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Now we're very fortunate this evening to have another veteran from the area around here to come to speak with us. His name is Mr. Ken Hamilton and he was in the Army Air Corps roughly between 1942 and November of 1945, so he must have had enough points to get out pretty soon. He must have been in an area

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that saw quite a bit of activity because you were released from the service according to the number of points that you had and if you got out in November that was that was pretty soon. He did his basic training in Jefferson Barracks, Missouri and as you see on the board there he was a regular staff sergeant

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and he was a propeller specialist. Again, they didn't have jets back in World War II except for the end and that was the German jet and we didn't get ours till the very end of the war, the P-80, the shooting star, so most of them were reciprocating propeller type aircraft and so he worked on the P-47s which were

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made by Republic and they were called Jugs and also P-51s which probably was the best combat fighter we had in World War II and they were made by North America, P-51 Mustangs. Now he was stationed in England and I think in there a telephony told me that he was with the 8th Air Force, so he was working on

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aircraft then that later on the war flew a fire escort for our bombers, the bombers that flew on those raids over France and then Holland and later of course deep into the Reich into Germany. So all of these individuals that whether they were air crew or ground crew were absolutely imperative for the war

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success and of course one of the things you need on a on a fighter plane is a propeller and these had to be these had to be in good working condition and he'll tell us a little bit about how he got into the service maybe a little bit about the Jefferson Barracks experience and then what it was like going over to

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England maybe what it was like if you were there during your most of your tour of duty what the English people were like and how they treated you, the Yank, remember the old saying what they had well what was the old saying that the Yanks are overpaid over overpaid over sexed and over here I think something

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like that but this will be kind of interesting to find out what it was like in England during that time frame and he was probably there during during D-Day invasion and very very busy. So Mr. Hamilton if you'd like to come on up and he's brought a lot of memorabilia here with you notice his he's got his Ike

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jacket as they call these and these are staff sergeants and this was the this of the the badge that he's most proud of that's called the ruptured duck and that's the what you use when you're when you discharge that's what you put on uniform that's your symbol of discharge. Yes I'd be fine sir.

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After hearing from some of the speakers that you had my wife says she thinks mine's gonna be too mild for you. We I was asked by Malene Rude if I would tell a little of my experiences I just realized I gotta do something else here right now not only is my hearing going bad my eyes are going bad and I think my memory is

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just about completely gone and I absolutely hesitate to on top of that I'm not a public speaker so anyway with your memory not being too good it reminds me of the two ladies who knew each other for a long time but they hadn't seen each other for quite a while

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and they met in a mall and one lady went up to the other and said don't I know you I'm sure I know you what is your name the other one said she said well she hesitated a minute things well do you have to know right now I am that's why I have a few notes for me because I might draw a blank you know we're going

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along and before you know it I won't know what I was gonna say next and so that's good your teacher gave me encouragement so I thought well I guess I can I'll try it I didn't have something I was going to have him read but maybe maybe I can do it I I'll tell you about that just a little bit the

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year 1939 was an important year in my life boss and I were married on June 10 1939 on September 1st and Germany declared war on Poland well I don't know what they declared war they they marched in the pole and they didn't bother declaring war I think they Hitler said that only a fool would declare war and

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so he didn't well but on December 7th in 1941 as we came out of the church about noon the news was that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor now a lot of had taken place in Europe and by 1931 and it was about this time that I think the governor of Texas said he said now if the United States goes to war Texas will

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go with her and they did well by by 1941 Poland Holland Belgium Denmark Norway France had surrendered to Germany the blitzkrieg was very successful that as Hitler called it lightning warfare was what he called blitzkrieg by this time Dunkirk had taken place also and the siege of Britain was on during 1940 and

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41 with the Lenten's met with bombing and firebombs and so forth now I think it was at this time I was going to have your teacher read this because sometimes it it makes me too emotional but okay all it was was just a little bit of Hitler speech you probably told him all the things he had to say and that's just

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a brief okay this is an excerpt from Churchill's speech the Prime Minister of England yes you asked me what is our policy and I will say it is to wage war by sea by land air and with all our might with all the strength that God can give this is our policy you ask me what is our aim I can answer in one word

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victory we should go on to the end we shall fight with growing confidence we shall defend our island I'm getting goosebumps now - whatever the cost we shall fight on the beaches on the landing fields we shall fight in the fields and in the streets we shall fight in the hills we shall never surrender

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and that was very very important that your Chilean prose is some of the best that you could ever hear well and they said he was a master of the English language and certainly a good man for the job at that time I think the king at that about the time the gunfare could ask Novell Chamberlain he asked

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Churchill to replace Novell Chamberlain Chamberlain this wasn't appeasement was that it was late 39 I think is when Churchill came in yes sir and so well you heard his little speech and it was pretty scary because that went through a lot that Dunkirk my goodness I think they thought they were

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going to rescue a few but I think it was about three 330,000 and British French and Belgian troops yes sir yeah French and all it it was wonderful it was one of the greatest rescue things that ever been accomplished on in the world and so that was great well I was drafted in June of

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1942 and sent to Chicago for a physical which I passed then to Rockford to get my new suit and of course this is part of my new suit right here and kept that all through the surface and still have it well from Jefferson Barracks of course that that was tough part of the service

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was that experience at Jefferson that's when they you change it from a civilian to a soldier and it was kind of rough I think some of the old army guys enjoyed well making it tough for you and we you didn't like it but you couldn't do anything or say anything about it because it meant KB P do it or something

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you wouldn't like to do at all and so that's the way it was it didn't take you long to learn that I remember at Jefferson Barracks I had the job they strapped a pistol on my side and with with bullets and everything and I never wore a gun in my life and here's two two fellows that have been AWOL they were

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fellows from Chicago and I guess they thought that they were gonna go by these rules but when they got back to camp by I was placed as a guard over these fellows and they were told to dig a hole I think it was about four foot square and to dig it three feet deep and so they worked and worked and I I was told

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that too if I if I didn't keep track of them that I'd have to serve their sentence so I kept an eye on them pretty close and well anyway they dug this hole and after they got it all done then they had to fill it up you know it was they made you do something foolish and work at it too I don't think they went AWOL again

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so from there Jefferson Barracks I was sent to the Missouri Aviation Institute at Kansas City for schooling from there to Chinook Field ran too old to become a propeller specialist well at the Institute Missouri Aviation Institute they they gave us I don't know if I can remember all the subjects but I know one

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was propellers and engines and structure of the plane hydraulics electrical and after Pat we I think we spent ten days on each subject we spent the first in the morning we went to classes and learned all we could and they said if you dropped your your pencil you'd miss about half a semester and so well so

