WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs

by Minton, Linda E.

  After the War, in 1945

  “Our ship docked in Yokohama where we billeted for a few days. We were lodged in quarters there, but in Japan there were a series of earthquakes. From there they went to Sendai and Hiroshima. “Sendai was really a nice place up in the mountains. There was no reason for occupation anymore, so we were all made military police.”

  Robert Swift—US Army

  “Guys were just doing their jobs. We were busy with our job!”

  Robert, a combat medic during WWII, was in Company C, 371st Medical Battalion, 71st Infantry Division, and George Patton’s Third Army. With the Rhine River crossing, they joined the Third Army for crossing Germany and Austria. The 71st Infantry was activated on July 15, 1943, in Camp Carson, Colorado. In June 1944 it was reorganized as a mechanized triangular infantry division. They were part of the Light Infantry. They were told to move their patches from the right shoulder to the left.

  Robert was involved in the liberation of concentration camps. Eva Kor, well-known Holocaust survivor, was liberated by the 71st Infantry Division. Some of the camps he mentioned were Staubing, Gunskirchen, and many smaller Austrian concentration camps. Bob’s Commanding Office, Major General W.G. Wyman stated, “his unit was involved in capturing over 80,000 German prisoners; the bulk of them being captured the hard way.” Bob was captured by the Germans near the end of the war for three days. The Sunday Star newspaper quote: “He described being locked away without food or water in an old barracks at one of the camps; and smelling the stench of rotting bodies for three days until his unit found him.”

  He was involved in helping the wounded during and after the battle with the Reich’s 6th SS Mountain Division in Central Germany. This was one of the final military battles of the Nazis and was a very fierce battle for both sides.

  Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest

  Bob has pictures of himself seated in front of Hitler’s mountain retreat, the Eagle’s Nest. Much of the complex surrounding it was destroyed by the Allied bombing of the area. The Eagle’s Nest was located in Berchtesgaden, Germany, in the Bavarian Alps. It was built on the top of a massive stone mountain for Adolph Hitler’s fiftieth birthday.

  There were some Nazi items that Bob “liberated” during his time in Germany. He has on display on his back porch a large red flag with a swastika on it. Bob said, “It makes my neighbors nervous.” He “liberated” it from a flagpole in Austria.

  Bob also has some other interesting items that he “found in this building that had been bombed. We had orders to destroy things.” However, when he found a picture of Hitler, covered in plastic, he cut off the frame, rolled it up, and shipped it home.

  Bob Hope

  Bob is one of the fortunate WWII service personnel who got to enjoy a performance by Bob Hope. He stated, “Bob Hope had a USO show in Austria shortly after the end of World War II. I was a medic. At that time we had turned the concentration camps over to hospital units, and we were trying to help with forced labor camps. One of the camps was primarily men that had been in the Hungarian army. Several had been professional musicians, and some had played in the Budapest Symphony. We had a very large mess hall serving several units. We found musical instruments for them. There was wonderful music while we ate in our mess hall. The musicians were happy to work for leftovers. For some reason, Bob Hope ate in our mess hall. Bob Hope was so impressed that he took our band with him for a week.”

  In 2011 Bob Swift was honored to meet Linda Hope, Bob Hope’s daughter, in Carmel, Indiana, at a ribbon cutting at the Palladium for the Great American Song Book performance.

  Should the United States have dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

  Bob replied, “Great! Guys were just doing their jobs. We were busy with our job! There were so many things we didn’t know in Europe.”

  Dragon Parade — Taku, China

  China, Burma, India Theater

  As a boy I wanted to be a Flying Tiger. I stayed in the same barracks as the Flying Tigers. While I was there, I met Chenault and Chiang’s wife twice and him once. Madame Chiang Kai-Shek gave us candy and ignored the Chinese kids that were there.

