Jan Cline

follow your heart...keep the faith

All My Goodbyes: The Real Story

I hope you enjoyed reading All My Goodbyes. Now you are familiar with a cast of characters and a story that came about from real people and true events.

The last chapter in the book explained The Real Story, so I’d like to introduce you to the people you might feel you already know.

Please keep the link to this page private, as I don’t want to reveal the ending to those who have not read the book.

Here is Martha with “Betsy”.
The real Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Pasco, WA. And yes, Sister Clatilda was a real person. I wish I had a photo of her, but all I have are Mom’s stories about her in my memory.
Martha’s graduating class of nursing students. 1938.
Joe Kingsbery, the co-pilot’s son recalled his dad saying that Clark was an exacting pilot with movie-star looks. He also told me that when the army increased the required number of missions, Clark went to bat for his crew because so many of them had already flown nearly their quota of the original required number. Joe wasn’t sure if he succeeded in lowering the quota, but it didn’t matter since the crew were soon involved in the crash and most of them went home.
The wedding book that led me to find “baby Carol”, Clark’s niece. I had only Clark’s sister’s signature and the address she listed beneath it for clues to begin my search. But thanks to Ancestry.com, I located her.
Official picture of plane and crew that were taken of all the crews once they arrived overseas.

Rear:
Sgt. Melvin Howard, tail gunner
Sgt. Albert Wagner, ball gunner
Sgt. Walter Nye, waist gunner
Sgt. Wayne Back, waist gunner
Sgt. John Keegan, radio
Sgt. William Watkins, engineer

Front:
1st Lt. Clark Jensen, pilot
1st Lt. Henry Kingsbery, co-pilot
1st Lt. Willis Hause, bombardier
1st Lt. Edward Hanna, navigator

Old Faithful on her way overseas with crew. Clark would be the one in the pilot’s chair. You can barely see the nose art that is incomplete. One of the crew’s wife started it but they were deployed before she could finish. It was completed by someone once they arrived in England.
A few days before the crash. Clark, Willis Hause, Hank Kingsbery
One of the original crash site photos.
These are Clark’s medals which I gave to his niece Carol when I met her. 
This is the letter that started it all. I cannot imagine how my mom must have felt as she read it. Knowing the details of that fateful crash must have crushed her heart. Crew member Ed Hanna wrote this from his hospital bed, and tried to comfort Martha with these last words:

“Clark and Watkins were both buried with full military honors at Cambridge. Our crew didn’t know of either of their deaths until two days after the crash. We all mourn them deeply. We had become staunch friends and a good team. Clark had been put in for captain shortly before the crash and we were all pulling for him to get it. It seems like God needed a dammed good pilot and engineer. He sure picked the best.”
This is Albert Wagner, Old Faithful’s ball gunner. His family filled me in on his personality and talents so I could correctly portray him in the book. He had one of the most dangerous positions on the plane – dealing with very cold temperatures, exposure, and no parachute. From what I have come to know, he was a great guy and a valued member of Clark’s crew. He was fortunate to come home to Evelyn his wife, and lived a long happy life.
Here is the actual map from an escape kit Albert carried on every mission. The colors are quite vivid in person and this one was printed on silk. Some were printed on other typed of fabric and depicted different countries depending on what theater of the war the men were fighting in.
The day I met Evelyn Wagner and her granddaughters, Hope and Jamie, was a great joy for me.

Here is a good look at an actual B-24 in flight. This plane is not identical to Clark’s plane, but with very few differences. It’s the only B-24 still flying and in the video you can see how tight the quarters are. I was especially impressed with the ball gunner position, which was Albert Wagner’s job. The tightest, coldest, and one of the most dangerous places in the plane during a mission. The ball gunner didn’t wear a parachute like the rest of the crew, as there was no room. You can see how these bomber crews had to work in perfect synchronization and cooperation of teamwork.

If you’ve enjoyed All My Goodbyes, would you leave a review on your favorite book retailer?

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Elijah’s Story is written by Jan Cline and narrated by James L. Rubart.