The “Heroes of Rose” mural will be dedicated at the Rose Cemetery in North Rose, New York today at 10 a.m. Lead artist Mark DeCracker tells the local Finger Lakes Times newspaper how he learned about the two airmen depicted on it.
I attended airman John’s calling hours on May 19, 2023. It was a sobering and moving ceremony, one that I will never forget. While at the service I met Matt Osborne, John’s great nephew and a military historian. As I was talking to him, he was holding a book called “Ploesti, The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1 August 1943.” After showing me some of the photos and explaining them, Matt turned to a page in the book that Col. Kane had written.
I was so moved I turned to Matt and said I wanted to do a mural to honor John. The seed was planted, and in late October we started painting the mural.
I got to fly up to North Rose to meet and thank Mark’s team of artists in April. It has been my honor and privilege to serve as military history advisor to their project. Here is the text I composed for the two explanatory plaques on the mural.
1st Lt. John Blakeslee Thomas was part of Operation Tidal Wave on 1 August 1943. Blake piloted a B-24D Liberator in a surprise attack on the Ploesti oilfield refinery complex known as “Hitler’s gas station.” Heavy defenses engaged Blake’s 98th Bomb Group of the Ninth Air Force in a rare air-ground battle. His plane, “Aire Lobo,” took hits while approaching the target. Multiple crewmen were wounded. Just after the bomb load was released at low altitude, a flak shell struck the cockpit, killing Blake. His plane careened into the ground, “crashed left wing first and disintegrated.” All 10 crewmen died. OP Tidal Wave was the blackest day in the history of American military aviation, as two-thirds of the force was shot down or damaged and 310 aircrew killed. Blake was from the North Rose Class of 1938 with sixteen students. He preferred his middle name, though his family called him John.
Bombing Hitler's Gas Station: A Brief History
1st Lt. Donald Melvin Putnam was part of Operation Crossbow, the campaign to stop Hitler’s V-1 buzz bombs. These attacks killed over 6,000 British civilians and wounded 28,000. Melvin flew with the 78th Fighter Group of the VIII Fighter Corps. On 5 January 1944, Melvin’s flight escorted B-17 bombers targeting rocket launch sites in northern France. Melvin’s trio of P-47C Thunderbolts was attacked by a formation of Fw-190s during the return trip from the target. Low on fuel, Melvin was last seen turning to meet the attack, an act which allowed one of his wingmen to escape the ambush. Melvin’s plane crashed after a final radio transmission that he was “O.K. providing he could get out of this place.” Melvin was from the North Rose Class of 1938 with sixteen students. He painted a red apple on the fuselage of his plane. Melvin preferred his middle name, though his family called him Donald.