AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  -
MODEL:  -

Citation:  1.) The convention in Las Vegas one of our members handed me a package containing orders, a newspaper clipping, a brochure entitled Ex CBI Roundup and the 40th Bomb Group Newsletter called 'Memories'. All the material related to a B-29 Photo Mission on 26 September 1945 where the crew of a B-29 bailed out over the Indian Ocean after being shot up by a Japanese fighter. The material could fill a book since it contained narratives from crew members, information from the Log of the submarine that rescued him and a narrative from the co-pilot of one of the B-29's that spotted the survivors on its rescue mission. John Z. Topolski relived that mission in the newspaper article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of Sunday, February 23, 1997. He talked about his lucky piece of paper, about the size of a postage stamp that used to be a St. Joseph's card he carried in his wallet. He bailed out with the rest of the crew just prior to the explosion that tore the left wing off the aircraft. John, who never learned to swim, spent the next 27 hours in the shark-infested waters with only a Mae West for support. He recalls his descent and counting 12 chutes before he hit the water, but he never saw any of the other crew members until he was rescued by a British submarine, and he doesn't remember much after his rescue including being transferred to a PBY for a flight to a hospital in Calcutta. Nine of the crew was rescued and John Topolski was back on flying status after his hospital stay, flying out of Iwo-Jima as a radar operator escorting P-51's to their mission locations. John's B-29 was shot down on his 15th mission and he eventually flew a total of 50 missions before completing his tour. John Z. Topolski is a member of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society.