Issue date: 9/5/06 Section: News

The "Buzz Bomb" is back. The World War II-era V-1 bomb originally situated outside the courthouse is back after nearly two years of extensive restoration.

While local attorney J. Frank Durham was training for the Navy in Stumpneck, Md., he received orders to destroy a roomful of obsolete enemy arms recovered after the war. Durham considered that most civilians would never have the opportunity to see these relics of war, so he suggested they be preserved for display - a possibility his lieutenant said would "take an act of Congress."

So Durham went to Congress. With the help of Sen. William Jenner and Rep. Noble Johnson, a train-load of obsolete military supplies were donated to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter. The V-1 was chosen to stand out and was prepped for exhibition. A pair of Japanese guns were also put on display in front of the VFW. The rest of the items remain unaccounted for.

The family of Sen. William Hoadley donated the bomb's limestone support. It was designed by Arthur Perry, DePauw University's former Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds.

The VFW was denied memorial space in Robe Anne Park, so the group chose the southwest corner of the courthouse, with the promise that the display should be educational, since the device is the forerunner of guided missile warfare. The German-engineered buzz bomb was officially dedicated on Armistice Day 1949 and has been a fixture on the square ever since.

The bomb was developed in 1944 under Adolf Hitler, and was declared a "pilotless anti-aircraft" to deter allied spies. It was accurate within a few thousand feet, said Steve McMains of the VFW. The bomb is over 25 feet in length, with a 16 foot wingspan. Greencastle's buzz bomb arrived sans warhead, and the sizeable hollow was fitted with a garbage can lid for a number of years.

The aircraft was only meant to last for a short time, and soon succumbed to age and weather. The bomb was removed in 2004, for its fourth renovation. Rust and corrosion wore away the painted shell, and both wings threatened to detach. The roughly $6,700 cost of renovation was covered by donations from the American Legion of Greencastle, the Eagles, the Putnam County Foundation, the VFW and a number of private donors.

There have been increasing vocal concerns in recent months about the buzz bomb's absence. The bomb was taken to an undisclosed warehouse outside of Brazil, where the cost of much of the original body was replaced with stainless steel. Internal workings have been gradually removed and the bomb is now hollow.

"It should be good [for] at least another 30 or 40 years," McMains said.

Though a monument in front of the bomb claims it to be one of only two in the U.S., a more recent count states that there are at least 12 others on display in the country.

A plaque beneath the memorial lists the 73 Putnam County residents who lost their lives in World War II, and reminds "Lest we forget - they died that we may live."

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