On the road

On the road

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Profiles Spring-Summer 2013 HFDFW


 

Charles enlisted into the U.S.Army Air Corps in January of 1942. This was partly because Sheppard Air Base was in Wichita Falls, Texas, and it was close to home. He was 22 years old.

His first stop after training was England. Later he participated in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. He was part of the 12th AAF, 49th Fighter Squadron. Charles was in tech supply, his job was to order parts for airplanes including the P-38 Lightning, known to the Germans as the “Forked Tail Devil,” since it was a twin engine, and twin boomed aircraft.

Charles reports that as he was a musician, sometimes he and other talented airman would play in the evening as part of recreation for the others on base. Once after taking the airfield from the Luftwaffe at Oran Algeria, the base was bombed by German bombers. He was sleeping on the concrete floor of a hanger. He was told later of the bombing, apparently Charles slept right through the bombs dropping! Lucky for him, the hanger was spared getting hit that night.

Charles participated in the invasion of Sicily and later Italy. While in Italy, Charles was assigned to the air base at Triolo Italy. This is where he remained until the end of the war with Germany.

He was discharged in July, 1945.

 

   

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