Mick Cracknell and James Mutton

95th BOMB GROUP (H)

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

2005 REUNION         DAYTON, OHIO

JM:  Hello, this is Janie McKnight with the 95th Bomb Group Legacy Committee.  Today we have Mick Cracknell with us, who is from England.  Also James, uh, what is your name?  James Mutton.  Also with us sitting in are Peggy and Tom Cozens.  Mick, for the record, would you state today’s date, and your name?

MC:  Thursday, September the 29th, 2005. 

JM:  And where we are.

MC:  Dayton, Ohio.

JM:  Thank you.  And can you give us a little background on your association with the 95th Bomb Group?

MC:  Really, it started up with James, really.  He asked me if I’d go down and give him a hand at different times.  And he said “Will you be a member?”  And I said, “Okay, I’ll be a member.”  And I joined as a member.  And then they had film shows, and he kept saying “Come to the film shows.”  So I said, “Okay, I’ll come to the film shows.”  And after then, I’d go down and help him when I can, and do various bits and pieces of work for him.  He used to work on a farm, on farm agricultural.   So he said, “Can you drive the digger?”  I said, “Of course I can drive a digger.” (chuckle)  So I leveled the site for him, pulled all the stumps out, and leveled the site for him.  And then they said, “Can you bring me some grass?” or “Have you got any grass seed?”  I said, “Oh, yes, I’ve got grass seed.”  (Laughing)  When Alan sowed it, it grew at a rapid rate, so he wasn’t very happy, really.  (Laughing out loud)  But, you know, I quite enjoyed going up there with him there, and helping them out. 

JM:  And you live in Horham now?
MC:  No, I live next door to James at Kenton. 

JM:  So tell us about your history with the 95th Bomb Group.

MC:  Well, like I said, it only started when James invited me ____________________ .  When I was a young lad, well you didn’t know much about it anyway, a seven year old boy.  But I just knew Brad, that’s all I knew, you see.

JM:  And Brad was….

MC:  He was – what would you call him?

JMu:  He was an ordinance.

MC:  He was an ordinance, yeah, on the base.

JM:  And how did you know him?

MC:  Well, (chuckle), there was my parents, there was my brother, my sister, and myself, and also we had an evacuee come stay with us during the wartime, because they came out of London.  They went all around the countryside, you know, different evacuees did.  And this particular evacuee come stayed with us.  And she had a little daughter named Jennifer.  In the meantime, the GI’s used to come to the pub – public house? – where we lived at Monk’s Home.  And Brad got to know this girl.  And that’s how it really happened, you know.  Then, like I say, with Brad coming over there and bringing my mother some cans of food, (chuckle) – different times.  And the Americans, 1944, it was Christmas of 1944; they come around with trucks and took all us boys and girls to a Christmas party at the base.  And I was telling these, I remember the present they give me all them years ago.  I had a little built up castle.  I kept that castle for a lot of years.  Then when, after that in 1945, because it was all over, and Brad went back.  And I was saying to them, my father wrote him a letter.  I think Brad got in touch with our family, with this girl.  And she went back to London.  And Brad got in touch with my father and asked him could he write and find out where she was.  And he said the only, he writ to Brad and he said I think she works at Liverpool Street station as a secretary.  We never even heard much after then of Brad at all.  At various times he sort of writ, you know.  And it went on for, what is it now, after the war, 60 years.  And one day, four years ago, this man stood in my driveway.  And I happened to be home that day.  It’s lucky I wasn’t at work.  And I was cutting my grass, and I stopped me mower and went and walked to this man.  And he said, “Hi, I’m looking for the Cracknell family, you know.”  And I said, “My mother and father are dead, and I’m the only one that lives around here. And before you go any further, I know who you are.”  And he said, “You do!”  And I said, “Yes, you’re Brad.”  And that was it, you know.  He hugged me (laughing) and ever since then he’s come and stayed with us twice now.  And when we told him we was going to come over here to the reunion, the 95th.  And I said, I’ll come over to you, and stay with you for 10 days.  So, I’m staying with him until the 15th or 14th of October, and going home.