  —Herman McGregor

  WWII Army Air Force

  Burma, China, India Theater

  Gilbert Coleman India

  Gene Leffler India

  Herman McGregor China

  Albert Oliver India and China

  Veterans Who Served but Not Overseas

  Elmer Eakle

  Henry Eakle

  Richard Greenfield

  Donald Kuhlenschmidt

  Harry Lyons

  WWII Stories from Germany and Ukraine

  Ivan Andrijiwskyj

  Elisabeth (Liz) Ford

  Maria Lewcun

  Phillip J. Scaffidi

  Peter Szahaj

  Part 4

  China, Burma, India Theater (CBI)

  China, Burma, and India were considered the three Asian countries that made up the China, Burma, India Theater, or CBI, during the fighting in WWII. Fighting took place in this area from 1942 to 1943.

  China is the largest country in Asia. In June 1941 US Colonel Chennault and the Flying Tigers were sent on missions to fight the Japanese forces. The Flying Tigers were in a P-40 aircraft carrying sorely needed supplies to the Allies in the region. In April 1942 civilians and British troops were surrounded by the Japanese army. The Chinese forces saved them during the Battle of Yenangyaung on April 19, 1942. The commander of the Chinese forces was Chiang Kai-Shek; Lieutenant General Stilwell led the US forces.

  Burma, located in Southeast Asia, lies between India and China. In the spring of 1942, Japanese forces took over Burma. By blocking the Burma Road, they essentially cut off a way for supplies to reach Chiang Kai-Shek in China. Allied forces were led by Gen. Harold Alexander. In April 1942 troops were sent to India.

  India, located in Asia, was a British colony at the time. Troops were sent to India from China and Burma. India was mostly a staging area. Indian soldiers also volunteered and fought in North Africa, Italy, and Germany. The Indian army was instrumental in helping Britain by providing weapons, food, and natural resources.

  Flying the Hump

  Missions started in April 1942 and ended in August 1945, when the war was over. Pilots of C-46 and C-47 who had to fly over the Himalayas were said to be “flying the hump” from India to China. It was a risky mission for the Allied pilots and crews. The passage over the hump was 530 miles, and often air crews faced Japanese Zeros, difficult weather conditions, and high mountain peaks. A notable hump airlift participant was Lieutenant Colonel Robert McNamara, former secretary of defense.

  Lt. Gilbert Coleman—US Army

  By Rosemary Coleman

  “Back in those days, most people were pretty gung-ho about serving their country. It was just something we thought we should do.”

  “Gib” was from Mount Carmel, Illinois, across the Wabash River from Princeton, Indiana. In 1943 Gib was a senior at Indiana State Teachers College, known today as Indiana State University. Gib was quoted in the Indiana State magazine: “In 1942, as a junior, I was subject to the draft,” and “I was on the draft list like everyone. My number was called, which meant I would be going to the service in three or four months.” In the spring of 1943, he enlisted in the army, and the college mailed him his bachelor’s degree diploma. He received it six weeks before graduation, so he didn’t go through the graduation celebration.

  In the magazine he said, “Back in those days, most people were pretty gung-ho about serving their country. It was just something we thought we should do. At the time I was getting ready to graduate. I called the reserve people and told them I was ready to be drafted.”

  Gib went to basic training at Kearns, Utah, and Camp Koehler in California. He ultimately was sent to India. On the ship to India, Gib’s job was policing the bottom of the ship, where it was hot. In Bombay he was a cryptographic technician. He coded and decoded messages between areas of the armed services and the Pen
tagon. He became a corporal in the army and was stationed in India for a year.

  After Gib and his wife, Rosie, were married, he came home and went to officers training school in Pittsburgh. Four months later he graduated as a second lieutenant and was sent to Galesburg Hospital, an extension of the Mayo Clinic. Gib went to training in Atlanta, Georgia, to work with paraplegic soldiers returning from the war. Rosie went with him for a visit; then she went home on the train.

