Ed Davidson
95TH BOMB GROUP (H)
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
2003 REUNION RENO, NEVADA
(Interviewed by Janie McKnight)
JM: This is Janie McKnight with the Legacy Committee for the 95th Bomb Group. And today we’re interviewing Ed Davidson who is an honorary member of the 95th Bomb Group. For the record, would you state your name, and today’s date, and where we are.
ED: We’re in Reno, Nevada. Today’s date is September 10th, 2003. And my name is Ed Davidson - full name, Edwin Douglas Davidson.
JM: What were your dates of service with the Army Air Corps?
ED: I enlisted April 4th, 1942. I served in World War II; separated honorably in January, 1946; went to Cornell University; flew in the Reserves; transferred to St. Louis University and went to Parks College and flew in the Reserves there; graduated from college; got recall orders for Korea the same day; back on active duty and flew C-46's, C-119's in Korea. And then stayed in the Reserves until about 1957 - not quite enough to get my 20 years.
JM: And I know that you were with the 96th Bomb Group instead of the 95th.
ED: That’s correct.
JM: What squadron were you in, in the 96th?
ED: 339th, 96th Bomb Group.
JM: And what was your principle job?
ED: Pilot.
JM: Can you tell us a little bit about how old you were when you enlisted, and where you were, and your training?
ED: Yes, I was 19 when I enlisted - enlisted down on Whitehall Street in New York City. And they sent me home to wait for aviation cadet class. And I sat at home, waiting. May came. June came. No word at all. And about the middle of June I got word to report to New York - I was leaving the next day to go to Montgomery Field, Alabama to start training. I did finish the pre-flight training at Montgomery Field. And we went to Decatur, Alabama - flew the PT-17's there, the Steermans, for 60 hours. And then went to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas - the BT 13. Then went to AT-9, AT-10 training at George Field, Illinois. When I finished there - it was class 43C - aviation cadet class 43C. When I finished the training there, I went to Columbus, Ohio; transitioned left seat in the B-17. And then went to Tiger Field, where I picked up my crew members. And we went to Ephrata, Washington, down to Redman, Oregon, back to Ephrata, Washington, Grand Isle, Nebraska where training was completed, and all the necessary checks were made. And then to Fort Dix, New Jersey and across to England on the Queen Mary.
JM: And where in England was the 96th stationed?
ED: The 96th was at Snetterton Heath, which is north of Diss - approximately 25 - 30 kilometers northwest of Horham.
JM: Okay. When you got to England, you went through more training there before you...?
ED: No, to fly with the 96th, we had two practice flights. And they said, “You ready to go?” And then I went out on the first mission - and I don’t recall the destinations now. I have them all written down - they’re all in my log book. It was Kiel and Emden, Bremen, Ludwigshafen, Paris, and my final seventh mission at Bordeaux, France. I had one or two training flights during that period of time. We came into the 96th about the 27th or 28th of November. And flew my last mission on January 5th of 1944.
JM: And, before we get to that last mission, was there anything memorable that you’d like to mention?
ED: No, the only thing that I would mention is that we were awakened one morning - evidently we were still in training. We had a day of rest, or something, but I was in the Quonset hut and I heard these Spitfires go over. So I ran outside, and they came back over the base - three of them in formation, inverted at about 100 feet. That was a real thrill.
JM: So tell us now about your seventh mission.
