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Family WWII story connects to Victoria veteran

Robynn Thorley Whittier
  • BY ROBYNN THORLEY WHITTIER
  • Originally published November 9, 2012 at 5:42 p.m., updated November 9, 2012 at 5:42 p.m.

On Feb. 12, we were always told this story. Our uncle, Robert Nelson Bulloch, was killed in a plane crash near Ardmore, Okla., during World War II. He was the co-pilot of a B-17, and for some unknown reason, two planes collided. One plane was able to fly back to the air base, my uncle's plane crashed, killing all but one man. Since my mother was home alone that night, babysitting her four-year-old sister, she was the one who received the news of Robert's death. She was 15 years old.

Fast forward 65 years. We were celebrating my mother's 80th birthday. She was dying of cancer, and we knew she would not see another birthday. She kept saying she had not written Robert's history. I had some time, so I said I would write it. I began looking through boxes and came upon two bundles of letters. These were the letters Robert sent home during the war. His mother had tied them together with twine and put them in a box. As I read, I realized these were incredible artifacts of our family, a history of our small southern Utah town and a record of World War II America. These letters needed to be preserved.

It has been three and a half years since then, and the brief history I started is now a 340-page book. It will be distributed to nieces and nephews this year on Veterans Day. Only one sibling of Robert's family is still alive: that four-year-old sister. Our family has a better understanding of who we are. You see, the book that started out to be a history of a 25-year-old pilot who was killed over Mill Creek, Okla., is now a book about this amazing family. The oldest sister was with her army husband at Fort Sill, Okla., at the time of her brother's death. Her husband would end up in Europe at the Battle of the Bulge later that year of 1944. Robert's younger brother was in the South Pacific, landing in the Philippines just after the Japanese left and in Japan a month after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. My mother would support the war efforts by plucking turkeys and helping in her mother's flower shop, making deliveries in Robert's car. Robert's cattleman father would take various military jobs to help the family and the war effort.

So what does this story have to do with Victoria? Last summer, as I was putting the finishing touches on the book about Robert N. Bulloch, I come upon "A Story of Survival," the story of the only survivor of the B-17 collision on Feb. 12, 1944. Yes, this was the story of the man who survived, and to make this even more compelling, the man who survived was still alive. I was able to get in contact with Jack McClanahan, of Victoria. He was more than willing to share his story with me and insights into who my uncle was. After this accident in Oklahoma, Mr. McClanahan went on to fly 32 missions with another B-17 crew over Europe.

Last month, my sister and I made a trip to Victoria to visit with Mr. McClanahan. An additional bonus was to meet his friend, Bob Ozment, another Victoria area resident who happened to live in Mill Creek, Okla., as an eight-year-old, witnessing the aftermath of the plane crash. His father was one of the men who cut the soldiers out of the plane.

On this Veterans Day, I find myself wanting to thank Mr. McClanahan, Mr. Ozment and other veterans who have served this country; for neighbors like the Ozment family, who came to the aid of 10 soldiers who died and one who lived. I feel a reverence for those who have given their lives so that I can enjoy freedom. And a special thank you to families who have supported these veterans and have sacrificed for us all. Happy Veterans Day, Victoria. May God bless America.

Robynn Thorley Whittier is the niece of Robert Nelson Bulloch. She is a teacher in the Fort Collins, Colo., area.