Carl Voss

95TH BOMB GROUP

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

2004 REUNION        WASHINGTON, D.C. 

KS:  (Karen Sayco)  Could you give us your name, and the date, and where we’re interviewing, conducting this interview?
CV:  Carl M. Voss, Hilton Hotel, Tyson Corners, Maryland, Washington, D.C. – Virginia.  (Chuckle)  I goofed that up, huh.

KS:  Could you tell us your dates of service with the 95th?
CV:  Well, the dates of service with the 95th was approximately, my gosh….  When I joined I was in the 8th Station Compliment Squadron about March of 1943.  And I left it in England of August of 1945.

KS:  And would you give us your full dates of service with the Army Air Corps, and then later with, when you retired from what became the Air Force?

CV:  Well, with the Army Air Corps, I was from 1942 to 1947.  From 1947 to 1969 in the regular Air Force.  Retired as a flight engineer, flying C-141’s, C-130’s, and as a senior master sergeant.

KS:  And what was your job with the 95th?

CV:  The 95th, I was an engine mechanic.

KS:  When did you join the service, and what was your first…

CV:  December, 1942.

KS:  And what was your first training?

CV:  First training?  Well I had my basic training at Miami Beach, Florida.  Then from Miami Beach, Florida, I went to Drew Field, Florida.  And from Drew Field, Florida, I went to the 8th Station Compliment Squadron, which was joining the 95th Bomb Group.  Went to Jacksonville, Florida and had our military training there.  And went to the rifle range and so forth.  And from there we went on to New Jersey, and on the Queen Mary and arrived in England, Horham, Framlingham first.  We went to Framlingham, England first, and then we went to Horham Air Force Base.  I stayed there, from Horham Air Force Base, stayed there until August of 1945.

KS:  Now not everybody goes over on the Queen Mary, so could you tell us about that?

CV:  Well, sometimes it was kind of harry, and I mean they would – our sleeping arrangement was one day up on deck, and one day below deck. And we were, at the time that they told us that we were being chased by the subs.  Which, you could feel the ship making the turns and so forth.  And even then, over the loudspeaker they said, “Everybody go to the port side, or starboard side.”  I don’t know exactly what it was, but it was one of the fastest ships – it could beat any German submarine.  That’s what they told us, and that’s what was going on over, going over to Scotland.  We landed, we went by Ireland – I waved to Ireland as we went by (chuckle).  But we landed in Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland, or Firth of Clyde.  And we took the ship, the train from then on, after we got off the Queen Mary in Scotland.  Then we went to Framlingham.  Framlingham – stayed there, I’m not sure, it was only a couple of days.  And they knew, the Germans already knew that we were landing there.  And they, at the time, they said they could hear bombs.  And it was a bad rainy day when we got there.  I remember that.  I jumped – we had tents.  We lived in tents at that time.  And I remember jumping out of my boots and left them in the mud.  But we slept in our tents.  From there, I don’t remember the dates exactly, but we went to Horham.  And from there to Horham and a stayed at Horham until August of ’45.

KS:  What was your main job with the 95th?

CV:  It was strickly engine mechanic.  Started as the cleaner.  The lowest ranking man would always be, was the one that would work out – we had to clean outside.  We used this cleaning fluid.  It was cold.  Used pressure guns to clean those – this was after the engine would come off a B-17 – one, two, three, or four.  We had crews – one, two, three, or four.  And on my crew, I was a cleaner when I first went over there as a PFC.  I forget when the next guy come in, and I got off that and moved up to the engine itself, working on changing accessories.  The engines would be shipped there basically, then engine would be shipped to us in a box.  We’d take it out of the box, put it on the engine stand, and take the old accessories off of the old engine, repair them, whatever had to be repaired, put them on the next engine.  And that was the job. And then we would stack them, line them up.  And then there was one, two, three, and four – they were all different.  I mean, as far as they all had some different assemblies to them for the position that they were in, one, two three, and four.  And then when we would watch, we’d see that the aircraft were coming back with a feathered engine, we would run back to our hanger, get ourselves an engine, bring it to the hard stand where that aircraft came in, take the other one off, put the new one on, pre-oil it, run it up and turn it over to the crew chief for the mission of the next day.  

KS:  Were they cleaned after every mission?  What was sort of the routine maintenance?  Was it an everyday cleaning?

CV:  Well, no.  This is when they, well, like they had a hole in the engine or something – had flak damage or something like that, or a hydraulic line went all over it, or whatever – they had a cylinder missing, or exhaust pulled out, or something like that, where the oil was all over.  We always – it would be all full of oil, or hydraulic fluid. This is after we pulled them off - the engine of the aircraft that was damaged.  Then we would clean them.  Then we would put them on the new assembly.  