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then we bought spend a half of the morning I'm actually seeing these things we've been studying about and and the plane so that's that's a big they taught us and it worked real well then we took a test afterwards like your teachers didn't get the one ready for you folks and at the end of that they determined

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what what you were going to do next well I'd asked to be a I had a choice of becoming an airplane mechanic or going to the propeller school I chose to be a mechanic but usually in the circle you didn't get to do what you wanted to do so the color wasn't that bad that's where they sent me the Chinook Field and

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there we specialized on propeller that's what I was gonna be doing so I had to learn all I could about propellers well I we may wonder what's so important about a propeller though the old wooden ones they used to have years ago there wasn't there wasn't too much to learn about them but these propellers I think

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most of you may know that little dome out in front of a propeller is a unit that could be say the Curtis electric propellers what's the p-47s had electrically there was a motor out there that was the gear on the end of it that meshed into each one of these four blades and it was controlled by a

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governor in the engine and also the pilot could manually control it if he wanted to put on an automatic or to control it manually well what it did it would change the pitch of the blades in the propeller now I always thought that surely on takeoff you'd want that propeller to take a great big bite in

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the air to take you off but that isn't the way it was they decreased the pitch down to the right amount it was it wasn't too big a bite but they rev those engine up they wanted full power for takeoff and I think that was too well you just didn't you want that engine that you don't want to stall so that's

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the way they did it and after they got up and flying and they got their speed of what they wanted it then they could put it on automatic and the governor would hold that plane at just engine revolution at just that speed by increasing or decreasing the bite of that propeller put a load a bigger load

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or less load from the old I was sent to Richmond Virginia where I was assigned to the 361st fighter group and 376 fighter squadron and this was for the duration we trained together with the pilots with the same crew that started out ended up together over in England

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that's right that's right okay and so most of my I never flew too much there was a few times when I did and I'll tell you about it but the fighters were one seated plane wasn't room for for two people well we started out with the p-47s which was the Thunderbolt the and you have

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Langley field we went to Langley field and then to Melville New Jersey and finally up to Washington DC area and our last stop was there before going overseas that you know I never remembered the name of that base I well it seemed like we were south of the city somewhere and I don't answer well

00:16:52.760 - 00:17:22.520

anyway it was an interesting place to be located you know the trucker doing that Washington DC every night and we'd go in and I think the lowest came to see me there and so we had a it was nice because you get to see Washington and well as I say our last stop was finally to New York where we were about ready to

00:17:22.520 - 00:17:58.240

depart for overseas now it was an experience to we don't know what we're going to go over on but to our surprise and maybe the earth here the in in port was the Queen Elizabeth luxury liner and that's that's what we went over on and if you've never been on a ship like that it was it's really something I I couldn't

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it it's hard to imagine what what they're like I guess if you ever want to see what it's like we'll go out to California that sister ship the area I think is yeah and but if you've never been on a huge ship it was something to see why you look down those hallways and it was just amazing I just think this

00:18:20.000 - 00:18:48.520

thing is that huge and I don't know how many elevators they had in the same to take you from one deck to the other and we were sent to our quarters and I thought this was kind of interesting too I think the rooms were meant for probably two people I don't know there's a nice bathroom laboratory stool in this and

00:18:48.520 - 00:19:11.920

then out in this room what I imagine they would have had I don't I didn't see it but the way it was set up but you know for passengers but for us I think they're they had bunks in there now let's see we had about well it was about at least four bunks high and you had to practically lay down to get into your

00:19:11.920 - 00:19:34.880

bunk because that guy just above you so here those four against this wall four against this one and four over here so that's how many are in a room that probably is meant for two people I don't know but still we were happy to to do that to be on one that that good well down the hallways there there were

00:19:34.880 - 00:20:05.720

people sleeping and sleeping bags and the swimming pool which they had also on this ship was drained and down in there they had cots and they made use of all the space they had I guess but now we had let's see I think it was 17,000 went over on a trip I went yes sir you wouldn't believe it but they made

00:20:05.720 - 00:20:39.900

sardines you know yes sir they made use of it and no sir we were single and that's where we are they claimed it went fast and the 18,000 in I see on that maximum load was that they said they had all of as many as 23,000 so almost unbelievable we traveled undiscorded and the Queen Elizabeth was a fast ship our

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course took us through the Azores now you think yes we you think well why don't we head straight for England you boats were out there once they met you 42 yes sir what's it about December or you know that boat that isn't tossed around too much by way why one thing they did though that was you maybe

00:21:16.320 - 00:21:35.680

didn't know that a big boat like that would do I think was every 12 minutes they made an abrupt turn and they turned so abruptly sir zigzag yeah they did and that's so much it you could look over the edge and see one of the propellers partly out of the water and that was evasive action against possible

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submarine that's right and now one time as we were going they made a complete turn and went back never told us why but I think they must have spotted something up ahead so they kept it they took no chances they didn't have radar yeah I think that was a great help to us every day a plane I don't think they use

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the radio or any contact so that the enemy could ever hear you and so yes sir and the only communication they want to know I suppose if you're still a float so they would fly over every day with yes sir no we were there we were thankful that we were we had they served two meals a day on the boat and I'll

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tell you that's about all you wanted because we weren't used to that it bothered some guys I'll tell you after I eat I learned one thing the best thing to do is lay down a while and so I did I'd eat and I never really got sick to my stomach but there was a lot of them did but I just laid laid down and if

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you stay down a while you'd be okay and then we could go up and watch you know over for you out the rails it was interesting you know I wish I wish that I kept a record of that because I really don't know I was several days ago well I might have been like you say we didn't go straight to England what

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double-day is or is not belong to coast I I don't know but we finally one morning we woke up the engines were not running I looked out a porthole and we could see that the chimneys that was the first thing that impressed me I guess to look out and see that the chimney you said well what's so wonderful about a

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chimney well we just don't see too many of them over here like it there was a long chimney might have it looked like three tiles round tiles sticking up that's the way they had their chimneys or if it was a square chimney maybe there'd be just one on top of the regular chimney and that was kind of

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different when we looked up we don't see well that was actually we landed in Glasgow Scotland yes now I I guess you you know the point did you go around probably around Ireland and the northern route or did you come up through the channel well I would imagine we might have went in between Ireland and England

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but I'm not sure we never we were sleeping and because you don't they don't tell you that anyway we looked out anyway there were these chimneys we ended I like I say the engines weren't running so it was pretty quiet and well we looked out and we realized when we got off from this and Bart that we were

