GREEN: first um I just want to know where and when you were born?
STEMPLE: O.K. I was born in Tuscarawas Ohio at home on December19 1924 and that was back when we were still born in the homes in stead of the hospitals.
NG: Laugh Can you tell me a little about your early life growing up?
HS: Well um my dad, when I was 4 years old my dad was hurt in the mine. In an explosion from dynamite and he survived and of course we lived in a moderate home. We didn't have a whole lot of money to live expensively or anything like that, which I uh enjoyed. We were never in need for anything. We had a made our own games up. With a bunch of all our friends and that. We growed up together and it was in a small school small town and a small school and there was 26 of us that graduated together and since that we've gotten together every 5 years and that and consequently we enjoyed ourselves and we enjoyed each other very much.
NG: What were your parents occupation? I know you said that your father was a miner.
HS: Yea, my dad was a coal minor and a well and at first at a clay mine and that's when they had the explosion and then in coal mine still. He lost 2 more buddies that was the 3rd one and he got out of that and worked at the clay mine. Or I mean the clay plant where they made sewer pipe and that. And then my mother was a practical nurse all through the times but my dad then went to, a during the umm, when the war broke out, why he went down to Wright Patterson Field and worked at putting engines and that together. Which he enjoyed very much. He was mechanically inclined and then there was problems my grandma and grandpa at home had trouble and so my mom came home to take care of her parents and dad did. Why then he started to work at the chemical plant artists plant and that. He worked there and that's where he retired from after 20 some years. I think it was he had there and my mom of course she is like I say she done a lot of practical nurse work. Doctors would call her up any time of the day or night when someone were having a baby and that and they would go to the home and she would help deliver the babies at home and that. And consequently she really never really knew when that was going to happen but then they enjoyed their lives together and my mom my dad. Well my mother died first she was 61. My dad died about a little over 9 years later and he was well 71 when he died and that and of course I was I was only in my late 40's when when he passed away. I had one sister she and that was born 2 years ago 2 years prior to me. She was 2 years older than I was and well she died at age 48 and so I'm the sole survivor of my own family. In that and
That's the only ones. We had and that only 2 in the family. Two children in the family and well she died when she was only 48 and so that was about my life. As far as growing up other that we did played a lot of games at night Barbaree what they called use ta call Barbaree and you'd get a bunch together and half would go one way and half would go the other and you'd try to find the other end. Kind of like Hide-N-Seek less the only difference from that you'd have more than one on each side and that. We had a a lot a bicycle riding. I bought a bicycle at work. I worked at a truck farm green house and truck farm in the summer time and on Saturdays during school time I worked 9 hours a day a dollar and a half a day and that which at that time was pretty good wages for a.
NG: How old were you when you were doing that.
HS: I was in high school I started I think I was around 14 years old and I worked there till I graduated. After I graduated and that and of course when I graduated I went to work for Warrn & Swazy in Cleveland until My mom was going to sign for me to join the service and still I was 17. I had graduated when I was 17 yeas old and I had come home to go to the service and the draft board didn't release me. So, I didn't get into the air corps that, I waned into V5 which was right here in New Phila. Which was where John Glenn had started out his career. Right here at the New Philadelphia AirPort and so I worked at the grocery store that delivered to the country and I worked there till I was 18. Whenever I volunteered to go into the service so that was was my growing up days and that.
NG: So, just to back track a little bit where were you when Pearl Harbor was hit.
HS: Well, I was with a girl at a movie over at Urichville, Ohio which is about 8 miles 7 miles from Tuscarawas. We was in a movie we came out of the movie and that's when the news broke that pearl harbor had been bombed and that it was. I was of course still in school. I was over at the movie at Urchisville, Ohio. It was a state theater at that time. I didn't remember what the movie was but then that's been too far back to remember the movie. But that's where I was when the news of pearl harbor been attacked.
NG: What was your first initial reaction? I mean did you want to join up and fight?
HS: It was pretty much an shock and that and being in school and all we knew that we couldn't get in and that but I had wanted to get in to this V5. What they called the V5 and that it was down here at the airport in new Phila. So I could become a pilot. I went down to Columbus and took all the tests and passed them all, but like I said I was only 17 and the draft board wouldn't release me. Then my mother would only sign for me if I got into that and that's what I wanted to do at first I wanted to be a pilot.
NG: What was your parent's reaction to you wanting to be in the fighting and be a pilot?
HS: Well they didn't see anything wrong with it. My dad pretty much had went along with it but my mom didn't want me just running off into anything but I told her that I wanted to go into anything but then when I told her I wanted to volunteer for pilot training well then she accepted it. Because when they were in Dayton Ohio dad I think I mentioned this but dad worked on the engines and mom packed parachutes that were used to drop equipment heavy equipment. When they were down at Wright Patterson Field. So they were affiliated through that part and seeing airplanes and that down there and seeing things going that way. So I think they accepted me going into be a pilot it had been an ambition become one.
NG: How did, how did the war actually effect the town that you were living in?
HS: Well it of course everybody you know. They had rationing vast rationing going on for you didn't have enough gas. Well they had different class stamps depending upon how far you had to go to work and what your business was you know. What your job was wither it was well with the program of defense or what what is was to get you back and forth to work but if you didn't have to drive back and forth to work you were just a bear minimum. So many gallons you could get and sugar was rationed and of course cigarettes were rationed too but they had rationing on quite a few things. Which was sugar and certain foods that they used they sent over to the service men. Rationed that to home use but of course what the people did what the people had was what they called victory gardens. But now most of the people grew their own corn, potatoes, beans, peas, people at that time well before that time. I well, I know that we did. We had our tomatoes you could really live off your garden and that and of course sugar and special stuff like and flour. That well you had to buy that but people could really live off your gardens. And well after that people that didn't really much of a garden before put in gardens and grew food for themselves to eat so that they would have plenty to food eat and wouldn't have to worry about rationing. They got along fine ya know. No body was really too hurt by being, out of too much stuff. That's what ya know that's what the citizens did well all over in the country. Well I don't know about the city people. I don't know what they did, you know. We not even close to any cities really I guess they probably had to buy most of their things.
NG: Did you get a sense of any real threat of attack living out in there country.
