The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-1945 (30 page)

We asked if he had brought any souvenirs home from his year in Italy. He replied that he had with him that piece of flak that had been only inches away from taking his head off, but has since misplaced or lost it. He had his uniform - which he had paid for out of his own pocket - but he gave his flight jacket to the Air Force museum in Pueblo, Colorado. He did keep his wings, dog tags, and the bracelet with his name and serial number.

As were nearly all the veterans of the war, McGovern was a good, hardworking student, eager to make up for lost time, earn his under-graduate degree and get off to graduate school to pursue his Ph.D. in history. But one night, needing a break from his studies, he took Eleanor to a movie at the Paramount Theater in Mitchell. On the newsreel, the announcer was saying, “American bombers that were flying a few short weeks or months ago in England and Italy and the Pacific are now being collected in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and other Western states to be salvaged.”

The newsreel showed bulldozers coming along and shoving hundreds of B-24s into a heap. One of them had a name on it,Yo-Yo. The cameraman zoomed in on it so people could see the name.

“God, I just couldn’t believe it.” He had flown that plane, although he and his crew called it theDakota Queen. But it wasYo-Yo he had flown. “I felt like just getting right up out of my seat. We nursed those bombers back as carefully as we could, and conserved the gas, and protected the oil, and watched the oil pressure and the other gauges, and tried to land them as well as we could, and we brought back the precious airplane. Now it was being turned into junk. I couldn’t believe it. I reacted almost violently. I wanted to get up and tell the audience what we had just seen was sheer waste and extravagance. Made no sense at all. It really stirred my Scotch-Irish soul to see it taking place.” Within less than a year after the war, virtually all the B-24s had been salvaged. Fifty-five years after the war, there are three B-24s in museums, only one still flying. And except for those who flew them, or serviced them, they are today virtually forgotten.

At the end of our last interview, McGovern said that for more than half a century he had not thought much about his war experiences. As a politician, especially in 1972, running for president, he had done interviews with reporters on the subject, but usually for five minutes or so and never for more than a half-hour or in any depth. He said our two-week-long interview “has forced me to dig deeply into my memory and my psyche.” And what he especially recalled was Eleanor’s life with him, what traveling to all those airfields during his training had meant to her and to him, “and what it was like having that baby when I’m 3,000 miles away and not even knowing whether Eleanor would ever see me again.”

He paused, then said, “It’s made me realize how much I love that woman. I have known for years I was in love with her, but being asked to probe into my life during the war has really brought that home to me in a different way. Shared history is a big part of being in love.”

We asked McGovern to sum up his war experience. With his answer, he spoke for every airman, every GI, every sailor, Marine, every Coast Guard man of World War II. “Piloting a B-24 in combat with eight other guys, sometimes nine other guys, took every ounce of physical energy I had, every bit of mental abilities I had, and literally every shred of spiritual resource that I had. I can’t recall any other stage of my life, unless it was the closing days of the ‘72 presidential campaign, that so demanded everything I had. I gave that World War II effort everything except my life itself, and I was ready to give my life. It literally exhausted every resource of mind and body and spirit that I had.” For Hugh and myself, I replied, “Thanks for what you did to help win the victory, and thus save the world.” We always say something like that at the end of every interview with a veteran of the war, because it is the truth. Where did America find such men?

In 1985, McGovern was lecturing at the University of Innsbruck. A director of Austrian television’s state-owned station contacted him to ask if he would do an interview for a documentary he was producing on Austria in World War II. He wanted McGovern to talk about what it was like bombing Austrian targets.  McGovern was not inclined but finally let himself be talked into doing it. A woman reporter did the interview. She said that Senator McGovern was known around the world for his opposition to the war in Vietnam, and especially the bombing of South and North Vietnam. Yet he had been a bomber pilot in World War II. The reporter asked, “Senator, did you ever regret bombing beautiful cities like Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and others?”

McGovern answered, “Well, nobody thinks that war is a lovely affair. It is humanity at its worst, it’s a breakdown of normal communication, and it is a very savage enterprise. But on the other hand there are issues that sometimes must be decided by warfare after all else fails. . . . I thought Adolf Hitler was a madman who had to be stopped.

“So, my answer to your question is no. I don’t regret bombing strategic targets in Austria. I do regret the damage that was done to innocent people. And there was one bomb I’ve regretted all these years.”

The reporter snapped that up. “Tell us about it.” McGovern told her about the bomb that had stuck in the bomb bay door and had to be jettisoned, on March 14, 1945. “To my sorrow it hit a peaceful little Austrian farmyard at high noon and maybe led to the death of some people in that family. I regret that all the more because it was the day I learned my wife had given birth to our first child and the thought went through my mind then and on many, many days since then, that we brought a young baby into the world and probably killed someone else’s baby or children.” When the documentary appeared on Austrian TV, the station received a call from an Austrian farmer. He said he had seen and heard McGovern. He knew it was his farm that was hit, because it was high noon on a clear day and exactly as McGovern described the incident.

