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WWII B-17 in Europe

Susan said:
The Navy did a lot of training in Miami too. A close family friend of ours was telling stories of 'night patrols' actually ON the beach at Miami Beach when he was first in the military, and he had some really great stories. We're going to stay with them when we go up to Naples to see a touring B-17 in early February. In many ways, I have always been closer to he and his wife than I ever was to my own father. He's 89 and she's 86 and we adore them.
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Don't be surprised if you get sudden past life feelings when you are around them. That happens to me sometimes.
 
So, I guess I just need to get on with THIS lfe. coffee


I have tried to track down the pilot's info on the crashed B-17 that I came across yesterday in records of a crew member. Now I'm getting scattered! I'll try to find where I posted that and put it on this thread, since this thread is becoming a bit of a 'records dump' of sorts, for me.


I've had no luck with the pilot's history. I have a name of John D Connell Jr. of Illinois. I found his enlistment info, his parents name (but nothing in Ancestry that I can find on them). I found that the aircraft number 43-37903 was called "Toodles Boy" and found where it crashed in the Netherlands.


Baby steps, I guess.


In all of this, I've found new mysteries of sorts in my current life. I found my dad's enlistment info and it is off a year from what he told everyone it was. It was later. So, that means that he went to Japan in the Signal Corps in 1946 (occupation forces) and he had a one-year enlistment. That means he got back, went to work, met my Mom and they got married very quickly. (No, no babies.) It's a mystery. I never thought of them as a 'whirlwind romance' kind of thing.
 
Sorry for the redundancy in the forum. I'd posted this:


"Originally Posted by Susan


I've spent most of the day today going through old training records for various groups, listing the assignments, missions and deaths of some of their classes. I read a lot of really amazing stories. All are stirring, but I came upon one, of a navigator on a flight, and there was the story of what happened. I had a sharp intake of breath and my eyes welled up. I'm wondering if I was the pilot on the flight?


Puzzles now in both lifetimes!"
 
Susan said:
I have tried to track down the pilot's info on the crashed B-17 that I came across yesterday in records of a crew member. Now I'm getting scattered! I'll try to find where I posted that and put it on this thread, since this thread is becoming a bit of a 'records dump' of sorts, for me.
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Yes. It's easier for everyone to keep the details of a particular story together, rather than scattered around in other peoples' threads!


Maybe try taking a break from googling for a while. Too much research, especially when you don't have very much detail to go on, can actually be counterproductive. If you come across something that seems to fit, you can get sidetracked from what may actually be what you recall. If you don't find what you recall, you can begin to wonder if you're wrong and be discouraged. If you have a recall of something you will often question yourself if it was something you read that you are now 'imagining'.


In my view it's better to do the regression work first and get as much as you possibly can before you contaminate your mind with too much research. That way, if you do decide to do some validation work later, it will be far more compelling and convincing and you will find it a lot easier.


Personally, I think the value of doing this is not because it's some kind of party trick or curiosity, but the personal value of it for each individual can be huge. People have found the root cause of phobias and anxieties by doing this. We had a lady here a while back who was terrified of trains in general and level crossings in particular. She also had frightening dreams of being hit by a train for many years which were very disturbing to her. With some help and encouragement, she put the pieces together, worked out what had happened, and the phobia went away. I have seen dozens of such stories on the forum. Her story is here for those interested: I need help please.


People have learned a lot about their own motivations and feelings, subconscious urgings and sometimes discovered a higher purpose to their lives. People can improve their present relationships by understanding things that happened in the past, or can let go of anxieties and other issues by understanding where they really come from and avoid repeating the same mistakes and break bad habits that may have dogged them for many lives.


Sure, historical research is very interesting and affirming, but in my view it's not the purpose of doing this.
 
Tanguerra:


You know, last night I came to somewhat of the same conclusion. I'm feeling overwhelmed. I get bits of info and tend to want to verify right away. But that's my nature - always 'all in'.


I don't really have any phobias to speak of that are an issue. I've always been REALLY afraid of fire since I was a tiny child. But I don't have nightmares or any other problems associated with that. When I was young, I'd hear the wind blowing the leaves outside in the fall and winter, and it sounded like fire crackling to me and I'd have problems sleeping and had to go around and sniff to be sure there was no smoke. But that's not happened in a long, long time (I'm turning 60 in 11 days on the 21st).