HS: No not really we just didn't really have any really threat we thought that any attacks or anything would be in the big cities. Like Washington DC or any Large city or any place where they had factories you know. Defense factories and that why and we was closest to was a steel mill and that was about 30 miles away and that was you know anything like that we thought that well, if they were to do anything it would be at a place like that. As far as the country was concerned you know there wouldn't be all that much that they could do for themselves by attacking the country. So that was you know it was an experience for them but no body seemed well all the people I knew the neighbors and all up around just took it in stride you know that's what they did. That's what you'd done what ever you had to do and accept it what was there.
NG: So that is that generally how people lived their life they just accepted that they were in war.
HS: Yea, well, it was just something that happened and of course you know the parents and grandparents worry'n you know as not the ones going off to war and that. Granddad he, well, I Got home in January of a 46 and then he died in June and he on his deathbed. Why I wasn't there but they said that on his deathbed that he said that he was ready to go because "All of his grand children were home from the service and he didn't loose any of them. and he had family there and that he was ready to go." I mean he just he just took that in stride he did. He was a blacksmith grandpa Stemple was a blacksmith. He did make me a knife that had a 7 -8 inch blade on it and it was a three prong blade and he made it for me and I carried that I took that with me during my 3 years in the service. I carried that with me as a remembrance of him. But that's I mean some people there were different reactions from all people I mean that all some of them were resentful that their boys had to go to the service and some of the boys there got deferred because of medical reasons or something else. There were those people that were resentful of those people that their boy didn't have to go but mine did. Now there was reaction to things like that which was natural to some people but a bigger percentage of the people just took it in stride and kept their own problems to themselves. Kept their worries and all that and just kept it to themselves and didn't talk that much about that kind of stuff.
NG: Do you remember the exact date and stuff when you enlisted?
HS: I went in I was sworn in on February the 28 of 1943 Jan and I was discharged the January 6th of 1946.
NG: What branch of service did you serve in?
HS: I was in the I did get into the nave air core. Which I wanted to do in the first place. I didn't get into the air core as a pilot like I wanted to but I did get in the air core as a aviation machinist mate. Air crew in order to be in the air crew you had to be a radio ordinanceman of an Aviation Machinist Mate that's a mechanic. So that's what I wanted to get into Aviation Mechanist it was interesting to me as far as the mechanical end of it was concerned and I went into of course and I went into when I was a inducted in we went to boot camp in Great Lakes Illinois. Lawrence was in there and of course they had camps all surrounded with barbed wire and that. Its was like a prison camp they didn't want anyone getting out and I spent 3 month there and from there I went to Navy Pier in Chicago and that. Spent 6 month in Aviation Machinist Mate school and during that training and that there you got to learn your machinegun how to shoot. We practiced in turrets with guns and trap shoot. We skee shot with guns and straight arm shotguns too and that. Then I went to Memphis Tennessee. I was there for 2 weeks which was for radar reading operating and that was for how to read what was on the screen and that how to detect what it was and different size blimps. What it would be speed of it and that and how to come up with the answer. What it was like what type of plane or ship or what it was and that. Then I went to Ft. Lauderdale well I take that back first I went to Hollywood Florida now that was gunnery school. Good old gunnery school now that was where you learned the guns. Machine guns and that the 30 caliber 50 caliber which was what we had in our planes at that time. We also had to sight in different planes. But then in order to get into air crewman you had to be able to field strip a gun within 2 minuets less than 2 minuets. That's be able to take everything out of the gun and see what the matter. If it weren't working right and that and put it back in so it would work right and you had to do that in 2 minuets. Which is well, it didn't come too hard, well at first naturally but once you got all the parts and where they go and how it far as and all that it isn't too hard. And then in sighting planes and being able to figure out what plane and that it is. We had to recognize they would flash a siloet of a plane up and you had to detect. What I mean identify what plane it was in a tenth of a second. Now that doesn't seem like that long but actually if, it is you can just about of course when your looking for it you know what to look for a little siloet and you looking for a little siloet and that the shape of the wings and the body. When you know what you're looking for and then you pick it out. And they would test you on it in hundredths of a second of a second. Flash them up there now you could pick most of them out but there was a couple. One was a Betty and a B-26, which was almost similar in looks and that and in a hundredth of a sec you could pick out some stuff and that. But it was pretty tricky to do in a hundredth of a sec. But now in a tenth of a sec you could pick them. But now any plane that was similar, in a hundredth of a second, was pretty hard to tell the difference and that. But in a tenth of a sec it doesn't seem possible but in a tenth of a sec it really is possible and pick them out and identify it pretty easily and we did that. And then I went down to Ft Lauderdale for torpedo training squadron training. Now that's where you get with you pilots and now a torpedo plane is a single engine plane that carried one torpedo which was 16 hundred lbs. and you ah. A pilot a radioman and a touret one air crew man and a touret now the air crew man and the touret could be an ordnanceman or an aviation machinist mate. Now either one of those two could be in the touret now the radioman was down inside and he operated the radio and he had an 30-caliber stinger sticking out the bottom of the plane and of course the touret had a 50 caliber in it. It was a cylindrical a cylindrical touret and you could turn it not quite 360 degrees. You could go from the one side of the fuselage around not quite to the other side of the fuselage. You had that much operation on it but of course you had to watch everything was set so you didn't cut off the tail or the wing or something like that. It operated and all that way and then we was in training there for that. And so then we went to squadron we went to what they called VG6 and that was in Sana Rose California and that. And of course where you fly and go down on that dummy ship down in Frisco Bay back in the back waters. Where they would go down and drop dummy bombs and that. Then they would, see you would have a, of course in squadron training both there in Afghan and down in Ft Lauderdale, had target that they would tow behind the plane. A big long sleeve target and your bullets would have paint on the end of them and you'd go of course out over the water and target shoot. You know practice target for on the sleeve and the paint when it would through the sleeve. The paint would when it would go through that sleeve and you could tell who hit it and who didn't and how many times you did and that. Of course when I was in Sana Rose California why there was ,they was, organize what they called a night flying squadron. Which was VT90 and one of the the pilots which happened to be from Strawsburg up here which is about 12 miles away from here and he was there. He volunteered and he was my pilot's best buddy and well there was one of the pilots that's wife was going to have a baby and they would you choose you and you. And I volunteered to go in his place to this new squadron and my pilot had volunteered to go for him and that's when we went over to Hawaii and we were in Training over in Hawaii and why that training, the Aviation Machinist, why we did all the work on all the planes. After the end of the day when we got back and were done flying practicing and that and we brought in all the planes that were due for their check ups. For 30, 60, and 90, 120, or 300-hour