Jim Blakely, the son of Everett Blakely, wrote an article for the March 2023 edition of the 8th AF Newsletter titled “Thirteen Empty Bunks.” Attached with the article are several pictures, but one in particular stands out—a diagram of a Nissen hut with harrowing annotations.
“Those small huts could get crowded; yet by mid-October 1943, there was plenty of room in one. Thirteen of the sixteen cots were empty. Three of four B-17s had been lost in a short span of time. The other plane was damaged beyond repair. Each bed had a tale to tell. And the tale told by the empty beds was especially nerve-wracking.”
And though there were many huts at Thorpe Abbotts like it, with empty beds aplenty and similar stories to tell, this one was just a little bit more special because Blakely, Crosby, and Douglass were the last three members of the “Original” 100th flight officers left on base.
The article goes on to share the stories of the men who once slept in the empty bunks of his father’s Nissen hut, and I highly recommend reading it for the amazing insight into the lives of these men.
Read the full article here