Posted on 11/11/2019 5:37:23 PM PST by Retain Mike
Aerial gunner ping. Reminder to me of a member of the church congregation I grew up in, one of whose members, still living, was a B-17 ball turret gunner. Thanks for writing this to you Retain Mike.
By Randall Jarrell
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
The men who returned with PTSD (not a ‘thing’ back then). Dad was on the winter Death March out of Stalag Luft 3 when a fallen airman grabbed his pant leg. Dad couldn’t stop to help or he would have been shot.
When I was a child, I used to kiss my dad to wake him when he was napping. He always awoke with a start, a shout and a horrified look on his face. He once told me that he always saw that airman’s face when he awoke from sleep. The only affliction he was diagnosed with was loss of hearing. At the end of his life, I did ask him if he was tortured in the POW camps and he said no. These conversation were the only things I remember.....otherwise he never talked about his wartime experiences.
My uncle was a B-17 waist gunner flying 35 combat missions out of Italy during WWII. During the cold war we were never stationed on the same base at the same time. We did meet by chance around the US, Europe and the far east. He didn’t tell me of his WWII experiences. I never asked. As I handled his affairs after he died I discovered a small notebook that listed those missions. I used that resulting in full details his life during those times. It does not glorify him. He and his fellow crew members did their jobs just like all the others. They finally worked themselves out of a job.
His burial included full military honors. The ceremony ended with a dramatic version of the Air Force Hymn. His story is now in Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
Thank you for sharing that story.
After a couple of dates with my future wife, she mentioned her father’s service (mentioned a few posts earlier). So, to strike up conversation with him, when we got back to their house, I thanked him for his service, and mentioned that my uncle was a gunner in a 24. My future mother in law quickly said: “Cal was awarded the DFC!” To which he replied, “Aww, everbody got that.” And she said, “No they didn’t”.
Tired from a day at work, and probably ready to turn in for the night, he was now perked up and asked where my uncle had been based in England.
I was embarrased, as I wasn’t sure where, but simply said that I didn’t know, but would find out from Mom. Then I told him that, unfortunately, he never made out of his bomber when it went down.
His face turned pale, then he said, “Sorry to hear that. I’m sure he was a good man,.... a lot of good men died,....”.
After a moment, he politely excused himself to bed.
I remember that evening like it was only a week ago, instead of 42 yrs ago last month.
One of my Dad’s best friends and golf buddies back in the early 60s was our across-the-street neighbor...I liked “Joe” immensely as a funny, jovial man’s man and for his kindness to all of us kids...
I also remember Joe drank a lot, often way too much and would come home hammered drunk...I asked Dad why Joe drank so much and he explained to the kid I was that a lot of the guys had trouble with alcohol after “the War”...Later on I learned Joe was a Ranger at Pont du Hoc...
Thank you. My uncle sent identical cards to his twin sisters, telling them a few things about England, and to read each others card.
My mother guarded that card so well, that none of us kids knew it existed until we were adults. She knew how small children could make a mess of a house, and certainly wouldn’t risk letting one of us taking it to school for show and tell.
His handwriting was certainly better than mine.
One of my Dad’s best friends and golf buddies back in the early 60s was our across-the-street neighbor...I liked “Joe” immensely as a funny, jovial man’s man and for his kindness to all of us kids...
I also remember Joe drank a lot, often way too much and would come home hammered drunk...I asked Dad why Joe drank so much and he explained to the kid I was that a lot of the guys had trouble with alcohol after “the War”...Later on I learned Joe was a Ranger at Pont du Hoc...
Bttt.
5.56mm
Fwiw, my dad said that when his Bomber Wing was stationed in England (The B-17 Squadron that he was assigned to was based about an HOUR north of London.) that LIQUOR was so downright cheap that you could “get blitzed for a single dollar”.
Note: A WV squadron also was MAKING “bootleg hooch” & that “slop” was REALLY cheap.
He also said that “We found a local pub that would COOL-DOWN the beer for us.” = FEW American GIs liked WARM beer.
Yours, TMN78247
Thanks for posting it, I had that on deck to post and decided I’d better check first to make sure.
In my opinion the tail Gunner was the most dangerous. The NAZIS fighters specifically targeted the tail gunner so they could get a free run on the bomber. I thought that the causality rate was the highest of any crew member at 50%.
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