KS:  Did you get to know any of the flying crews?

CV:  Yes.  For a while there, I ran a – worked at the Officers’ Club.  I worked at the Officers’ Club, and we had a snack bar.  In my spare time, I would work at this snack bar.  And I got to know the officers.  And I know you heard mentioned Father Nolan.  And I knew him very well.  He was always – he’d come to the snack bar.  And some of the other officers – I can’t remember names, but I do know that they used to stop in at the snack bar.  

KS:  Did you have any memorable experiences over there?  What did you do in your off time, that sort of thing?
CV:  Go to Diss and have a couple of beers or ride the bicycle. I mean, you could – but that was it.  We were authorized a 48-hour pass.  We’d go down to London on the train that would – pick up the train at Diss.  And we’d ride down to London, which was always a pretty good ride.  I had one experience.  I don’t know if you are familiar with the trains, coaches and so forth, where they had, some they had an aisleway where you walked through the aisleway to go to your seating compartment.  Well this one, they had some, one or a couple of them – I don’t know how many they had on this train at the time – but they only had a door going from, you’d go in it and there was a door on the other side, you’d go out it.  And this train was going about 60 – 70 miles and hour, and I opened that door and I thought I was going into a hallway. And here I was going – there was track on the other side.  And that was a harry experience, really, that I can remember.  And we had a bombing at the – we had the Germans come over and bombed.  I think one of the officers the other night explained, said something about one cow killed.  But I – there was more than one that I understood, that there was more than one with the bombing.  And we had the V-1’s and V-2’s would come over every once in a while.  Those bombs, that was the main one.  You could hear them.  In fact, we had a dog that could hear them before we could.  And he would hide under the bunk and the buzz bombs.

KS:  I don’t think I got this on tape yet, but when you, approximately when you arrived at Horham, the date and until you left.  The dates of your time in Horham?
CV:  I arrived June 6th of ’43, and I left in August of ’45.  I’m not sure what the August – somewhere in August.  I didn’t have enough points to get out at that time.  You had to have so many points.  I only had 59 points at that time.  You got out as far as points is when you were sent home.  But I was sent to…well the points, I guess the points, the points at that time, it didn’t make much difference, I believe, at that period.  I think we just went as a unit.  They shipped as a unit.  And I had – and then they sent us all home for a 30 day leave.  And from the 30 day leave, after my 30 day leave, I was supposed to report Sioux Falls, South Dakota to be an engine mechanic on B-29’s.  And when I was at home, the war ended – they dropped the bomb.  And I reported up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And they sent me to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey for discharge.  I ended up going from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey for discharge, I went to Indianapolis, Indian Town Gap at Indianapolis, I believe it was – Indianapolis, Camp Atterbury Indianapolis for my discharge.  And that’s when I was discharged in December of ’45.  

KS:  Did you, I guess I talked earlier with a communications officer who had, I don’t know whether you want to call it an opportunity, but had went on three missions, even though he was ground personnel.  Did you ever ride along on any of the missions?

CV:  On the chowhound missions.  I was on a regular – in fact, that did end up as a combat mission, the last one.  But I don’t remember which one I was on.  But I know I was there.

KS:  Well can you tell us about the chowhound mission that you were on, what that experience?

CV:  I was an observer in a tail gun position of this aircraft.  I would communicate with the cockpit.  There was no way to get from there, once you were in the tail position, you didn’t move up front.  The only way you could get in was through the door, in and out.  And I would explain to them when the food was dropped, the bombardier dropped the food. And we hit this one place where they had all cleared away where there no – all it was was like an island with water all over it.  And when we dropped the bombs, dropped the food, it shakes me up – they were picking it up and putting it in wheel barrows.  And I just told the pilot, I said to him, it was a good hit, a good drop.  You could see the people picking up the food, putting it in wheel barrows.  I was glad I was an American.

KS:  The Dutch people remember that to this day, and I’m sure always will.  How high did you fly on that mission? 

CV:  That mission?  We were below steeple chase, to tell you the truth.  I think they said it was something like 250 feet, coming in.  And I could look up and see steeples.

KS:  Did you witness or participate in any actions that you would call courageous?  That you would term courageous acts?
CV:  No, I think every time you sent a crew out and they returned, it was a courageous act.  It was a courageous act, just going.  Not just returning and so forth.  I saw the crews when they’d come back, come out and kiss the ground almost after every mission.  

KS:  How about any humorous incidents over there?  Either on base or off base.