JM:  Was the Christmas party the only time that you went on base?

MC:  That was, yeah.  My brother used to go.  My brother used to go quite a bit, because he was older than me.  My brother’s, what is he, 72 I suppose now.  So he used to go quite a bit because he’d catch a ride with Americans ____________________________.  But I wasn’t old enough to go.

JM:  And what did he do when he was there.  Did he have any stories to tell about those times?

MC:  He probably did, but we never really talk about it after then, you know.  He drifted away.  He went to London to live.

JM:  Was the Christmas party…..

MC:  Oh, huge.

JM:  Tell us about that.

MC:  Oh, what can I tell you?  I remember having turkey for the first time.  And they brought us this red stuff in a jar and put on the plate.  And we all thought that was jam, you see, because you couldn’t get jam anywhere, could you.  And that was cranberry sauce, of course.  So that’s what I remember.  And I can remember one thing, an American dressing up as Father Christmas.  And the huge Christmas tree they had.  I expect Alan can remember all ____________ as well.

JM:  Was the party at the Red Feather Club?

MC:  No, no it wasn’t.  I don’t know.  It was in a big building, but I can’t remember which big building that was in.  I should imagine it was in the hangar, but it was in one of them big buildings.  Actually, there’s a photograph with all us boys and girls.  But I don’t think they got it all in.  It’s in the Contrails.  Whether they got us in.  You have a job to pick yourself in – 60 years ago (laughing).  I’m on there somewhere.  And so is my brother and sister.  My sister had a photograph of that particular time, she had one.  And I kept saying to her, find the photograph.  And she cannot find it.  She don’t live near me, see.  She lives in south of England in Oldershot.  And she can’t find it.  One day perhaps she’ll find it.  And we’ll pick out which is her and which is me and which is my brother on the photograph.

JM:  Were there any particular people that you remember from the party?

MC:  No, no.  Only the lads what went – only us boys and girls what went.  American boys, I can’t remember.  The only particular man I remember is this Brad, you see.  He really stuck in my mind.  Over the years, like you said, over the years I’d just wonder “Well, I wonder where he is.  I wonder what’s happened to him.  I wonder if I could find out.”  And I found out by coming to see us. 

JM:  Well tell us a little bit about what it was like during those days, as far as, were there food shortages that you were aware of?

MC:  There was food shortages.  But living in the country where we lived, we kept chickens in the back yard.  So we had eggs.  And just down the road, there was a farmer who had cows.  And he made his own butter.  We could go down there and get butter.  But we all had ration books; all us children had ration books.  And when you took your ration book to the shop, the shop keeper would cut the little coupon out and give you a quarter of sweets.  (chuckle)  And you had rations books for your cheese, your sugar, well, whatever you know.  The grocer would come around and cut the coupons out, and that’s all you had for that week.  But, like I say, with us living in the country, you used to go out and catch a rabbit, shoot a pheasant.  You were never short, really.  You could have been short, if you hadn’t had all them things.  That went – rations – went on until 1953 in England.

JM:  Really!

MC:  I think it was 1953, ’52 –’53.    We say rations ‘til 1953.  By 1956, I went into the, I was called up to do national service in the British army.  So I done my two years in national service in the army. 

JM:  Any other recollections from those days when the 95th was in town?
MC:  I can remember, you know, being only 7 years old, you know.  I can remember them Americans coming to all the pubs in the villages, you know.  Particularly our village.  We had a little pub only 200 yards away from where we lived.  And they’d fill this pub absolutely full. 

JM:  Do you remember the airplanes?

MC:  I probably should.  Probably when they used to go up I was sent to bed.  I don’t know.  Did they do daytime?

JM:  Do you remember much talk in the family about what was going on?

MC:  They used talk about it in the war because we never had no electricity, no running water, no flush toilets, or anything.  All we had was oil lamps down on the table.  And a bucket underneath the sink to catch the water, and a pump what we used to have to prime to pump the water out.  And the toilet was out in the garden.  (Laughing)  But I can’t remember way back, not too much about that.  Where I lived was 5 miles, 4 miles away from the base?  But I can just remember…Another thing what sticks in my mind too is we had a lane – what we call a road – it was a lane and it’d go to a dead end.  And these Americans come off the base with this truck and took it down there and put it into the ditch.  And it was stuck in this ditch.  And all us kids went down there and got in this lorry, and ______________ (laughing) until they come and “Get out of there.” (laughing)  I can remember that one.  But like I said, it’s tough to remember everything when you were that age.

