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Curtis
In May I had my first correspondence from Curtis Melton, thanks
to Lee who gave me his address. Curtis had read in a 306th magazine
that the Meltin' Pot had been found and that Lee was thought
to be the only member of the crew alive. He emailed Lee and in turn
Lee emailed me, 'Melton alive'. When I told Elizabeth and the divers
they were delighted. I immediately sent Curt's email address on
to Elizabeth and they began their correspondence.
William Curtis Melton was born on 1st November 1919 and graduated
with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A and M University
in 1940. He immediately went into pilot training and was commissioned
as a pilot and Second Lieutenant in February 1941.
He was stationed in Washington, California, Oklahoma, Utah and
finally Massachusetts for overseas equipment, new airplanes and
departure to England. Due to Curtis having an engineering degree,
he became squadron engineering officer early on, and as such got
to flight test aircraft that his mechanics had repaired - or thought
they had. Curtis says that he had considerable experience flying
airplanes that did not work. He was, in fact, second in command
of the squadron and had more flying experience than any in the squadron
except the commander: 'I was 22 years old and trained many of the
pilots in the group.' he recalls.
Curtis flew B-25s and A-20s (two engines) until his assignment
in B-17s. After only one hour and fifty minutes training in B-17s
he was put to instructing younger pilots.
Captain Curtis Melton was sent to Westover Field, Massachusetts,
for new equipment, new airplanes and to get ready for departure
to England. The following is Curtis's account of the last voyage
of the Meltin' Pot.
The crew of the Meltin' Pot was the lead of the 368th squadron.
All the crew was from the leaders of their skills. The painting
on the nose was done by Lee Kessler and he probably did all in the
squadron. He was the waist gunner on my crew and was a commercial
artist from Canton Ohio. He had large talents, but to really succeed
in his field he needed to be in New York. His wife wanted to stay
in Ohio so his talents were largely unrewarded. My Co-pilot was
Alex Kramarinko of Russian parents, but born in the U.S. His father
was dissatisfied with the U.S. so he went back to Russia and joined
the K.G.B. Alex was captured by the Russians and they kept him for
the duration of the war as an interpreter. My navigator was Grimes
aged 27 the oldest of the crew and he was of Irish extraction. He
was always outstanding. He was killed by an anti-aircraft as he
was telling his pilot that they were off course in a heavily fortfied
area. He and Bob Levy occupied the nose of the Meltin' Pot and he
always kept Bob in line. Upper turret was Cherry - a Tech Sgt. At
18 he was pleasant and competent. Radio op was Snover who was quiet
and competent. Tail gunner was Garland. He didn't get excited and
couldn't talk fast if he had wanted to. Shoemaker was the ball turret
gunner and was small of necessity. Bob Levy was fathered by a very
wealthy New York newspaper owner and his mother was also very wealthy.
Upon reaching twenty one he was given half a million dollars by
his grandmother. Bob had little exposure to people of limited means
or to so many things the rest of the crew took for granted. He was
an instructor in Bombardier school and reassigned to our newly formed
Group. His skills were such that he was Lead Bombardier -one who
used the bomb sight to aim at the target. The other Bombardiers
dropped their bombs when they saw the lead drop his. When we were
trained and ordered to combat Bob received orders from the Secretary
of War, (a friend of his fathers), that he was to return to training
command. He offered that option that Bob could refuse the order
and he did. We then went to Westover Field, Mass. for new aircraft
and equipment. The ground and administrative people were everywhere
and we united with them again in England. Since we flew to Westover
we had no cars. Bob went to Hertz and had one for the whole six
weeks. He was generous with it and he and I dated Mt. Holyoke College
Girls. After the war my date became my wife until her death 52 years
later.
Curtis Melton passed away on 13th June 2008.
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