But what I do seem to have from this most immediate past life is a feeling of unfinished business and a sense of urgency - that there's something I need to do and I need to do it soon because I feel somehow that 'time is running out'. I'm feeling that I need to check on some people left behind while I still can, while they're still alive in this lifetime. After all, the generation that might have been my contemporaries are dying these days.


I just seem so close to tears as of late. My husband has always called me his 'real emotional girl' from the get-go. He says the song by Randy Newman "Real Emotional Girl" could be about me. Of course, I've always kept it in check except around him. But of course, I feel I can tell him anything. However, now it seems to be getting more intense.


My health is really good, my family life is finally stable (after the mess that came with my parents' deaths.) My relationship with my husband is better than ever. I feel very blessed with love in my life, my amazing husband, with my wonderful pets, my work which I love (art and business management - what a combo). I live in a beautiful, warm place with sun most every day. I have never had depression issues and I don't feel depressed - just intensely emotional as of late.


Sorry for the babble. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar sense and similar emotional responses like this.
 
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Susan said:
..But what I do seem to have from this most immediate past life is a feeling of unfinished business and a sense of urgency - that there's something I need to do and I need to do it soon because I feel somehow that 'time is running out'. I'm feeling that I need to check on some people left behind while I still can, while they're still alive in this lifetime....
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Doing this stuff can stir up a lot of buried emotions. It's nothing to worry about and it will pass, so don't be concerned. However, the emotions can be a much better 'clue' to what's important in a past life than any amount of research. This is actually a good thing. It means your psyche is trying to get through to you about something that might be important.


Next time you start to get some emotion coming up, don't suppress it, or criticise yourself or anything like that. Just let it come. If you can, find a quiet place and just sit with it and try to see what images and thoughts come to you. Don't dismiss them, even if they seem silly or unrealistic. Don't doubt them, even if they relate to something you saw in a movie or on the internet or whatever.


Just let them float up by themselves from your 'subconscious' without questioning them. Some people find it helpful to get out a notebook and a pen (works better than a keyboard for some reason) and just write their impressions down. Draw images, write just words or whole sentences. It doesn't matter. It's all about letting it flow rather than being blocked by your conscious mind.
 
argonne1918 said:
Don't be surprised if you get sudden past life feelings when you are around them. That happens to me sometimes.
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What's interesting is that I have learned some things in this little search of mine that I never knew. I was born in Miami and knew a lot about it, but never knew that it was such a major training center for the military during WWII. I read this last night: "nearly one-fourth of all the personnel in the USAAF had trained in Miami Beach during the war. Many others had been stationed at one of the Army Air Force bases that dotted the state. " Hundreds of thousands came here to train.


So it isn't odd to think that my Mom could've met someone then.
 
No. Not odd at all. It would be kind of spooky though in a way, wouldn't it? Imagine if you had dated during the war as you think might be the case. Then you got killed in action. Very unfortunate - a life cut short. Then, up in 'heaven' you were given a choice of who you wanted to be your parents, and you chose her?


I guess it's not so strange or beyond the realms of possibility really is it?
 
I guess love is love, no matter what the relationship. And in various sessions in the past, it appears that my Mom and I have been sisters in other lives as well. My husband's father had been the same oppressive, abusive soul to my husband in many past lives - as brother, as father, as spouse, as associate. My sister has been a bully to me in every lifetime in the past, it seems.


When souls reincarnate, they are given the option of trying to work it out in another lifetime together. But some souls refuse to learn and change, such as my husband's father and such as my own deceased ex-husband. They choose to continue their behavior and continue to harm. And when that happens, we have the choice of breaking the karmic contract and putting an end to it. I did it with my ex , with my evil sister and my husband did it with is father.
 
That's a really fascinating story, and it's really lovely if you ended up returning to your mother in some way.


Did you ever end up getting any leads on him from the classmates site?
 
Phthalo said:
That's a really fascinating story, and it's really lovely if you ended up returning to your mother in some way.
Did you ever end up getting any leads on him from the classmates site?
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I doubt if the guy was a local Miami guy so doubtful he'd have gone to school with her. I've written some people in her class, looking for info, though, through the site.


I'm thinking he was in military training in Miami. Evidently 25% of ALL Army Air Corps people were trained in Miami from 1941 - 1945.
 
Susan said:
I doubt if the guy was a local Miami guy so doubtful he'd have gone to school with her. I've written some people in her class, looking for info, though, through the site.
I'm thinking he was in military training in Miami. Evidently 25% of ALL Army Air Corps people were trained in Miami from 1941 - 1945.
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I meant the possibility (I think it was brought up in the first page, though I may just be confused) that if your mother knew him, some of her friends may have known him or heard about him.


