Finding My Veteran

Finding Bomb Boogie: The Story of how I Found My Veteran

How could someone in a war so long ago still claim veteran status? I am embarrassed to admit that was my train of thought in those days. My father was a true Veteran. Sadly, it took me most of a lifetime to realize this truth.

The crew of “Bomb Boogie.” My father is standing, second to the left.

I was at my father's bedside when he passed away. It is impossible to erase the image of all the tubes and intravenous lines and the ventilator delivering breaths for him when he could no longer breathe on his own. When his heart failed, the nurses and doctors rushed to his bedside to resuscitate him, an intervention I believed would only prolong his suffering. I quietly asked them to stop. Sometimes I revisit this event, replaying the entire scenario in my head. A part of me would question if I gave up too quickly. Some part of me wondered if life would be easier for everyone without him. 

I rarely thought about my father over the next thirty years. Busy with life, work, and raising children was my excuse. Only when my ninety-year-old mother entered an assisted living facility and became eligible for Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits did he re-enter my consciousness. To apply for VA benefits for my mother, I had to locate my father’s military records. In reviewing his Army Discharge Record, a document required by the VA, his World War II history began to unfold before me. Now barely a day goes by that I don't think about him and his life challenges, including his service during World War II. 

My father was a POW for twenty-two months, one year longer than the average American soldier in captivity. He enlisted with the hopes of being a pilot, but while training in Panama, he developed a massive ear infection while swimming in a river, ending those dreams. No longer able to pursue an aviation career, he trained to be a tail gunner on a heavy bomber aircraft. He completed eleven missions flying from England to Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe on a B-17 plane nicknamed "Bomb Boogie." On his last assignment, German fighter planes shot down his plane, and he and the crew of ten parachuted to safety. Four airmen evaded capture, and six, including my father, were imprisoned for the remainder of the war.  

In the final months of World War II, the Nazis forced the POWs in prison camps on Germany's eastern borders to march west in one of the coldest winters in decades. During this march, my father escaped. He met up with a group of Russians, and together they survived until the Americans arrived. Upon returning to the States, he spent three months in a hospital to recover from severe malnutrition.    

After the war, he took advantage of the GI Bill to attend college and purchase a new home. He married and raised five children. His life after the war was primarily stable except when he struggled with his personal issues, and then life became difficult for him and his family. I speculate now if he silently had PTSD and if his experiences during the war contributed to his battles afterward.

However, at a time when Nazi Germany threatened our freedom, he demonstrated courage and resiliency. Through his actions, he showed he had the "right stuff.” And those are the character traits I am proud of and choose to remember.