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in Glasgow Scotland and one of the first things the people did to make you welcome you was to serve you some tea and crumpets I never heard of crumpets before but we would laugh to give them these sandwiches they had just that was wonderful we traveled to our camp at Cambridge England located

00:25:24.520 - 00:25:52.840

near well that camp near Cambridge located in a small town called Bodisham that's where our field would be we were about six miles out of Cambridge well I think that was a fine location because Cambridge is a college town and we could ride in there on bicycles which we bought later on and now I'm trying to

00:25:52.840 - 00:26:13.680

think of some of the things that happened around Bodisham I tried to make a list of things I wouldn't forget but maybe I wished I had forgotten some of these stuff well one of the things of course we bought was bikes from the British there some some guy with he was must have been collecting bikes and

00:26:13.680 - 00:26:33.760

fixed them and sold them to us well we we added our own little gadgets to them they made nice little toolboxes that were kind of streamlined thing and covering them with aluminum and a lid on the back we put those on the back of our bikes and carried our what belongs we wanted to take into town when we went

00:26:33.760 - 00:27:07.680

that's the way we did it there were some nice places to eat in Cambridge that's one reason we like to go in there and there was the what they call their movie houses cinemas and so we went through those now and then well I never had I tell you we I was more used to our camp food but we didn't eat too much with

00:27:07.680 - 00:27:32.600

them now thank goodness at Bodisham that they treated us nice and the civilian people wanted to they wanted to treat us well and make us a feel at home and so we were invited into the homes of some of these people that was that was great I always heard that they had a lot of money.

00:27:32.600 - 00:28:03.600

well sir if they did I don't think they served any to us well they had some things that I how was that kidney? kidney pie. I never had any of that I couldn't imagine that anyone would like it but they had it and well anyway I think one of the restaurants I ate at in Cambridge was they were people from India they

00:28:03.600 - 00:28:30.560

were running and I had some stuff there I'd never heard of either but it was good so I enjoyed it. English beer they served it warm. Now could you get used to that? well actually I wasn't a very big beer drinker but we had a lot of them that sloped a lot of it up. Every town had a pub so all my and usually there was a

00:28:30.560 - 00:28:57.200

phone booth too another thing yeah a regular square phone booth you could get in and call I don't know a lot of people were using those well you might wonder our schedule allowed us time to work on hobbies well the planes were on missions sometimes when I look at some of these papers that you may look at I see so

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many men that were killed and so many guys that went to war and had it so much tougher than than me it makes me feel bad. Well you never knew at any time you could have been bombed in your air base. That's right.

00:29:16.920 - 00:29:29.920

So that was danger too. If Hitler had not made that decision to hit London and hit the RAF bases and the air bases you'd have been subject to those attacks. That's right. By the bombs or V1s or V2s.

00:29:29.920 - 00:29:50.080

Well that's right now on one of the fields that we moved to the those flying bombs the buzz bombs they went right over us we could hear them at night looked like they were on the way to London. I never could see one you could hear them.

00:29:50.080 - 00:30:06.800

As long as you hear them that's okay. I used to listen to them I think well now maybe I'll hear that thing you know but by the time they just went out of hearing and never did hear any explosions. Never did.

00:30:06.800 - 00:30:31.560

Now the closest explosion I came to is my foolish enough I guess you'd say for everybody wants to go to London sometime if you're that close and so there was times when we could get a pass and so I don't know just exactly when it was I was down there but I think it was too soon because sure enough I heard that

00:30:31.560 - 00:30:53.120

the old siren started blowing and you knew something's coming up and so thank goodness I didn't have to hunt for the subway deal I happened to be somewhere near one. I don't know what I would have done if I had to know you know it there hadn't been one real handy. We went down in that subway and that was way

00:30:53.120 - 00:31:15.720

underground whether it's 300 feet or something and then get out of the way. Well anyway when I came up after the all-clear signal there was fire bombs had been hit right out in the front of this area and not very far I would think probably not more than I'm trying to think what it would have been 25 or 30

00:31:15.720 - 00:31:43.760

yards from probably the entrance to that shelter or the subway I've been in. There was a huge bomb just laying down it just been deposited I think was one about this big and a huge long bomb and I've been thinking about it since then that excuse me that that thing actually was headed as though it would have

00:31:43.760 - 00:32:00.760

entered that entrance of that subway I mean but I missed it by about and it didn't explode no it didn't explode but boy I saw it I didn't want to stand around there waiting for it. They had a lot of them do that. I don't know.

00:32:00.760 - 00:32:16.760

It's called the UXBs, unexploded bombs. They bring it in and they throw it away. Could you feel any of the reverberations though underground? I don't think there were too large of explosions that happened.

00:32:16.760 - 00:32:36.760

Had that one I think we would have felt it. But what they had dropped was a bunch of incendiary bombs. In my pictures you can see the kind of a bomb that carried those incendiaries. They were a huge bomb about anywhere about I guess about this big around

00:32:36.760 - 00:32:56.760

fairly long and there was a band around these things with a whole bunch of these incendiary bombs about this long and about that big around they were just strapped on there by this band and here was one band here another band here and you'll see them in this one picture and the way they did that when they

00:32:56.760 - 00:33:13.760

released that thing they had the there was a cap that when it exploded but that band would open up and then all these little bombs would fly out and scatter out across London. So I say they got hit hard there.

00:33:13.760 - 00:33:30.760

That's why I wanted to read Hitler's speech or Churchill's speech because you couldn't help but feel sorry for you should have seen the buildings and how London had been hit by it really was. When you were in the tube underground what did you talk to the people about?

00:33:30.760 - 00:33:40.760

Were they happy? Were they parents happy? I honestly can't remember. Were there a lot of children there or had they gotten them out into the country?

00:33:40.760 - 00:33:47.760

I actually didn't see hardly any children. I wonder if they were. Yeah I think they must have. Yeah.

00:33:47.760 - 00:33:58.760

We used to read about it. Right yeah I think they took a lot of them. They took them out into the country. Well now let's see.

00:33:58.760 - 00:34:25.760

Oh well now while at Batterson we were there on D-Day and of course that was a special day. The night before D-Day you might say well did we know what was going to happen and we certainly did not know excepting the night before the one thing that

00:34:25.760 - 00:34:37.760

didn't happen and we knew something was definitely going to happen and I suppose you knew about this. They put those big wide stripes. The three white stripes on the wings.

00:34:37.760 - 00:34:57.760

They had white and black and white and black. I don't know if you knew why that was done. If you don't I can tell you. See but at this time we had lost some planes over there in the fall.

