You may not know him or perhaps you may. I didn’t know him until today. You see, the other night I arrested a fellow for driving on a suspended license 15th offense. I went ahead and seized his car. Well, when we seize a vehicle we have to get a forfeiture warrant signed by a judge. Well, I went to the county of the occurance and the judge I wanted to sign it wasn’t there. So I went to the county I actually work and the judge I wanted to sign it was sick for the day. So, I went across the hall to the Circuit Court judge to sign this warrant. This is how the story goes…
I walk in the foyer and there is a newspaper article picture with a B-17 missing a wing headed toward the earth. Then I notice the huge shadow box on a tripod with some old pictures of B-17’s and the center is a picture of a B-17 crew. I walk into Judge Wexler’s office and introduced myself to him as I have never even seen him before. We talk a little bit about the warrant I needed signed and after he signed the first one, I looked around the room and I see a clock B-17 on the top shelf of his bookcase. There are a whole bunch of old diecast trucks one with the USAF Badge. So I ask…
Did you fly B-17’s? His reply kinda surprised me. He said yes. Then he says, well not flew them as in the pilot but flew on them as the top turret gunner. Then he stops writing and leans back in his chair and says…On mission #5 they got shot up pretty bad. The pilot had gotten shot through the hand and the blood froze to his glove. The co-pilot had gotten shot up pretty bad also and couldn’t fly the plane. The ball turret gunner was killed and the tail gunner lost an arm. He said I got shot in the lower right leg and the blood running into his boot shorted out his electric boots. So, he made his way to the cockpit and the pilot told him he had to fly the plane. So he said he flew the plane to an airfield and with a chuckle he said…I asked the pilot how he wanted me to stop the plane once they are on the ground as he could not apply the brakes. He said the pilot would apply the brakes and together they landed the plane. By this time I had tears starting to well up in my eyes.
He leans back over the paper work and starts filling it out again. So, I ask what rank were you? He says I was a T/Sgt three stripes up three stripes down. I said what was the name of your plane? He says we flew different planes, I don’t remember flying the same one. Then he leans back in his chair again and this is what he says…
After the Germans surrendered they sent him and his crew to Riverside California for training on the B-29. He said ten days later the Japanese surrendered. I said did you fly in the pacific? He said if it was ten days later he would have. I laughed. He said then they sent him to be an engineer on B-29’s and they flew the ones that were worked on. He said they flew one out over the Pacific in one and nearing the end of the trip he crawled to the rear to talk to the two guys in the back. He said I don’t know what happened but it seemed the plane turned over. He said they worked on getting the bombbay doors opened and the three bailed out. The three in the front didn’t get out. So he says I never bailed out before so I didn’t know how to land and when he landed he broke his ribs on his left side. It was the next day that they found him. He was discharged and came back to Johnson City and attended ETSU and got his degree in law. I was astounded and amazed at the two stories he related to me. Then he said come on out here and I will show you these pictures. The picture in the newspaper article he said he took and they wouldn’t let him keep it. Since it was in the Stars and Stripes, he cut it out. Then he showed me the pictures in the shadow box and told me they were pictures he took while flying missions. He told me where each position the crew in the picture in the middle of the box was stationed. Then the phone rang. He said I better get that…
I shook his hand and told him thank you for his time and I sttod there a moment as he walked back in his office. There were two patches in the box. The first was for the 385th Bomb Group Suffolk, England, and the second was the 549th Bomb Squadron, His squadron.
Thanks for listening, as this is the first WW2 VETERAN that I have ever talked to about their service.