The Writing 69th

The Writing 69th was a group of eight American journalists who trained to fly and flew on bomber missions over Germany with the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II.

The beginnings

The Writing 69th was so christened by one of the 8th Air Force's public relations officers, perhaps Hal Leyshon or Joe Maher. The group also considered the name "The Flying Typewriters" or the "Legion of the Doomed". The Writing 69th included the likes of Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney and Robert Post.

Members

The Writing 69th included:

• Paul Manning: correspondent for CBS Radio
• Robert Post: correspondent for The New York Times
• Walter Cronkite: correspondent for United Press
• Andy Rooney: correspondent for Stars and Stripes
• Denton Scott: correspondent for Yank, the Army Weekly
• Homer Bigart: correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune
• William Wade: correspondent for the International News Service
• Gladwin Hill: correspondent for the Associated Press

In addition to the writers of the 69th, five newsreel cameramen took part in the training with the Flying Typewriters. They and their affiliations were:

• George B. Oswald: Universal Newsreel
• Ernest J.H. Wright: Paramount News
• J.L. Ransden: Movietone News
• Robert K.L. Gordon: Pathé Gazette News
• Harold J. Morley: Gaumont British

The training

The reporters who accompanied the 8th Air Force were required to undergo a rigorous training course in just one week. They trained in a multitude of tasks, including how to shoot weapons, despite rules barring non-combatants from carrying a weapon into combat. The men were also trained on how to adjust to high altitudes, parachuting and enemy identification.

The first and last mission

The first and last mission for the Writing 69th would come on February 26, 1943. A group of American B-24s and B-17s were dispatched to attack the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory in Bremen, Germany. As fate would have it, the skies over Bremen were overcast, and the bombing run had to be diverted to a secondary target, the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven.

Of the eight journalists who comprised the Legion of the Doomed, only six went on that fateful mission; Post, Cronkite, Rooney, Wade, Bigart, and Hill. Over Oldenburg, Germany, the American bomber group encountered German fighters. Post's B-24 was shot down and exploded in mid-air. Eight Air Force crew members were killed, along with Post. The other aircraft returned safely, though Rooney's sustained some flak (anti-aircraft) damage. Post's death effectively ended the days of reporters flying on bombing missions. Others, including Scott and Manning (who both missed the Wilhelmshaven raid), did fly after this mission, but it was not nearly as widespread as it may have been save for Post's death.