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World War II veteran Bob Green shared his experiences in the military with those at the Friends of the Library meeting Monday.
Green, also the vice president of the Friends of the Library, was an aviator of a B-24.
“I liked military service,” he said. “I felt like I was doing something useful. I was a lost student at junior college in El Dorado.”
After his first year at college, Green went to Boeing.
“I was still there when they rolled the first B-29 off the runway at Wichita, Kansas,” he said.
Then after a year of working at Boeing, Green was called to service.
“My coming of age is the 1930s to 1940s,” he said.
He experienced a lot during this time.
“Right from the time Hitler took over those people were preparing for war,” Green said. “You could just feel the hatred coming out of his mouth,” he said of when he heard Hitler on the radio.
He talked of the other dictators and attacks in Europe and Russia.
“Along came the Japanese in 1941 and attacked the United States,” he said. “That’s really what it took to get America awakened. Sometimes it takes hate to get you motivated. It was something to behold.”
Green had wanted to join the Air Force, but that was the popular branch and was filled up, so instead he joined the infantry.
But he still wanted to fly so he took the test and passed, then started over with Basic Training in the Air Force. He went on to go to armorment and gunnery schools.
A month before he graduated and earned his wings was D-Day.
“I was listening to it on the radio the next morning,” Green said.
About 30 days after getting their wings, Green’s crew was ready and in October of that year, they got on a British ship, the Dominion Monarch, which they boarded at midnight. They were part of a convoy of 80 ships which were protected by U.S. destroyers.
“That was the worst 13 days I ever spent,” he said.
He said they slept in a hammock and ate fish three times a day until they landed in Plymouth, England. They stayed there about a week waiting to replace another group in the 491st Air Force Base.
“We were there about 30 days and flew three missions over Europe,” he said.
The routine to prep for a flight included going to a briefing room with a big chart covered by a cape. Once everyone was in the room and the door was closed, they removed the cape and they knew their target, elevation, weapons, etcetera.
World War II veteran Bob Green shared his experiences in the military with those at the Friends of the Library meeting Monday.
Green, also the vice president of the Friends of the Library, was an aviator of a B-24.
“I liked military service,” he said. “I felt like I was doing something useful. I was a lost student at junior college in El Dorado.”
After his first year at college, Green went to Boeing.
“I was still there when they rolled the first B-29 off the runway at Wichita, Kansas,” he said.
Then after a year of working at Boeing, Green was called to service.
“My coming of age is the 1930s to 1940s,” he said.
He experienced a lot during this time.
“Right from the time Hitler took over those people were preparing for war,” Green said. “You could just feel the hatred coming out of his mouth,” he said of when he heard Hitler on the radio.
He talked of the other dictators and attacks in Europe and Russia.
“Along came the Japanese in 1941 and attacked the United States,” he said. “That’s really what it took to get America awakened. Sometimes it takes hate to get you motivated. It was something to behold.”
Green had wanted to join the Air Force, but that was the popular branch and was filled up, so instead he joined the infantry.
But he still wanted to fly so he took the test and passed, then started over with Basic Training in the Air Force. He went on to go to armorment and gunnery schools.
A month before he graduated and earned his wings was D-Day.
“I was listening to it on the radio the next morning,” Green said.
About 30 days after getting their wings, Green’s crew was ready and in October of that year, they got on a British ship, the Dominion Monarch, which they boarded at midnight. They were part of a convoy of 80 ships which were protected by U.S. destroyers.
“That was the worst 13 days I ever spent,” he said.
He said they slept in a hammock and ate fish three times a day until they landed in Plymouth, England. They stayed there about a week waiting to replace another group in the 491st Air Force Base.
“We were there about 30 days and flew three missions over Europe,” he said.
The routine to prep for a flight included going to a briefing room with a big chart covered by a cape. Once everyone was in the room and the door was closed, they removed the cape and they knew their target, elevation, weapons, etcetera.
“We put on our heated suits and we were ready to go,” he said.
They started their flight toward Germany.
“I could see the puffs of shells,” he recalled. “I thought they were shooting straight at us, but they weren’t.”
He also recalled that he got frostbite on that first mission on his legs between where his boots ended and pants began because it was 40 degrees below zero at the altitude they were flying.
On Dec. 24, they went on a mission to hit Hamburg.
“There must have been at least 1,000 guns on the ground defending Hamburg,” he said.
While the plane did get some holes in it, there was no damage as they found their target consisting of the railroad tracks by the river.
“That was a tough, tough target,” he said.
They also hit Berlin on a different mission, which was almost as difficult as Hamburg.
On another mission, they got shot up pretty badly. They lost two engines while they were still flying, as well as their oxygen and hydraulics, and had to drop out of formation to go down to 1,000 feet. The guys were told they could jump if they wanted to because that was a good distance, but they chose not to.
They made it to a small German base not far from Paris, where they were taken to a church in France until they returned to their base.
“That was the worst of the missions,” Green said.
Throughout their time overseas, they did not have anyone from their squad injured.