JM:  Now, here in the states, there seemed to be quite a big spance of time when the veterans really didn’t talk about what had gone on.  Not much was said.  Was that the same case in England?  Did you sort of go back to life as normal, and not really talk about the war?

MC:  I think it did, yeah, it actually did.  It was a long, long while before they really started going again.  When did Alan really start?  And I think the other ones were up in town.  There’s a lot of years afterward that they really thought about it again and started to do again.

JM:  And how long have you been involved in the new organization?

MC:  Three years.

JM:  So have you been going to the Open Days?
MC:  I have, yeah.

JM:  Any special memories of any events during these last three years that you’d like to share with us?

MC:  I suppose seeing all the chaps come back again, especially when they had a Guard of Honor from Milden Hall.  They had a Guard of Honor from Milden Hall, and that was really good. 

JM:  Do any of your friends, are you in contact with any of your friends back then who went to the airbase?

MC:  Oh, not really.  No, no.  A lot of them have moved away.  And some of them have passed away.  It’s like my brother and sister, you see, they don’t live where I live but they live way way down, one in London, one in the other side of London.  So I don’t very often see them. 

JM:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

MC:  No, I can’t think of anything else.

JM:  Is this your first trip to the United States?
MC:  It is, yes.

JM:  Well welcome.

MC:  Okay?

PC:  I have a question.  Did Brad ever find her?

MC:  No, no he wanted James to try and trace her, didn’t he.  But you can’t really trace anybody.  They just, they won’t allow it anyway, will they? He got a magazine, actually.  He brought it over to me.  And he said, “This woman on the front of this magazine is her – Eileen Woosden.”  I said, “No, Brad, you can’t say that’s her,” you know.  He said, “She lives up in the north of England.”  He said, “I’m going to try and get in contact with her.  I said, “She’s your age.  She’s 81 years old.  That might be her daughter.”  You just don’t know, do you?  It would be nice if you could trace her, even the daughter.  Like I said, the daughter is my age. 

JC:  Any other questions? 

MC:  Okay?

JC:  We’re now going to talk with James Mutton.  James, for the record, just state your name, today’s date, and where we are. 

JMu:  My name is James Mutton.  I’m the chairman of the 95th Bomb Group Heritage Association in Horham, England.  Today is Thursday, September the 29th, 2005 at the Dayton, Ohio reunion. 

JC:  James, can you tell us how you got involved with the 95th?