  Later they both went to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Gib had a four-month stay and training there. Rosie said, “The soldiers had marching exercises every Saturday.” Rosie went with him to Lexington. They walked across the street to a sorority house, where they took their meals. She especially remembered the hot bread they served and how good it tasted to her.

  Rosie quit after two years at Indiana State University to go with Gib. She took classes at Washington and Lee University. Laughing, she remembered, “I beat Gib at bowling—he never bowled again!”

  In August 1946 Gib was discharged from the service as a lieutenant. He taught school at Oblong High School in Illinois for one year and at Washington High School in Washington, Indiana, for nine years. Then Gib went into banking and back to school again. This time it was banking school at the University of Wisconsin. In 1962 he graduated from the school of banking. Later he became the president of Chillicothe State Bank in Chillicothe, Missouri.

  Gib always wanted to walk across a stage to receive his college diploma. So, at age eighty, he walked across the platform, shook the college president’s hand, and received his diploma from Indiana State University. It took a lot of years to finally finish what he had started and WWII had interrupted.

  Gene Leffler

  Letter home to Indiana, July 30, 1944

  Dearest Martha,

  Today was Sunday and my day of rest, but instead of taking things easy, I worked on the back porch of our basha. It was really a hard, hot job, but now that it is completed, I am glad that I did it. I am sending you a picture of my basha, or should I say our basha, in which ten of us live. You probably would think it a little crowded, but we are used to it; besides, there are many more inhabitants occupying our home besides us. We also cater to a dozen or so toads and probably a few dozen mice. The toads are welcome guests, as they help eliminate some of our bugs, but the mice are very unwelcome. Of course I mustn’t forget the few million ants and various forms of spiders that also share our household. Boy, the other night I saw the biggest spider I ever saw in my life. The body of the spider was about the size of a half dollar. Our mosquito nets serve a double purpose at night, as we tuck the net in tight around our bedding, and it not only keeps out the mosquitoes, but it keeps the mice from playing tag on PU [stinky] bodies at night. One night I had my foot against my net, and a mouse bit through my net and nipped my big toe, and it scared me to death. That’s enough, I expect, on the horrors of life in India.

  Last night, we had a little party for the lab men. We had a number of men working with us from another unit, and as they were leaving we thought it appropriate to have a little farewell party. We really had a good time. We had sandwiches and punch; the punch was very good, as it contained a little brandy and a little gin. The liquor over here isn’t fit to drink unless you mix it with something. We also had, as the treat of the evening, a drink of Mexican whiskey. Our music was furnished by Victrola.

  All my love,

  Your husband,

  Gene

  Gene Leffler-US Army

  By Linda Harshman Leffler

  Gene Leffler was born in Greensburg, Indiana, in 1915. After an unstable childhood of living with grandparents, aunts, uncles, mother, and sometimes father, he and his two brothers managed to graduate from Washington High School in Indianapolis. He married Martha Ellen Morgan on July 15, 1940. Martha, born in 1921, was an excellent student living in Mattoon, Illinois. She too had moved from home to home, working for relatives and friends. They became the parents of their first of five sons, Robert G. Leffler, in 1941.

  Gene was drafted in 1941. After basic training in Louisiana, he was assigned to the India-Burma Theater with the 20th General Hospital. Because of having had chemistry in high school, he was assigned to work testing blood samples for malaria and other tropical diseases. Malaria was a bigger threat to soldiers and civilians in the area than the Japanese.

  The 20th General Hospital was given citations for its remarkable record of keeping malaria deaths to a low rate. The hospital was located very near the Burma Road. The Americans were building the Ledo Road, which was used to get food and supplies to the Chinese people. Nearby, British and American troops were fighting against the Japanese.

  Gene received a Bronze Star during his service, while still stateside. He had always been an excellent diver and swimmer. He retrieved a body from a river, at great risk to himself.

  While Gene served overseas, Martha worked for two years at the Naval Avionics plant in Indianapolis, along with many other women, making parts for the Norden bombsight. The intricate work was very secretive, and no one person knew what another was doing. The Norden bombsight was used to make the dropping of bombs more accurate. In 1945 it was used to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.

