I've been contacted by the family of F/O Charles G Grimes, a Glider Pilot from the 78th TCS, 435th TCG. They are trying to locate where in Normandy he landed and I've agreed to assist as much as possible. For D-Day, F/O Grimes along with other GP's from the 435th were loaned to the 437th TCG on detached service. This is good news as the glider mission orders for the 437th are available and I can confirm he flew as Co-Pilot in CG-4A 42-77389, position 35 in serial 34 of Mission Galveston. His Pilot was F/O Leonard S Thompson. I found on another thread the 82nd AB load manifest for the serial 34 CG-4A's and typically his glider is not listed. There are 8 CG-4A serial numbers not listed at the bottom of the table. (Can somebody post the table onto this thread please?). From researching the Holdy Horsa crash, I know that the LZ for Serial 34 was shifted from LZ W to fields just west of St Marie du Mont. Therefore NCAP_ACIU_US7GR_1857_4051 should cover the area. There are plenty of CG-4A's in the recon photo. I'd like your input into this too to see if there's anything I've overlooked. Regards, Neil.
Hi Neil, Philippe Esvelin on page 174 of his 'Forgotten Wings', has the two pilots in glider No. 34, which might correspond to the white chalk/airborne number on the glider. The Waco load manifest for Galveston is on my ADrive here (3.3MBs) I have gone through some of the photos showing Wacos on the ground in Normandy and, so far, no match for serial numbers '42-77389'. I'll keep digging. As to where we might look for #34, one consideration would be the Boutteville marshes, which holds a large number of both Horsas and Wacos. Regards, Pat
I have a few very faded copies of the Glider interrogation sheets for the 437th and there are two for GP's from the 435th who flew in the 437th Galveston serial. Their position was only some six behind from Charles Grimes's CG-4A so it may narrow the search down slightly. I have not been able to ascertain if the 437th had chalk numbers on their gliders. The Holdy Horsa LJ135 which is a confirmed participant in Serial 34 of Galveston had a R5 painted on it. However, we know that this Horsa was in position number 1.