I think I’ve had one of the best times of my life this week! Naturally, I’m going to tell you all about it.
OH, BEFORE I DO. I took the kids to school before leaving for Cincinnati. Ben took part in the morning announcements over the PA system (he introduced the moment of silence) and he did a great job. I was proud of him. I tried to hug him afterwards but he didn’t want me to do that in front of his friends.
73RD BOMB WING REUNION. As I indicated last Tuesday, I headed to Cincinnati for the 73rd Bomb Wing’s 31st annual Reunion. It was actually held at the Radisson Hotel in Covington, Kentucky. It was a four hour drive. I came back home yesterday (and with it being Kentucky Derby day State Troopers were EVERYWHERE--no, I didn’t get a ticket).
The first people I saw were Bill and Joan Agee, whom I had met last year. Mr. Agee calls himself an old coot, and he is one of the neatest old coots you’ll ever hope to meet. I also saw Mr. and Mrs. Krantz along with their daughters Cathy and Lynda (more friends from last year). I think the Krantz family had a mini-reunion this year because I was introduced to so many folks in their family I got confused.
Fulfilling a dream of mine I met two of Dad’s crew mates this week. Bill Lind (pilot) and Bob Stangland (left gunner) were standing together in the registration line when I first saw them. They both said I looked enough like my father that they had no trouble recognizing me. If the rest of the crew was like these two men Dad flew with some great people. Another new friend is Jim Pattee. Mr. Pattee was part of another crew in the 497th Bomb Group. He and Mr. Lind happened to meet on the trip from Minneapolis and he hung out with us quite a bit.
ITINERARY. Wednesday night we had our pre-flight social. There was live entertainment but it was too loud for anyone to enjoy conversation so we drifted out to the lobby pretty quickly.
Wednesday was a full day. Mr. Stangland and I ate breakfast together. Then we all boarded busses and headed for the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. We started our tour in the hanger where the old Presidential planes and old experimental aircraft are on display. This included the Air Force One that carried President Kennedy’s body back to Washington, DC, (and where President Johnson was sworn in). We enjoyed an outstanding lunch at the officers’ club. That afternoon we had too little time to see the main part of the museum where there are 17 acres of planes under roof. I’m guessing we only saw about 20% of what was on display. We spent most of our time in the WWII hanger.
That evening we boarded the Belle of Cincinnati for a dinner cruise along the Ohio River. (As a footnote to this, the next day I was in my hotel room when I heard a calliope playing. Grabbing my camera I snapped a couple of pictures of the riverboat as it passed by only to discover when I got home it was the Delta Queen. It was in the area for its annual race with the Belle of Louisville as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. It is an authentic steam driven sternwheeler. I toured this boat in 1985 when I was working as a deck hand on the General Jackson.)
I spent most of the day Thursday in the Memorabilia Room looking at pictures and documents as well as visiting. The best part of this was simply hearing Mr. Stangland and Mr. Lind tell of their experiences first hand. Mr. Lind, Mr. Standland and I ate lunch together. After lunch Mr. Lind’s grandson, who is about to graduate from Xavier University, took us on a tour of Cincinnati. That evening we had our banquet. The guest speaker was the Honorable Timothy P. Villagomez, Lt. Govenor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. His speech, accompanied by a visual presentation, gave us a brief history of Saipan as well as showing us what things look like today. (I was so impressed when I got home I said to Vicki, “You know that trip to Hawaii we’re always talking about--let’s set our sights a little further west.”)
Yesterday we spent more time in the Memorabilia Room. Then each Bomb Group had their own luncheon which allowed some time for each veteran to stand up and tell their own war story. After that I headed home.
NEW WAR STORIES. Mr. Lind and Mr. Standland told several stories I already knew about, but I did get a couple of new ones as well. I did not know they had to pull guard duty around the planes at night. Saipan had not been completely cleared of Japanese soldiers so each crew rotated nighttime guard duty of all the planes in the squadron. I also learned Dad and the rest of the enlisted men on the crew were almost deployed with the 58th Bomb Wing which was operating from China (and having to fly its own supplies over the Himalayas from India). At the very last moment an officer stopped them from boarding one plane and put them on another that sent them to Saipan.
On one mission one of the gas tanks was not sealed properly. Early in flight they noticed they were losing gas. Looking out a window one of the gunners reported that gas was leaking out the top of the wing. What was happening was that the wind over the wing was siphoning the gas out of the tank. The plane quickly filled with gas fumes. Mr. Lind ordered that they not use any electrical equipment, including the intercom or radio. Because of this they did not open the bomb bay doors and salvo the bombs into the ocean. They turned around and headed back to Saipan where they landed a plane loaded with bombs and high octane gas safely. Mr. Lind said that was the smoothest landing he ever made in a B-29.
Because of the length of these missions (around 13 hours) a meal was packed into a metal box on the planes. After clearing the combat area and starting the return trip to Saipan they plugged the box into an electrical outlet to heat the food and then ate. On one mission the mess hall sent pork sandwiches. The pork was improperly prepared and the entire crew got food poisoning in flight--well, everyone except Irwin Moskowitz (bombardier), that is. This was because he was the only crewman aboard of Jewish faith. Al Goebel (copilot) was pretty much incapacitated by the raunchy rations and he was laid out on the floor in the radar compartment. Mr. Lind said he put the ship on autopilot for the majority of the trip back and that Mr. Moskowitz made course corrections through the bombsight. It was on final approach to Isley Field that Mr. Lind said his stomach decided it was time to regurgitate again, so he was heaving out the window as he was landing the plane. I’m sure a mess officer got a royal chewing out over that one.
ON THE HOME FRONT...we got a lot of rain. When I got back I noticed the river was out of its banks which is unusual these days. All the soccer games were cancelled. Jenna had also won tickets to a Sounds baseball game through a reading program at school. Jenna, Ben and Vicki went to the game Friday night but it started raining so hard the game was suspended a few innings.
AFTER MONTHS OF TALKING ABOUT IT we have finally added a new member to our family. She is named Sallie Mae. Vicki had seen a “free puppies” sign a few miles down the road and we stopped by this afternoon to inspect the litter. There was one little dog about 7-8 weeks old left. She seemed to have a gentle personality so we took her. Sallie Mae is a mix but has some black lab in her. The kids are sure taken with her. I lost count of how many times they went to the door to tell her goodnight.
Joe