checkup, or whatever had to be done, or if there was one having a problem we would have to work on it at night and that. We was over there for a while and then we had to go out on our planes and that they would take out the guns they took out the gun out of the touret and that and we would just be observers and that. And we were a night flying squadron and that and of course at night it was pretty hard to distinguish who was who and that so they took out the guns. And then this one night and then this one night I took I had worked all night getting all the planes ready and getting them operational for the next day. I had just laid down in my bunk and the guy came around and woke me up and said that "I was due top go out on the that morning and on the one flight" and I said "I just got to bed and I didn't even get to close my eyes yet" and he said "ah ya got ta go". I laid down and went to sleep and my pilot. Why each plane has what they call a yellow sheet and that and he puts his, signs, name on it and and then the two crewman. Ya know he put my name on down as being on there and of course I woke up a little later on and that's the shock of my life. These guys coming in from the flight and I heard my name mentioned Crane, Hearlmoficerm, and Stemple went down. And I was sitting right there and every one of them had to pass me pass my bunk as they came in. I sat up I tried to talk to them I couldn't speak a word. I woke up I thought I was dead and that and that was one of the weirdest experiences of my service time. So of course then they had even sent out telegrams that I was missing and that and I had been there for I think it was 4 days after that. So I wrote a letter to my buddy the radioman I sent a letter to his family. Well of course all the mail was censored and that and the officer called me up to his office and he said "I think you better wait for a couple of weeks or so to send this letter because a wait till the telegram gets to them. They might get the letter before they get the telegram." and he said "by the way" he says "I also sent a telegram to your parents." I said "YOU WHAT?" and I said "I've been around here for 4 days." he says "Well" said he says he didn't catch, know it or anything until I wrote that letter when I wrote that letter he realized that I, I wasn't gone so he sent another message out right away to stop those two telegrams that was sent and they got them before they was sent. My parents did not get a telegram that I was missing. Which was well really nice and that and well I got transferred. I got transferred out of there into what they called a replacement squadron and that. That's where they have a group a of guys coming in and where they have O maybe a 100 or so. You know it varied and if they need guys for this crew or that crew why they'd pick out this and I was picked out and that. I and that was when I got into PB4Y2 Patrol Bomber and I got in with that crew and we trained over there for a while.
NG: Where was this at again?
HS: This was in Hawaii.
NG: Oh this is. So you're still in Pearl?
HS: Yea, well I'm at barber's point.
NG: Oh O.K.
HS: And that is in Hawaii is where we did the training and that. At which we had good eats there. I gained weight there and that but anyhow and well of course we got sent over as a replacement squadron to Clark field as VPB119. That's the number of the squadron "V" is for heavier than air "PB" is for patrol bombing now the torpedo planes were "VT". "V" for heavier that air and "T" for Torpedo plane and that was what VT stood for and VPB stood for patrol bombers and that and there were 11 in the crew. There were a pilot and two co-pilots. Now the navy every one of the pilots had to be a navigator because if they were in a single engine plane they had to be able to navigate back home to the aircraft carrier and we used to go in with them into those lessons too and try to work out with them too. We got to, while I was in the patrol bombing. Why then we was sent out to Clark field in the Philippines we were stationed there at Clark field and that and we patrolled clear from Farmosa East Chinese. You know the eastern part of China coast all up and down that. That French Indian Island the French Indo China and all that section there. We patrolled that was 4 different sections what they called sectors and that and we would we'd patrol that go over and patrol that and see what we could find and what we could do and you know find any convoys or any ships boats or anything that was moving that shouldn't be moving and then that was our targets and that. While we were patrolling and of course why we lost quite a few crews out of VPB I forget exactly the number of crewmen, well the crews that were shot down but I know that we were a replacement crew. That one was lost and that I'm pretty sure that they lost 6 or 8 crews out of it of course we flew ourselves. I mean we had no escorts or nothing we flew by our selves all the time in patrol bombing and that and so you were volernable to anything that would happen and that. Fortunate enough we survived all the trips all the missions we was on and that. You know it was something and that. Now getting back to torpedo planes and that of course they'd be escorted and that. They had the fighters they had the dive-bombers and their torpedo planes in their squadron and they would all go together and that into their bombing mission or whatever their mission was. Why they'd go into that and they did like I said the dive bombers had bombs and that to drop and that and the torpedo planes had the torpedoes to drop and that and the fighters were just escorts for them and they would protect them from any other fighters enemy fighters or anyone else who would come up on them and that and it was it was something that was. A well I'd say like an experience like I told Johnny he got out of school and he wanted to go into the service and he said "what shall I do?" and, I told him I told him "Johnny I says that's an experience that I wouldn't take a million dollars for but I wouldn't want to have to back through it again for a million dollars either." So it's something where why it's something where you grow up fast you grow up very fast and of course I'd never had been what you'd say away from home much and I mean why to go any place. We'd done a lot of driving around while I was growing up and all take different drives and that we went to Washington DC one time and of course on our Sr. trip when we were seniors and that we took a trip up to Detroit and that why as far as going on your own and no one around that you know. Why it was quite an experience there was 4, or 4, or 5, 5 from the county here there's two from down in Tuscy, Tuscarawas that's the nickname for it Tuscy there was two from there that went into the navy the same time and I did. So I did have some friends there but then from boot camp on why I had no one that I knew from anyplace. You had made all new friends every place you went of course. You'd accept what's dealt out for you. Take it as it come and make the best of it. You know you could look at the bad side of it or you could look at the good side of everything and as long as you look at the good side of everything it outweighs the bad every time. You look over the bad stuff and what has occurred and taken place in the years and it's something. Why I don't know what what the answer is for it or solve it or you know or what it you know but it's something. I know a lot of things have happened in my service and especially the service and I'm, especially over seas, that well you look back and you know you kind of well look down at some of the things that happened. You've, why you wish wouldn't have had to happen but it did happen but it's one of those things you have to a accept in life. Many hills to climb and mountains to go over but a I came out a better person from the service than when I went in. You learn an awful lot you know you learn an awful lot you know you learn that there a lot of people you can trust an did. There are a few you can't trust, you know, there's all those kind always where ever you're at you know. You always have those you can't trust that are a little bit unworthy to trust. But the biggest part you know as I say the biggest part of them and that was all trustworthy, and you didn't have to worry about any of them. And the ones you couldn't trust they didn't do anything they wasn't that bad you know you could trust them with your life and that you know as far as not doing anything to you and that. You just had to watch what they said and that cause you know they'd stretch the truth a little bit and that. Did I cover everything or is there something I left out or a.