JMu:  Yes, I remember it very well.  At the very young age of 13, I was at Branston Hall, which is a prep school for Framlingham College, which is where the 95th this year, and also in 1992 had the Medieval Banquet in the big hall, where you had your Medieval Banquet and your dinner this time was where I used to have my school lunches.  Before I went to Framlingham College, I had to do a project on local history within a five mile radius on where I lived.  I lived in a village then called Southold, which is three miles from Horham airfield.  As a boy I was always interested in World War II and I decided to do my project on Horham Air Field.  It seemed the most interesting thing at that time, which went on, apart from ram heads and cavaliers having the old skirmish.  But anyway, World War II was my thing, and I did it.  That’s where I actually knew __________ Chambers, and met Alan Johnson, who helped me through their own recollections and stories.  And then time went on and I met up again with Alan.  I was truck driving then, and Alan was also working for a truck company.  And he was telling me about the reunion he’d done in ’99 where he came over with Ian Hawkins.  And they’d been to the Confederate Air Show.  I can’t remember which reunion that was, but he said it was – you know, met a lot of the old boys, the old faces and friends over the years.  Anyway, Alan and I struck up a very good friendship and he showed me the Red Feather Club.  And I thought, my word, this is, because I hadn’t seen the Red Feather Club before, and I thought, well this is a little piece of history.  I helped Alan at the odd time cut hedges and grass and generally tidy the place up.   Well anyway, my interests have grown even more.  We had the 1992 reunion, which I helped with organizing and the general logistics of putting chairs out, the bell dedication for the Horham bells.  And we had two or three visits from the Americans – I believe it was ’94 and ’96.  Anyway, I was a member of the Friends of the 95th.  Alan had invited me on there, and we were obviously involved with anything which went on with the 95th in England.  Well it seemed to sort of, you know, we wondered where there wouldn’t be anymore reunions.  And then in 2000, there was a local Suffolk County Council initiative called Flowers to Flyers, where they were looking at the old airfields and the priories, the religious priories, in the area as tourist interests.  So we had a meeting down at Tony Albrow’s hospital.  And we formed a committee to make public awareness of the Red Feather Club, Horham Airfield.  We got a small grant – I think it was about 500 pounds – for advertising.  And Seabrook said could she come along and show us how to advertise it, which she did, and we had our first Open Day.  And things gradually got going, and we had fund raising events – quiz nights and film shows and that sort of thing – raffles.  And things just gradually got bigger and bigger.  Andrew Castleton was the chairman then.  He said, you know, would I be his vice-chairman, which I was for three years.  I had a lot to do with the grant application we made for the Red Feather Club.  We thought we’ve got a very interesting site there with the murals.  They are unique 20th century wall art.  When the lottery people saw them, they said, “We’ve never done an airfield, but we’d be keen to give it a go.”  We put in for the first grant, which was 5,000.  That didn’t go anywhere.  We basically put door frames on, window frames – just made the buildings more user friendly really.  So the William Wall, the lottery person, said, “Well, there’s more to be had if you want it.  You just got more form filling.  So Andrew and I sat down several winter evenings and filled forms in.  And low and behold we ended up with 23,000 pounds, which was a lot of money to actually do what we wanted to do.  There’s been a tremendous amount of work by a very few people, namely John Blott and Alan Johnson, I mean without which it just wouldn’t have happened.  They are the two unsung heroes there.  We can only go up weekends and evenings because most of us have full time jobs.  But we do our bit.  Andrew said that last AGM would I take over.  My father was, unfortunately, terminally ill at that time, and I said “I can’t do it, Andrew, until I get this behind me.  Because if I do that, I want to give it my all.”  I lost my father in December, and Andrew approached me in January, and I took over the chair job, chairman’s job, which I’m very proud and feel it an honor to do.  We had the reunion in 2005.  It was the week, as I said in my talk at this service this morning, was just when in a week – we’d all been looking forward to it for months – you don’t get a chance to ask all the questions and spend all the time with the relative people you want.  It just goes because we’re organizing gates, the car park, the PA system, the Air Cadets, the Honor Guard – sorting all those things out.  And the Open Day just went – the reunion weekend was, it was tremendous.  There’s only one thing wrong with all this – you live too far away from us.  We wish you just lived down the road.  But we understand.  We love having you people come to see us.  You are the VIP’s.  We do it because we’re interested in what happened in our locality during the war.  But we also do it because we are good friends, we are cousins.  And whenever you come over, you’re always welcome and you are our VIP’s.  Anytime we’d love to see you.  It makes our job – well, it isn’t our job – it makes our hobby, our interests, worthwhile.  And I’m very happy to be asked to attend this reunion.  It is an honor.  This is my first, and it certainly won’t be my last. 

JM:  One thing that I noticed when I was over there this spring.  You have a very active younger set.  Those kids that come in and jitterbug, and…  How have you engaged them?  What has attracted them to…

JMu:  One of my interests also is restoring old military vehicles, namely American vehicles which we had on the bases during the war.  And a lot of those people with the vehicles – the vehicles is the fashion accessories to go around to ‘40’s dances.  And whenever they know there’s a reunion or an airfield weekend, they just turn up.  They know they’re going to get the music, they know they’re going to get the people to watch them.  And we love having them.  But I know them to speak to, and I thank them for coming, but I haven’t got a clue who they are – their names or anything.  A lot of them I know the vehicle, the owners.  Yes, there is a – in Suffolk and Norfolk there was basically an airbase every four or five miles.  And more and more airfields are having Open Days, mainly Fort Abbot’s the 100th, 390th have an Open Day, there’s a big Open Day at Debege, 493rd.  And they have dances during their Open Days.  They have all the music playing and the ‘40’s dances.  Good jitterbugging and jiving, and really is a pleasure to see. 

