Watching Ploesti Burn

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but at times, that same picture can evoke just as many memories.

Such was the case for George Dragan of Aurora, Colo.

Dragan was in town with Lila Brasher, mother of Terri Krier of McCook, during the annual McCook Heritage Days Celebration and McCook Army Airbase Reunion.

While visiting the old airbase during its open house, Dragan happened upon a painting which had been donated to the society by Ralph Branstedder. The artwork depicted several B-24s in the air over Ploesti, Romania, as flak exploded around them.

Dragan told his story to Dale Cotton of the McCook Airbase Society and Cotton asked Dragan to share his story with the Gazette.

Dragan said he was 14 years old and living at a horticultural farm in Mercet, Romania, approximately 60 miles from Ploesti at the time of the historic attack.

On Aug. 1, 1943, Dragan and four of his friends were cooling off from the heat of the summer sun at a local swimming hole.

The five were laying in the sand when they heard the sound of thunder overhead.

Dragan said they looked up and saw bombers littering the sky. The group counted around 38 or 39 bombers flying "way up."

As they watched, they saw the planes make a turn from their easterly direction, heading instead into a southeasterly direction. After investigating the incident in later years, Dragan said he discovered the pilots had become confused and were flying toward Bucarest, the central base for the German and Romanian forces.

He said the group had reached the half-way point to Bucarest before realizing their mistake, then made a half turn and headed back to Ploesti.

Later that August day, Dragan said, he and his friends felt the ground shake and looked in the direction of Ploesti. As they watched, black smoke billowed from the direction the planes had flown.

As they continued watching, the group of youngsters saw B-24s appear over the horizon. The once beautiful, lofty planes were now struggling to gain altitude.

"As they flew over, I saw a dozen B-24s on fire with their tails off and wings broken, trying to ascend," he said.

Ploesti was a primary target for American forces because of the five oil refineries that surrounded the city. The gasoline made in those facilities fueled an estimated one-third of the Third Reich.

The initial attack on Ploesti was conducted by 178 B-24s with seven targets. The bombers are reported to have been carrying 316 tons of bombs. The round trip flight for the the bombers was 2,400 miles.

Of the 178 aircraft to make the flight, 168 made it over their target. Of those, 41 were lost in action. Three hundred airmen were killed, 140 captured and 440 wounded. Only one in six bombers were in flyable condition when the mission was completed.

The target eventually was destroyed in the summer of 1944, when 761 bombers were sent against the Romanian oil targets. The destruction of the refineries was a major factor in Germany's eventual loss, according to historians.

In an official government report, Lt. Don Wise, a participant in the occupation of Germany after the war, said he was told by former German soldiers that after Ploesti was destroyed, there was virtually no fuel left for Germany's war machine. Soldiers had to push trucks to the top of the hills, jump on the trucks and ride them downhill.

Six months after witnessing the raid on Ploesti, Dragan and seven schoolmates were called to the school director's office and told they had been selected to go to a horticultural school in Germany where he was to live for one year.

The eight youngsters were given uniforms and picked up in Bucarest on Feb. 14, 1944. They were then taken by train to Nuxemburg, Germany.

Dragan vividly remembers the nightly air-raid sirens.

"There was a concrete bunker 100 yards from the school. Every night we would pick up our blankets and go to the bunker," he said.

After three weeks at the school, officials decided the risk to the children was too high and they were sent to Heidelberg, Germany.

After four days in Heidelberg, they were sent to a farm, where they remained until the end of the war.

After leaving the farm, Dragan heard from a friend, Marin Helmstadt, who had found a position with the U.S. Army as a shoe-shine boy.

"He brought me cigarettes, soap and a candy bar," Dragan said. "Then he told me the unit had moved to Heidelberg and he told me if I went there he would get me a job."

In the second week of April 1946, Helmstadt called and told him if he wanted a job, to meet him at 8 a.m. the next morning.

Dragan was chosen from a half-dozen applicants as the office clerk at the American Red Cross where he worked from April 1946 to September 1947.

During that time, his friend had started working in the U.S. Army Headquarters. Dragan replaced Helmstedt when he vacated the position.

He worked there until September 1951.

Because he was considered a displaced citizen, Dragan could not return to Romania so he made the decision to come to the United States. He arrived on American soil aboard a military transport ship on Nov. 24, 1951.

The 22-year-old Dragan was given 30 days to check in with his sponsor in Arkansas.

"When I got there I told him I wanted to join the military," he said.

He was inducted into the U.S. Air Force on Dec. 15, 1951. Dragan retired from Air Force Intelligence at the rank of Senior Master Sergeant on Dec. 31, 1978.

Following his retirement, Dragan worked as an office manager in a rental business before joining forces with a friend, Col. Henry Stickney, to begin a home medical service and factor provider for hemophiliacs in the Denver area.

He said he is hoping to retire in March.