The Joe Noyes Story

Joe Noyes was a 22 year old B-17 pilot from Seattle who was killed in 1943. 55 years after his death a teenage girl found his photo in a book and decided that his story was worth sharing.

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Further Information

In 1998 a local television network aired the 1990 film The Memphis Belle, starring Matthew Modine. I was fourteen years old, rather introverted, and captivated by 20th century military history.

I quickly became fascinated with the 8th USAAF which was stationed in England starting in 1942.

While watching the opening scene for The Memphis Belle, where you’re introduced to the cast of characters while they play a game of football; it suddenly dawned on me that the men who flew in the skies over Europe were really not that different from me. They were young, mischievous, and their families back home loved them dearly. I could relate to them personally.

Intrigued, I hunted down and devoured various books on the subject of The Air War over Europe, and that’s how I stumbled across B-17s Over Berlin: Personal Stories from the 95th Bomb Group (H), a book that is still on my absolute favorites list.

Within a day or two I found myself attracted to one photograph in particular (see above). I believe I was unintentionally searching for someone I could easily identify with, and #15, a man listed as F/O Noyes, struck me as being the most youthful and mysterious of the group.

Over the next decade I slowly made contacts around the world who were able to introduce me to veterans who flew with him, alumni who attended high school with him, and relatives who never forgot him. I would be lost without their assistance, advice, and moral support.

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Little Joe

Joseph Herbert Noyes was a native of Seattle, Washington. Growing up on Queen Anne Hill at 410 West Lee Street, he had two younger brothers, Bob, and Walter, and was one of the first of his peers to obtain a drivers license. He worked delivering food for a local grocer.

After graduating from Queen Anne High School in 1940, he joined the Army. Although he always wanted to fly, he served out of Fort Lewis, Washington, and rose to the rank of Sergeant. In 1942 he volunteered to be a Flying Sergeant - essentially ferrying aircraft from the factory to a delivery point. He and another volunteer, Paul E. Perceful, were both looking forward to seeing the world… and it was supposed to be a relatively “safe” job.

However he was among a small group selected specifically to become B-17 co-pilots, and immediately after training he was shipped off to Horham Airbase, England - where he was assigned to the 334th Bomb Squadron, in the 95th Bomb Group (H)

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The Skies Over Europe

Originally assigned to fly alongside Captain Harry M. Conley (author of No Foxholes in the Sky), twenty-one year old Joe Noyes was promoted to first pilot when Harry became Squadron Commander. Joe’s new co-pilot was David F. Prees, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On August 17th 1943, Joe flew on the infamous mission to Regensburg. The 334th was assigned to be the lead squadron for the 95th Bomb Group, and the Group Commander Col. John Gerhart, flew in the lead plane as Wing Commander. Harry Conley flew as co-pilot so he could keep an eye on Joe, flying off their right wing. Harry was once quoted as saying, “If I have done nothing else in this war, I have turned out a damned good pilot in Joe Noyes”.

On Wednesday, September 15th 1943 Joe and his crew took off from Horham Airbase. Joe was on his 12th confirmed mission in the skies over Western Europe. Their assigned target was the Billancourt-Renault industrial works, which they successfully hit at 1854 hours.

There are conflicting reports regarding what happened next. What is known is that the B-17F-40-DL “Sitting Bull” never made it back to English soil. Joe’s aircraft, with all engines functional, and in no apparent distress left formation following the bomb run, and silently turned back towards France; never to be seen again.

Harry Conley wrote in his war memoirs, No Foxholes in the Sky, “We lost Little Joe Noyes and my old crew yesterday. No one saw them go down. They just disappeared out of the formation and were never seen again”.

Joe’s body was the only one ever recovered - which offered the families of his crew very little closure. Grief stricken, the relatives of the other men wrote sadly to Joe’s mother in Seattle. The tear stained airmail envelopes survive to this day, in the possession of one of Joe’s nephews.

Joe Noyes washed ashore on a French beach in early October 1943 and was buried there until his mother had him returned to the United States after the war had ended.

Joe Noyes left behind a young fiancée named Donna Davis, who graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1943. For Valentine’s Day 1943, Joe had sent her a card reading, “Though days may come and days may go. Though we’re near or far apart, I’ll always love you. Dear, you know… You’ll always be in my heart. I love you. -Joe”.

In his final letter home dated September 8th 1943, Joe wrote about hearing of Italy’s surrender, and how he hoped to finish his 25 missions before the year was over. “I am sure I will be through by Christmas but I won’t be home just then. Not too long afterwards though I hope”.

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Dedication

After over a decade of tireless research, Joe is no longer simply #15 out of 48. Joe is still alive in memory and spirit, and it is my intention that even once I’m no longer here to weave a narrative out of an incoherent collection of facts, his story will continue to survive.

Joe was an ordinary individual. He wasn’t a high ranking officer or a man with powerful influence and worldly connections. What makes Joe’s story so endearing to me personally is that he’s the nice boy who sat beside you in English class. He’s the nice boy down the street whose parents know your parents. He squabbled with his brothers, snuck out of the house late at night, and fell for a freshman during his senior year of high school. He was a Son, a Brother, and a Friend.

Among strangers he came off as quiet and serious, (and always polite), however those who knew him say he often had a twinkle in his eye and a broad grin spread across his face.

While I was visiting Tom Noyes in Oregon recently, he hopped online to attempt to look up the specific French beach that Joe’s body was discovered at. “It looks like it’s a nudist beach”, he told me, and we both smiled. “Somehow I don’t think Joe would have minded that too much”, I said… and it’s true… I can see Joe smiling about that right now…

I’ve built this website as a tribute to “Little Joe” Noyes’s short but inspiring life, and as a gathering place for others around the world who spend their free time searching historical archives and military databases for the names and stories of countless young servicemen who will never be forgotten. This is also for the families of the 9 others on board Sitting Bull whose bodies were never recovered, and whose families will always remember.

Joseph H. Noyes, Seattle, Washington
David F. Prees, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Frank A. Roth, Union City, New Jersey
Rex A. Rice, Anderson, South Carolina
Billie E. Clapper, Erie, Pennsylvannia
Edgar A. Lajoie, Providence, Rhode Island
Robert H. Willis, Carteret, North Carolina
Raymond L. Provost, Orange, Texas
Daniel J. Fabritz
William L. Cochran

REST IN PEACE

 

Acknowledgements

Robert E. Noyes, Sara Baty-Noyes, Tom Noyes, Donna Davis Flynn, Paul E. Perceful, Col. Harry G. Conley USAF (Ret.), Col. H. Griffin Mumford USAF (Ret.), Col. Daniel Cummins USAF (Ret.), Bob Cozens, W.L. Bergman, Michael Darter, Dennis Sparks, Jacque Glassner, Richard E. Flagg, The Marines’ Memorial Association, and The 95th Bomb Group Memorial Foundation & Association.

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Kimberly Arthur Lindner

Born in the Philippines, Kimberly was adopted as an infant and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. She lived in Fort Bragg, North Carolina for 3 years, and studied Digital Media Art in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most recently she spent 2 years living in Stockholm, Sweden, where she worked in both Game Development and Internet Marketing. Currently she lives between Fort Lewis, Washington, and NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, and is working steadily on the official biography of Joe Noyes. In 2010 she will likely be relocating again to Nellis AFB, Nevada.

Related External Link: LinkedIn Profile & Professional References

Kimberly Arthur Lindner
theflightofficerproject@gmail.com