CV:  Humorous – well the only one I’d call a humorous one is this dog would hear the buzz bombs, and he would head for the …  We had this tar paper shacks as we called them, that we lived in.  We had a sergeant that was - the highest rank was a sergeant, and he was control of the barracks and so forth.  And he had a wire haired terrier.  And we’d be out there playing cards around the pot bellied stove there.  And this dog would hear the buzz bombs first, and this happened many, many times – he would hear the buzz bomb and he would head for his room and under the bunk.  And that time we were ready to head for the bomb shelters.

KS:  What was your homecoming like, coming into, sailing back and getting home – your first sight?  What did you, well, go ahead.

CV:  Well, it was, coming home was just – just glad to get home after almost three years of not being home.  It was close to three years of not being home.  I was glad to get home.  My father picked me up at the railroad station.

KS:  What did you miss most, being in England?
CV:  What did I miss most?  Family, naturally.  Family.  My wife now, but she was my girlfriend then – waited for me.

KS:  What was the importance of getting mail from home, and how was that distributed?
CV:  I’ve still got one of those V-mails, as they called it.  I’ve still got one at home. My wife’s got it in the Bible.  

KS:  It was very important to morale?
CV:  Right.  V-mail.  I know a lot of people don’t even know what a V-mail was, I don’t think now.  

KS:  Your grandson and granddaughter are here.  I just wonder if they have any questions that you would like to ask.

Grandson:  How long did it take for the mail to circulate?  

CV:  I don’t remember.  I don’t know.  I don’t remember how long it would take.  See, it was a big sheet like that, I think.  It was 10 by 10 ½  they’d call it.  And they’d make it out, and then they would film it.  And when it came out, it would only be in a mail package about like that.  They were all censored.  Yeah, they were all censored before they left squadron.  They had a censoring officer – I forget his name.  Captain Woods, if I remember right, was in our squadron.  He was our censoring officer.  And when he wasn’t there, somebody else would handle it.  But every letter went out was censored.

Granddaughter:  Did Uncle Sam feed you well?

CV:  I have no complaints.  It was…I have no complaints of feeding.  Everything we ate, we ate out of mess kits all the time we were there.  And I still – I think I have a mess kit at home yet, if I’m not mistaken, somewhere.

Grandson:  Were the meals scheduled, or would you just go when you could make it?

CV:  No, we had scheduled meals.  It was a regular scheduled meals.  Get into the line, get your food, put it in your mess kit, you know what I mean – your mess kit, in the little compartments in each one.  Then you had your canteen you carried.  In fact, you used the canteen for drinking water, coffee, and your beer.  When you went to the beer hall, you’d use your canteen also.

Grandson:  Did you have to wash your own?

CV:  No, they had three tubs there.  They had a garbage can, but they had an officer there looking at what you’re dumping out too.  They didn’t want nothing wasted.  The used to have an officer stand there and watch how much, what you were trying to throw away, and so forth.  But anyway, but skim milk was powdered mild and so forth.  And eggs were are the kind of eggs that you buy now – egg beaters.  Well, it something, it was special, it was – what do they call it, I forget what they called it now – the egg…powdered eggs.  Powdered eggs, powdered milk, and so forth like that.  But then, they had three troughs there, where they had – I forget how they heated them now – but they had hot water where you dumped your garbage in.  Every morning, if you worked that night and you slept in, in the morning you could hear the guys going to the mess hall with the rattle of the mess kit.  It was time to get up (chuckle).

KS:  Is there any particular incident or anything else that you want to bring up and tell us about?

CV:  No, but I had good exercise, because we always rode bicycles.  That was it, going all over.  Every place we went, we’d ride a bicycle.  Back to the line, when we left the barracks and going to the flight line, everybody rode – as far as I know, everybody rode a bicycle.  That was really…

Grandson:  You can see in some of the books, there were bikes underneath the wings.

CV:  Yeah, the crews, all the crews, they had them all on the hard stands, as we called it.  Those hard stands were where the B-17’s parked.  Everybody had a bicycle.  We’d go to the mess hall, wherever you’d go.  Like they would take, leave their job to go to the mess hall – they were repairing the aircraft day or night.  They would ride their bicycle to the mess hall.  They had racks at the mess hall where you park.  But everybody mostly rode a bicycle into town.  Diss was six miles away, and we used to ride to Diss to go into town, get a couple of beers.

Grandson:  What kind of beer did you drink?