NG: Well I actually wanted to ask some more questions about you in the service first what was your rank?
HS: I ended up, I started out as a seaman and ended up as a 2nd class Aviation Machinist. Mate that's a a oh it was a while we was in the service in the NAVY we could only, when we got out of school of course, when you get out of boot came you was a seaman 2nd class. Apprentice 2nd class seaman that's two little stripes around your wrist and that and when you graduate. From aviation machinist mate school you'd become a 1st class seaman or a 3rd class petty officer. Well I didn't make third class petty officer because they only give a few of them out and that not that I I could outwork on the engines and that better than any of them that made third class but they could read the book word for word. That was what the test was on not the knowledge you had of using the wrench or how to tear down an engine and put it back together. It wasn't on that and then you had to wait so long and that before you could go up on rank and I know when I took my last test I had to take the chief's test in order to become a first class
NG: That's a little unfair.
HS: No, I mean well you had to take a chief's test and I passed that. That's when I, well I said first class, that's when I became a first-class and that and first class. I was just ready to become a first class and that when I was about to when the war ended and that. And then so they had me down as a 2nd class but I had just made 1st class but put me down as just a 2nd class but our pay was based on what rank we were. Then we got 20% sea pay if you was at sea or overseas and that why then we got 50 % flight pay. So what they did was figure in our 20% fee on our base pay figured that out. Why then from that they'd give us 50% of the full amount flight pay. So that worked out pretty good for us and that is was at that time it was pretty good pay for you know for what what we was getting paid other places of course. It's like now like some of the people working at home wasn't making what they was making there but you could get by. Of course you had your bunk and your roof over you head you also had your eats and that you didn't pay for and of course you'd get clothing allowance every once and a while. You'd get a clothing allowance to buy your stuff of course and in and in a squadron then your issued you're issued all your special. Your jackets you had your intermediate jacket light weight jacket. You had a flight suit, your helmet, your glasses, sunglasses, and you was everything that's you needed to I a be a air crewman. You was issued that so that tat part there was you know you didn't buy they was all issued so it was all your uniforms issued to you.
NG: Hold on one second.
HS: All Right.
NG: The tape is about to stop so I'm going to flip it.
HS: Well that is what as far you know as the pay scale is concerned that's how they had the pay scale and that set up for youens oh and the basis of if of course you know anybody who went overseas or was aboard ship and that got sea pay and that which was 20% and that then of course anyone that was an air crewman or pilots and that got the 50% flight pay while they was over seas so that added up pretty well it didn't quite double you pay but you know 70%which really figured up to more than 70 % because why they figured in the 20% in first and that and then the 50% so they took the 50 % of the total of the 20% and your base pay well that helped out and that gave you a little bit more than the 70%and of course then when your discharged why you know they did a give you transportation home
NG: Well that's nice.
HS: yea of course when a well you know I was home and on leave had had leave coming and that why they give you that first and then you had to report back and why I had to report to Columbus and they sent me from Columbus back up to Great lakes Illinois to be discharged up there and why when your discharged they gave you money enough to buy you a ticket to get you back home so of course all your travel well one of our great things was well a little better than running on a troop train and that one place to another there was just a small group of us and we went by Pullman.
NG: Oh yea.
HS: Yea we traveled by Pullman because we was on delayed orders and that and that. Well well unless you didn't have overnight. If you had a just you know if you had overnight train ride then you could go by Pullman and that of course. Then your each, you signed for your eats and that and they paid for that and that. Well I mean it was a unique experience. I went and saw a lot of country I saw a lot of places that I would of never seen in my life if it wasn't for that. Not saying that it was good and that I'm not saying that you know I would of rather of not had it happened and got by with that but you know it did happen. Why you know you got to see the world the why a good bit of the world and that it had been quite an experience emotionally and that too and educational. Very educational and that so you didn't really come a miss you know. I really tried to make the best of it that I could learn what I could and do what I had to do and that never got into any trouble. Which umm there was some of them that couldn't say that you know. I never got into any trouble and that while I was in and that. I felt that you know as long as behaved yourself and do what was right and and of course. That goes in life period regardless of where your at if you do right and believe right why you stay out of trouble.
NG: Yea that's true I want to know what was your first reaction and thoughts when you went to the Philippine because you hadn't been out of the united states per say.
HS: Yea, well, it was well you wonder what's it going to be like and of course we flew and a we flew from a Hawaii to Johnson Island. Which is just a spot on the map there all it is an airstrip there big enough for an airstrip. Why then we flied from there to Guam to a and to Weetaw and then to the Philippines and it was you know a lot of water to fly over and that
NG: That's scary.
