Horace enlisted into the Army Air Forces on December 8, 1942
at the age of 18. He said this was a natural pick because he always wanted to
fly.
After training as a tail gunner in the states, Sonny was
sent overseas to England. There he was assigned to the 8th AAF,
specifically the 349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group.
The 100th Bomb Group had the distinction of having the nickname “Bloody
100th” since it suffered so many downed aircraft and men killed or
captured during the war.
Sonny’s position in the B-17 was that of tail gunner. The
bad thing about being a tail gunner was that you only saw what had already
passed. The really bad thing was that if the bomber were hit, it was very difficult
for the tail gunner to bail out. This was because of centrifugal force as the
bomber went down, and the exit door, especially in the early B-17’s made it
extremely hard to exit the aircraft.
Sonny probably has many memorable experiences, but one that
stands out is when he participated in the first daylight bombing raid on
Berlin. The 100th lost 69 bombers that day, pointing to the need for
long range escort fighters to be developed. It was only the advent later of the
P-51 Mustang over Europe escorting B-17’s and 24’s that this problem was
solved. On this mission Sonny’s B-17 was hit by a German Me-109 fighter. As a
result, the radioman on the bomber was killed, and the pilot was wounded. Still,
the B-17 made it back alone, flying only 50ft off the ground at times.
Sonny eventually flew 28 missions; he received the Air Medal
with 5 Oak Leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and is a member of
the “Lucky Bastards Club” for finishing all of his assigned missions.
Sonny was discharged from the Army Air Force’s on September
25, 1945.
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