Lieutenant Colonel Michael Mashyna
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Mashyna
Lt. Colonel Michael "Mike" Mashyna was born December 8th, 1921 to Russian and Czechoslovakian immigrant parents Philip and Mary. He had one younger brother, Philip John. He grew up on Erie's East side at 822 Pennsylvania Ave. and graduated from Tech high school in 1940 where he was president of his class and a photographer for the year book, photography being a lifelong interest.
Mike's 20th birthday was the day after the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7th, 1941. He wanted to sign up for the service but his parents were reluctant to give their permission so when he turned 21 in 1942 he was able to join the Army Air Corp beginning basic training in Miami Beach in February 1943. By then Mike had met the love of his life, Genevieve "Ginger" Gorniak also from Erie and they were engaged that same month before he left.
In April of 1943 he arrived in Toledo, Ohio to attend Toledo University for officer and flight training and took off on his first flight for the Army Air Corp on June 8th. He was appointed an aviation cadet in July of that year. He spent time training in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant pilot at Columbus, Mississippi April 15th, 1944. While home on leave Mike and Ginger were married on April 24th, and left that same day for Sebring, Florida where he began piloting a B-17 Bomber, known as the "Flying Fortress" that later was painted with the name "Ginger" on its nose.
Mike and his 10-man crew, part of the 8th Air Force 100th Bomb Group finally flew overseas and were stationed out of Thorpe Abbotts base in England where they flew 35 combat missions without mishap bombing marshalling fields and rail lines among other targets mainly in Germany. He would send home an issue of "Stars and Stripes" as a code after each successful mission to let Ginger and the family know how close he was to completing the required number of missions. A diploma called "The Lucky Bastard Club" was presented to combat airmen who were fortunate enough to complete 35 missions. Statistics bear out that in the early days only 1 out of every 3 B-17s survived 25 missions. Mike received one of these diplomas while piloting with the 100th, called the "Bloody Hundredth" because the group sustained very high losses on a number of combat missions. On one mission a piece of flak flew into his plane, hit the wheel, bounced off and hit his knee. When he picked it up the chunk of metal was still hot.
Mike received the Air Medal with 5 oak leaves for combat missions over Europe and the European Theater Ribbon with 3 battle stars for participation in 3 major campaigns in Europe.
Following his tour in Europe, Mike went through flight instructor and aircraft maintenance school. He instructed several classes of West Point pilots and other Air Force personnel. Based out of Mobile, Alabama he also flew civilian and military personnel and freight all over the U.S.
After separation from Active Duty, he went into the Active Reserve program, flying out of Niagara Falls, N.Y. becoming Commander of the 9205th Erie Air Force Reserve. Returning to Erie, Mike received a degree in business administration from Gannon College in 1950 and he and Ginger had 4 children: Patricia, Michael, Phyllis, and Matthew.
Always interested in improving aviation in Erie, he participated in at least 3 air shows held at the Erie Airport carrying passengers on sight seeing tours over the city. He also served on the Erie Airport Authority Board for 17 years from 1969 to 1986.
Mike worked at various industries in Erie including Kaiser Aluminum and Hammermill Paper Co. before opening the U Frame It picture framing business in 1975. He enjoyed working there until his death in 1988.
Mike was very proud of his service to the country and would often tell stories about his time during the War. Fortunately, he was able to get back together with many members of the 100th Bomb Group at a couple of reunions to reminisce. He was also able to visit Pearl Harbor, the site of that fateful event that drew the U.S. into WWII and him to his destiny.
After his crew's 35th and final mission, Mike recorded in his journal how they were greeted by the ground crew with 3 bottles of liquor when they arrived safely back at the base. They "got the boys together by the nose of the ship and said a prayer thanking God for helping us make it... They had been thru all kind of hell during three of the hardest months of their lives and they deserved to celebrate being alive when they saw death staring them in the face more than once. Thank God I was able to bring them all back every time."