00:34:57.760 - 00:35:13.760

We had one I think the street 75th had about three or four planes that didn't come back one day. We never did know for sure what happened to them but the weather had gotten bad and I don't know where they could have gone or where they could have landed but

00:35:13.760 - 00:35:27.760

they didn't get back and later on when we got over to Europe we did see one of these planes the marking on it. We knew it was one of those planes so whether they bailed out and let the plane go or what they did I don't know.

00:35:27.760 - 00:35:47.760

I never did hear. Well anyway the night before they painted these markings. Now the reason for that was the enemy might have had quite a few of our planes by the time D-Day came about and how many English planes they might have had

00:35:47.760 - 00:36:06.760

we don't know. So by putting these marks on the pilots instructions were to shoot down anything that didn't have those marks on them. A German pilot couldn't have gotten into one and flew amongst our planes because

00:36:06.760 - 00:36:18.760

he could raise an awful havoc with our bombers and fighters and everything if there was an enemy flying one of our own planes that we didn't know of. I never knew that story. That's for identification purposes.

00:36:18.760 - 00:36:30.760

Yes sir. Because they penetrated soldiers into our ranks later on but they could have penetrated our squadrons. Yeah they did that at the Battle of the Bulge.

00:36:30.760 - 00:36:42.760

They penetrated. Your history teacher should learn a lot from you. He seems to know a lot about this stuff. That's good.

00:36:42.760 - 00:37:08.760

That's good. Well, then I did mention hearing those buzz bombs going over at our one field. Now some other things, the sad thing that happened, we lost our colonel on D-Day, the man who had been with us all this time.

00:37:08.760 - 00:37:27.760

Now our planes loaded with bombs under their wings that day and they said that they were going to dive and release these bombs and do what they could but the fighter planes too as well as get down straight hangers and any planes that were on the ground.

00:37:27.760 - 00:37:46.760

They said he went into a dive, the pilots that were flying with him that day, and he never came out of it. We don't know whether he got killed or what happened but he went on in with his bombs and everything and that was too bad.

00:37:46.760 - 00:38:03.760

We lost him. Were those P-47s or 51s you had? These were P-47s, yes sir. Well, then on D-Day the next morning after these fights had been put on,

00:38:03.760 - 00:38:17.760

boy, they came right over our field. We had a wonderful, if you thought you could say it was wonderful to see, but we had the front seat, you might say, looking up and we couldn't hardly believe it.

00:38:17.760 - 00:38:37.760

You couldn't see the sky, could you? No, they were pulling gliders and fighter planes and bombers, I guess, went ahead of them and dropped their bomb, did what they could, and then came the gliders and fighter planes coming in.

00:38:37.760 - 00:38:47.760

Like I told Lois, I said I would have thought it must have just heartened the Germans. It would have. It would have me, I know.

00:38:47.760 - 00:39:05.760

Did you hear of any collisions, any air collisions that day, I mean at that time because the sky was black with their bombs? I never actually heard of any happening that day, but sad to tell you that on one of the missions while we were at Babisham,

00:39:05.760 - 00:39:32.760

there was a fellow coming to visit, probably another pilot, I don't know, but he was flying in to visit there, some of our guys, and if our flight was just returning, our men were returning from a flight that they had been on at that time, and they were going to circle and land

00:39:32.760 - 00:39:47.760

and that guy, they ran into each other, one of our planes, and this fellow was coming to visit, and of course they were both killed. I remember looking, I didn't see them come together, but I looked after I heard the noise, looked over,

00:39:47.760 - 00:40:04.760

and there was a parachute coming down. It was partially open, but the man was already killed, but somehow just the explosion or whatever it did to him and the fellow fell on the field not too far from our base there.

00:40:04.760 - 00:40:29.760

Now that was not good. Oh well, on that day we had them come back, but now we had a plane, talk about getting down low. I don't know what the diameter of those propellers were.

00:40:29.760 - 00:40:47.760

They were huge, but they had gotten so low and strafing, and I suppose going at the speed they go, it released movement that the guy could have wrecked it. But the blades of the propeller, it hit the runway,

00:40:47.760 - 00:41:06.760

and it bent each blade back, but he came back. Those were steel blades, and they could take a lot. That's called buzzing, but that's what it was. Did you notice, though, you talked to the pilots,

00:41:06.760 - 00:41:14.760

they were a different breed, weren't they? Yes, sir. The fighter pilots were just kind of footloose and fancy free. Yes, they were.

00:41:14.760 - 00:41:27.760

On their way back after they had escorted the bombers over, after they got to a certain point, they could leave those bombers and then be on their own. Well, then they'd go down and--

00:41:27.760 - 00:41:33.760

What's it called? Targets of opportunity. They saw them. Yes, sir. They got to shoot out railheads, locomotives.

00:41:33.760 - 00:41:41.760

That's right. It was mainly things that would do some good. I thought if they could knock these locomotives, they could stop the transport and stop, and it was interesting.

00:41:41.760 - 00:41:48.760

We got to see their films once in a while. Wing films, yes. Yes, sir. And they'd keep those bullets going, and pretty quick,

00:41:48.760 - 00:41:57.760

you'd see that old steam engine, a whole bunch of steam would come up out of it. We saw quite several of those. And then, of course, shooting down the enemy,

00:41:57.760 - 00:42:04.760

we saw several of those too when they-- The air-to-air combat. Yes, sir. It was--we didn't see a lot of them.

00:42:04.760 - 00:42:18.760

Well, we didn't need to see too many because it was quite a bit of life when we saw one. Well, we switched from the P-47 to the P-51. And now they said that that P-51

00:42:18.760 - 00:42:32.760

was probably one of the best planes we ever had. Now, it had what-- The P-47s had had a Curtis Electric propeller. The P-50s--P-51s had a Hamilton--Hamilton hydramatic.

00:42:32.760 - 00:42:39.760

Sure. [laughter] It's not one of my--my relatives built it. But anyway, that was the name of it.

00:42:39.760 - 00:42:51.760

Now, I think a lot of the planes used hydramatic. Any time they got a huge dome out there in front, kind of an oval thing, the Curtis were more pointed. But this is a nice round dome.

00:42:51.760 - 00:43:00.760

And the P-40s, I remember the Curtis P-40 Warhawk, that was a pointed one. But the other ones were rounded in the front. Yeah, well, they were hydramatic.

00:43:00.760 - 00:43:11.760

They were hydraulic, you might call it, done by oil pressure from a governor that was pumping oil out into the propeller. And this big piston would move forward or back.

