MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- Fifth in a series

Two 452nd Bombardment Group pilots received the Medal of Honor posthumously for actions they took 63 years ago today in an attempt to save the life of a fellow crew member. 

First Lt. Donald J. Gott, 21, and 2nd Lt. William E. Metzger Jr., 22, were killed when their heavily damaged B-17 Flying Fortress exploded Nov. 9, 1944, as they raced to friendly territory from Germany with radio operator Tech Sgt. Robert A. Dunlap, whose arm was severed below the elbow. 

"I think about them," said Staff Sgt. Bill Robbins, 87, of Worcester, Mass., a waist gunner on the flight, the crew's 26th mission. "You don't forget." 

The men were assigned to the 729th Bomb Squadron of the 452nd Air Mobility Wing's predecessor and on a mission to Saarbrucken, Germany, when their aircraft Lady Jeannette was hit by antiaircraft fire. Three of its four engines caught fire and were damaged beyond control. Flames leapt back to the tail assembly and, fed by fluid from broken hydraulic lines, ignited flares in the cockpit. 

Crew members applied a tourniquet to the arm of Sergeant Dunlap, who fell unconscious. 

"We were trying (to help him)," said Sergeant Robbins. "It was a joint effort. There wasn't much we could do for him (as) there were so many other things to do. The flames were coming right back (by) the open door immediately." 

Lieutenant Gott, the lead pilot, and Lieutenant Metzger, the co-pilot, decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and attempt a crash landing.
"The plane was just limping along," said Sergeant Robbins. "We threw everything we could off it to lighten the load." 

They proceeded to an Allied-controlled area of France, where Lieutenant Metzger ordered crew members to bail out of the plane. He remained to assist in the landing. 

Sergeant Robbins said he exited the aircraft just in time. 

"It wasn't thousands of feet (up), it was hundreds," he said. 

The sergeant passed through trees, hit the ground and was soon picked up by U.S. forces who had seen his parachute. Four other crew members landed near each other, he said, and went to a field hospital where engineer and top turret gunner Tech Sgt. Russell W. Gustafson was treated for flak wounds to a leg. 

The aircraft crashed, killing the pilots, Sergeant Dunlap and tail gunner Staff Sgt. Herman Krimminger, whose parachute got stuck on the plane as he jumped, Sergeant Robbins said. 

"I (knew) something bad was going to happen (to it). It was on fire. It wasn't going to last long," he said. 

The citation that accompanied the awarding of the Medals of Honor is inaccurate, he said, in saying that the crew dropped its bombs on target after being damaged. They scuttled the explosives on the way to France. 

Copies of the citation are currently displayed in a glass awards case on the bottom floor of the 452nd AMW headquarters building. 

Sergeant Robbins regards Lieutenant Gott, of Arnett, Okla., and Lieutenant Metzger, of Lima, Ohio, as heroes. 

"They flew so I could get out (of the plane)," he said. 

Of the 17 men assigned to 8th Air Force in England who earned Medals of Honor in World War II, all but one were B-17 crew members. Most received it posthumously. 

The Medal of Honor was established in 1861 as the highest U.S. military award for bravery. Fewer than 60 Air Force members have earned it, including members of the service's predecessors in the two world wars. 

Riverside National Cemetery, March Field's neighbor, is home to a Medal of Honor Memorial that honors the more than 3,400 Americans who received the award.