WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs

by Minton, Linda E.

  Exciting things were going on: “A Chinese boy was accidentally shot, and a guy detonated a piece of a bomb. Then we were sent back to the Flying Tiger area, where I teletyped for two months. From there we flew to Shanghai, where I saw the movie State Fair. We were excited to see hamburgers being fried, dog racing, and a Japanese war trial.

  “I stayed too long listening to Russian refugee musicians and missed the last bus. I was afraid I was going to be stuck in Shanghai! However, I got a ride to where we were going to be shipped out.”

  Kumming, China

  He was stationed at Kumming, China, and stayed in the same barracks as the Flying Tigers. “The cooks would make chicken and mushrooms, and it was delicious. I still remember it today.”

  “I met Chiang’s wife twice.” Mac said, “Madame Chiang Kai-Shek gave us candy and ignored the Chinese kids that were there.” Mac mentioned that he received the WWII award Battle Star for the Chinese Offensive.

  “After leaving China, we shipped out to Korea’s Golden Bay. Then on to Okinawa, and from there to Seattle, Washington. The voyage took seven days. From there I went to Camp Atterbury by train, being discharged April 16, 1946.”

  After the War

  “Four or five really close friends were killed on Iwo Jima. A good friend I worked with at the bakery before the war was one of those killed.

  “I worked at Western Electric after the war. Then I went to Evansville College, now University of Evansville, to get my teaching degree. There was a reunion in New Orleans twenty or twenty-two years later; my best war buddy and one operator were there. The girls who were onboard the ship made a booklet about the crew’s experiences for us.”

  C Ray Minton Jr. (nephew) and Herman McGregor

  Albert Thornton Oliver—US Army

  By Sandy Ferguson Oliver

  “What would happen to my country and my wife at home?”

  Albert Thornton Oliver, called Bud, grew up in the west of Indianapolis, an area called Haughville, which was home to many Slavic immigrants. He enlisted at thirty-two—much older than most servicemen in 1942. The doctor told him he had a heart murmur and a wife and didn’t have to serve. Bud said, “What would happen to my country and my wife if I don’t?”

  Bud’s wife, Norma, said, “I didn’t know what kind of shape he would be in, but I always knew he would come back home.” Norma had brothers in the service too and thought they might not come back.

  Bud worked at Eli Lilly & Company in Indianapolis before entering the US Army. With some medical background, he was sent to India and China as a medic. His job was to guard the medicine. Shipments would come in, and he managed them. People with minor injuries would come in, and he took care of them. He did just simple medical things.

  On the way over to India, the food was so bad on the ship, he took up smoking and eating candy. As a result his teeth developed cavities. Bud took the cellophane from the cigarette packs and filled his teeth with the wrappers. When he came home after the war was over, the dentist said, “You need to go to school for dentistry. You did a heck of a job of dental work on your teeth.” Those things were still in his teeth. “You had to keep it from hurting.” replied Bud.

  Sandy recalled her dad flying the hump and saying he had to sign a waiver. However, that paper would make his insurance invalid. So Bud folded the paper and put it in his jacket. He just went along with all the other guys, without signing the paper. She thought he flew from India to Kunming, China. As with other vets, Bud didn’t talk about his experiences very much.

  Fired on by Japanese

  One time Bud and his unit were in a convoy, and they took fire. They jumped out of the truck and laid in the rice paddies, pretending to be dead. Bud said, “This was the closest I came to thinking I was going to die.” The enemy came by and kicked them to see if they were dead, then went on. Sandy said, “The Japanese had no respect for human life.”

  They were given descriptions of how the Japanese and the Chinese looked. One was taller and thinner, and the other was shorter and stockier. Bud said, “That wasn’t necessarily so, because the ones from the mountain weren’t tall and thin, they were short and stocky. Nobody had a label; you couldn’t look at their forehead and see ‘enemy!’