“I want you to tell him,” the man went on, “that no matter what other Austrians think, I despised Adolf Hitler. We did see the bomber coming. I got my wife and children out of the house and we hid in a ditch and no one was hurt. And because of our attitude about Hitler, I thought at the time that if bombing our farm reduced the length of that war by one hour or one minute, it was well worth it.” The television station called McGovern and told him what the farmer had said.  For McGovern, it was “an enormous release and gratification. It seemed to just wipe clean a slate.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE AUTHOR AND HIS ASSISTANT would like to thank all those who helped us with this book.

Horace W. Lanford, former commanding officer of the 741st Bomb Squadron, deserves special mention because he allowed us to use a copy of his self-published history of the 741st, which contains a wealth of information. He also provided us with many contacts to veterans. We owe a great deal to Mr.  Lanford.

We would also like to thank Francis J. Lashinsky and Gus Wendt of the 455th Bomb Group Association. Without their assistance and the assistance of other members of the board, we would not have been able to tell this tale. We gained a great deal of information from the association’s newsletter, The Cerignola Connection.  We also owe thanks to George and Michele Welsh and their staff at the International B-24 Liberator Club. The Welshes have been preserving the history and celebrating the accomplishments of the B-24 and the World War II Army Air Forces for many years. Their enthusiasm for their topic and willingness to share their knowledge with all and sundry is an inspiration. The International B-24 Liberator Club publishes a journal,The Briefing. The club’s address is 15817 Bernardo Center Drive, Suite 102, Box 124, San Diego, CA 92127, [email protected].

Almost all the photographs for this book come from the private collections of veterans or their families. We would like to thank the following veterans for sharing their photographs with us and the world: Alex Boggio, Russell Clark, Harold Cook, Carroll W. Cooper, C. E. Ben Franklin, Jim Gordon, John Greenman, Kenneth Higgins, Joseph Maloney, William McAfee, J. S. McCullough, Dan McGeary, George McGovern, Leo Mercer, Anthony J. Picardi, Richard D. Rogers, John Skelton, Darrell Snook, Jim VanNostrand, Gus Wendt, and Matija Zganjnar.  We would like to thank the following for their help in locating photographs and/or oral histories: the Airmen Memorial Museum and its curator, Sean Muskimins; Miles Todd of the San Diego Air and Space Museum; Ben Franklin of the Fifteenth Air Force Association; Tom Gerzel of the March Field Museum Foundation; Air Force historian Fred Johnsen; and Rob Hoskins of the 461st Bomb Group Association.

Thanks also to Charles Watry, an Air Force career man, who flew everything from transports in World War II to Mach 2 jet fighters in Vietnam. Colonel Watry provided us with invaluable technical advice for the book, whether it dealt with training procedures, plane instrumentation, navigation, armament, and all of the other details that accompany a subject of this scope and complexity.  We offer our thanks to Judy Edelhoff, an American on Ambassador George S.  McGovern’s staff at the United Nations in Italy. She helped us in many ways, most especially by organizing a trip to Cerignola for the ambassador and us.  With her help, we met and interviewed Italians who remembered the airmen of the Fifteenth Air Force. She also introduced us to the mayor of Cerignola, Dr.  Francesco Musto, and his assistant, Luigi Pelligrino.  We would like to thank Messrs. Musto and Pelligrino, who arranged for us to visit the old air bases, and for their help in connecting us with members of the community who remember the Americans. We would like to thank the following Italians for allowing us to interview them about their experiences: Michele Barcole, Mario Carpocefala, Gionanna Pistachio Colucci, and Francesco Musto.

The following associations made meaningful contributions and have our thanks:

741st Squadron Association461st Bomb Group Association

376th Bomb Group Association449th Bomb Group Association

450th Bomb Group Association483rd Bomb Group Association

455th Bomb Group, the Vulgar Vultures2nd Air Division Association

456th Bomb Group AssociationFifteenth Air Force Association

We would like to thank the following veterans and their family members for donating memoirs, collections of letters, diaries, and photographs for our research. We also appreciate those who allowed us to record their memories as an oral history. This book could not have been done without their assistance.

Kenneth AppleStuart C. BrownLensworth Cottrell, Jr.

Art ApplinMarie H. BruceJames E. Counsilman

Ken ApplinHelen M. Bruce-Ireland (daughter)Marjorie S. Counsilman (wife)

Alfred AschSterling BryantMary J. Crawford (widow of Benjamin) H. Homer and Louise G. AschmannStanley BuckBill Crim Cecil Grant AshOrmond BuffingtonRichard Laurens Critz Dick AshburyLeon O. BurkeBruce H. Cumming William AshlockHenry BurkleGeorge M. Curio Charles R. AyersJay CalkinsPaul Daugherty Albert J. BakunClifton CallahanRobert A. Davis Clyde G. BallRoger CapleKevin Day Robert K. BarmoreRobert S. CappsRobert W. Day William V. BarnesJohn CareyGeorge Defenbaugh Robert E. BasalaLinda CarryRobert DeGroat Donald BauerJohn W. CarsonPaul H. Ditchett Stuart A. BemisGuy Robert “Bob” ChampneyJoseph Dolinsky Andy J. BenedictTerri Champney (daughter of Bob)John R. Dominey Sheldon B. BenscoterF. C. “Hap” ChandlerRene DuFour Gene V. BensonWilliam ChapinRobert F. Emick Alfred BergerMorris ClarkRichard J. Ennis Casimir E. BialasL. P. ClemensWilliam Feder, Sr.

