Quote from Hangar45 Admin on December 17, 2017, 8:28 pm

(Original thread started on 05-23-13 by Shane Barnes)

While reading Ron's post about his uncle's service during WW2 I began to think about my Grandfather's stories of his service in the Army Air Corp during WW2. My Grandfather entered the Army prior to the war starting. He finished his training as an airplane mechanic in the states prior to being deployed to Hawaii. He shipped out from the East Coast and traveled thru the Panama Canal before reaching the Hawaiian Islands.

 

While he was based at Hickam Field he was assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group, Air Corps, United States Army. This is the unit he was attached to when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Several years prior to his passing my grandfather called and asked me to do a favor for him. I went to his home and he asked if I would track down Ken Taylor, a P-40 pilot. My grandfather explained that he was Ken's crew chief and that the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor he had went and cut out several Japanese bullets from Ken's P-40 and kept them as souvenirs. He wanted me to find Ken so he could return the bullets .

 

I looked at the bullets that appeared to be solid steel core bullets with aluminum stuck to the end of them obviously damaged from hitting the structure of the plane. I told my grandfather I would try to find Ken.

 

I searched the internet and found that Ken continued his military career and was currently a General with the Alaska Air National Guard. I called not really thinking I would ever get to talk to him. I reached an airman answering the phone, told her the brief story and she told me that she would tell General Taylor when he came in.

 

A short time later I received a call from Gen. Taylor. He could not believe after all these years he found out where the bullets went. He was laughing and telling me how he went down the day after the bombing and tried to locate the bullets to keep. Ken called my grandfather and they talked for a long time, I'm sure telling war stories. My grandfather mailed the bullets back to Ken.

 

Unfortunately my Grandfather and Ken both passed away before they were ever able to get together. Here is a link to a story on the Internet about the two pilots that got off the ground the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Lt Ken Taylor and George Welch  See the story HERE

 

If you scroll down to the section below the fourth photo you can read a short interview with my grandfather prior to his passing.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 05-24-13)

I know it is a powerful feeling hearing the stories of history like that and then to actually hold a small piece of history in your hands on top of that.  If you have ever paid close attention to my Project45 website, I reference Wayne Richards, my uncle and godfather.  Read about it HERE

 

To me, he was the guy who brought me to love aviation, flying and everything that has to do with airplanes. On more than one occasion, he brought me into the flight deck of a L1011 to take a peak around. You can imagine what an impression this would leave on a seven year old boy! Obviously his impression on me is an ever lasting one. All of you have heard of the butterfly effect right? Without Wayne and his impression on me, would I have fallen in love with aviation like I did? Would we all be here in this particular Hangar45 forum chitchatting about flight simulation stuff? It's something that I have thought about all day and I wanted you all to know just a little about this incredible man.

 

Yesterday, I learned that my uncle Wayne passed away at the age of 90 in Georgetown Texas, which is just outside of Austin Texas. He would have been 91 in just a few days. Wayne lived a FULL LIFE. In the peak of his aviation career, he was Captain on the L1011, Boeing 747 and last but not least, FO on the Concorde while flying with Braniff Airlines out of Dallas Texas. Prior to that, he fought in WWII over Germany and was a gunny on the B-17. He was a little on the short/small side so they had him on the bottom of the aircraft (in a glass bubble with a couple machine guns). He always had LOTS of stories to tell about his flying days.

 

My favorite story was when he would leave London in the morning flying the Concorde at about the same time as a 747 was headed to New York as well. He would say that within just a couple of hours, he would be landing in New York before he even left London! Wayne would say that he would have coffee, stretch a little bit and load back up for London. He would say that he would be back in London before the 747 ever made it to New York!

 

Wayne had all his wits about him till the end which made it fun for me to tease him with my favorite question: "Wayne, you ever been to Europe?" He would reply..."Hell, sometimes twice a day!!!" I always got the biggest kick out of that. At the same time, I wondered what Kris Columbus would have thought about that.

 

He was definitely one of those guys that has been there and done that. He was also one of those guys who did it faster, higher and better. When he would tell a story, as an example, coming in on final approach at a busy congested airport, in a storm on top of that, he told it with great intensity. The look on his face while telling the story made me feel like I was in trouble for something! He would hold eye contact with you and say,

 

"When you arrive at a certain point, you BETTER be at that prescribed altitude!" I would almost be sweating like I was there in the cockpit with him.

 

Here is a nice photo of the Concorde:

Imagine piloting this thing!

 

Braniff attempted to get into the game of supersonic intercontinental flight by opening a terminal in Dallas Fort Worth which probably explains why my Uncle Wayne was selected into the flight training program because he lived just outside of Dallas at their ranch. Here is a link to some of the history of the Braniff Concorde: http://www.braniffpages.com/concorde.html

 

Uncle Wayne was laid to rest in a mausoleum at a military cemetery site in Ft. Hood, Texas. GOD be with you Wayne on your journey home. REST IN PEACE.