  “One time I fired my gun, and they found blood trace but didn’t find anybody. I have always prayed to God that whomever it was got away.” He thought somebody, perhaps a villager, not the enemy, was after medicine.

  Hungry Indian Woman

  He told his family a story about how hungry the Indian people were during that time. All the food he had with him was K rations. Bud offered a hungry Indian woman carrying a deceased child the food. She was holding on to the hand of a naked child with paper-thin arms. This K ration contained beef, and cows are sacred in India; she threw it down and refused to eat it or give it to her child. “We all went hungry that night!” said Bud. He said, “You have no idea how poor those people were. All you saw was hopelessness. There was no hope there.”

  Toward the end of Bud’s life, he had flashbacks of the Japanese attacks and combat during the war. The war affected him in ways his family could not understand.

  Bud was photographed helping a man who was in the area.

  WWII Veterans Who Did Not Serve Overseas

  Our military was needed at home as well as in foreign countries during WWII. When soldiers were injured or needed medical attention, servicemen were available on American soil to care for them. As more recruits were drafted, military instructors were used to train new soldiers for combat and flying missions to defend our country.

  Many of them had jobs such as mechanics repairing aircraft; driving heavy artillery and tanks; hospital corpsman and x-ray technicians. Other jobs included office work; processing out soldiers discharged military personnel and other medical staffing needs. All these veterans helped to aid the men fighting on the front lines.

  The following stories are about men who served in the military stateside during WWII:

  Elmer Eakle

  Henry Eakle

  Robert Eberhart

  Richard Greenfield (served in the Korean War)

  Donald Kuhlenschmidt

  Harry Lyons

  Raymond S.

  Elmer Eakle—US Army

  “It was the talk of the town, with all the guns and tanks going through the town.”

  Elmer was born to Clayton and Vada Eakle; eventually he would have nine siblings. During WWII there would be four brothers involved in the war effort.

  In the 1930s Elmer started working in the CCC. Elmer’s brothers Melvin and Henry were working in the camps to earn money as well. All three brothers, along with brother Glen, later entered the war effort when the war began.

  During the war Elmer was a mechanic and driver. He was not sent overseas.

  About 1942, one event left an impression on Elmer’s niece and nephew, Edith Francis and Edward Eakle. Elmer was on a convoy driving through Monroe County, Kentucky. He was on maneuvers along with another GI from the area, and he dropped by the family home to say hello. It was the middle of the night, and “we all got out of bed and sat up the rest of the night talking. It was the talk of the town, with all the guns and tanks that went through the town,” said Edith, who was about nine years old at the time.

  Edward said, “Elmer was driving an army jeep with a big machine gun in the back.” This was big news for a small, rural Kentucky town not used to that much excitement!

  After the conclusion of the war, Elmer attended Campbellsville College with his WWII veteran brother Glen. While attending school Elmer met his future wife, Elizabeth. During his time at college, there was a fire on campus. Both Glen and Elmer lost all their possessions. However, some people helped them out with donations to replace their lost items.

  Elmer taught school near Stanley, Kentucky, for a while. Later he and his wife moved to Indianapolis, where he worked at Allison. He and Elizabeth, had three children. Elmer died of colon cancer in January 2001.

  Informat
ion: Iree Francis, Harold Francis, Edith Francis, and Edward Eakle

  Henry Eakle—US Army

  “My dad never talked about the war.”

  Henry, the fourth oldest child of the ten children of Clayton and Vada Slate Eakle, lived on a rural farm near Tompkinsville, Kentucky. Since times were hard in the ‘30s, with the Depression and few jobs, three of the Eakle brothers—Henry, Melvin, and Elmer—worked in the CCC camps. Melvin was discharged from the Civilian Conservation Corps at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, in 1937. The CCC, a public work relief program, was developed by the federal government. It was a way to help young unmarried men make a living during difficult times in our nation. Henry’s sister, Iree, said, “They made one dollar a day and sent part of it home to the family.” According to Darryl, Henry’s son, his dad worked on the roads surrounding the Hoover Dam around 1939.

