Herring “Henry” Joyce Jr. was born on Jan 23, 1923 in Corinth, Mississippi. His parents Herring “Dick” Joyce and Floy Gail Joyce [nee Harrison] were both born in Tennessee. His father was a truck driver at the Borden Ice Cream Plant. Maurice was the second oldest in a family of four children, finished high school and worked as a sales clerk. Herring was drafted and enlisted at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri on March 11, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. He stood 5’ 10½” and weighed 146 pounds.

Selected for flight duty, he was trained as a flight officer. Herring was assigned to the 303rd Bomb Group, known as “Hells Angles,” which were part of the 427th Bomb Squadron. The 303rd personnel trained in the states to be part of a B-17 Superfortress bomber unit.

Joyce was sent to Molesworth, England. He flew his final flight with pilot Lt. Oliver Eisenhart on January 13, 1945. By the time they flew the mission on January 13, 1945, the crew had still not given their plane a traditional colorful nickname, so it is simply documented as serial number 43-38689. Combat mission number 301 on that day targeted the railroad bridge at Mannheim, Germany. Thirty nine crews were assigned to the mission, and they had fighter escorts to help protect them on the way. Each B-17 Superfortress would carry six 1,000 pound heavy explosive M44 bombs.

Arriving at the target, the crews encountered heavy flak and anti-aircraft fire. On the bomb run, F/O Joyce’s aircraft was struck by flak. The horizontal stabilizer was blown off the aircraft, and the tail fin was shredded. The aircraft entered a steep dive, then broke up in mid-air. No parachutes were observed and the aircraft crashed in Roxheim, Germany.

The destruction of the plane was photographed by another plane flying higher in the formation. That plane turned on the camera to record bomb damage and the camera was running when the tail of F/O Joyce’s plane was hit. The ball turret gunner of that plane also recalls seeing the tail break away from the main fuselage and the plane flip end over end, snap viciously, then the fuselage repeatedly tumble end over end until it hit the ground.

After eight hours of flying to Germany and back to the base in England, three of the planes would not return from this mission. Everyone from F.O. Joyce’s plane were lost on that day, January 13, 1945. A second plane had their crew survive but all of them were taken prisoner. The crew of the third plane that did not return had three members killed in action and six taken prisoner.

Missing Air Crew Report 11574 details this episode. Mission loading lists show the crew as:

2Lt. Oliver T. Eisenhart, Pilot
2Lt. Henry W. McCullough, Co-Pilot
2Lt. Maurice R. Herrick, Navigator
F/O Herring “Henry” Joyce, Jr, Bombardier
Sgt. Samuel M. Hindman, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
SSgt. Bernard S. Kaufman, Radio Operator
Sgt. William V. Kimber, Ball Turret Gunner
Sgt. Jack Thompson, Jr, Waist Gunner
Sgt. Therman F. Conaway, Tail Gunner

German records show that 7 bodies were recovered, although one was not of the crew. Later reports show three additional names written in. Presumably, these dead were buried in a German cemetery. After the war, the bodies were recovered, and F/O Joyce was sent back to the States. He is buried in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, in Lemay, Missouri. Thank you for your sacrifice Flight Officer Herring “Henry” Joyce Jr.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Sources:

http://www.303rdbg.com/MACR/11574.pdf

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37609522/herring-joyce

https://www.fold3.com/image/619806474

http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/301.pdf

http://www.303rdbg.com/427mccullough.html

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/12694

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/26509

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/95321

https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/43-38689/

Flight Officer Herring Joyce

Flight Officer Herring Joyce's Grave

Flight Officer Herring Joyce

(Back L-R) H McCullough , H Joyce Jr, Sgt J Hacker, J Kepfer, M Herrick (Frnt L-R) Sgt T Conaway, Sgt J Thompson Jr, SSgt B Kauffman, Sgt J Wabeke, Sgt W Kimber

B-17G Hit by flac - missing tail- Aircraft 43-38689

Herring Joyce Jr