Charles B. BlackJ. Walton ColvinRuss Felzer

Bill BlockerHarold E. CookPaul L. Fergot

Maurice M. Bloom, Jr.Carroll W. CooperDonald A. Fischer

Alex BoggioHoward Robert CooperThomas K. Follis

Kenneth P. BondyJohn CopelandJ. B. Foote

Linda BoydAnthony CorselloDonald C. Foster

Walter E. BradyHenry Hutchings IIIWalter Fox

Douglas BrownTed A. HuttonRobert A. Long

Robert FrankHoward JacksonDel Lyman

C. E. Ben FranklinWilliam F. JohnsWilliam Tom Magee Kenneth FullerArt JohnsonJoseph L. Maloney Roland GeigerJohn JolissaintJohn W. Marsching Tom GerzelBetty (James) Karle (daughter)J. K. Mattison Lamar H. GoodFrank KautzmannDonald J. Fitz-Maurice Alvin GoodmanDonald P. KayWilbur W. “Bill” Mayhew Jim A. GordonMr. and Mrs. Roger E. KelleyWilliam McAfee Carl GrazianoLloyd C. KestnerHerbert F. McCollom, Jr.  John W. GreenmanErling KindemThomas P. McConnell Robert E. GreenquistDoug KirchenEd McConnon Walter GreenwellMonika Kokalj KocevarJ. S. McCullough C. Philip GressaniFred KonkelDan McGeary William O. GustafsonGene KoscinskiGeorge S. McGovern Paul Hallman, Sr.Paul Kuhns, Jr.R. N. McLean, Jr.  William F. Hallstead IIIRobert LambornWalker McNutt Rob HammerHorace W. LanfordVictor McWilliams Norman M. HardyRobert LankfordBetty Lee Meadville (widow of Joe W.) Bill HaskinsJohn LaRivee (son of Leo M.)Jim Merritt, Jr.  C. HaynesGene LarsonJames B. Miller Herbert HengstFrancis LashinskySean Miskimins George C. HenryWillard S. Layne, Jr.Clarence Mitchell, Jr.  Louis HermanRonald Lee (son of Emerson)Robert W. Mitchell Ruth J. HerrmannJohn L. LenburgSuzanne Mongomery Burton E. HewettWilbur W. LeupoldVictor Murray C.Harvey HewitJack A. LevinRobert E. Newberg Kenneth HigginsEdward Lincoln, Jr.Peter Newman Royce M. HilliardBob SchuetzRussell B. Newton, Jr.

Raymond M. HookJerome SchwartzmanR. L. O’Connor

Jules HorowitzRichard SeabridgeDavid T. Oliveri

Chet HosacLewis F. SetzerDick Olson

Francis HosimerMorris ShaneL. B. Teator

Eugene HudsonAlan B. ShawDavid Thayer, Jr.  Robert R. OttE. D. Shaw, Jr.Samual R. Thompson Alex PalmerThomas SheehanRobert F. Thorne Henry ParisD. William ShepherdWilson Tuten Roland PepinRobert ShinnickDonald H. Vance Anthony J. PicardiWalter ShostackDr. Raymond VanDerVeer Claude L. PorterJoseph W. ShusterJim VanNostrand David ProudLouis SiemborJames W. Walker Francis W. PurdyJohn E. SkeltonEdgar A. Walsh Thomas A. RameyJohn M. SmidlLinda L. Walter Robert ReichardIrving SmirnoffJohn T. Ward Glenn E. RendahlJames H. SmithWinston C. Watson Harley W. RhodehamelJohn G. SmithGus Wendt Charles W. RichardsEdward SoderstromDon West C. E. “Ed” RiggsSamuel SpeakmanH. A. Wilkes Essie RobertsCharles E. StarkCharles B. Wills Woody Russel RobertsDwight G. StaufferFred B. Wilmot Raymond RoemerSamuel SteinDaniel E. Wilson Richard D. RogersDonald E. SternTimothy Wilson John RollinsC. E. StevensRobert E. Winter Albert RomeroJames S. StewartWilliam Wittman Louise Rorer (daughter of L. Frank “Mickey”)Joan StintonMrs. Theresa Wittman McLauhlin Charles RosenbergMike Stohlman, Jr.David W. Wolf Hal A. RossOwen SullivanLazarus Wolk Sgarro RuggieroRoy SwaffordRobert L. Woods, Jr.