  Henry’s brother and WWII veteran Glen Eakle said, “None of them [his brothers] were happy with it [the CCC], and all of them got out early. They went halfway to Indianapolis to pick strawberries and tomatoes, but that didn’t work out either.”

  Eventually four Eakle brothers—Henry, Melvin, Elmer, and Glen—would be in the military. Henry enlisted in the US Army after WWII had begun. He worked with tanks and artillery. During this time, he seriously injured his back and received a medical discharge from the military. Henry never had an oversea assignment.

  Henry went to Louisville, Kentucky to get a job. While in Louisville, he met Oma Keith. Oma was from the Tompkinsville area also. They married and had one son, Darryl. Darryl said, “My dad never talked about the war.” Information: Iree Eakle Francis, Glen Eakle, and Darryl Eakle.

  Dick Greenfield—US Navy

  “War is a living mess!”

  Dick and Carmen Greenfield of Beech Grove, Indiana, spoke to a fifth-grade parochial school class. The following information was shared with the class.

  Dick enlisted in the navy in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1945 he was still in high school. “They asked me where I worked. I said, ‘I don’t work. I’m still in high school!’ So they asked, ‘Where does your father work?’” Dick replied, “My father was a pharmacist.” He continued, “So they said that I would be a hospital corpsman.” He did his training at West Coast Amputee Hospital in San Diego, California.

  What was the hardest part of the war for you?

  “Being away from home.” His work was easy at the amputation hospital, where he was the military’s version of a nurse.

  “War is a living mess!” said Dick.

  Are you still in touch with any of your friends from the military?

  “Yes, Glen Truex from North Dakota.”

  Also, he said, there was a nurse from Indiana at the Great Lakes hospital who gave him a small blanket to keep his feet warm. He still has it in a cedar chest.

  The Korean War

  In 1950 or 1951, Dick was called up again to serve as a corpsman. He reported to Great Lakes and was stationed there for thirty days. Then he was sent to Japan to take care of the marines. “There were three hundred marines in an eighty-bed area.” He was in Japan for ten or eleven months.

  What would your day have been like?

  “First, check with the nurses, and then I took care of the men.” One time he stitched up a man’s hand after he had injured it on some barbed wire.

  Indy Honor Flight

  Dick was one of seventy veterans on the Indy Honor Flight to Washington, DC, on Saturday, October 18, 2014. He visited the Arlington National Cemetery and viewed the changing of the guard. He was greatly moved by the activities and events, and he wore the T-shirt he was given during the trip. Dick’s son made shirts with Dick’s military picture on it for the family; Carmen was wearing one of the shirts when she was talking to the class.

  Dick and Carmen’s wedding day

  Carmen Greenfield—Navy Wife

  The children asked Carmen some questions, and her answers are below.

  “In 1941 I was eleven years old. When I came home from the movies on Sunday, December 7, we listened to the radio. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. We didn’t have a television, so you had to get your news on the radio.

  “We used stamps to buy sugar and meat. Many things were rationed, like coffee, sugar, shoes, and tires. We would have meatless Tuesdays. Mom bought an eggplant, cut it up, and breaded it to fry. It tasted so good that I didn’t care about not having meat!

  “We had victory gardens, where we grew tomatoes and other vegetables. It helped you remember the soldiers and the fact that they had very little.

  “Another thing we did on Friday afternoon was sell war bonds. Children would bring in pennies; when the book was filled up, you would be given a war bond.”

  Donald Kuhlenschmidt

  “I have remorse for all the boys that were killed.”

  Don was a mechanical draftsman. As a child he’d had an interest in planes and made model planes. Before the war he had thought about what would interest him.

