Lieutenant Robert G. Emmens

Robert Gabel Emmens was born on 22 July 1914, in Medford, Oregon, as son of  Jacelyn and Fannie Emmens. He graduated from Medford High School in Medford, Oregon in 1931 and then attended University of Oregon from 1931 to 1934.

Medford, Oregon

Robert Gabel Emmens was married to Justine Emmens, born Miller. They had three children.

The crew with Robrt G. Emmens as a co-pilot took off from the USS Hornet on 18 April 1942 at 08.47 am. as the 8th plane to bomb Japan. Howevver they did not bombed there targets as they never flew over Tokio. Soon after take-off from the USS Hornet, the crew quickly noticed that the plane was consuming a lot of fuel. The carbrators were not properly adjusted. The plane flew over Japan but flew not over Tokio. Due to lack of fuel, the pilot decided not to fly over the East China Sea towards China. They would crash into the sea.

Crew 08 landed in Russia. The Soviet Union, which was not then at war with Japan, held the crewmen captive for 13 months. The B-25 aircraft was kept by the Soviets, and was scrapped in the 1950s.

Robert Emmens later wrote a book about his experience as a captive, "Guests of the Kremlin." After landing in Vladivostok, Emmens wrote that the Soviets held its five crewmen in several locations in the Soviet Union.

Limited to the same diet as the besieged Soviet people, mostly black bread and cabbage, the five crew members suffered malnutrition, dysentery and other medical problems.

Rather than wait until the end of the war under deplorable conditions, the crew resolved to escape.

While held in Ashkhabad, near the Persian border–thousands of miles from Vladivostok–they found a sympathetic Soviet officer. The man introduced them to an Afghani smuggler who supplied the officers with better food and other black market items.

Crewmen paid the smuggler $250–won in a poker game the night before the mission by the pilot, Edward J. York, to lead them to a British embassy in Iran. The five, with the help of British diplomats in Mashhad, made their way to India and got a flight to the United States.

As said due to the higher-than-expected consumption of fuel, York had decided to head to Russia in the fairly early stage of mission, and so, after reaching the Japanese mainland, he seems to have changed his course North, thus flying not even close to Tokyo.
Photo's of the bombing of Nishi Nasuno, however I wonder myself how the photo's came in usa hands. Probably Russia handed these over to the USA government after the war.

Robert Gabel Emmens Emmens died in Medford, Oregon on 2 April 1992, due to cancer. 

Interview with B-25 crew - crew 8 - that bombed Tokyo and was interned by the RussiansInterview with B-25 crew - crew 8 - that bombed Tokyo and was interned by the Russians

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