00:43:11.760 - 00:43:21.760

And when it did, it was on a cam thing that would make the gears rotate. And so that did the same thing. It would regulate the blades of those.

00:43:21.760 - 00:43:29.760

And some of the fellows get those damaged in flight? They did, and then you had to repair them? Either by flak or by enemy fire? Let's see.

00:43:29.760 - 00:43:39.760

Well, we had one come back with bullet holes, so he's a fellow after D-Day. Yes, sir. Now, we had more damage on the ground than we did--

00:43:39.760 - 00:43:52.760

never did I see any that were hit by flak that I had to work on. When we first got to Mons, Belgium, which is where we did go later on,

00:43:52.760 - 00:44:01.760

and they pulled into reventments, they should have checked that out, but they didn't do a very good job of it. There were huge rocks, and those propellers sucked up some rocks.

00:44:01.760 - 00:44:14.760

And, man, I had--I don't know how many propellers to change when we hit on that field right away. We did not repair them on the field. They simply gave you another one, you put another one on.

00:44:14.760 - 00:44:26.760

But they found out they had to be a little more careful about those reventments, because those rocks were no good for propellers. On the P-51, did they have the Rolls-Royce engines?

00:44:26.760 - 00:44:34.760

Yes, sir. That's right. They originally came out with the Allison, but they didn't have enough soup, I believe. That could be.

00:44:34.760 - 00:44:43.760

But I know they had the Rolls-Royces, right. Boy, that was, I guess, a good engine. Another fellow I had a couple years ago was an engine, but also he flew P-38s.

00:44:43.760 - 00:44:52.760

Did you have any P-38s on your field? No, sir. No, sir, we didn't. Because he transitioned from P-38s to P-51s. I think P-38s had Merlin engines, twin Merlin engines.

00:44:52.760 - 00:45:00.760

They were a slick-looking plane, weren't they? Very much looking. But I think one of the drawbacks-- They weren't as maneuverable as the 51.

00:45:00.760 - 00:45:19.760

I guess not. My son bought me a film by some pilots and told of their experience with fighting. And this one said that one time a German got on his tail

00:45:19.760 - 00:45:35.760

to get rid of him. What he did--now, I thought that was interesting. He said he knew that he had a plane that was powerful enough to do this.

00:45:35.760 - 00:45:44.760

So he pulled it back, and he said, "I just went straight up." And, of course, the German tried to follow him, and I think as he went straight up,

00:45:44.760 - 00:45:54.760

he kept just a little bit back, and the German could never get his sights, could ever get him on. All he had to do then was watch, keep watching,

00:45:54.760 - 00:46:08.760

because he knew that they could find better than that German plane. So finally, the German fellow had--he reached-- He couldn't go up anymore.

00:46:08.760 - 00:46:16.760

He was stalled. Yeah, he was stalled. That's the word. And so he had to pull out. Well, when he did, the other guy pulled on him.

00:46:16.760 - 00:46:36.760

Funny shot him down. Well, let's see. Say, am I talking too long? No, you're fine. Turn this over.

00:46:36.760 - 00:46:47.760

Well, one thing that we experienced on the field was that sometimes they'd come back, and something had happened to their hydraulic system, and I don't know what was going wrong.

00:46:47.760 - 00:47:01.760

Maybe a bullet hole had done something, but they could only get one wheel down, maybe, or sometimes they couldn't get them down at all. So that's not too good to have to land with no wheels.

00:47:01.760 - 00:47:10.760

Yeah, it sure was. Not only the propellers, but it was kind of hard on the planes, too. The wings would--

00:47:10.760 - 00:47:23.760

We never lost anybody landing that way, but it did kind of wreck those planes. The wing would hit, and they kind of screwed along. And one of the things that happened with one of them,

00:47:23.760 - 00:47:35.760

they had these steel mats is what they laid out on pastures. That's the kind of a field they had. It looked like it had been some farmer's pasture, and they'd hooked a bunch of these steel mats together.

00:47:35.760 - 00:47:44.760

I don't know if you know. They were just steel embossed mats that could hook together, and make a regular runway just out of steel.

00:47:44.760 - 00:47:54.760

They could do that pretty quick. And out on any land, it was--soft ground wouldn't bother you too much with those. So that's what we had for--

00:47:54.760 - 00:48:05.760

Well, anyway, this guy landed, and he couldn't get his wheel down, and I think he belly landed at this air scoop, caulk, steel mat somewhere,

00:48:05.760 - 00:48:16.760

and that thing just broke practically in two right behind the pilot seat. It didn't hurt him, but it just buckled. That's all, and that thing--

00:48:16.760 - 00:48:33.760

He came out of it okay. Oh, yeah. We had to do some things to amuse ourselves. You almost never feel you're doing enough,

00:48:33.760 - 00:48:41.760

but we did-- Planes came first. Whenever they came back, we took care of them. Right now, always did that.

00:48:41.760 - 00:48:51.760

But when the planes were gone all day, most of the day, what were we supposed to do? Well, actually, we could do most--

00:48:51.760 - 00:49:01.760

You know, whatever we wanted to, pretty much. They had--You'll see a-- A tea truck comes on the base somewhere here, and so we could have tea,

00:49:01.760 - 00:49:10.760

and they came around every day with something. And then they had fish and chips. Yeah. But now you couldn't leave the base.

00:49:10.760 - 00:49:17.760

You had to stay at your post. Until those aircraft came back. Yeah, we had to be around to be sure we were there when they came back.

00:49:17.760 - 00:49:22.760

These were all day flights. You didn't have night missions, did you? No, sir, we didn't. Just the day.

00:49:22.760 - 00:49:28.760

Yes, sir. That's right. If you'd take off-- Well, the bombers would take off early in the morning. The fighters would leave maybe two hours later.

00:49:28.760 - 00:49:36.760

Yes, sir, and catch up with them. Yeah, they could overtake them easily. Yes, sir, rendezvous at a certain place, then we'd meet them and be with them on into Germany then.

00:49:36.760 - 00:49:40.760

And-- I'm sorry I interrupted you. Go back to what you were doing. No, no.

00:49:40.760 - 00:49:51.760

I'm enjoying these interruptions. They help me think a little bit. And you know a lot of good things. That's good.

00:49:51.760 - 00:49:56.760

You said it was a tight time. The tea trucks came around. What did you do? You had a hobby or something?

00:49:56.760 - 00:50:06.760

Well, yes, we-- hobbies, yeah. This thing, you know, one of the gun cameras got-- a Cleotrac, one of those things that they pulled the planes around with,

00:50:06.760 - 00:50:21.760

bumped into our gun camera and ruined it. And so I guess they had more than one ruined camera. But I asked the guys in the camera that were taking care of the golfing films and all that

00:50:21.760 - 00:50:31.760

that the pilots brought back. I said, you got one of those cameras that I could have if they aren't any good to them. And so they gave me that one.

