Bombs, Jeeps and Teeth.

Michelle: Wasn’t there another time you were in a plane in Europe during the war?

Colonel: It was a... let me think... a B24. It was so primitive a plane that the only guy up front was the pilot and the fuselage, the body of the plane, there was an opening. And they actually pushed the bombs out through this hole. Pushed em out! They were armed when they left, but they dropped down out of this hole. Real primitive.

 

Jackie: Did you see them pushing it out the hole? While it was armed?

Colonel: Yeah!

Michelle: Where were you flying over at that point?

Colonel: Germany. I don’t remember where.

Michelle: Why were you up with them that time? Weren’t you usually with your anti-tank company?

Colonel: Couldn’t tell you at the moment. Ya know, its just one of those things, yeah. You just... did.

Jackie: So what was being pushed out through the hole?

Colonel: Bombs. It would explode on contact with the land.

Jackie: Was there any chance of it going off in the plane?

Colonel: No. They were armed in the same way that a mortar shell is armed. A mortar shell is not, not alive. And you fire and drop it down the tube of a mortar. And there in the base of it, there’s a, like a shotgun shell. And it hits a triggering device at the bottom of the tube and that in effect, arms it. But it’s not fully armed yet. And it comes out the tube, still not armed. But when it leaves the nozzle, the end of the tube, then a spring in it, as a result of the change in direction, arms it. And a safety pin flies out at that point in time. Then its armed as soon as it leaves the tube of the mortar and it’s alive the whole time it’s in the air. As soon as it lands, it’s gone.

Jackie: What year was that, do you know?

Colonel: Mhmm, 1945. Yep some of it was 44, but most of it was 45.

Jackie: So how big was the bomb coming out of the place?

Colonel: 2 feet, maybe 3 feet long. A foot wide. Things are pretty primitive at that point.

Jackie: Were they heavy? Did you get to hold one?

Colonel: OH yeah. You took them to the plane on carts and then two guys carried them in, one at a time.

Jackie: How many were on the plane?

Colonel: Five.

Jackie: Did the second time landing the plane have a better landing?

Colonel: Mhmm! [Chuckles]

[See post First Flight for that story!]

Jackie: Have you ever driven a tank? Was it easy?

Colonel: Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s not as hard as it looks. If you’ve driven a bulldozer, you can drive a tank.

Jackie: Have you driven one of those?

Colonel: OH YEAH! [His entire expression lights up] [Chuckles]

Michelle: What was your favorite vehicle to drive?

Colonel: Jeep! Jeep! They were fun!

Jackie: Did it have the top around it or was it just open?

Colonel: Both, both. You had the material to make a top, but it was soft. Out in Luxemburg in February. 1945. We shared driving. It’s a hard top really, but it’s not very good. We went on and were on the back of the Frankfurt territory. And we could only hear sounds to know what’s coming. And I knew what I heard was an 88. The 88 was an artillery shell, 88 millimeters in diameter. And it has a typical sound when it’s coming. Sheer and I knew it was artillery, an 88 coming in. You can almost identity where it’s going to empty, and you can almost identify where it’s going to land. This 88 is in the air and I’m sitting on the right hand side, Sheer is driving. And we both sense the same thing. That that 88 is going to come in somewheres to our left. You can’t be sure where, but you get the sense where it’s going to be. Sheer took the Jeep off the road... into a ditch, turned it over, threw both of us out. But he had saved our lives in that the 88 went over and landed somewheres around there [past us]. Because he turned the Jeep over, we were both thrown out. He was in a ditch, and he was on his side, and so on. You have... the windshield was down, but we had a piece of canvas covering the glass. So that, there’s no reflection so no one is watching you. I got thrown out and got caught... and the front windshield is looking down on the front engine and the front of the jeep, and so on. I hit the corner of the window with the canvas covering. And my face went right smack into that. Knocked out three teeth. Actually it was two knocked out and one broke off, and so on. And they looked at me after and do on. There was actually a dentist in our unit! So he took me back and pulled out the reminder of the other tooth. So I was missing three teeth!

Trish: They don’t give you novocaine for that, do they!

Colonel: Heh, Heh! And that’s the way I lived for several years! Until everything’s all over, and I came back and notice, I have a partial, right there. They replaced my three teeth. So I still have that partial, after all these years!

Jackie: Do you have any scars?

Colonel: No, no. You act on incident, and when Sheer heard that, he knew coming in. He didn’t have to, but over the shoulder and into the ditch. The only thing that could be done was turn the Jeep over. He knew what to do!

Jackie: Did you ever drive the Jeeps?

Colonel: Once and a while, occasionally, but that was his job and I didn’t want to take it away from him.

Jackie: So tell me about driving the tanks?

Colonel: Oh, that was when we were back in the states, as part of getting acquainted, getting used to them and so on. Anti-tank company. As I say, if you can drive a bulldozer, you can drive a tank! Levers control the tracks, one on each side, one for each tred.

Jackie: So how do you see out? A tube?

Colonel: Yeah, you have two places to look. A tube up and you do have a slit in front of you, its narrow, but you can see out, etc. You can see reasonably well.