An Emotional Gauntlet – What’s in a book title?
“Should our guys ever get together to write ‘Attleborough tales’—the winter’s walk from Old Buck’ to the Griffin; shooting with the village vicar, or the infamous raid on the Gaymer’s Cyder Mill; missing Liberty Runs from the Cattle Market; the night the crew of Stinky released a skunk in the Samson & Hercules; nights at the Bell to exchange missions with Stateside classmates assigned to other Groups, often times a search for a never to be seen again friend—that’s the way I remember an emotional gauntlet.”
Bill Eagleson, Natick, Massachusetts, 1986.
I first met Bill Eaglson, in the Second Air Division Memorial Room (now known as the American Library) in Norwich Central Library, Norfolk, England, in March 1986. He asked me to see if I could find out what happened to a B-24 named Corky. Bill was a veteran of the 733rd Bomb Squadron, 453rd Bomb Group, based at Old Buckenham, near Attleborough, Norfolk, in 1944. He flew thirty combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe as the bombardier on a B-24 aircrew – Crew 25 of the 453rd Bomb Group; pilot, Lt. Jack Nortridge. Their aircraft was nicknamed “Corky” – Burgundy Bombers.
An Emotional Gauntlet: From Life in Peacetime America to the War in European Skies, based on research between 1986 and 2002, and first published in 2004.
Crew 25 at March Field, Riverside, California, in November 1943. Back row, L-R: Lt. Bill Eagleson; Lt. Donald Lawry (killed in action, 22nd February 1944); Lt. Jack Nortridge; Lt. George White; Sgt. Bill LeRoy. Front row, L-R: Sgt. Perry Roberson; Sgt. James Witmer (missing in action, prisoner of war, 6th March 1944); Sgt. Aurèle ‘Pete’ Veilleux; Sgt. Harvey Nielsen; Sgt. Lim Wing Jeong. (Photo: Stuart J. Wright collection)
Crew 25 with their B-24 named “Corky”—Burgundy Bombers at Old Buckenham, Norfolk, England, in 1944. Back row, L-R: Sgt. Joseph DeMay; Sgt. Harvey Nielsen; Sgt. Lim Wing Jeong; Sgt. Bill LeRoy; Sgt. Aurèle ‘Pete’ Veilleux; Lt. Jack Nortridge. Front row, L-R: Lt. Bill Eagleson, Lt. Seymour Cohen, Lt. George White; Sgt. Perry Roberson. (Photograph: Stuart J. Wright collection)
For a long time, I had more questions than answers. Bill would respond with very descriptive letters, sometimes densely-packed with abbreviated memories which, in 1994, became the inspiration for my book – An Emotional Gauntlet: From Life in Peacetime America to the War in European Skies – which was first published in 2004.
One of Bill’s earliest letters, from Spring 1986, included the paragraph quoted at the top of this webpage, from which came the book title. In the context of the book, it should all make sense. For the uninitiated, here is some elaboration:
Attleborough
A Norfolk market town, just a mile away from the communal areas of Old Buckenham airfield.
The Griffin
A pub in Attleborough where airmen of the 453rd Bomb Group would drink when off duty.
Gaymer’s Cyder Mill
A cider factory in Attleborough.
Liberty Run
For the 453rd BG, the city of Norwich was the nearest ‘liberty town’. Most evenings, truckloads of off-duty Americans were shuttled from their Norfolk bases to the cattle market next to Norwich Castle. These excursions were known as the Liberty Run. The airmen would, with exceptions, return to the cattle market after closing time to find trucks waiting to bus them back to their bases.
The crew of Stinky
The six enlisted men assigned to Crew 25 (pilot Lt Jack Nortridge) shared a hut at Old Buckenham with the six enlisted men of Crew 37 (pilot Lt Gustav Johnson) and their pet skunk – hence, they named their aircraft Stinky. (The four officers of Crew 25, including Bill Eagleson, shared a hut with the four officers of three other crews, including Crew 37.)
The Samson & Hercules
A nightclub in Norwich.
Derelict huts on former Site 4, Old Buckenham, in 1996. Once the homes of the 733rd Bomb Squadron’s enlisted men, these huts were demolished by the end of the decade. The enlisted men from Crew 25 (Nortridge's crew) shared a hut on Site 4 with the enlisted men from Crew 37 (Johnson's crew), along with a dog, a monkey, and a pet skunk! (Photograph: Stuart J. Wright)
American airmen and British women at a dance hall in Norwich, believed to be the Samson & Hercules, 1944. (Photograph: Stuart J. Wright collection)
The public bar at the Bell Hotel was usually the first stop for Corky's crew while on a Liberty Run. Norwich, Norfolk, England, circa 1943–1945. (Photograph: Stuart J. Wright collection)
The Bell
A hotel and bar located next to the cattle market which was popular amongst America airmen.
“to exchange missions with Stateside classmates assigned to other Groups”
Evenings in Norwich provided opportunities to socialise with friends from the United States (whether from civilian life or military training) who were also based in East Anglia but assigned to other Bomb Groups and Fighter Groups, to compare experiences of missions, and to see who had survived – and who had not.
Stuart J. Wright
New Jersey, 19-04-2025