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IPTC: Caption
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The crew of Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Sentimental Journey" commanded by Captain Jack Ray poses in front of their new aircraft just off the assembly line in Wichita. In the front row, third from the left, is Sergeant George Corley Wallace Junior (August 25, 1919 Ð September 13, 1998). Already a politician, Wallace received his law degree in 1942 and was inducted in February 1943. While in training as a flight engineer, he contracted spinal meningitis. His resultant furlough allowed him to marry his girlfriend Lurleen in Mobile, Alabama on May 21, 1943. He continued his training while Lurleen lived with her parents in Abilene. They moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico, for B-29 training during the last three months of 1944. Wallace and his wife, the only married couple with child, were not social with the rest of the crew, avoiding the single men's trips to whorehouses, and mixed family weekend picnics and socials. He did use the free postage available to the military to send hundreds of postcards to remind people of his political ambitions in Alabama. During a long range training mission on April 15, 1945, Wallace had to work hard to contain a fire in the number two engine. This and the mounting combat losses over Japan exhausted and emotionally drained Wallace, who did not wish to enter combat. They received a new B-29 which Ray christened "Sentimental Journey," each crewmember contributing five dollars for the name to be painted on the aircraft. The crew flew "Sentimental Journey" for the first time on June 6, 1945. Ten days later they began their long flight to their base on Tinian, Marianas, arriving on June 20. After some practice missions and "milk runs" they faced heavy opposition (flak and fighters) for the first time during an attack on Sendai on July 9. Performing regular missions with the 20th Air Force, "Sentimental Journey's" worst mission was on July 19 over Sendai. The heat from the firestorm caused a thermal depression, which forced the plane down from 20
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IPTC: Copyright Notice
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Caption ©2007 MFA Productions LLC
Image in the Public Domain
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