John Cadden, a Kassel Mission Interview

John Cadden, of Morristown, New Jersey, was a radio operator on a B-24 in the 445th Bomb Group, flying out of Tibenham, England, during World War II. His plane was severely damaged on the Kassel Mission of Sept. 27, 1944. Pilot Stanley Krivik, one of the unsung heroes of that spectacular battle, managed to get his crippled plane back to Tibenham, where he saw construction equipment on the runway. He overshot the runway and crash-landed five miles away. Krivik, who played football at Fordham before the war and would play for Notre Dame when he returned home, pulled several crew members, including Cadden, who was unconscious, out of the wreckage.
Oral historian Aaron Elson has interviewed numerous survivors of the Kassel Mission and is on the board of the Kassel Mission Historical Association. These in-depth interviews give not only a picture of the veteran's role in the mission but also what day to day life was like for a member of the 8th Air Force.