This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Manske, Joseph William, Col USAF(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Gowanda, New York
Last Address San Antonio, Texas
Date of Passing Apr 04, 1998
Location of Interment Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (VA) - San Antonio, Texas
He was the flight engineer/gunner in crew #5 on the Doolittle Raid. After the raid he flew a few more missions in the CBI Theater, then got commissioned, and later was an aircraft maintenance officer in the Mediterranean Theater. He later served in the USAF until retiring as a colonel in 1973.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Corporal Joseph W. Manske (ASN: 6914440), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Engineer/Gunner of a B-25 Bomber of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942. Corporal Manske with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on himself and the military service.
Division: Doolittle Tokyo Raider Force Crew #5 (Plane #40-2283, target Tokyo): 95th Bomb. Sq. L-R: Lt. Eugene F. McGurl, navigator; Capt. David M. Jones, pilot; Lt. Denver V. Truelove, bombardier; Lt. Ross R. Wilder, copilot; Sgt. Joseph W. Manske, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Air Offensive, Europe Campaign (1942-44)/Operation Strangle
From Month/Year
March / 1943
To Month/Year
January / 1944
Description Operation Strangle was a series of air interdiction operations during the Italian Campaign of World War II by the United States Fifteenth and Twelfth Air Forces to interdict German supply routes in Italy north of Rome from March 24, 1943, until the fall of Rome in spring 1944. Its aim was to prevent essential supplies from reaching German forces in central Italy and compel a German withdrawal. The strategic goal of the air assault was to eliminate or greatly reduce the need for a ground assault on the region. Although the initial goal of forcing the enemy to withdraw was not achieved, the air interdiction of Operation Strangle played a major role in the success of the subsequent ground assault Operation Diadem.
Two principal interdiction lines were maintained across the narrow boot of Italy. This meant that no through trains were able to run from the Po Valley to the front line, and that south of Florence substantially all supplies had to be moved by truck. The operation employed medium bombers and fighter bombers over a 150-square-mile (390 km2) area from Rome to Pisa and from Pescara to Rimini.
