Squadron: 63rd
Position: Can't remember MOS seems like 1046 ???Black b-24...Top Turret Gunner Radar Assist.
Served: 1942-1946
Originally from: The state of confusion. INDIANA
Training: Miami Beach; Laredo, Texas; Truax Field, Wisconsin; Norfolk, Virginia, LeMoore Field, Cal.; Tonopah, Nevada, Hamilton Field, Calif.
Citations/Medals: I think the 63rd got the Presidential Citation with a couple of stars. We received six battle stars. Five bronze stars and one silver star.There were others but I don't remember them.
Planes:
They were all black. There was no art...except our pilot and co pilot they
were artists at flying.They truly deserve a medal. I mean truly, truly.We
took off with all four gas caps missing..the gasoline looked like a rain
storm...four torching turbos sent four 80-100 foot flames lighting up the
sky like sunrise. The fumes were nauseating. They got us around the field
and back on the ground sae and sound...turning my ankle jumping was of no
consequence. The slightest wrong move and we were history. Messers Burwell
& Ocean deserve medals!
Number of Missions: Seven
Description of Missions:
Search for Jap Shipping if no shipping was to be had the Pusan Air Docks
and adjacent areas as secondary objectives.
Most poignant, sad or touching memory of the war:
Ernie Pyle getting killed on Ie Shima. and....One night at Clark when we
were watching Oklahoma by one of the traveling groups....about three quarters
of the way thru ...the search crew was called out....we knew that our buddies
were down somewhere while we were watching a musical.and when the Indianapolis
was sunk off Ie Shima.
Funniest or most fun memory of the war:
Transition in the States....Inclement weather forced us to RON (Remain Over
Night) in all kinds of exciting cities.We would get adjoining rooms then
throw great parties with the girls that usually I would pick up. In San Francisco
the Red Penny and the Black Widow.The gun implacements and the Red Cross
girls at Norfolk.Wisconsin University and Janet Biersach at Truax Field.The
wrestling matches and the celebrations at Truax, Tonopah.Lemoore, Nadzab,
Biak. At Ie Shima we discovered a place which the Japanese had built...it
was a concrete beach surrounding a small pool fed by a wonderful fresh water
spring. At high tide the salt water from the sea would come in and fill the
small pool. We would lie stark naked on the smooth concrete sipping our 190
proof medicinal alcohol with the sun cascading over the whole scene ...we
would toast.."This is the only way to fight a war."
Any odd or strange memories from the war:
wally Leaske and I commandered a Jeep to go to a nearby place to see new
cadre of Red Cross girls moving in. We kept running people off the road until
we figured out that we were back in US style driving on the right side of
the road in the Phillipines. The girls were guarded wit guns and barbed wire.
When we returned to Clark our crew had been alerted and flew to Ie Shima.
We went up on an LS D with the ground crew. Typhoons were tantamount. One
of the ground crew members was deathly ill. He was lying on barracks bags
in the hold. A small ray of light was coming in from one of the port holes
forming a perfect halo above his head. He was skinny , scraggly beard, and
shorts...people would note the scene...cross themselves and I'm quite sure
feel a bit better about the war...if nothing more than the chuckle.
Most heroic thing I saw or did:
I explained this above...it was the mastery and coolness displayed by Lts.
Burwell & Ocean saving the B-24 and us.I reiterate they should receive
medals. There were many more heroic acts but this one stands out above all.
Where I was and how I celebrated when I learned the war was
over:
On Ie Shima...we actually took it rather calmly...we knew that the first
bomb on August 6th must have been something because we had to fly around
a decided turbulence and something they called "fallout" on the 7th or 8th.
Then we had no raids. It was quiet. Over on Okinawa several of the military
were killed celebrating the end of the war. We all carried side arms. We
were comfortable with them. On Okie people were using guns to celebrate and
they were not used to using them. It was sad....very sad.
How having gone to war has affected me, what comes to mindwhen I think
of the war:
I came home in a hospital plane a C-54. I was treated like a hero from Hawaii,
San Fran, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Fletcher General in Ohio. I returned
to Indianapolis to be discharged in January and started to school at Butler
i January...the hero stuff was over I was back in college to learn and to
learn I had to work. I remember going to a clothing store to look at suits.They
told me the coat I was trying on was $ 75. I ask for the pants. They told
me that was FOR THE COAT ALONE. I couldn't believe it. At Butler the VA
representative told me that I should be elgible for a pension and that he
was going to get me one. He was a homo sxual and I damn near broke his arm.
I have never had an easy feeling with any VA person to this day.
To future generations:
The two most important precepts in life is to know the truth and to be in
love. And to be absolutely right it has to be with someone who loves you.
Life is as easy or as tough as you want to make it.If you feel that money
is the most important commodity that you shall ever achieve then your life
is destined to be very shallow.