00:50:31.760 - 00:50:41.760

And the case was all broke and everything. It couldn't be used as a movie camera anyway. But I thought if I could-- well, that's part of my hobby.

00:50:41.760 - 00:51:01.760

I made some things to use this for-- and I could wind this thing up like this and then hold it up. And I can lift that thing up, and the thing will go back. And I was able to take pictures with this camera,

00:51:01.760 - 00:51:14.760

single pictures you can see the film. Yeah, I wasn't too particular about spacing it, because they had film to waste. Because as soon as the film was just a little bit old,

00:51:14.760 - 00:51:26.760

they had to throw it away. So I could get any of that film that was thrown away. And so I made use of that. I took a picture-- my wife had sent me a picture of herself.

00:51:26.760 - 00:51:38.760

I took that with that gun camera. Well, that was part of my hobby. I got to developing film and making prints and had a lot of fun.

00:51:38.760 - 00:51:52.760

Well, they kept me from going crazy anyway. Well, I'm not sure about that. Hey, Ken, did the ATS girls serve you that tea in those little trucks or lorries?

00:51:52.760 - 00:52:04.760

We're trying to think. Were they civilians? Well, they were civilians, yes. Usually, I guess there were ladies in those things,

00:52:04.760 - 00:52:15.760

as well as men bringing that stuff on base. I remember seeing the English that helped on the base. You'd see them over-- they'd have a little fire, and they were heating their tea.

00:52:15.760 - 00:52:31.760

They must like tea real well over there. They had somebody who smoked a lot of dollars. Yes, sir. Well, one other thing that I thought was interesting--

00:52:31.760 - 00:52:47.760

I didn't know that you could take an old blackbird. Some guy-- how he did this, I don't know. He must have got that bird when it was a baby bird. He must have, because that blackbird was tame.

00:52:47.760 - 00:52:58.760

And this guy would ride his bike to the mess hall, and that bird would sit up here on the handlebars and ride. And away they'd go. And when he went in to eat, we were all dressed alike.

00:52:58.760 - 00:53:11.760

And that bird was set up on the roof of the building. When that guy came out, even though we looked all alike, that bird knew him. And as soon as he came out, he'd fly down, get on that bike,

00:53:11.760 - 00:53:24.760

and away they'd go. You wouldn't believe it, but I saw it happen. Well, now, that bird was out by our area one time. And I saw him.

00:53:24.760 - 00:53:32.760

I guess I had something that he could have to eat. And I saw him, and I just snapped my finger like that and hold my finger out. It looked like a bullet coming at you.

00:53:32.760 - 00:53:38.760

And he come and landed on your finger. You wouldn't believe it. He hurt your right hand? Yes, sir.

00:53:38.760 - 00:53:49.760

Now, I've seen these magicians who seem to handle birds awfully rough and how they do it. And those birds circle out and out and come right back to the guys, even-- you've seen the magicians who

00:53:49.760 - 00:53:58.760

have birds up their sleeve and everything. And those birds, I don't know, they don't seem to be scared. That was his hobby. That was his hobby.

00:53:58.760 - 00:54:12.760

It was pretty good. I think we-- well, we lost three planes that one day when they got fogged in. And we don't know what happened.

00:54:12.760 - 00:54:30.760

One other thing that happened too while at Bioderson, one of these big balloons, they looked like dirigibles. Rides balloons. That's what they were.

00:54:30.760 - 00:54:39.760

They had a cable hanging down. That's a cable. One of those things that broke loose from its mooring down probably from maybe down around London.

00:54:39.760 - 00:54:50.760

I don't know. But that thing was drifting, and the wind was blowing it. And that cable was raising havoc with the electric lines coming across country.

00:54:50.760 - 00:55:03.760

And I guess they let our pilots know about it. And it went right over our field. So they sent a guy out, and he shot the thing down and got rid of it.

00:55:03.760 - 00:55:09.760

Did that have hydrogen in it or helium? You know, I don't know. But maybe I think-- It probably had hydrogen.

00:55:09.760 - 00:55:18.760

Anybody heat helium, but I'm not sure. Our country is the only one that had helium. Oh, yeah. Well, that could be.

00:55:18.760 - 00:55:22.760

Did you see him shoot it down? Yes, sir. Was there a big-- Yeah.

00:55:22.760 - 00:55:33.760

It was probably a flat one. He sent tracer bullets. He loaded up a bunch of tracer bullets. And those things leave the street as they go.

00:55:33.760 - 00:55:42.760

And of course, they wanted the fire to hit it. Of course, when it did, the thing just blew up. It blew up inside the system. That was it.

00:55:42.760 - 00:56:05.760

It collapsed and came down. That was it. Well, I was sent on-- in early December 1944, I was sent along with several others of our 376th squadron

00:56:05.760 - 00:56:17.760

on detached service. Now, detached service is when you leave your own outfit and go on another mission. I was sent to Saint-Isère, France, which

00:56:17.760 - 00:56:38.760

had been a field that the Germans operated from. And the Germans at that time, the Battle of the Bulge, if you never heard of it, that was going on. And they had driven into our infantry lines about 50 miles.

00:56:38.760 - 00:56:52.760

They were pulling the same thing they had done so successfully in invading other countries. But it wasn't going to work so good this time. What they did, they would make a big drive.

00:56:52.760 - 00:57:08.760

And then that pincer group over here would make a drive. And then they'd close in and capture a lot of people. Well, they made the big drive. And that's when I was sent on detached service

00:57:08.760 - 00:57:30.760

to this Saint-Isère, which was east of Paris. And I've got to get to where my next sheet is here so I keep it in order. Oh, yeah.

00:57:30.760 - 00:57:49.760

So I was sent over on detached service. And they needed-- this was one of Hitler's big mistakes again. He pulled a lot of them toward the end because he was trying anything he could think of, I guess.

00:57:49.760 - 00:58:03.760

And even against his generals' better judgment, they had to go along when he told them what to do. They made that big drive and broke in through our lines. And right away, they just sent a bunch of our fighter planes

00:58:03.760 - 00:58:14.760

over. They put these napalene bomb things under the wings like these fuel tanks, extra fuel tanks. And they loaded these napalene things

00:58:14.760 - 00:58:23.760

and dropped those on the tank. And boy, a bunch of fire. And that could stop them right now. Jelly of gasoline, that's what it was.