I hope you manage to find something in your search! :)
 
So today, I made an appointment for a two hour regression session to try to get to the bottom of this most recent past life. While I've known about it all my life, even as a child, it has been bubbling to the surface the past month or two in a big way. I've been highly emotional and feel very strongly that there's something I need to do or find out, and that there's an urgency to it. I cry when I see objects (i.e. a 1936 Ford from the era where I'd have been a teen or young man) or when I hear certain music from that era.


I have an appointment for the 27th and I'm looking forward to it. She devotes an hour to the regression, and then an hour afterwards with my guides to try to resolve some of my current life issues that are connected to past life (s). I'm hoping that this may help with my chronic joint issues, back and knee pain as well. You never know! We can always hope for the best!


Since I'm difficult to hypnotize, she's sending me a 'conditioning CD' for me to use for at least 10 times prior to our session, to help me to achieve my goals more easily. (I'll have to rip it to iTunes and then load to my iPhone I guess, for headphone use). She also recommended I read Soul Survivor (which I did a month or so ago) before my session, to give me an idea of what we can be looking for. She also asked me to write up a detailed email with issues that I'd like to address with my guides and with anything in particular that is upsetting me. She seems very thorough.


I'll be sure to report back here afterwards.
 
Can we ask who the therapist is? We'll be waiting patiently to hear about your session. Good luck. :thumbsup:
 
So, my appt for the regression is this afternoon in an hour and a half. I hope I can get some info and have worked really hard to get myself conditioned in an attempt to 'go under'. She sent me a pre-conditioning CD (which I ripped to iTunes and put on the iPhone and the Fire so I could listen anywhere. Who has a CD player anymore, unless it's in the laptop?)


I have had a few flashes while doing the pre-conditioning work so I'm hopeful. I'll report back.
 
It went well. It was a very emotional session. All mascara disintegrated and disappeared in a towel. The first half was a visit to a past life and as it happened, it was the most recent one. I did pick up a few details - a glimpse of life as a 4 or 5 year old boy, a glimpse of life at school (I'm thinking it was a boarding / military school, perhaps) and actually experienced a bit of the emotion that happened near the end, when the plane was crashing and I'd been shot. I also got a possible inkling as to my first name, then (Edward) and possibly my last name (Henry - there was confusion in my mind when she asked me what I was called in school and I got both names.)


Then we went on to the in-between life, to see what the lessons were and how to heal from that life. It appears my big lesson from that life (which translates into this life), is to feel great love for someone else and to express it and to not hold it in. It appears that in the past life, I'd not really declared my love for someone and was devastated by that when I died.


Also, it seems that my chronic back pain and my knee pain were energetically from that death. Oh, don't get me wrong. I was rear-ended and I was injured in this life, but they just didn't want to get better. So, there was energetic work to try to put things 'in place' to try to allow the physical pain to eventually lesson in this life.


And the big lesson? Don't try to control everything. Let it flow and let all the good things come. It seems I'm so busy trying to control the outcome of everything that I am blocking a lot of good stuff that could come my way (financially, especially). And I also need to let it go when I feel responsible for everyone else. That all comes from the past life, trying to save the lives of my crew and trying to control a situation that was obviously out of control. I need to forgive myself for all of that in the past life, and also for anything that haunts me in this life.


I will do another session, I think, but it will be at least a few weeks. I need to continue absorbing this one. Since the session ended, I am still getting new information on the past life (i.e. I got a glimpse of my face in a mirror) and an instinct as to where I'd lived as a child.


AND I know that I can always go to my spirit guides anytime for anything. I guess I'll be hounding the shite out of them now. LOL
 
Susan said:
I also got a possible inkling as to my first name, then (Edward) and possibly my last name (Henry - there was confusion in my mind when she asked me what I was called in school and I got both names.) ...
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Very good! Excellent work. You will quite likely get a few flashbacks from time to time. Note them all down.


In the old days, particularly at an old fashioned type of boarding school, they would call boys by their last names. So, if your name was Edward Henry you may well have been known as 'Henry' at school?


