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5 GRAND NEWS
It was a great day Monday for ten men when they discovered that they had been chosen as the crew for the already famous, widely-publicized Five Grand, the 5000th B-17 to roll off the line at Boeing aircraft Corporation.
First Lieutenant Edward C. Unger, pilot, and 2nd LT Richard L. Jacobson, co-pilot, who are both from Seattle, Wash., and both have relatives working at the Boeing Aircraft Corp. there, discovered the plane had arrived on the base Sunday. Hearing that no crew had been assigned as yet, they requested permission to be assigned to that plane, little dreaming that it would take effect. The following day, they were notified that they were the selected crew.
Navigator on the ship will be LT John H. Belay of Joliet, Ill., and Bombadier-Navigator is LT George W. Y. Molar Jr. of San Antonio, Texas. The fortunate enlisted men were SGT Walter W. Griffith of Anaheim, Calif., Engineer; CPL Lewis Sendek, Jr., Pittsburgh, PA., Assistant Engineer and right waist gunner; SGT Jack K. Boyce of Dallas, Texas, radio man; CPL Anthony T. Guercia of New York City, ball turrent gunner; SGT John B. MacBride of Narberth, PA, armorer-gunner and left waist gunner; and CPL Robert A. Bohyer of Lima, OH., tail-gunner.
At an open house ceremony in the Big Depot hangar, Mr. C.V. Little, Boeing representative on the field, presented LT Unger with a log book containing a complete history of the plane. "When the Five Grand goes into combat, it takes the fighting spirit of all the men and women who built it," Mr. Little stated. LT Jacobson's 74-year old grandfather is an employee in the Boeing factory in Seattle. The pilot then introduced his crew to the audience. On the program was COL Cornelius W. Cousland, new base commander, who gave his initial public speech since arriving on the field, and was introduced by Major Robert W. Motherwell.
* July 4, 1944, unknown newspaper