00:58:23.760 - 00:58:32.760

Whatever it was. I guess it worked fine. Well, anyway, they called us to support the infantry for a while to knock those tanks out.

00:58:32.760 - 00:58:41.760

So that's what they did. And well, on that field-- now, it was really cold. It was winter '44. Yes, sir.

00:58:41.760 - 00:58:45.760

Yeah, December '44. Oh, man. And I'll tell you-- It was cold.

00:58:45.760 - 00:59:02.760

It was mighty cold. And this is what happened to me. One of the pilots in landing, he ran out of runway. Sure enough, he almost had enough runway, but not quite.

00:59:02.760 - 00:59:16.760

And so at the end of runway, he'd break it so much that he had to stop it so abruptly that the thing just tipped up at Bendy's propeller. So I had the job of going out there and putting

00:59:16.760 - 00:59:23.760

a new propeller on that thing. And it was really cold. I froze my fingers. I learned one thing.

00:59:23.760 - 00:59:34.760

Don't put your fingers in gasoline. Gasoline doesn't evaporate as fast. Oh, well, that gasoline had been out in the cold, too. It must have been something below zero,

00:59:34.760 - 00:59:42.760

because it didn't take long to freeze your fingers. I was trying to wash the parts a little bit to get them into that-- on that propeller. Well--

00:59:42.760 - 00:59:53.760

Was that a P-47 or a-- That was a P-51. But the propeller that they-- I think it was an AeroProp, the first one I ever put on.

00:59:53.760 - 01:00:01.760

But we got her on. It worked fine. But that's the one he-- he ran out of runway and nosed up and ruined.

01:00:01.760 - 01:00:11.760

So the next one was a hydromatic for that ground. Now, how did you put them on? Did you-- you'd have to have some special hoist or something to--

01:00:11.760 - 01:00:26.760

Oh, yes, we did, yeah. They had a regular sling, and they had portable derry up there. It was made that two things went in under the plane, and this thing sticking up over it.

01:00:26.760 - 01:00:35.760

It supported it well enough to hold a propeller, and you could just drop the block and tackle down, I guess it was. And they had straps that went around the propeller,

01:00:35.760 - 01:00:49.760

and you could get that thing supported by it. Was the prop held on by a left-handed nut or whatever way they-- Well, to see.

01:00:49.760 - 01:00:56.760

I think there was-- I don't know what way they go around. I think they probably went-- Clockwise.

01:00:57.760 - 01:01:10.760

If you were looking at it, I guess it would have been going-- from the pilot's seat, it would have been clockwise. If you were out front looking at it, it would be going this way. And so we always tightened these things that way.

01:01:10.760 - 01:01:21.760

Just the opposite of regular nut then. They were safety so that they-- it was a thing you dropped in that was almost impossible for that nut to ever come loose.

01:01:21.760 - 01:01:31.760

Did you use torque wrenches? Yeah, we had torque wrenches. How did you keep the engine from turning? Did you get enough--

01:01:31.760 - 01:01:48.760

What I usually did was, before I'd take a prop off, I would--I just took a little scratcher and just marked right where I had to tighten it back to that same spot, because I knew that that was the proper torque

01:01:48.760 - 01:02:03.760

without having to go through too much fiddling around. And so you just tighten them up and then bring it up to that same spot, and we knew that was tight enough then. So--

01:02:03.760 - 01:02:28.760

St. Gisaire to-- I was going to say, I did go into town at St. Gisaire, and we did have a threat once that we had to be careful. They thought there might be German paratroopers

01:02:28.760 - 01:02:41.760

dropping in at night. They had done that somewhere, but we never really got into any trouble. Had my first time to try my French on people.

01:02:41.760 - 01:02:53.760

You know how much French I knew. It was "Pas de bout francais" was about it, plus "comme un talibou" and "tres bien et vous," and that was about all I could say.

01:02:53.760 - 01:03:08.760

But here there was this French guy. He wanted to-- oh, he wanted to communicate so badly. And of course, I did too. And he put his arm over me, and so I wanted to try to sing

01:03:08.760 - 01:03:18.760

or something, and all I could think of was-- you may know the words. It was probably one they used in the nursery sometime or another. "Erosiaga."

01:03:18.760 - 01:03:26.760

"Erosiaga?" Well, what I-- I just-- all I knew was-- how was that?

01:03:26.760 - 01:03:37.760

[SINGING] [LAUGHTER] When I started that, I guess he thought I was knowing all. I didn't know anything.

01:03:37.760 - 01:04:01.760

He really started singing. So at least that's the best communicating I could do. On the field at Saint-Isère, I saw several Messerschmitt airplanes that were some almost intact and some that were--

01:04:01.760 - 01:04:12.760

looked like they'd been working on them. And the field had been bombed. You could see it had been hit hard. So that's what was there.

01:04:12.760 - 01:04:19.760

Now, the field near Mainz, Belgium, that's where we went to next. How do you spell that? M-E-I-N-Z? M-O-N-S.

01:04:19.760 - 01:04:25.760

M-O-N-S. That's the way I spelled it. I hope I had it right. Well, I didn't know. I didn't either.

01:04:25.760 - 01:04:40.760

But we spelled it that, and I guess that was right. Right in behind the barracks we were in, they had a sign put up that said "Warning, butterfly bombs." And sure enough, you could look into the woods just a little ways,

01:04:40.760 - 01:04:52.760

and there was one. I'm laying there, and the butterfly bombs were bombs that had two disks like this. And I don't know. I know that when they dropped the things, they whirled around,

01:04:52.760 - 01:05:06.760

and that's what armed them. And if you would have happened to kick into one of those things, I guess they were just terrible. They were full of shrapnel and stuff, and they just--it was not a good thing.

01:05:06.760 - 01:05:24.760

We certainly didn't go out in that woods. We could see the thing there, and we never went in there. There was this huge bomb with the bands around it, which I have a picture of. That's the field they must have been flying from, from Germany,

01:05:24.760 - 01:05:40.760

where they would--like you say, the bands would break and the cinceres would scatter out and another break, and that big thing would be going across the town. It was quite a way to scatter out bombs and do a lot of damage.

01:05:40.760 - 01:05:56.760

Well, that's what Churchill--you can see why he was urging--he said, "We shall never surrender." You can't blame him for wanting not to be taken over by somebody like that. Did you listen to him on the BBC?

01:05:56.760 - 01:06:06.760

I heard him every day that speech. Oh, yeah. Well, at home, yes. We were at home, and it was something.