Think of James Bond, who was a WWII character. Only those on very familiar terms, such as a lady friend, would call him 'James'. Everyone else, like his boss for instance, calls him 'Bond'. Or if they have more formal relationship or are strangers, he is called 'Mr Bond'. That's how it was back then. Using the first name was restricted only to close family and intimates.
 
tanguerra said:
In the old days, particularly at an old fashioned type of boarding school, they would call boys by their last names. So, if your name was Edward Henry you may well have been known as 'Henry' at school?
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That was still common when I was in public school in the 60s. In Phys Ed and shop classes where it was all males, we were called by our last names. That saved a lot of confusion, unless there were more than one "Smith", "Jones", etc. that had the same first name. Class size may have had something to do with it also. My individual classes had 20-35 people. I think it's still common today in some situations.
 
SO, on Saturday, we went to see the B-17 in Naples (FL). We were having breakfast with family friends at their home (where we stayed) on Bonita Beach, and I heard something. I jumped up and said "Oh, my goodness! That's it!" and ran outside on the porch. Sure enough, the B-17 came in to view, flying low right over the water in front of us. What a sound!!!!


So after breakfast, we headed to Naples. We parked, walked up to the terminal amid barbeque smoke and some WWII era jeeps. Inside, we paid our $12 per person, and walked through the door to the tarmac. I walked about 30 feet, my eyes on the B-17 (there were other planes there) and had a massive emotional response. I started sobbing right there. My husband hugged me and held my hand and we walked right up to the plane. Something inside of me saw it as 'my baby'.


We stood in line to go through it and oh, WOW! I was so excited! I told my husband "This is where the radioman sat, this is where the navigator sat, this is where the engineer was, this is where the bombardier was (on and on). It was way smaller on the inside than on the outside - or maybe I should just say that there wasn't an easy 'traffic flow' inside the plane. Oddly enough, with my multiple back injuries, I was able to crawl, bend over, squat, and slide through all the spaces on that plane without pain or without even bumping my head, which in and of itself was a miracle.


It was just so exciting to me, after I got through the initial emotional impact. My husband said I was jumping around like a 4 year old.


They were giving rides every morning and every evening that they were there in the area, and I found myself waiting out on the porch for the plane to come by. I found myself listening for the distinctive engine sound amongst all the boat motors, private aircraft, and commercial aircraft sounds in the area. I always picked it out. We'd have loved to go, but it was $400 per person, so that wasn't in our budget. Maybe another time.


So, I thought I'd share that experience. I guess even after my regression, I had still wondered if I 'made it all up' in my head, but now I know for a fact that I did not.


I also enjoyed seeing the P-51 Mustang. B-17 crews called them "Our little friends" and I was amazed at how small it really was, knowing how they saved so many B-17's outbound as they crossed the coast of mainland Europe. Oddly enough, I wasn't so very interested in the B-24. I know this sounds weird, but my thoughts were rather dismissive of that plane, as if it was just 'second rate' compared to 'my' B-17. :cool
 
Susan said:
So, I thought I'd share that experience. I guess even after my regression, I had still wondered if I 'made it all up' in my head, but now I know for a fact that I did not.
I also enjoyed seeing the P-51 Mustang. B-17 crews called them "Our little friends" and I was amazed at how small it really was, knowing how they saved so many B-17's outbound as they crossed the coast of mainland Europe. Oddly enough, I wasn't so very interested in the B-24. I know this sounds weird, but my thoughts were rather dismissive of that plane, as if it was just 'second rate' compared to 'my' B-17. :cool
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Wow! OMG I think that was your confirmation that your memories are indeed real. Start saving your money. It will be interesting to hear what it's like for you to fly in one. When the P-51 first came out it had a General Motors "Alison" engine which wasn't that good. The British took that out and installed the famous Rolls Royce "Merlin" engine that was used in their "Spitfire". That's what transformed it into the fighter we all know about. I can understand your feelings about the B-24. They were larger but not made as well. Many of them crashed. Even today the B-24 pilots have to have a special rating to fly them. They are tricky to fly.
 
argonne1918 said:
Wow! OMG I think that was your confirmation that your memories are indeed real. .... I can understand your feelings about the B-24. They were larger but not made as well. Many of them crashed. Even today the B-24 pilots have to have a special rating to fly them. They are tricky to fly.
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Yup. I seem to know a lot about the planes then and much of it hasn't been something I've read. I told my husband the other day "Just look at these things! They're so clunky and poorly designed! No wonder the wings fell off!" He laughed and then said "Seriously? They did?".


