Virgil Ellis Trombly (1919 - 2009)

Born 3 Oct 1919 in Ingraham, Clinton, New York, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Helen Jane (Neverett) Trombly — married 4 Aug 1945 in Chazy, Clinton, New York, United States

Died 27 Nov 2009 at age 90 in Maryville, Blount, Tennessee, USA

Virgil Ellis Trombly served in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II
Service started:
Unit(s):
Service ended:

Biography

This profile is part of the Trombly Name Study.

Virgil Ellis Tromlywas born on 3 Oct 1919 in Ingraham, Clinton, New York, USA. He was the son of Wilbert Tremblay and Aurelie Pontbriand. He passed away on 27 Nov 2009 Maryville, Blount, Tennessee, USA.

The following story was relayed by Virgil Ellis Trombly to one of his grandchildren and posted on ancestry.com:

To view in it's original format: http://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/stream/namespaces/1093/media/af2bf62d-f978-4014-bae1-0cb16d41e402.pdf?client=Trees&filename=Virgil%20E%20Trombly%201919-2009

There Were Days When Things Didn’t Quite Go As They Had Been Briefed On the group’s 239th mission, the assigned target was to be the vast marshaling yards at Berlin, deep in Germany. All aircraft except those carrying propaganda leaflets or forged rations stamps had been loaded with 500 lb. incendiary bombs or general purpose bombs. Bombing of the target area was briefed to be in group formation with bomb release on the lead aircraft. First Lt. Trombly was leading the right element of the low left squadron.

Virgil with his plane

As they approached the initial point, Trombly began losing power in one engine making it impossible to maintain his position. Dropping out, losing both speed and altitude, he found himself flying in the CHAFF being dispensed by the formation and drawing the enemy radar guided flak guns. His engineer, T/Sgt. Berberian, ultimately was able to bring the engine back to full power and they worked their way back into position before Bombs Away.

Turning away from the target area, Popham R-Roger (Trombly’s radio call sign) found that its’ troubles were not yet over! The previously cantankerous engine again lost its turbo boost and then another engine failed. Whether this latest failure was caused by damage while in the heavy flak was really only academic because not only was it a failed engine but it also was the only one with a vacuum pump. All of the flight instruments operated on vacuum air pressure. Lt. Trombly asked his navigator, Lt. Gamewell for a heading to get them out of enemy airspace and with dispatch!

For nearly an hour, the crew was on full alert watching for potential enemy fighters. Each of the crewmembers attributed their luck to his personal lucky charm but for for whatever the reason, they were thankful when they reached the borders of Belgium which had been liberated by allied ground forces with the winning of the Battle of the Bulge! It was decision time for Lt. Trombly.

Being aware that a landing without instruments and only two engines was out of the question, the Lieutenant advised his crew they would have to use their parachutes. In the face of total opposition, it was ultimately necessary for him to order them to bail out.

Returning to England the following day and after a week of R & R, the crew was collectively placed on combat ready status.

Virgil with fellow pilots

This last page of group history has a red dot (see flight/target record) on certain missions. The one on the 22nd mission is the one I had to order the “Bail Out." We were descending into the clouds with only two engines running and having trouble with the third one. I, being the last one out was at about 7500’. As it turned out, the cloud layer ran down to the ground, and I hit a tree top before I saw the ground, with the tree spilling some of the air in my chute, I hit the ground hard. The location being Spa, Belgium, which was about ten miles on our side of the battle lines.

Met up with one of my engineers in Spa, and the rest of my crew the next day in Leige, Belgium except the navigator. He had cut his head on the edge of the of the escape hatches on his “Bail Out," was picked up by civilians, and hospitalized for about six weeks. Returned to the crew on my 31st mission. Captain Anderson my engineer and I Left the next morning for Liege to meet the rest of my crew. As it turned out the Captain and my co-pilot had gone to school together in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

While we were standing on the walkway with them reminiscing, a group of GI’s were lined up across the street “sweating” a pay line. One of them hollered out my name, So I crossed the street, and who do I meet, but a high school classmate of mine at the Chazy, New York, High School. He joined us after his pay, so we hashed over old times. From Liege, we were transported to Brussels, where we remained over night.