JM:  The ‘40’s dances, are they very popular?

JMu:  They are very popular.  You could probably find one on most weeks in our area somewhere.  They dress up, yeah.  It is good to see.  I mean it’s restoring a little bit of history yet again. 

JM:  Do you have some goals for your association?
JMu:  Yes.  We would like to complete the restoration of the Red Feather Club.  We’ve got plans to have an archive room, which we’ll basically do over the winter time.  To put a kitchen in, to have _______________ film shows, to serve teas and coffees.  We aren’t allowed to sell it, but we can give it way.  But we do get good donations for it.  We’ve got heating going in the buildings to make it more friendly in the winter time.  The archive is really for people coming to research.  We’ve had schools visit from the local primary school from Welby.  I had a whole day doing their lessons, actually, in the Red Feather Club buildings.  It just brought the old place alive.  The thought of young children there I’m sure would have pleased the young men who served there during the war.  And I think when you see the film this evening you will appreciate what I’m saying.  It just transforms the place.  It was a different angle completely from what we had in mind.  But it’s rejuvenated it.  I’m in my early 40’s.  We look at it if one child can come through that door on a school’s visit and shows an interest, it could be the same interest that I had when I was that age.  And it’s the future of it.  The future in the short term of it is we want a permanent memorial there for the 95th Bomb Group, the vets to come over, and their families to come over.  And it will permanently be there for you to come and see.  We’re always looking for collections of photographs, little artifacts.  We obviously have to open up to maintain the place as we’re doing.  But we want to move on from strength to strength because the mural building itself is that unique.  We’ve got the 390th with its control tower, and the 100th with control tower museums.  But not one base has actually got an enlisted man’s mess building like we’ve got.  And none of them have got the murals which we’ve got, and they’re priceless.  We want to preserve it for future generations, basically is our long term plan.  I’m looking at the moment to try and rejuvenate the 13th combat wing, as far as the 390th and the 100th is concerned.  I’ve spoken to both their relative chairmen, and we’re supposed to be meeting up in the winter time, just to talk about a plan of campaign as far as insurance.  We have these stupid legislations in our country of people tripping over insurance and all this sort of stuff.  And we want to try and overcome a few problems there. But mostly to advertise.  One little idea I’ve got is to actually have a 13th combat wing trail, if you like, where you can go along to the relative three bases, and all the history of them.  So people can go out on a Sunday afternoon drive, pick one of these flyers up and do all three bases and learn about the 13th combat wing.  Because in England, not to my knowledge, it’s never been done.  And I think it would be a good, a good thing to have.

JM:  Any other comments that you’d like to add before we close?
JMu:  We would like to see another reunion next year.  They were asking me to find out are you guys going to come back?  We would like you to come back while people are still fit and well enough and healthy enough to come back.  That is our goal.  We’d love to see you all.  Please keep coming. 

JM:  Thank you so much.  I’ll tell you, it’s just a warm and welcoming feeling when you go over there.  I was so happy that I got to go this year. 

JMu:  Thank you.

JM:  Thank you both for all the work you are doing restore the base, and keep the interest, and to develop these new ideas – the 13th combat unit trail.  I think that’s a wonderful idea.

JMu:  It is a unique part of our history.  The dark days of war, I mean, we don’t look to glorify war.  War shouldn’t ever be glorified.  But it’s just to make people aware of the sacrifice which your young men, our young men, made for our futures.  Unfortunately in this present world it’s so easily forgotten.  But with the school’s trip we had, and the teachers, their thoughts, has given me great faith that the future is for the better.  Thank you.

JM:  Well thank you both so much, and enjoy your stay here in Dayton.  Hopefully we’ll see you next spring.

JMu:  Thank you.