Stories tagged "Air Corps": 12
Stories
Beginning of the End
“Yeah, well on the way to the flight line, we always went by truck. Usually, the gunners would go first to check the amount of ammunition, and then I would leave about an hour and a half later with the officers. On the way to the flight line was a…
Encountering Prisoners of War
"On one of our POW missions, our military was also in Shanghai. There was a POW camp there, and our mission was to drop food and medical supplies, just before our stop in Okinawa, which was on the flight route. We blew an engine flying there.…
Pacific Island Hopping
“Prior to that, I figured it was just an excursion. You know, a piece of cake, more or less. But Kwajalein was scorching hot and smelled awful. We spent quite a while there, and I kept thinking, what kind of cards am I being dealt? We still didn't…
Staged for Deployment
"After we finished this long flight of 3,000 miles, we were sent to Topeka, Kansas. Topeka had an airfield, and it served as a staging area. There, we were equipped with all of our overseas gear. We still didn't know our final destination.
They…
B-29 Radio Operator
“We were completely in the dark. We had no idea how we progressed from step to step. The first time I saw a B-29 was in Pyote, Texas. I had no idea where B-29s were stationed, but of course, it's a bomber, and apparently, it was being used somewhere…
Fort McKinley
“It was one of those Philippine scout training camps. We were stationed there until we were given a permanent assignment. Of course, that assignment never came, but our quarters were there on the post at McKinley.”
Basic Training
“It was the regular twelve weeks infantry training that all military personnel are required to take when they enter the service. It included all types of calisthenics, all kinds of weapons training, all descriptions on all types of guns, and…
Close Call
“We were flying toward a target and I was leading the top element. Remember that’s three airplanes and I wasn’t being real close to the formation because we were not close to the target yet. And all of a sudden we heard the radio band it’s twelve…
Shot Down
“So everybody got out and then I got out. This was my first parachute jump. I went out through the navigator’s hatch below and I said ‘Lord, help me get through this.’ I knew I only had two things. One was to get killed or do it. There was no…
First Mission
“I was happy as I could be or dumb and happy shall we say until I saw the first flight coming up. Our mission was to hit the V-1 bombs. They looked like ski jumps, so we called them ski jumps. They were on the coast of France... So our first mission…