Ohio Narratives
These stories are from the Northwest Ohio Narratives oral history project. The total project includes more than 100 interviews that the Northwest Regional Library System and its member libraries have been collaborating on since the summer of 2006. |
Logan County District Public Library, Bellefontaine
Patrick Henry School District
Public Library, Deshler
Wood County District Public Library, Bowling Green
Evergreen Community Library, Metamora
Claymont School District Public Library
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| Lloyd Shelton enlisted as a cadet in the Army Air Corps in 1941 and over the course of his 30 year career in the military he became a Lieutenant Colonel. After briefly discussing the impact of the war on Mr. Shelton’s family, the conversation turns to how he became a pilot and his service in the Army Air Corps. He served during World War II in three capacities. First, he spent two years delivering planes to bases around the world. Then, in 1944, he was assigned to fly P46 supply planes “over the hump” into Asia. When the war ended, Mr. Shelton was a flight instructor in Lake Tahoe. John Quinn is the interviewer and this excerpt runs 36:31 | ||||
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| Dr. Tom Bowlus, then a pre-med student at Bowling Green Normal School, watched with detached interest as war clouds gathered over Europe and Asia. Then the announcement of the Pearl Harbor attack and President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech signaled to Bowlus that he was likely to become involved in the war. At the advice of a faculty advisor, he volunteered for service and continued his education through September 1943, when he was called for service in the army. This interview covers details of his earliest days in service, including the seemingly endless series of vaccinations at induction, the primitive conditions on troop trains and his training. He was trained as a battlefield medic, and later in surgical procedure so he could serve as a scrub nurse. Dr. Bowlus recalls that when he was training at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, they saw many soldiers who were traumatized by the Japanese tactics. After training, Dr. Bowlus embarked for the Pacific Theater on a WWI-era troop ship. Thirty days after leaving San Francisco, the ship docked in New Caledonia. The discussion includes a description of the food and the general conditions aboard ship. From New Caledonia, Dr. Bowlus spent a short time in Guadal Canal before being sent to Bogenville. He was assigned to be a medic with Company B of the 55th Combat Engineer Battalion, a part of the Americal Division. In Bogenville, his company built fortifications, including those along the Numa Numa River, where there was constant fighting with the Japanese. About three weeks after the invasion of Lete, the company moved to the Philippines. There, they participated in the invasion of Sebu, where they had a close call with a Japanese bomber. One of Dr. Bowlus’ friends, Warren Hofelter, was killed in another incident. Company B was in Sebu when the Japanese surrendered; later the Americal was one of the first divisions to occupy Japan. They landed in a devastated Tokyo, where Dr. Bowlus was assigned to a hospital until his return home in February 1946. Dale Bruning is the interviewer and this excerpt is 1:07:28 | ||||
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| Arlington Helm joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, and began training to be a pilot. After quite some time, he was washed out of pilot training and went on to become an engineer. Assigned to the 559th Bomb Squad, a part of the 387th Bomb Group, he sailed to Europe on the Ile de France, and says (off camera) that he spent the entire 12 day trip in the hold of the ship. Mr. Helm was an engineer and waist gunner on a B 26 bomber stationed in France. After covering his training, the interview turns to a discussion of the crew of a B26, and his duties as the aircraft’s engineer. Mr. Helm remembers a couple close calls he had aboard the aircraft and some details of life in France. He flew 26 missions before the war ended. Steve Levorchick is the interviewer and this excerpt is 33:04 | ||||
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| Ken Snowden grew up in Wayne, and enrolled at Bowling Green Normal School in 1939. While there, he enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. On December 7, 1941, he was “out fooling around with the radio” in his car when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He applied for the Army Air Corps and became a cadet in 1942. After about a year of training he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and assigned to fly transport planes. Stationed in Jorhat, India, he flew supplies “over the hump” into China. The interview provides a good description of living conditions, and the flying conditions there. Mr. Snowden relates how. On his third flight, the crew had to bail out after losing their navigation device and running out of gas. They all parachuted safely to the ground, and were taken in by the local Chinese, who guided them on a several days’ walk to the nearest air base. Curiously enough, while Mr. Snowden was “lost” in China, his twin brother, a naval aviator, was also missing. After about a year in India, Mr. Snowden rotated back to the states and flew a C-54 on the West Coast. He received the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other decorations, for his service. He was discharged as a First Lieutenant in May of 1946. Dale Bruning is the interviewer and this excerpt is 59:15 | ||||
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| Carl Faist, originally from Woodville, Ohio, owned a watch shop in Gibsonburg when the US entered Word War II. Trained as a classical pianist, he also played regularly with local dance bands. Mr. Faist recalls that before the Japanese attack on the US, they had been busily buying up our scrap iron, which they used in their war machine. After Pearl Harbor, Mr. Faist joined the Navy and became an instrument repair technician stationed on the USS Swanee. The Swanee was a smaller aircraft carrier that supplied air support for Allied landings in the Pacific Theater, and Mr. Faist repaired the instruments on the planes. During one landing operation, in the Philippines, the Swanee took direct hits from Kamikaze planes on two successive days and lost hundreds of crew members. Mr. Faist recounts his memories of those events. He also gives a good description of operations on the flight deck, and many other aspects of life on an aircraft carrier. At war’s end, the Swanee was stationed in Okinawa when the US dropped the A bombs. After the Japanese surrender, Mr. Faist was among a group that toured the remains of Nagasaki. Dale Bruning is the interviewer. This excerpt runs 55:17 | ||||
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