  Don enlisted in September 1942. A government program, the civil pilot training program, was developed in anticipation of needing pilots for the war. “I went down, and they strangely accepted me into this program. The first three months were just plain flying and doing maneuvers. I went through primary and secondary, which was mainly acrobatics. I enjoyed that immensely. Then there was cross country, which was boring but a process of learning. How to navigate across country and how to land a larger airplane. Instrument training was next. This program was later taken over by army air force.

  Summer 1943 - Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio

  In the summer of 1943, the army took over. Don was sent to Mississippi, then North Carolina where he retook secondary flight training. Then he was sent to Ohio for instrument training. The army stopped all flight training for the group of 5,000 pilots. Don was in the original Civilian Pilot Training Course pilots.

  North Carolina and Wisconsin

  Don was sent to North Carolina for electronic training, then to Wisconsin for additional training. Don was made an electronics instructor.

  Women pilots

  “They gave me a two-week furlough. Then I went back up to the barracks.” They told him he was getting discharged. ‘“You are not supposed to understand. Go to that barracks over there.’ He was told he and the rest of the 5,000 pilots in his program were discharged. He would be drafted back into the infantry in ninety days. General Arnold needed the 5,000 commissions for the 5,000 women, later called the WACS or Women’s Army Corps.

  “A senator from Indiana, who knew about Arnold’s plan for the 5,000 male pilots, introduced a bill which passed congress, probably aided by a write-in campaign by family members of the 5,000 men, that the military could not redraft discharged servicemen. This prevented General Arnold from redrafting Don and the other pilots in his group. So General Arnold had gone out and enlisted five thousand women to be made pilots.

  “We knew we weren’t going to be flying anymore. We had the choice of either accepting a discharge or stay with no flying rights. Well, that went over with me like a lead brick! He had to put us back on flying duty. He could not flunk us on a military flight test. It had to be done by a civilian flight test. So what happened was he didn’t get his girls. He discharged us—every one of us! So I came back home and worked at the Chrysler plant.” He thought he was going to be working there for ninety days then go into the infantry.

  One day he received a letter stating he was discharged and couldn’t be drafted. So he was a free man. This was about 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.

  The group Don was in had some men who couldn’t get into the regular army. In Don’s case he had an astigmatism. There were some attorneys in this group too. Everyone had some little something wrong with them. So they joined the reserves, and they were going to ferry their planes around.

  As explanation, General Hap Arnold, one of the few five-star generals in the army, supported the WASPs—Women Airforce Service Pilots—and wanted to commission them directly as ser
vice pilots. Male civilian pilots were normally used for this job. “On 12 January 1944, the Comptroller General of the Army Air Forces ruled against these practices.” According to statistics, there were only a little over one thousand women who were able to complete the program.

  “General Hap Arnold, top general in the Air Force, was the one dealing with Congress,” said Don’s wife, Margaret. “When Congress read all these letters, they said, ‘You can’t do this,’ and they wouldn’t let him have the women. He was furious at that time. He wanted these women pilots!”

  The men were mad because they wanted to ferry planes and because the way it was written, they couldn’t be drafted. So then Don had a civilian job. “As far as I was concerned, they could have put Arnold in jail!” said Margaret. “It has made me feel sick at my stomach by some of the poor decisions made by our generals.”

  After the war

  Don worked at Servel after the war too. “The only problems we had during the war was rationing, especially for gas,” said Margaret. “You couldn’t go anyplace, just back and forth to work. There was very little left over for the weekend or to take any trips. You almost always had to go by bus. The buses were always crowded. There were no telephones, really; you had to rely on pay phones.”

  Don continued to fly after the war. During his training he would send home most of his money, keeping only a small amount. He would use that money to rent a plane to go flying. At age 68 he stated building a wooden airplane. He completed it at age 75. “The unique thing about it was it was all wood and fast. It was a beautiful little plane,” said Don. “The first plane I bought, I paid a hundred and twenty-five dollars for it! The only reason that I don’t fly now is that I can’t,” said Don.