Wayne Richards R.I.P. 1922-2013

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 05-24-13)

Very nice to see these stories. I must share a few myself. I think this is great considering that these memories we have are so sacred to our family's history and to the history of our great nation and to sum it up, we are on the even of Memorial Day weekend.

 

My grandfather, John. L. Collins, was in the USN. He had to take his father with him to sign up because at the time he was only 17. Once in the Navy, he was assigned to various ships and crossed the Atlantic Ocean numerous times. He told me at one time that he had made the crossing 12 times I believe. He would describe foul weather days of when you could be standing on deck and looking at the ship in front of you in the convoy and the swells would be so high and deep that the leading ship would completely disappear from sight until rising on the swell again. He said in the north Atlantic that it would be so cold and wet some nights on watch that if you didn't wear a cloth over your mouth your breath could freeze and it was a choking hazard.

 

One of my favorite stories was how they stopped in Ireland and were given shore leave for the evening. After going out on the town he and his two buddies headed back to the ship but couldn't find their way back. They knocked on the door of a home and a lady and her husband let the three of them share a bed for the night. The next morning when they awoke, the thanked the couple and walked out the front door to only realize that their ship was easy to spot with all the late night fog dissipated.

 

My grandfather was an enterprising young man. He would take his monthly pay and always send it home to his mother, and seeing as he had little to pay for he had quite a bit saved up. Add to this the fact that he would often buy cartons of cigarettes on shore and bring them back on the ship and when out to sea, he would sell them to the other sailors. Needless to say, long weeks at sea made him quite a bit of money. The only problem is that in those days one could only have a limited amount of cash on them on the ship, and so he had to hide the wads of dollar bills in a sealing can. One day they knew they were to have an inspection, so he thought it best to tie the can up with a rope and dangle overboard to hide it. You can imagine the disappointment he felt when returning to collect the can full of money and realizing it had come loose somehow and was now floating off to who knows where.

 

Lastly, he always shared how much he loved coming home into New York harbor and their ship would pass the Statue of Liberty. He could never tell that part of his story without eyes full of tears. He truly loved his country and was proud to serve. He finished his service by being evacuated off of a beach in Italy where he fell into a hole created by a shell explosion, breaking his hip and leg several places. He did one year of healing in Bethesda, Maryland but upon standing up for the first time in a year, he fell and broke it again. It was then that he spent another year in Jacksonville at the Navy hospital to get his leg walk-able again. The end results were always needing a pair of shoes with one shoe slightly taller than the other. Finally, he was released and became an instructor for teaching watch making to other sailors that were discharged from the US Military and then went on to be a watch specialist for Friedman's Jewelers.

 

What does all this mean? I guess it depends on who reads it. I truly believe that we are seeing the very last of the Greatest Generation leaving us quickly, and Ron's uncle Wayne was one of those guys along with Shane's grandfather too. All of you have your family stories. Share them as you feel free to. I love stories, and what better way to honor your family's past than by passing that history along.

 

(Posted by DonnyRay Jones on 05-24-13)

My uncle Thomas served as a bombardier on B-17s over Germany. By some miracle of God he survived two tours and returned home at the end of the war. My Dad served on the U.S.S. Texas during WWII and saw action in the Pacific. I don't know what Dad's job was called, but he worked in the engine room at a panel with valves and gauges and was responsible for maintaining steam pressure from the boilers.

 

WWII was the last great war in which every person, whether serving in the military or not, felt the obligation to make sacrifices to defend this country. People "back home" endured rationing, collected aluminum scrap for recycling into aircraft metals, practiced conservation of gasoline, coal, and other items, and had to endure the lack of real-time news reports on the progress of the war. I believe that is part of what made that generation great - everybody was in it in one way or the other. That generation understood that "Freedom isn't free" because they lived it. We are all forever in their debt.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 05-24-13)

During the war my dad was working -- making aircraft forgings as part of the war effort. He would tell me of the many times that the air raid sirens went off as German bombers tried to destroy the factory. They had anti aircraft guns on the roof which were manned by the Home Guard (men too old to fight were drafted to help defend the homeland in case of invasion). The last man to cross the English channel and make a successful invasion, was King William the conqueror in 1066 -- but I guess they thought the Germans had a good chance.

 

My uncle Charlie was wounded in action on Sword beach on D-Day. He recovered back in Blightie and then rejoined his regiment. In August 1944 he went missing and my aunt made several trips to France hoping to find a gravestone in one of the many French graveyards but never did. She did find that he was with two other soldiers -- one of whom was wounded when they were captured by the Germans -- who shot two of them in thick woods near Yvoir. Locals remember burying two bodies in a communal grave but there was no news of my uncle Charlie -- he was probably shot as well and left in the woods.

 

Here's a newspaper clipping -- not a really good scan though. He enlisted in the Norfolk Yeomanry Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery:

 

Yes DonnyRay we all owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. I will always remember what Sir Winston Churchill said of those so young RAF pilots who, although greatly outnumbered, bravely fought off the Luftwaffe in 1940.

 

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."