My wife’s uncle, Sgt Herbert Roth, was killed on December 7, 1944 when a Japanese suicide plane rammed his B-29 Superfortress near Mukden, China. Sgt Roth, the radar operator was seen falling from the plane with an unopened parachute. No remains were ever found. The plane had taken off from India and had flown the famous “Hump” of the Himalaya mountains between China and India. The bomber was named “Humpin’ Honey” and had a drawing of a pretty girl on the nose.
Unknown airman standing beside “Humpin’ Honey” Bomber in an undated photo.
Only 2 crew members survived. Here is a link to their story.
Initially, there was a lot of confusion as to the fate of Sgt. Roth. For many years, the Roth family held out hope that Herbert would return some day. Thanks to the Department of Defense and the efforts of veterans groups, the tragic story has been explained in greater detail in recent years.
The family still mourns the loss of their beloved “Herbie”, but are proud of his actions on behalf of our country.
I found a Purple Heart belonging to Kenneth B. Gwaltney, he was next to Herbert Roth when they went down. I would like to talk to the family about it if interested.
My uncle Lt. Aurelius Colby was the pilot of the plane.
Don, there is more info being discovered about this plane. How can we contact eachother offline: Perhaps moderators of this site can figure out how to link us up? (I am one of the sons of the flight engineer (Lt. Charles Krueger) who was also lost on Dec 7th.
My condolences on the loss of your uncle. Thanks for the info. I looked him up on FindaGrave.com & was able to read his obit. I’m saw the link to a story failed in the original post, so I added some of the info from the obit into the text. I’ll pass the info on to the family. Thanks again, Johnny