HS: To these little islands you landed on two two of the little islands. Till we got there of course we got there we were in the Philippines they had tents there yet. And a But then they were building Quonset huts and that at the timothy secured it enough to build Quonset huts and that after we were there for a while and then we got transferred into a Quonset hut which was a little better than a tent you didn't have to worry about the tent blowing or the wind blowing in rain or anything else you didn't have to protect it from that so of course both ends of the Quonset hut were screened open and that so I mean they would have a flap drop down in case it would rain they would have the flap drop down and close that offbeat it was well you know then your first trip out and that you know you don't know what to expect you know what could happen or what could happen or might happen you always wonder if well you know what you might come up against and that what you might find and that and I know this I know we had a real good pilot and that trustworthy pilot he was an instructor at flying both PBY's and that before he went out and that and he could stop on a dime and land a plane on a dime he wouldn't even move the dime he could feather it down that much we were I know we were taking off one time we had the Hanna the Hannann islands and French Indochina and that and that was around a 12 hour flight and that he had 3 bomb bay tanks full of gas the other bomb bay was for bombs and you had the extra bombs laying in the back end and extra 200 rounds of ammunition for each tourret and you had 2 top tourrets a nose and tail tourret and then 2 waist tourrets and that and a and a it was just about as loaded down as you would ever be loaded down and we were taking off and we lost # 2 engine and he came down and me being an Aviation Machinist Mate I was in the back end the plane Captain was in the front and there was gas coming out of it and I called up and told him to shut the gas off because you know there was gas and chance of fire and that and I watched that and that the whole way in we landed and that I didn't even know we hit the ground until I seen the strut start to compress and that was the first time I even knew we hit the ground I mean he was that that good and he could really Then if you come back off one of those flights and that and of course you were tired and that you could always tell in the back end and all who was landing and that he would let the copilots once in a while you've probably seen pictures of planes coming in and bouncing back and forth up and down he'd come in we'd be about 20 feet off the ground and he'd cut off all 4 engines and just about the time we hit the ground he'd full blast full throttle all 4 of 'em he'd hit the ground with a bang but you never left it he'd hold it right down on the ground and you could and I know one time we had that typhoon and that over there it up set ships and that up and down around Okinowa and that and all that and we was off the china coast and we got caught in that and we came back from that came through that because we didn't know of course back then we didn't have we only had planes one plane would go out every day to check out the weather and that was the only way we know how the weather and that was going to be and that and so we got caught over there and we was heading back home we could of if we'd known it we had emergency air strips on the china coast that was controlled by the gorillas that we could of landed at in case of emergency but we didn't know you know about this storm before we got in it and once we got in it and once you got in it you was stuck why then it took the pilot the copilot and the automatic pilot all three to hold that plane a loft and we were flying 80 degrees sideways to get to where we was going.
NG: Oh my Gosh.
HS: And that and when we when we landed. Of course got in sight of the field he called out for landing straight in. No circle or anything and the plane captain was pumping gas back and forth. It had of course 4 engines and of course had a tank in each one and and then you have a very, the gas the engine, each engine of those averaged between 60 and 80 gallons an hour to run one of those engines and that and when we landed the most gas we had in any one tank was 10 gallon.
NG: Wow!
HS: So that's just a matter of a few minuets and we wouldn't of had enough gas to circle the field and land. So I mean its when you think back on it and that it's like a lot of other times of course when things are happening when your in there and things are going on and happening. You don't think only what your looking for and what you try to see and all this and that and when something happens you don't think of what, you know, what's going on. You just take evasive actions or take care of what's happening. You don't think anything about you know what could happen to yourself you don't have time to think of anything. Like I mean you don't have time to think. All you have time to think is how to take care of the situation as it arrives. You know so it isn't something you have a minuet or 2 to think over its just a snap of a finger. It's there you've got to take care of it. Your training then is what really takes over you know what you do what you have to do and that's what you do and that. And any time anything comes up that's what you had to do. Is think your training and that's where your training you know. Its a little boresome once in a while but when it comes into conflict and that why that training takes over and that. Automatic I mean you don't you don't even think of what you're always doing. Cause it just comes automatic you know in your head what you have to do and what you can do and what you should do and then that's what you do and react accordingly to the situation
NG: Were you ever in any combat at all?
HS: A yes we were we come in contact with some ships and some troop boats and some on land we come in contact with on land and that trucks trains and that and that's what what you destroy you know its.
NG: How did you feel about that.
HS: Well.
NG: Knowing that you were.
HS: At the time you know you say at the time it's your job you do it because it's what you need to do and have to do but you know later on in life you look back on it and you you know you don't like what took place and what you had to do and that but you know it was just the thing that had to be done and you had to do it to protect yourself and protect someone else you knew that's what you really had to do but you know when you have time to think after wards you kind of regret what did happen what you had to do and to perform but then it's you know I mean the situation arises that's that's what has to be done so that's you know I mean its one of those terrible well a well yea terrible things in life that takes place its something that you not well I'm proud of what I did in a way but I'm not proud of the consequences of some of it because you know a life is a life and at that time at that time your over there why its you taught an and trained its you or it's me it's either you or its me and that and that's what takes place but then after you know I mean after you get back and get back into normal like why a life is a life you know regardless of who's it is and that and it's still a life is a life and that and a it's a shame that so many of them well you know to be listed as casualties of the war and that but then I I guess that's something tat well I know personally we I didn't have any control over it what happened and it's just like a lot of otherns on either side had no control what happened so you can't you know I mean regardless of who you are or what side your on or anything is a lot of times there is nothing you can do at the upper echelon is has the control over it and that's what they do.
NG: What did you what was your view towards the Japanese when you were fighting them.