  Herman McGregor—US Army Air Corps

  “As a boy, I wanted to be a Flying Tiger.”

  Herman “Mac” McGregor was born in Hazelton, Indiana, in 1924, at the family farmhouse. Mac was talking about the war: “in 1944 the US lowered the draft age to eighteen. If I had waited to be drafted, I would have gone into the navy instead of the army air corps.” At that time the air force was not separate from the army. His discharge was from the army. Uncle Mac likened his experience in the military to the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck.

  On December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, “I was seventeen years old and was bowling. I wanted to enlist, but my mom said no. In November 1942 I enlisted in the Signal Corp Reserves. There was training at Owensboro Technical High School. After three months I would be in active service.

  “August 1943, I went to Camp Atterbury to sign in. I studied transmitter and radar in Lexington, Kentucky. Then to Miami Beach, Florida, army air corps basic training. I learned to fire three different guns—M1 rifle, Tommy gun, and a forty-five handgun.” Herman did a lot of traveling before he left for foreign lands. Next it was Camp Murphy, near Palm Beach, Florida. “In Boca Raton, Florida, I learned to swim. I studied airborne radar and air-to-air radar while there.

  “The military thought I might need an operation on my legs for varicose veins. So I didn’t get shipped out. There were all kinds of people there, from college students to pilots and navigators.”

  Next, he was sent to Boston, Massachusetts. In 1944 Mac went to MIT to learn long-range navigation systems and water ports held by the Japanese in China. During that time the Allies couldn’t get supplies into China. Also he spent three months in Wichita Falls, Texas, waiting for equipment to arrive.

  Hollywood celebrities were willing to entertain the troops. Mac saw great performances at the Hollywood Canteen, Hollywood, Florida. “Actress Bette Davis and bandleader Kay Kyser were there to entertain the troops.”

  Australia

  Mac traveled the south of Australia, Melbourne to Perth. “I couldn’t get off the ship. It was the first time I had gone thirty days without seeing a movie. We went from the Indian Ocean to the Ganges River.”

  India

  “We left on a ship with five-inch guns to India. It took the Horace Greeley, with Red Cross nurses aboard, about thirty-seven days to make the crossing.” The Horace Greeley, a Liberty ship, was named after a famous American. Mac didn’t get seasick, but lots of others did. He had MP duty, and “we read books and played bridge.” He saw the Southern Cross, and “when we crossed the equator, there was a naval ceremony.

  “We went to Camp Cantrapara for two to three weeks. We stayed in hot white tents with beer and other rations. We took the train north to Ganges and Bangladesh [a
s it is known today]. I flew the hump, which was my first flight. I had a small carbine rifle and was told, ‘If the light goes on, you will have to jump.’ Our plane landed where the Flying Tigers had been stationed prior to the war.” The Flying Tigers, a voluntary group of pilots, flew for the Chinese Air Force. They were commanded by Capt. Claire Chennault. Mac said, “As a boy I wanted to be a Flying Tiger. While I was there, I met Chennault once.

  “In India there were two cooks, MPs, four technicians [Mac was a technician], and four operators. They would work for twenty-four hours a day and wait for orders to leave for China.”

  China

  Mac was ordered to fly to Chang Tou to set up. “Upon arriving at Chang Tou, we were called back. From that we knew something was in the works. The atomic bomb was dropped August 1945, and we all felt like it saved more lives than were lost. He spent all this time working on a long-range navigation system. “They dropped the bomb, and it was over,” Mac said.

  “With the end of the war, many of the groups became air controllers. The commies were in the northern part of China. The United States wanted to make sure that Chiang, not Mao, got the equipment. Next we went to Chun King, on the shore of the Yangtze River, where we had a small transmitting station. It was there that I heard the Cubs playing the Tigers at three a.m.”