Carl enlisted in the U.S.Navy’s V-5 Naval Aviation Cadet
(NavCad) program on June 20, 1943 at the age of 18. This was a program to train
pilots for the navy during WWII. Carl soloed in a single engine aircraft in
April, 1944. He was discharged from this program on July 16, 1944.
On October 17, 1944, Carl enlisted into the Army Air Forces
at the age of 19. While in the AAF he trained and later became a mechanic and technician
on the super secret Norden bombsight. This was the bombsight that was used on
bombers and was so secret that if the bomber was hit and going down, the bombardier’s
first job before bailing out was to throw out the bombsight or (hopefully)
destroy the unit so the enemy couldn’t study the device. Still, there were some
Norden bombsights that fell into the hands of the Axis.
Carl served stateside during the war and was discharged as a
PFC on May 10, 1946. He qualified as an expert rifleman on April 21, 1945. He
was awarded the WWII Victory medal as well.
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