We were flown out the next day to re-join our group. They had me fly a practice mission over England the following day, then sent us to a rest home for rest and recuperation. A ten day period. Returned to base and flew my 23rd and 24th mission on Mar 17th and 18th.

Speaking of the holidays, you will note that I flew a mission the day before Christmas and the day before New Year's. You will also note that we lost one plane (our group) on each mission. On Sept 25th of 1944, I was in the group but wasn’t flying missions yet, (Practice missions over England). Our group, The 445th left England with 35 planes, 2 “aborted” because of mechanical failure, so there were 33 planes over the Target. German fighter planes hit the group over Kassel Germany (the target), 25 were shot down over the target, 4 returned to the base, all with wounded on board (shooting red flares). The balance of the formation crash landed in Belgium and France. Many of the crewmen bailed out of the 25. Some were taken prisoners and many were killed with pitch forks by the civilians. I remember the C.O. of our base watching the four remaining planes returning to the base, long after they were due to return. While he was a tough C.O. he actually cried.

Jimmy Stewart in WWII

One of the original crews of the 445th was pilot James Stewart, the actor. He was transferred to “wing" after I joined the group. The 445th being his original, he often came to our base to renew old friendships. Also he occasionally would lead our group on missions, and I always noted that they were tough ones. As with anything, Some missions were tougher than others.

The navigator that went overseas with me, as my original navigator, and remained through my 11th mission was an excellent navigator. Which is probably the cause for his death, On occasion he would correct the mission headings of our lead ship navigator. One afternoon after our 11th mission, he informed me that he was scheduled to go on a mission with one Capt. Barker, whom I had come to know quite well. The mission was to a German Island in the North Sea, known as Heligoland. The latrine rumor from stool #1 was that the anti-aircraft fire there was extremely accurate. That was the last I heard from Aaron Kogan. For a long time he and that crew were listed as MIA “Missing In Action." Eventually it was changed to KIA “Killed In Action." I missed him in all my remaining missions, not only as an excellent navigator, but as a friend and a good crew member.

I flew a brand new B-24 back from overseas, with only 17 hours registered on the hour meter. I came from Scotland to Iceland, to Labrador, and landed it at Bradley Field, Conn. From there, it was rumored that it was going to, I think Salt Lake City, to be scrapped. A little over 19,000 B-24s were built between 1939 and 1945, more than any other model airplane. Today there are millions spent to refurbish some wherever they can be found.

I end this with it being just a small portion of my recollections of the draft board days, though my avaiation cadet, B-24 training and finally my combat missions, with b-24 bomber, ending in 1945.

Sources

• [1] Virgil's Recollections
• [2] Pombrio Family History/ Veterans
• [3] Genealogy
• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJ23-587 : accessed 10 November 2019), Virgil Trombly in household of Wilbur Trombly, Chazy, Clinton, New York, United States; citing ED 13, sheet 18A, line 19, family 373, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1094; FHL microfilm 1,821,094.
• "New York State Census, 1925," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KS7G-257 : 8 November 2014), Vergil Trombly, Chazy, A.D. 01, E.D. 02, Clinton, New York, United States; records extracted by Ancestry and images digitized by FamilySearch; citing p. 8, line 19, New York State Archives, Albany.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7HY-74H : accessed 10 November 2019), Virgil E Trombly in household of Wilbur Thombly, Chazy, Clinton, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 13, sheet 3B, line 53, family 55, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1416; FHL microfilm 2,341,151
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQMR-3VW : 27 July 2019), Virgil Trombly in household of Wilbur Trombly, Chazy Town, Clinton, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 10-14, sheet 17B, line 55, family 313, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2516.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #182429075 Virgil Ellis Trombly
• U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1; Norwood, NY
• U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2; Norwood, NY
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JT2Q-CM8 : 20 May 2014), Virgil E Trombly, 27 Nov 2009; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
• "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8P2-N4C : 5 December 2014), Virgil E Trombly, enlisted 15 Aug 1942, Baltimore, Maryland, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVTS-971Y : accessed 10 November 2019), Mr Virgil E Trombly, Ogdensburg, New York, United States, 13 Dec 2009; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Advance-News, born-digital text.