The Writing 69th Manning flew at least one mission with the Eighth Air Force on Oct. 9, 1943. In February 1943, eight American civilian and military journalists participated in a training program with the
United States Eighth Air Force. The goal of the program was to prepare the men for high altitude bombing runs over Germany. In a week-long training course over the skies of
Bovingdon, England the men learned how to adjust to high altitude, identify enemy planes, and parachute. They were trained how to shoot weapons as well, despite the rule against non-combatant firing weapons in combat. The men of
The Writing 69th, originally known as the Flying Typewriters or the Legion of the Doomed, included:
Walter Cronkite of
United Press,
Homer Bigart of the
New York Herald Tribune Gladwin Hill of the
Associated Press, Manning of
CBS Radio,
Robert Post of
The New York Times,
Andy Rooney of the military paper
Stars and Stripes,
Denton Scott of the military magazine
Yank, and
William Wade of the
International News Service. Those men prepared to fly their first mission on Feb. 26, 1943. American
B-17s and
B-24s prepared to bomb a
Focke-Wulf aircraft factory in
Bremen, Germany. Overcast skies diverted the group to the submarine pens at
Wilhelmshaven, a secondary target. Six of the eight reporters in the program flew that day. Manning did not fly but Bigart, Cronkite, Hill, Post, Rooney, and Wade did. As the group neared
Oldenburg, Germany the plane Post was in came under fire from German fighter planes. The plane exploded in mid-air, killing Post and eight others. Post's death disbanded the Writing 69th, though others, including Manning, did fly missions afterward.
Speechwriter After the war he worked as a speechwriter for
Nelson Rockefeller.
Author Manning's
Martin Bormann — Nazi in Exile was published in 1981. In 1986, his book, titled
Hirohito, The War Years, was released. It detailed the relationship between
Emperor Hirohito and
General Douglas MacArthur. == Books ==