HS: Well at the time at the time they were classed as an enemy you know. Of course well you know we you felt that we had to win over the enemy and you had to do what you had to do to win and defeat the enemy and that. And it's of course it's like afterwards how some of the I'd seen it in the paper, and that, where a lot of the service men that were aboard certain ships, and that, went and met some of the Japanese that was fighting against them during the war and that, and then became friends. Which you know I mean as I say a life is a life. Your going to shoot regardless of which side your on and like I say they they did what they thought they had to do and we did what we thought we had to do and that. Although we didn't come into any personal contact other than you know like some of them come into hand to hand combat with some of them. We of course didn't come into that kind of contact with them we come into contact with them we come come into contact with them as a you know well like a some of the troops they had 4 of those little troop boats that they was transporting troops from one place to another that we come up on and of course they were our enemy you know they were classed as our enemy and but they were there because they had to be too and we were there because we had to be and our paths met and then of course we left and they didn't put it that way they didn't get to their point of arrival where we did and there is of course other incidences you know that took place and that you know I know there's we did personally we did as our crew we didn't come in contact with as many as as much as maybe some of the earlier you know when the crew the squadron first went over we weren't in contact maybe with as many as they did because it had slow down some by the time we got there and but it was still you know movement and still conflict going on when we was over there as I say when we was when the war ended we was supposed to there was three crews that was supposed to be our replacements your over there for so long and then if your over there for so long you know so many missions then your eligible to be replaced well there was three I should well l change that relieved relieved and that but there was 3 crews that was to relieve us but they had been used to replace three of them that went down and that and so the war ended and that why they told us that there was a no more relief crews coming in until they had a whole squadron formed and why then relieve the whole squadron all that would take at least 6 months to a year so we so our crew said OK if our relief crew doesn't come in this week we were going to resign on for another year which you got a big bonus for signing staying in and then we a well sign up for another year and that one would be almost up when we got back to the states if they didn't replace us without a full crew a squadron I mean well that week our relief came in well that that just shot down everything and that and of course I was ready to come back I had been over seas in Hawaii for 4, 5, 5 months before my pilot and radioman was killed and then I got transferred over well see they they just came over and they hadn't been there for as long as I'd had and I'd been there all that time and I was what you say getting rock happy and that and ready to come home and that and then of course I was we well every one of us said we were going we were just going to take this relief crew and go home which we did and then and one thing my pilot did say anyone who wants to become a pilot and sign over why he'd get them into pilot school. What he used to do with us was get one of us up in the cockpit and let us fly the plane not land it or take it off but fly it you know in the air and we'd set up in the cockpit you know as an Aviation Machinist Mate we had to be able to start the engines check them out and all knew all the dials every dial in the cockpit here was a set of dials for the pilot and a set of dials for the co-pilot there was two sets of dials there in the cockpit you had top be able to read the Altimeter the barometer and everything you had to be able to read every instrument in there and all to tell if it was good and you know and of course on thing I guess I didn't mention but every time before you take off you would preflight the plane check it all out check all the controls and then the Aviation Machinist Mate and start the engines up check every one of them out each one of them had two sets of plugs you know and a magneto for each set of plugs so you had two spark plugs firing in each cylinder sop if why one failed the other one would work and one thing you had to do was check your magnetos wither they was full power or not and the way you checked that was is was you'd keep the engines up rev the engines up at 100 RPM and shut off 1 magneto and if it dropped 80 RPM or more then that magneto wasn't strong enough to take over that's how you checked your magnetos and that and I know you of course they always had a two over in Clark field they always had a standby crew cause you never took off the planes never took off at the same time for each sector they was always they was always varying sometimes you'd take off in the middle of the night so that you'd be over there at day break on china coast sometimes you wouldn't take off till day break and then be over there in the middle of the days then you never had you know a schedule they couldn't go on a true schedule you know it always varied and that and on standby crew you had a radioman an ordinanceman and an Aviation Machinist Mate go pre flight the standby plane so that it would be ready to take off at any time that the one of the other planes would be out and have to come back in because of a mechanical problem or something why then they would have to take off and take their sector it was scheduled for and I know one time I had the acorn which was the ground crew of the at the airport the ground crew why they do all the work on the planes and that and I went down preflight one plane and I turned it down the Aviation machinist mate could turn down a plane if its not operating right don't check out right why I turned three of them they was pretty mad at me that night it's something you check them out because your going to be up in the air and that form 8, 8 hours is the shortest time that any one of those 8 sectors was covered 8 hours and the most was around 12 hours or a little over 12 hours so when your in the air that long that many hours you want everything working right so when you preflight a plane you preflight and check every little thing you know every little dial and every little thing out and make sure everything is working in good condition but this one time I turned down three of them why one of them had an exhaust leak and that and of course they'd say why that's OK it's just a little leak but then you get up in the air and that thing is running for 8 to 12 hours it's leaking flame out the gaskets broke or something leaking flame out that could start a fore out pretty easy so those are all the little things like that you knew what you had to check out and that's what you did you checked for any oil leaks any anything that might come up and come up with the plane later on so that was it was well something it was very well very rewarding you know when you could do that and you knew what to look for that you did learn that much about them and that take care of them in that way it was rewarding in that respects far as anything pertaining to what takes place and that and being in a cockpit you knew you could look at anything that's in the cockpit and know it its running right or not and that way in the flight and that if you seen one instrument that was acting up and that well you knew what was causing it like you know if one engine was you know misfiring and all you know your RPM would change and that if you could check your mags and that out and everything else out and that to find out what the problem was and sometimes you could solve a problem by changing the speed of the engine and that revving it up a little bit or drooping it down might be a little bit of carbon form someplace in it you react according to that of course the pilots and that know all that I mean they know what to do and that as far as instruments what causes them not to work right and what they stand for as far as the engine is concerned they know all this too but it's something you know I say I wouldn't take a million dollars for the experience that I went through and that you know learning and everything else part of the experience was bad yes that part I wouldn't want to that's the part I wouldn't want that's the part that I wouldn't want to go through again even for a million dollars I wouldn't want to have to go back through the bad part again the good part yea I enjoyed it and that part the educational and the the you know all your buddies and friends you met and still thought all that they can't take away from me but the bad experiences well that part there is the part that you wouldn't want anyone to go through it again and that you know it's just something that we hope we never have to go through again of course right now and that someone is going through that right now but then maybe it'll ease off in a hurry.
NG: What was some of the fun experiences?
HS: Fun experiences?
NG: Yea something that pops into your head, something that was fun memorable that you know.
