Uncle's death and other questions about the horrible events that happened during the war will never be answered on this earth. Several years ago my first cousin, knowing that this research had become all-consuming, said to me, “One of these days your Uncle will just come walking through that door." An interesting point of view, and maybe he was trying to tell me something. And if he did come walking through the door, I would hope to hear him say, “You did a good job, Jim." It has become perfectly clear that I will have to wait my turn like everyone else to finally receive the answers I am searching for. Till that day comes, this passage from the Bible seems appropriate and suggests God's answers to all of my questions: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13
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