The B-24 wasn't really larger. It had a deep 'belly' so you could stand up much more easier from just behind the pilot and bombadier areas, and could get to the tail gunner position without being on your knees or without going around the base of the tail fin. In looking at it, the wings and engines were massive, the tail with it's two uprights was really big but the fuselage was actually short and tubby. We went through it but it wasn't fun to get into. We had to stoop really low, to go up into the fuselage, and to exit, we had to actually exit in the bomb bay area, again with the stooping. Of course, this was just for traffic flow but still, it was not easy to get in or out of that plane.


(As if it was that easy in the B17 but still.....no stooping! )
 
Blueheart said:
Awesome, Susan! I hope a ride is in your future.
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Yup. We're hoping to do the flight when they do their tour next year. It isn't a cushy thing, tho. They had something like maybe 6 jump seats sitting on the floor in the area around the waist gunner positions. Minimal padding. And knowing how it sounds, and that it had no real sound-proofing, we can only imagine the roar inside. But still, we both want to do it. Mark said if I wanted to do it, he'd stay on the ground but I could tell he wanted to as well. After all, he's the pilot in this lifetime. :)
 
Did they let you sit in the pilot's seat? I wonder how that would have felt for you. I wonder what they would have thought if they had known your reason for going through the plane.
 
argonne1918 said:
Did they let you sit in the pilot's seat? I wonder how that would have felt for you. I wonder what they would have thought if they had known your reason for going through the plane.
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No. They said if they let me, everyone would want to and there's too much in a tiny space that could be damaged. I agree.


No one guessed, but I bet they wondered how a 60 yr old woman knew so very much about the plane that was 10 years before my birth. There were some older gentlemen maybe 85 - 95 who I bet flew on them in WWII. Bless their hearts.
 
I since did another 'soul healing' session, looking for some answers in past lives to issues in my current life - recurring neck pain, inability to lose weight (about 25 lbs) even on strict, organic, non-GMO, balanced 1200 calories a day with exercise. Turns out, oddly enough, that they're related. In the plane crash, my neck was injured - I was shot in that area as well as of course, the subsequent crash. But also in another life as what seems to have been a competitive swimmer in late 1890's up to 1900, I had driven myself so badly, that my body had to shut some things down for survival. Some of that still remains (as I also drive myself now) and the thing it shuts down? Thyroid. So we did a healing for that. It's all throat chakra. We'll see how it goes.


Also, there's an issue with my desire and goal to be more connected with 'all that is' but real-life intrudes sometimes to a distracting point. Y'know, we all need balance, but real life can really take over with me because I'm so driven and so passionate about things. And I hate to tell a paying customer 'NO'. :::sigh::: Baby steps, I guess.


BUT my neck/shoulder spasm that had me in tears for two weeks ended almost immediately after the session, which delved into the cause and put the old issues to rest. I had the best night's sleep I've had in two weeks last night. Pain free.


Much like little James in 'Soul Survivor', once you address past life trauma, it ceases to give one much of a problem in this life.
 
So yesterday we did some work with the animal communicator. (She's very talented!) My MeiLi has a small bump on her head that is going to be removed on Wednesday and I don't do ANYTHING like that without us all being in on the conversation - my husband, the two catties, and Sophie, the Yellow Nape Amazon.


After all was settled and a few other issues discussed, I told Liz (the communicator) about the B17 story. I told her I have the sense my name may have been Edward and I may have been from Pennsylvania. She was silent a minute, then said "could it have been Ward?" I told her it's possible because that part is still fuzzy. She said her parents had a close friend who died in a B17 crash as the pilot after a bombing raid and that they called him Ward and that he was from PA. She said he trained in Miami Beach. She said she'd seen the formal picture of him in uniform and he was a 'hot' looking guy. He he. I told her I'd had a glimpse of myself during that lifetime in a mirror and I looked a lot like Matt Damon when he was young. She just says it was odd that I mentioned it and she knew of someone just like this. Still trying to work out the last name. She said it was something like Connisier, or Konseer, or something starting 'con'.


Little clues are like breadcrumbs. Some day the puzzle may fit together. Truth is, there were something like 13,000 B17's made and close to 5,000 were downed and crew killed, so...the odds are tough when it comes to pinning it down. I have an odd gut feeling when Schweinfurt is mentioned. The U.S. lost 60 b17's in one day on a Schweinfurt raid (ball bearings plant). The numbers are staggering. But heck, if it wasn't my plane then, I'm sure it was an emotional day for all crews then.


I also researched today and found that all the crashed B17's in Europe were in 1943 and 1944 so that narrows the dates down - a bit. ;-/
 
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