CV:  What was it – I can’t think right now.  There was Genesean – was that a British beer.  But India Pale Ale was one.  That was a good – we used to get that – India Pale Ale.  That was a good drink.   But then they had, besides the, if you didn’t have bottles, you had mostly all tap.  Oh, they had, let’s see, how did they call it?  They called it Light and Dark.  That’s what it was.  Light and Dark and a famous drink for the women, I guess, they call it a Shanty.  Did you ever hear that when you were over there?  It was something they – a Shanty, a mixture of something.  I forget how it was right now.  But the Light and Dark.  That’s what it was.  The gentleman pumping the half and half.  That was something like a Santy, the half and half, I believe.

Grandson:  When they repaired an engine, how did you get it up on the plane, since it was up…

CV:  They had A-frames, as we call it.  It was an A-frame.  A-frame, and it had crank on it, hand crank.  You’d put it up, push it in there.  A couple of your buddies would help you.  You’d be pushing it in there.  Or I think they had a vehicle, if I’m not mistaken, out too.  We had a vehicle, like a jeep or some sort of carrier would hook up to it, and push it up to the aircraft.  Take the one off, and then hang the other one right up there, after bringing it from the hanger.  

KS:  What changes and improvements did you see on engines in the nearly three years that you were there?

CV:  Changes and improvements?
KS:  Were there any?
CV:  As far as I understand, the engines, that was the same engine on that airplane, as far as I know.  Basically, the engine when I went there, and when I left it was still the same engines.  Nothing like we have now, as far as hoses and clamps and stuff now.  At that time, we had, we used clamps on hoses and stuff – just clamps.  But we had holes drilled in them, and they would safety wire them.  Everything for fuel lines and so forth, they were safety wired for safety.  But it was really something when you see how crude the engines at that time was, as far as the engines repair and so forth, they were using hoses.  Now you go out and work on your car, they got lock nuts on them and so forth.  Where we used to drill holes in them and safety wire them with 35,000 safety wire and so forth.  

Grandson:  Do you know where the engines were built for the planes?
CV:  Wright Cyclone.  But they were built in different places.  But they were Wright Cyclone engines on the B-17.  Pratt and Whitney, Wright Cyclone engines on the B-17’s.

KS:  Did I understand you to say that you had already been a mechanic before the war, so you didn’t particularly go through…

CV:  Not in aircraft itself.  But I always repaired my own car when I was 16 years old, working on automobiles and so forth.  Well, let’s put it this way.  When I got over at Horham, I started off OJT – on the job training.  So I would say, most of my training for engines was from my buddies in the organization.

KS:  So you didn’t specifically go to aircraft engine training school.

CV:  I didn’t make it.  I ended up in the hospital with a bilateral hernia.  And then I still ended up – they didn’t send me to school.  They sent me over to OJT.  They needed people, that was what it was, mainly.  They needed people, they wanted people.  I ended up with a 747, which is an engine mechanic AFAC.  And that’s the way it worked.  I was on OJT training.  Which was the way I started.  Like I said, I started cleaning parts.  I was a low grade airman at the time.  

Granddaughter:  Tell Karen about your tonsils.

CV:  Oh yes, well, I wouldn’t say it was humorous (laughing) But when I ended up with tonsil trouble at the dispensary right there down the hill from us, I recall.  I had them taken out, sitting in a wheelchair – no table or anything, but it was in the wheelchair.  And every once in a while now, I get a sore throat or something, I think of the time when I sat in that wheelchair and had my tonsils taken out.  That was right on our own base right there.  They had a dispensary.  That’s where they, if they had injured personnel, they would bring them to the dispensary first.  Like if the aircraft was coming in, it would shoot a red flare, and the red flare would meet the aircraft with an injured person.  And they put the person in the ambulance and take them down to the dispensary.  And then, I’m not sure, I don’t remember where the basic, where the major hospitals were, but we had quite a few major hospitals in the area.  They would take, if they were wounded, critically wounded, they would take them to other hospitals.  But they would take them first right there at the dispensary.  And I understand that the dispensary right now, the British people have remodeled the area and so forth, where the dispensary was at that time.  We called it, it was down, over the hill.

Granddaughter:  How about your dog you bought – the dog you had to keep buying.

CV:  Oh yeah.  I don’t know if that should be in there (chuckling).  But the English people…I don’t know.  

Granddaughter:  It was humorous.

CV:  Yeah, in a way it was.  I had a setter, I believe it was an Irish Setter – beautiful dog.  It was a grown one.  A lot of us had dogs, kept dogs over there.  But I forgot how many pounds I gave this gentleman for this dog.  But I think I had it a day or two, and he disappeared.  And he’d go back to his own.  Then I found out, heck, about five or six guys bought the same dog (laughing), and it would end up going back to the owner.  The last time we just let him keep him, I believe it was.  It was a beautiful dog, beautiful hunting dog, and so forth.  But that was, that really happened (laughing).