01:06:06.760 - 01:06:26.760

Did you listen to him over there, though, did we ever hear from the BBC there? I never remember actually hearing him over there. I guess we were too busy to--you know what, we just didn't. After we--well, the German tanks were running out of gas,

01:06:26.760 - 01:06:46.760

the German resistance were weakening, our armies were advancing rapidly, and the need for fighter planes was winding down. Unless you were meeting a bunch of tanks or something, or going to escort bombers, and that was pretty much done, too, toward the end,

01:06:46.760 - 01:06:59.760

because they just weren't going to be doing that anymore. It was about over with. The Luftwaffe was not that active anymore. That's right. Oh, my, no, they--I don't think they had much left anymore.

01:06:59.760 - 01:07:21.760

So we were preparing to return to England, and I had the choice of either flying back or going by jeep and go to La Havre, and I chose to go--I flew over there, so I figured the other guy could fly back, and I'd go by jeep and look up Seymour that way, and I was glad to do that.

01:07:21.760 - 01:07:40.760

Went from La Havre, well-- Well, I have pictures, too, of La Havre where the-- You wouldn't believe--that must have been terrible for anyone around La Havre at that time, the Germans and the French.

01:07:40.760 - 01:07:59.760

I never did know that they were able to get those French out of there before that bombing and all that. Do you know how they--I don't know either, but I think they didn't want to let the Germans know that this was going to happen, of course. How would you get the civilians out so that they wouldn't get hurt?

01:07:59.760 - 01:08:22.760

I don't know. That all took place. So we arrived in La Havre about the 12th of April, and you know what happened on the 12th of April? That's right. That's why I remember that's where I was when we first heard about it.

01:08:22.760 - 01:08:43.760

Now, there were a lot of German prisoners there that were-- I think they were happy to be through the war, and they were on KP, and they were being treated well, I'm sure, and they helped serve our snacks. We boarded an LST.

01:08:43.760 - 01:09:00.760

They kind of had that thing open up in front and start to roll out. Well, that's what we went across the Channel on to go back to England. And we remember a wonderful meal they served to us, the Navy. They wanted to show us how good they could be to us, and that was great.

01:09:00.760 - 01:09:17.760

Showing off their good job. Well, we enjoyed it, too. Well, on May 1st, 1945, it was reported that Hitler had killed himself, and on May 2nd, Berlin surrendered.

01:09:17.760 - 01:09:42.760

The war was not over, but it was still progressing in the Pacific, but it was over with Germany, and I'm sure they were glad, too. I thought that I could be sent to the Pacific now, but the atom bomb ended bad and quickly after it was dropped.

01:09:42.760 - 01:09:56.760

We were waiting to go home, and it seemed like a long wait. You know, it did. It took a while to get ready to take us home, but as well as to send us over a good night,

01:09:56.760 - 01:10:14.760

they had to build planes and ships and everything else to wage the war, and bombers, and so there was a lot to be done by the time we first got into it, so they had time to train us. Now, I came back on the Lake Champlain.

01:10:14.760 - 01:10:34.760

I don't know where that aircraft carrier is at now, probably in Lofthouse or something, but that's what we came back on. The deck below the flight deck is where they had put bunks, and one on top of the other, and they were fastened together so they wouldn't fall over,

01:10:34.760 - 01:10:44.760

and you wouldn't believe it, but I'm pretty sure that those things were 14 high. In other words, you-- Did it mind what kind of guy's bunk you had? Yeah, good night.

01:10:44.760 - 01:10:54.760

I don't know how the guy got into his bunk. It was sort of under the weather. He stepped out of the other guy's face when he was climbing up. That was probably it, yeah.

01:10:54.760 - 01:11:08.760

But it was really something. We were just pleased to be--I guess we could have slept most anywhere, just heading for home, and it was wonderful to see the guys. It was wonderful to see the Statue of Liberty once more.

01:11:08.760 - 01:11:35.760

About the first thing they did when we got to New York was that they had telephones available to call home, and of course that's the first thing I did. After that, we served a steak dinner, I guess, was the first one I'd had in a couple years, or nearly two years.

01:11:35.760 - 01:11:55.760

I was over there at least a year and a half. So that was wonderful. Did you disembark at Camp Kilmer or New Jersey? I don't know where they took us to. I can't remember that.

01:11:55.760 - 01:12:23.760

I just know that we--I was pretty excited, and I should have remembered a lot of things, but I was thinking about home, I think. I know they put us on a train to take us to Camp McCoy to be discharged from the service. But my wife met me while I called her from there when I knew I was about to be out of the service from Camp McCoy,

01:12:23.760 - 01:12:46.760

and she was going to meet me in Chicago. And I remember calling, though. I remember the operator saying, "A returned veteran is calling home. Will you please clear the line?"

01:12:46.760 - 01:13:09.760

I talked to my wife for at least a half an hour. That cost about $15 or $20, but it was wonderful. Well, they sent us to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, to be discharged from the service, and a lot of German prisoners were there, too, and they were on KP duty.

01:13:09.760 - 01:13:30.760

They seemed to be happy. I would have thought it had been a relief to them as well as us to be back home-- or to--I think they felt like they would get home. Now, would you believe one of the items of food that I was craving when we were in Chicago--

01:13:30.760 - 01:13:52.760

you would probably not guess, but one of the first things I wanted to do was to go to a grocery store and buy some bananas. I hadn't had a banana in about two years, and oh boy, we were hungry for bananas. Well, I didn't know if there was any grocery store downtown in Chicago.

01:13:52.760 - 01:14:14.760

Maybe there's some there, but there was an ice cream parlor, so I thought, "Well, banana splet. They'd have bananas." So I went in there last night and went in there and sat up at the counter, and of course they wondered what I wanted, and I told them what I wanted.

01:14:14.760 - 01:14:33.760

I said, "I just want to buy a banana." So I guess she wondered I must be some kind of an oddball that just wants to buy a banana, but I told her I hadn't had one in two years, so I don't know--she didn't know what the charge was, but I don't know what I gave her,

01:14:33.760 - 01:15:05.760

but I got that banana, and boy, sure enjoyed it. Okay, well, I guess that--we took a--well, we went to a few stage shows in Chicago at that time. Did some things while Lois was there with me, and then we headed for Sterling on the train. Japan had surrendered August 14, 1945.

01:15:05.760 - 01:15:27.760

It was finally over. Well, thank you for your patience. I hope your next speaker will really give you something more interesting than what perhaps I was able to give you, but I've done the best I could.

01:15:27.760 - 01:15:37.760

You too, Bob. Thank you very much. [applause] You're welcome to look at some of these pictures up here.