I guess I’m one of very few who had a P-47 named after a namesake, Melvin A. Mollberg who was KIA in the crash of a C-47 in Dutch New Guinea at the end of WW II. Melvin had taken my Dad’s place as part of the Flight Crew on a sight seeing flight into the Hidden Valley, Shangri-La. Dad never talked about it much and 8 years after his death in 1989 I learned the “rest” of the story. There were three survivors of the crash on Mothers Day, May 13, 1945 and it took 6 weeks to rescue them by chopping out a glider strip to snatch them out. The story of the rescue is in the Nov. 1945 Issue of Readers Digest, “A Wac in Shangri-La”. Margaret Hastings wrote the story of her ordeal which was printed in the Newspapers each week until their return to Hollandia on June 28, 1945. The Readers Digest article is condensed from Newspapers. In 1959 the remains were recovered and buried in St. Louis National Cemetery. In 2003 I was able to visit Melvin’s gravesite and continue on to Baudette, MN. and meet his surviving sisters and learn about the man who’s name I bore. This past year I had a sheepskin jacket custom made with artwork dipicting the P-47 “Molly”. Melvin was called “Molly”, derived from his last name. He had tried to get assigned to a P-47 Unit at one time but was denied release from 81st Air Depot Group. So his buddies named the P-47 in his honor. My father is the one holding the .50 cal barrel.
I really need to build a 1/32nd P-47D Razorback in memory of Melvin and my father. Wish Hasegawa would do one, the Trumpeter is way too expensive. I have 3 or 4 of the old Revell Kits and just got some Squadron Canopys to replace the terrible windscreen on the kit. It was way to long. Maybe some surgery on the Hawsegawa Bubble Top with the spine of the Revell Razorback!
I attached pictures of most of what I mentioned. I guess I should change my “nickname” from Melgyver to Molly!
Melvin A. Mollberg, Baudette, MN
James H. Lutgring, Abbeville, LA
81st Air Depot Patch on front of Jacket.
St. Louis, MO, National Cemetery
Gravesite of Melvin A. Mollberg with Crew and Passengers.