Edward C Ennis

   Edward was born in 1914, the last of 8 children, in Lambertville, NJ to Eugene and Helen (Carswell) Ennis. His parents passed while he was young, he lived with family and to help to support the family, he worked & also graduated Little Flower, Germantown, Phila. PA. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was on his 15th Birthday.  By then he was working full time, 66 hrs. a week for $5.00.  He married Alta Holmes Ennis 21 Mar '42, at "Old St. Mary's Catholic Church" in Chicago, where she was working at Michael Reese Hospital.  (although he met her near her hometown, Doylestown, PA.....a blind-date :)  He then entered the AAC as a Radio/Gunner, then learned the1st Application of the Top-Secret Airborne RADAR.  He flew across Atlantic Feb.'43 with Gen. Bob Knapp's 321st Bomb Group in the Med. Bomber B 25 Mitchell. The "now-famous 1st crossing of the Atlantic", an entire Group, without loss of a single ship.

         He spent 13 months in Africa/Italy flying Combat Missions, surviving a crash after takeoff, complete loss (1 man died) 4 Oct.'43.  (The 1st Group on the mainland of Italy, the 1st day).  After returning from the MTO, he first met his 1st daughter, Lynette already over 4 months old......went to several bases then settled down to run the Field and Tower at Bradley Field, Conn. with his new friend, Lt Howard Roedl, untill the war ended.  Barbi (321stBG Historian) was born there, 4 July, 1945 and Howie and his wife Tess are her Godparents.

   After the war, he returned to Alta's Home-town of Doylestown PA with his 2 daughters, then their family grew with 2 more daughters and 1 son.  He built a beautiful home for his family and opened a floor covering business, Barb-Lin Floor Covering... successful owner/operator until retirement, mid-1970's, to retire to Fla. and Golf !  He was very patriotic and civic minded, Lions Club, 14 years on the Doylestown Borough Council, Loyal Order of the Moose and Bowling League.  As an avid golfer, Ed was a co-founder of the Montgomeryville Golf and CC and a long time member of the Doylestown Country Club.  Ed, Alta and his family also enjoyed their summer home on the N.J. side of the Delaware River, Byram, for water-skiing and family fun in the '60 and 70's. They then had over 20 years of fun in the sun, ocean and sand .... boating, fishing and golfing in Florida !

   Edward and Alta moved back to Bucks County, PA in the 1990's and Edward lived to be over 90, passing quietly on 25 Jan. 2005.  They were married just shy of 63 years.  On this date as I write this story, Ed's wife, Alta is 90 and 4 mo. and daughter, Barbi is now a Researcher for the 57th Bomb Wing, and the Historian for his Group, the 321st Bomb Group.  The B 25 Mitchells of the 12th Air Force.

   Barbara Ennis Connolly, Prescott, AZ

The Stock Market Crash of 29 Oct. 1929 was on Ed's 15th Birthday. One of 2 dates that will never be forgotten.  "Black Thursday", 24 Oct. and "Black Tuesday" the 29th Oct. 1929.

The 1929 stock market crash is conventionally said to have occurred on Thursday the 24th and Tuesday the 29th of October. These two dates have been dubbed "Black Thursday" and "Black Tuesday," respectively. On September 3, 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record high of 381.2. At the end of the market day on Thursday, October 24, the market was at 299.5 — a 21 percent decline from the high. On this day the market fell 33 points — a drop of 9 percent — on trading that was approximately three times the normal daily volume for the first nine months of the year. By all accounts, there was a selling panic. By November 13, 1929, the market had fallen to 199. By the time the crash was completed in 1932, following an unprecedentedly large economic depression, stocks had lost nearly 90 percent of their value.

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Bierman.Crash  The "Rest of the Story" Barbi E Connolly

Wow !  See a B & W Real-time video of the 321st when it was 1st Over in Africa !  See 321stBG Pilots and Commanders at Briefing !  SEE Ed's Pilot when the Huckelberry Duck Crashed, Lt Hamilton Brinkley !

The US Bombers Go to War DVD   7 Video's  http://www.zenosflightshop.com/

* Bombers Over North Africa (1942 Black & White 22:00) This is a rare look at early war US Air Operations in North Africa. B-25 and B-17 bombers of the 321st and 97th Bomb Group help cut off Rommel's retreat from Tunisia. Part of the "North West African Strategic Air Force," these groups were initially tasked with preventing men and material from reaching the Afrika Korps, and later with preventing them from escaping. The missions for the day of this film were to strike from bases in Algeria at the junction at Manouba, near Tunis, and the air field at Sidi Ahmed, near Bizerte, where a large number of extremely valuable JU 52 transports were based, a key element in German evacuation plans. (Ironically, the 321st would soon occupy Sidi Ahmed as their new base for the Sicilian campaign.) The film features an introduction by the theater commander, then 4 star General, Dwight Eisenhower and an afterword by Air Operations Commanding General "Jimmy" Doolittle. Perhaps most memorably, this film is notable for it's extended "up close and personal" look at the men of the 97th & 321st BGs. You'll see real pre mission and after action debriefing sessions with the men who flew them, including a B-17 crew's account of an FW 190 shoot down and the water ditching of a heavily damaged B-25.

"Bombers Over N Africa" available at   http://www.zenosflightshop.com/
  http://www.zenosflightshop.com/US_Bombers_DVD_p/usbmbdvd.htm