HS: Well it maybe not sound like fun but when we was in at squadron training down in Florida there at Hollywood we had we lived in what they used to be an officers training school. We had there was 4 of us to a room and a bath in each room no fence around it at all and that it was all on honors. Of course you had to have your ID and that you know to get off the base or back on you know but there was a room you came through where you dropped off your ID card in there and no guards or nothing around and that. And they had good food there and you'd get up in the morning you'd go down and that's and they'd ask you "Well how'd you like your eggs?" what kind and that. And it was, there was not that many guys there just in the gunnery school and so you know it was more personal of course and I enjoyed that. Then at Navy Pier in Chicago the food there was rotten. I'll say and that but then we could go out on the weekend there was a servicemen center there and a USO both there which really took care of the servicemen. You could go out there on a weekend they had dances they had tickets to ball games. They had tickets to parties someone would call in and say they was going to have a party and they wanted 10, 20 servicemen come out. And every weekend they had that for the service men, and you wouldn't have to spend a penny on leave the whole weekend. Of course we had to back in Saturday night and go back out Sunday morning again but you didn't have to spend one penny which was enjoyable and that. The only thing there is that well I can see his point too was I think it was Railey, I think it was Railey I believe was the mayor of Chicago at that time, but anyhow around these parks along the shoreline "no dogs or sailors aloud." "No Dogs or Sailors aloud." of course I guess they used to have problems when they had a weekend liberty when they had an whole weekend liberty well sailors would go out and spend the night and have a little too much to drink and then go into these parks and then lay out all night which you know wasn't a very good scene for anybody to see well so I can understand in a way why they did it but it just seemed so odd you know "No Dogs or Sailors Aloud" and that but then well most of the well of course in boot camp and that of course you didn't have any liberty or anything there they did have a ship's store and that that you could go over to and visit at night and get things you know extra ice-cream and stuff like that Down in in Hollywood Florida where we were there I was going to tell you of course we we had to take an obstacle course and do a obstacle course and be able to pass that test too in order to bebe in the air core and I know a lot of times we didn't have duty we had leave Wednesday and on the weekend and that and other night if we didn't have anything to do one of us would say something well lets go out and run the obstacle course of course we'd go out and run the obstacle course just to have something to do you know and well a lot of guys didn't enjoy it but I did of course because of being in physicals condition and being in physical condition help being able to accomplish something like that and but then most places you'd go into you know serve you know would treat you right in most places but you know Chicago was the best liberty town I had been to as far as you could go on liberty and not spend a penny there of course down in Hollywood Florida there and in Fort Lauderdale they had the beautiful beaches at that time and of course it's all now commercialized back then it wasn't but then when you had off duty and had leave and that you'd go out on the beaches and take our sheets and make air you know fill them up with air and then go out and ride the waves in on them of course in order for you to become an aircrewman you had to be able to float for 10 minutes in water and then also be able to take off your pants and tie the ends your pants legs or your shirt button up your shirt and tie your shirt sleeves flip them up in the air and fill them full of air and make a life saver life preserver out of them and that which sound I like it's hard to do but you can do that and then they would hold the air you know for so long and they'd hold you up you know the two legs get full of air and then you lean on the crotch of it and the 2 legs of it stick out of the water and hold you up and then the air will slowly go out of them and then they get down again why then you'd flip them up in the air again and fill them up with air again and that's how survival that's one of the survival thing a that they teach you your shirt or your pants of course the pants were better then the shirt
NG: Right.
HS: And that naturally but then that's one thing that they teach you. You know the training and that of course a lot of those you you don't learn too much out in life you know. Unless you know take a safety course or special training you know normal normally I would of never had that experience of doing anything like that which could you know. Anytime in life something like that could come as a benefit to you by knowing how to do that if you didn't know how to do that you wouldn't even really realize that you could be done and that. You could be out in the water and with nothing there because you know it's one of those things. And I enjoyed it well we used to go skating too in the evenings and that too go to the skating rink and go skating. So I mean our life I mean our life we didn't sit around and mope or anything else we went out and made the best of it and enjoyed it and that and skating and all that and go bowling and go skating and we lived what you'd say a pretty much a normal life you know. Other than when you was on base we pretty much led a normal life that we would of at home or maybe better that it would of been maybe at home some people you know
NG: Yea.
HS: Because I know I used at scat when I was a kid go skating and that I could scat and that and then also bowl and you do stuff like that but then some of them you know never did you know a lot of guys didn't know how to roller-skate or bowling they wasn't interested in it those kind you know they'd just sit around and just think what's going on how bad it is and all this and that in stead of getting out and relaxing and doing enjoying yourself and this is what we did to enjoy ourselves go out and go roller skating and go bowling and that different things like that of course other ones just went out to the bar and drank which I didn't do and that because I didn't care for that or you know that was a waste of time and a waste of money like that I enjoyed myself the going out other way doing things well even like dancing and like you know there at the you know they had dancing down at Fort Walsh and at Chicago too and over at why they'd have dances down there you could go to all the time and that and which was enjoyable you know they always had enough girls there that for the guys to dance with and sometimes more than they needed it's always you know your evenings and your weekends and that you had to yourself and that and you just made the most of it you know if you had leave and that why then you went out and forgot about the world's problems and well enjoyed yourself as I say those were the good times and that and of course I enjoyed we was up at Navy Pier at Teaching we went and took some skee shooting and trap shooting with the shotgun which I enjoyed doing that that which before I didn't I shot it and did that with the shotgun which I enjoyed doing that and all with the shotgun and I enjoyed doing that which I wouldn't of done at home and that I wouldn't of done that because it cost money it took shells to do that I wouldn't of done that if I was going to shoot I would of shot a rabbit or a squirrel or something something you could take home and eat but then that's a lot of the enjoyable parts of it
NG: John said you had a pet Monkey. Where was that?
HS: Oh yea Alex, Allis Alex was the guy, he was my bunk partner. He slept on the bottom and I slept on the top bunk over there. And there was some guy there that had this monkey well he got it and we used to take it on our flights with us and that. And of course 8, 10, 12, hour flights that poor monkey would get up on the ducts up on the top and he would be just frustrated. It would just about drive him nuts and that and we had it for a while then it got so that it would nip you bite you and that it started doing that why he got rid of it and gave it to somebody else that wanted it and of course we couldn't blame it for taking but we didn't any place to do it we had to take it we couldn't leave it there all day by it's self you had to take it with you and that and that's what happened [then it just got too mean and we got rid of it but we had it for a while and that we'd take it with us on the flights and that and when it got so that when we got down to the plane it didn't want to get in and it started nipping you why we decided to change give it let somebody else have it it oh it was enjoyable they stink though we had a lot of fun with it playing with it was a playful thing you know it'd play with you and you could carry it around it'd stay on your shoulder and all that he had no problems with it till we started taking it up on flights and all that we started taking it up on flights and that and then it got a little but mean it got a little bit cross that's when we said well we can't trust it anymore we don't want it around that was our pet for a while our mascot or whatever.
NG: I guess I just want to know your reaction to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just you know, what you were doing and stuff?
HS: Well you mean the bombs.
NG: Right.
HS: Well.
NG: At the end of the war.
HS: It's a shame there was a lot of destruction and all of that but at the time well we kind a felt. Well maybe that's what it took to end the war because there they did have plans for an invasion on Japanese home land they had plans for that. And what they lost in other invasions Iwagima and the rest of them I guess they felt that it was necessary to do that. To try to end the war without the invasion on the homeland and loosing all the lives on both sides that would of been lost. Then too they figured that well maybe I guess that it would solve the problem quicker and easier. The reason they drooped those being if you was over there. Why it would of been a shocking experience for the people over in Japan you know it it was one of the biggest bombs ever let go.
