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Bismarck man recounts days as member of
bomber group
"I
and 22 other young men from Izard County, Arkansas were inducted into the Army, Feb. 15,
1943 at Little Rock. My first touch of Army
life was Feb. 22, 1943 at Camp Joseph T. Robinson (near Little Rock)," Kankey
began.
"I
received basic training at St. Petersburg, Fla. It
was here we learned alot of the dos and don'ts of the Army.
The leaders said, 'Men, we can't make you do anything but we can make you
wish you had.' I saw this demonstrated a few
times. One example: One of the men was not bathing so the leaders got
him in the shower one night and used laundry soap and stiff bristle brushes and cleaned
him well. We were told if we didn't keep
clean, that could happen to us.
"From
St. Petersburg I was sent to Buckley Field, Colorado then to Fort Collins, Colorado for
two months of Engineering and Operations Clerical Schooling.
After completing school at Fort Collins, I was shipped to Salt Lake City
AFB, Utah and later shipped to Wendover AFB, Utah (out in the middle of no where).
"At
Wendover I was assigned to the 755th Bomb Squadron (Heavy) of the 458th Bomb Group
(Heavy). The 458th Bomb Group was made up of
four squadrons. The group was sent to Tonopah
AFB, Nevada for additional training of the crews with the B-24 Liberator Bombers. I was assigned as a clerk in the 755th Operations
office but was transferred to the communications section as a teletype operator for the
duration.
"Our
group departed the U.S. on Jan. 15, 1944 and arrived at Glasgow, Scotland on Feb. 1, 1944. From here we were sent to Horsham St. Faith (an air
base) near Norwich, England.
"On
Feb. 24, 1944 the group began flying missions over designated targets, such as
manufacturing plants, supply depots, bridges along enemy supply routes, railroad depots
and marshalling yards.
"Most
of our missions were performed during the day but some were done in the evening. I remember the first evening mission the group went
on, the enemy followed them back. It was
exciting for a while.
"Planes
were running low on fuel. If the runways were lighted the enemy would have a good target
to strafe or take pictures. A.A.A. Gun Crews
made it uncomfortable for 'JERRY' and he left. We
lost only one plane. I don't remember how many
of the crew were killed but the pilot crash-landed the plane and walked away from the
crashed plane.
"The
458th participated in six campaigns. They
were: 1. Air Offensive Europe; 2. Normandy
(the 755th Bomb Squadron flew lead ship over target June 6, 1944); 3. Ardennes;
4. Central Europe; 5.
Rhineland, and 6. Northern France. I will not go into details of casualties like other
units did.
"From
Feb. 24, 1944 to April 15, 1945, 240 missions had been carried out by the 458th. And apart from the normal high-altitude bombing,
one of the group's squadrons carried out experimental single-plane sorties with Azon
radio-controlled bombs."
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