Grandson:  I wanted to know how busy you thought you were – always busy, or were there like times when people…

CV:  Pretty busy.  When we got, they came in with quite a few damaged aircraft, damaged engines, we’d work through the night to get them in shape.

Grandson:  How many hours a day did you work?  How did you get leave time or days off?  Did you have to schedule when you were going to be off ahead of time?
CV:  Well, we worked around the clock.  I mean, sometimes we worked around the clock.  When we wasn’t working at sundown, we’d get on our bike and go to the pub and so forth.  We worked when we had to work.  That was the main thing.  When work had to be done, everybody was there.

Grandson:  Nobody got time off when the missions were gone?

CV:  How was that again?

Grandson:  Leave time?
CV:  Well, you were allowed a 48 hour pass – I forget how it was now – 48 hour pass a month, or something like that.  We’d go to London.  Or you could go to Norwich.  At night they had, if you were off at night and had a couple of hours at night, you could – that’s another, I could bring it up, another joke there – but they’d go to Ipswich.  They had a bus, not a bus, a six by six – a big truck – that would take you to Ipswich or Norwich.  Most of the time they would stop at – most of them, they were parked in the stock yards.  And that’s where – you’d have to be there.  If you weren’t there, you missed it.  I don’t know how the guys would get back, but you would miss it.  Like this one guy was walking out there, walking toward the stockyards.  He was running, running, going to the stockyards.  He was running for the truck.  And this one guy yells out him “Hey, buddy, you don’t have to go.  You’ve got a half hour before the truck.”  And he says, “Yeah, but the guy’s wife is chasing me (laughing) The guy’s wife’s husband is chasing me!”  (Laughing) That was just a joke.  I don’t think it ever happened.  (Laughing) When we go time off, we went to town, or went to Ipswich and Norwich and London on our 48 hour pass.

Grandson.  You told us how you got over there.  How did you get back?
CV:  Same way.  I rode the Queen Mary twice.  I was very fortunate.

Grandson:  Did you go to New York City?

CV:  Well, I didn’t go to New York City until I made the return back.  When I came back from overseas, and I went to – had my 30-day leave.  And I went to South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  And then they sent me to New Jersey, and then from New Jersey, that’s when I went to New York City.

Grandson:  Where did the Queen Mary land when you came back from England?
CV:  In New York.  I forget exactly where.  But now it’s at a hotel out in California, I guess.

KS:  Did you come in during the daylight?  And if so, what were your thoughts at seeing the Statue of Liberty?
CV:  Oh wonderful.  Really wonderful.  Well, we used to sing that song:  “I’m going to get lit up when the lights go on in London.”  And we were always in blackout for 26 months.  Everything was at night; everything was in the blackout all the time.  And London, when I was downtown in London, it was hard to get around, even in London itself.  We took a ride down there on a 48-hour pass.  And then they had the bombings down there – the blitz down there.  That would scare the heck out of you.  Oh, excuse me.  I’m thinking now.  When you asked me about school – now it just came back to me.  Have you heard of Burtonwood, England?  OK, I went to engine school at Burtonwood.  I went to Burtonwood on engines, on the 1820 engine, cyclone engine.  And I went through a prop school at Burtonwood, England.  Had British instructors.  I forgot all about that.  But that’s where I took my main training.  That was my engine school training.  And I forgot all about that.
KS:  But then a lot of OJT.  

CV:  And the OJT, right.  But I did go to Burtonwood school, and also, at the time I was up there, Joe Lewis the boxer, world champion boxer, heavyweight champion, was putting on exhibitions up there.  I did get to see Joe Lewis at Burtonwood, England, which was wonderful.  But I forgot all about that school.  But that’s where I did get my main training on the 1820’s.  That was the engine of the B-17.

Grandson:  How many miles is it from Horham to London?

CV:  It was 90 miles, I believe, if I’m not mistaken.

KS:  I think that would be a good guess.

CV:  I think it’s approximately 90 miles.

KS:  Well we’ve visiting with Carl Voss from Cleveland, Ohio.  Served as an engine mechanic at Horham with the 95thBomb Group, 859th  Air Engine Squadron, and finished up in 1969 in the Air Force.  We thank you for your service.  Thanks for taking the time today to recount your experiences.  This has been Karen Sayco with the Legacy Committee of the 95th Bomb Group Memorials Foundation. Thank you again, Carl.

CV:  Thank you.  Thank you.