On This Day…November 10th.
In memory of those who never came home.
On November 10, 1951, while on a combat mission, First Lieutenant Mike Rebo was part of flight of 12 F-84Es attacked by 24 to 30 MIG-15s 30 miles southwest of Pyongyang, North Korea. The last radio message from Mike was that he was wounded with his Thunderjet out of control. Neither Mike nor his F-84 were ever found. His wife, Mona Rebo posthumously received the Air Medal and Purple Heart for his meritorious action in battle from General Rogers at Luke AFB Arizona. Lt. Rebo was also awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Korean War Service Medal, plus his flight unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.
Lt Rebo's name is inscribed and honored in the courts (the “Tablets of The Missing”) representing American servicemen missing from the Korean War at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.
Mike's remains were recently repatriated from North Korea to his family after they provided a DNA sample. He had been listed as MIA for over 60 years.
With thanks to Louis Gardiner, who's father was a personal friend of Mike.
Lest we forget...
Troops of the Canadian Third Division arriving in Cambrai in one of the last battles of World War I. When the 3rd entered the town on 10 October, they found it deserted. Fewer than 20 casualties had been taken.
W. N. Simons and Robert F. Cooke, honorary keel layers of submarine Tunny, posing with the sign at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States, 10 Nov 1941.
----------------------------------------------A Spitfire MkIV of the US Army Air Force 4th Fighter Group ("Fourth but First"), November 10, 1942.
Troops from the Fifth Indian Division during training before their advance into Italian occupied Ethiopia.
P-40F Warhawks aboard USS Chenango (CVE-28) for Operation Torch, November 10th 1942
An iconic image taken on this day in 1943. I'm sure almost everyone has seen this photo of Lieutenant Walter Chewning (Jr) climbing aboard a crashed Hellcat to save pilot Byron M. Johnson. aboard the USS Enterprise, November 10th, 1943.
Outstanding, David. Thanks!
Thanks, Jeff. Hope you are well and having a great weekend. Just had our grand-daughter arrive in the world a few hours ago, so a busy day ahead here.
Congratulations David!
Thanks, David. First one, going to take a while to sink in.
Yes David congratulations !
That was nice of North Korea. - And congratulations on your new recruit.
Thanks. I have to ask, is Mon your actual name; I know there is a region in North Italy 'Mon Falcone' - just interested.
Thank you VERY much for posting this David.
Mike was shot down by a Russian "Ace" pilot that day. The Russian pilot's was named Pavel Milauszkin. I was able to get my hands on this set of decals for the actual Mig that was used that day.
Since then I have been able to get a F-84 E model that is the same type plane that LT. Rebo was flying that day.
I've been doing a lot of research on this incident and plan on building both the Mig 15, and the F-84 as a tribute to LT Rebo.
Unfortunately so far I have not been able to locate a photo of the plane that Mike was flying that day. I want to build the F-84 as the plane that LT. Rebo was flying on his last mission. I have been able to get some pictures from other planes in his unit, so I am making some progress. The decals for his unit are included with the model. I just have to add the proper numbers for the serial number and nose numbers and I'll probably just roll with that. I don't know if this plane had nose art, so I could just leave it plain.
Both planes are 1/48 scale. I plan on writing an article about the story once these two models are completed. There's a lot of information about this that I plan on posting in the article. Ironically Mike was of Russian descent and spoke Russian fluently from what Dad told me before he passed away.
Please stay tuned for a very near future double build coming out of the "Iron Werks ".
I'm sincerely thankful and I'm sure that Dad would have been very happy to see this article about his friend Mike Rebo.
My Dad served in the Infantry and Armor units Korea during the War.
Thanks again for taking the time to post these daily articles. I sincerely enjoy reading them daily.
Congratulations on the new addition to the family !
Just think,... maybe next year you can post "on this day" ...
Congratulations and a great big "Thank You" my friend.
Hello Louis,
according to a Warbirds Ressource Group Site called ‘Forgotten Jets’ there was just one F-84E listed as lost on Nov.10th ’51:
F-84E-25-RE s/n 51-549
1951: USAF 9th FBS (49th FBG).
11/10/1951: Shot down by MiG-15s near Pyongyang, North Korea. Pilot was killed.
So it is very likely the plane of Lt. Rebo had been that 51-549. Since three F-84s with buzz number ‘549’ were built before (two B and one C), it´s quite sure the buzz no. of the E would read
‘FS-549-C’
Unfortunatly I am not aware of ever seen a pic of this plane.
Congratulations 'grandpa' David LS, and significant others of newborn.
Thanks, Louis - Peter. Appreciate the congrats.
Nice post. Anyone know if the F-84 had an ejection seat? My knowledge of post-WWII is pretty thin.
Well! You've blown my cover now. It is a pseudonym - Monfalcone is a small port city with a shipyard. I believe it was used during WW2. Today it is owned by Fincantieri, the largest ship builder in Europe. They build only cruise ships there now. The handle, at the moment of conception was influenced by the tragic death of Matteo Smoilis at the Monfalcone shipyard in the first half of 2018. He was a 19yo shipyard worker who was crushed in an accident, in front of his father. Rest in Peace.
Rest in peace, indeed, Mon Falcone. A noble tribute to Matteo.