Sgts. Mattscheck, Layton, Valdez, Farnell, and Ives (Nuccio not present) Lts. E.M. Brockmeier, Jean Muller, Albert Hilde, and H.C. Schauer (click picture for larger view)

As we started in to the Club, we were stopped by a Lt. at the door, who said this club was for members only, so we said

"Well, we will join."

"Hey! We have a formation in 10 minutes!,"

We came back after the session and the Lt. at the door of the club said

"You can't go in, as this club is for permanent parties only, and since you guys are transient Officers you can't go in."

We were transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson, Arizona for training as a crew on B-24 Liberator Bombers. We also got the rest of our crew of six fine gunners. They were Sgts. Mattscheck, radioman and top gunner; Layton, left waist gunner; Valdez, flight engineer and right waist gunner; Ives, belly gunner; David Farnell, nose gunner; and Nuccio, tail gunner.

We had all great guys on our crew. On our first mission as a crew we had No. 3 engine catch fire shortly after takeoff. We returned to base immediately and made an emergency landing. No one was injured. It was quite a start, though.

While still at Davis-Monthan, we were taken to the firing range, given .45 pistols and told we had to qualify before we went overseas. I had never shot a pistol before in my life. We shot one practice round. We then fired for record. I don't know how I did it--I not only qualified but got a sharpshooter medal. We fired one more time and I got an expert medal.

The sergeant in charge of the firing range said:

"Everyone that qualified, take one step to the rear."

"Pick out a man in front that has not qualified, and instruct this man on how to shoot the weapon."

After firing a .45 three times in my life, I wasn't really qualified to instruct anyone, but that's not the military way. I gave him my expert tutoring advice. He qualified.

We trained as a crew for two months at Tucson and then transferred to Topeka Air Base at Topeka, Kansas. Betty was not allowed to follow me anymore and she returned to Denver to await the birth of our first child.

At Topeka, we received our overseas supplies: bomb charts, weather books, and many other things. The first item we got was a "Mae West"--these were inflatable life vests with a CO2 cartridge which inflated the vest when pulled (they were called "Mae Wests" in reference to the buxom, early movie-star). All of the other stuff was piled on your arms as you proceeded down the line. One "wise-guy" near the end pulled the pin on the cartridge, which immediately filled the vest--popping out your arms full of books, charts, etc. You were helpless.

From Topeka our crew traveled by train to Newport News, Virginia for embarkation overseas. It was June and quite miserably hot and humid. We put our bunks on the roof of our barracks to get a breath of air for sleeping. The MP's came by and told us to get off the roof or we would be court martialed. We said:

"Go ahead--then we won't have to go overseas and get killed!"