NG: Oh hold on just a second OK sorry.
HS: All right, but that was our reaction to it too and I think the leaders you know like Truman of course Sherman was in there felt that that's what it would take to end the war. Without you know loosing any more necessary lives our boys lives or the enemy's lives we would of lost both ways if they would of invaded the homeland and that and it would of been a big loss on both sides and that. Of man power and all and I don't remember exactly the total number of victims from them and that but there was you know a lot of a inflicted injuries and that you know to a lot of people too and that and effects from it. That's something that I guess we felt at the time.
NG: Was there a sense of relief that the fighting was over.
HS: Yea, very much so we were the day they called truce the war ended. Anyhow we were on flight that day when we come back just into our Quonset hut and all at once you just heard everybody shooting their guns off and everything. You see each one of us had a 38 caliber pistol in the crew each crewmember had one of those and then each crew had a caliber rifle and a Thompson Sub-machinegun each crew had one of those and we had it with us at all times and that. Because if, sometimes it happened at night, that the there in the early part would a lot of infiltration into the camps and if somebody would come through there and throw a grandee or stuff at night that was our self protection from that. And then but then all at once hooping and hollering going on and these everybody well not everybody was outside their Quonset huts shooting their pistols and we went out and and said "what's going on? what's going on?" and they said "the war has ended the war has ended" and of course we thought that was great you know a truce finally come to peace maybe and have the war end and have no more conflict and that and there's one more of course after after the war had ended why we still had to fly our sectors and that and it was requested that all the Japanese planes be brought to the surface and put a cross on them we flew our first flight after that we flew up over Formosa and that and they had there was hundreds of planes out on the ground and that of course Japanese soldiers out there and that sailors aircrew men what ever they were out there with them of course we always flew treetop height during all our patrol we flew tree top height to see and that way we could see what was going on and that and there's a lot of those there they go down and wave at us and we'd wave back to them you know and tipped the wings to them and you know we weren't enemy's anymore we were you know no longer enemies cause there was peace called no more enemies and that and there was one other thing I did enjoy too I didn't mention it but over on the China coast and that the rice patties I heard you talk about going through rice patties on your way to school
NG: Yea.
HS: And that well they had the hills the side of Mountains and hills and that contoured in rice patties you know and of course all up through there it was beautiful from the air it was really beautiful and that. Was all beautiful and that they had these rice patties up and right with the contour of the Mountain you know just like somebody had drawed it. It was perfect and I enjoyed that scenery. Scenery like that is is something that is something foreign land and you know you see scenery there how (unclear) it was and of course then we see a lot of the people working in the rice patties when we was flying up the coast and that why we seen a lot of them working in the rice patties and that they'd be out there knee deep in water or maybe more than knee deep in water, mud and that working the rice patties and that and well of course they was being friendly they'd wave stop their work and wave at us now there is one thing I don't know it might be interesting to you I don't know but there was one of our crews that got shot down over on the Chinas coast and I don't know if you ever heard about the underground railroad track for the colored people here
NG: Yea.
HS: OK, Well they the Chinese had the underground railroad for our boys there was 5 of them that got back. Seven of them that was killed in the crash and 5 of them got back and that was how they got back. Through is the they would take care of them in the day and then and at night they would travel from one place to another and that's how they got back to friendly territory and then got back home that way. So that's I mean the the people over there did a lot for a lot the boys you know that went down and they got a lot of them brought back a lot of them through the underground railroad and they got treated like kings every night. But of course they you know it was a different atmosphere and living over there a way of life you know than here but that's one other thing. That I don't know if it'll be interesting to you or not but it was how some of the boys did get back that did get shot down over there in to trouble. Anything else I can cover?
NG: Well I guess how do you want World War II to be remembered?
HS: Well it should be remembered that both sides lost in it. You might say that both sides lost a lot of men and women and children and I want it remembered so that the people in power can look at it and see that it did not solve a thing really. It didn't solve anything it just caused problems for the world and that maybe they can take the experience of the ones that went through it and had been and the ones in power at that time and what they did what they should of done. What they shouldn't of done and in maybe in the future that they can think of these things and get an idea of what could we gain by doing anything. What can we actually gain if we do this or the other if they would take the this knowledge and use it as a good experience to keep peace in the world. That would be the most wonderful way to remember it at all for both sides for all sides even the you know the people in Europe and the people in the United States and Japan, China, Asian all the countries. If they would just look and think of you know what war dose to people and to countries and think of it this way and try to do it a peaceful way. That maybe it won't it'll keep it from any other big conflicts maybe it would solve the one that their in right now.
NG: So do you think it's has been glorifies to an extent being called the good war and things like that?
HS: Well it's of course like World War I it was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Now and I can't say it it probably some people have glorified it in a way but I don't think. As I say I don't think it would solve any other wars unless the leaders of all countries can gain experience and knowledge from what it did what it did not gain and that. So I maybe it will do some good but I don't I myself don't glorify it no you know I mean it's no Glory to see what happened happen we didn't gain anything really we really didn't gain anything by it we just saved our homeland is all we did.
NG: And with what's going on today since September 11th, what do you think about it?
HS: Well I think something has to be done to take care of the leader that's causing all this and the terrisist and get the young ones. The children and the young people to look at things at a different way it's not a great thing that by what they did on September 11th a lot of them jumped for joy and hooped and hollered. When they showed it on TV all these other people over there it it's something that is is not a glorified thing that accomplished something like that it's yea a terrible thing and I think that it's a you know. What we can do to stop it? We might have to do what were doing to stop it. If we can stop it be hopeful that we can and be hopeful that these terrorist like this pilot that lived in this country that they couldn't see that our way of life was maybe a good way and that, and that they would do anything like that against their neighbors that they lived over here with because it was actually against their neighbors that they did. A couple of them lived here and was over here for a long time. They were his followers and that but I can't say that you know following something like that is a right way to do it hopefully that you know end up quick and be good have a good ending out of it
NG: Well thank you.
HS: Yea your welcome I hope I helped you out.

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