ED: The seventh mission was to Bordeaux, France. We took off at about 7 a.m. in the morning. Of course for a 7 a.m. departure you have a wake up at about three in the morning. And then they have the breakfast and the briefing and so forth. But the lead airplane off crashed right at take off, off the end of the runway. So he was down at the end of the runway, burning, bombs exploding and so forth. But the rest of us continued on our 30 second departures right over that and out into assembly at altitude. I think we had Spitfire escort down to about the south coast of England, and then they hit out of range, so they had to turn around and go home. And we flew the rest of the way down to Bordeaux, pass over Bordeaux. Our squadron lead was hit with flak. As we turned off the target, the squadron started to fall behind the group, so that we were the six of us there together. We were then jumped by about 50 ME-109's. And they proceeded to come at us about 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock level, right through our group. They shot down four out of five of us that day. One guy from the squadron got home. The co-pilot was killed in the seat next to me. And we had a big fire in the cockpit. The number three engine burned off the wing. The right wing was on fire. All the communications were shot out. And the navigator came running up from the nose to see what was going on. I sent him back to tell the gunners in the back to wait until we got over land before they bailed out, because we were out over the Bay of Biscay. And he came back to report they had already left. The airplane was more or less out of control for a little bit. And with all the fire going on, they didn’t want to stay with us. Navigator came back up, and I said we’re not going to make land, so prepare the rest of the crew for ditching. So the rest of them got in the radio room and I managed to get the airplane on the water without too much damage. It floated for about 10 minutes before it sank, and we got the two dinghies tied together, and the five of us got in that and started paddling toward shore. We’re in the dinghies for about three and a half hours before the Germans came on the flying boat and made two or three passes over our dinghies, landed beside us, taxied over. And we paddled up to the airplane. And, with a pistol to our heads they said, “For you the war is over.” And they took us on board, and we took off from the water and flew back to Bordeaux on the coast. They put us in the hospital that night to recover from exposure and wetness and so forth. And they went out and looked for the rest of my crew members until dark, but they never found them. That night a young German pilot came in to verify that I was flying that position in the formation, because he wanted confirmation of his kill. I asked him what he was doing there, through an interpreter, asked him what he was doing there. And he said, “Well, your tail gunner shot me down after I shot you down.” What happened to him, I have no idea - whether he survived or not. We spent the one night in the hospital at Bordeaux. The Red Cross came in, took the information and notified my parents through an overseas network of ham radio operators. So they knew the next day that I was not missing in action anymore - I was a POW. I didn’t know until about seven months later that they knew that I was alive - before I got my first mail. We went from Bordeaux by train with the remnants of several other crews though Paris to Stalag Luft, the Dulag Luft interrogation center at Frankfurt. And we were in solitary confinement there for about six days. Every day we came out for a little interrogation or so forth, which we had been instructed: name, rank, and serial number only. So that’s all we gave them. And they said, well we’ve got so many people going through here we can’t waste time on 2nd Lieutenants. So he said, “Let me tell you a couple of things.” So he told me when I went to primary training, when I went to basic training, when I went to advanced training, when I put more crew together in Spokane, Washington. And then he said, “Did you see any submarines as you came across on the Queen Mary?” He said, “I have some friends on the submarine service. I was just wondering.” And here I couldn’t even tell my parents that I was going on the Queen Mary because it was so secret. So they had a dossier like that on almost all of the pilots, which amazes me, because a 2nd Lieutenant who knows nothing, really. He knew when I got to the 339th squadron, and who the squadron CO was. He knew all of this information. I couldn’t have given him any information if I had it. So after the time there, we were put in boxcars. Went up to Berlin the first night, and spent the overnight there in the rail yards as the British bombed Berlin. And then the second day and the third day, we were on the way up to Barth. And we detrained there at the train station. They marched us west along - I don’t know the name of the street - it was under the huge arch there at Barth, by the church. And we went out west a couple of miles, and turned north. The camp was there. That was about the extent of my seventh mission. It extended for 16 month before I was liberated.
JM: So now that you’re at the camp...
ED: We were liberated by the Russians on May 1st. April 30th, all of the Germans left and headed for the British lines, which were about 40 miles to the west. They didn’t want any part of the Russians. If they could get to the British, they’d be captured by the British rather than the Russians. Zemke, Colonel Zemke said and worked with the Russians to get arrangements made for B-17's to fly into the airport just south of camp to evacuate the whole camp back to Allied control. We did that, and marched from prison camp down through the town of Barth, down to the airport just south of there, got on a B-17's, and mine flew directly back into Camp Lucky Strike. The prisoner reception areas were named after cigarettes - Camp Camel, Camp Chesterfield, Camp Lucky Strike, and so forth. Fred Kennie, for example, flew into an airport near Reims, and then they trucked him over to Camp Lucky Strike. My crew members on my seventh mission - the bombardier and navigator were in the same prison camp - Stalag Luft I. But they were in North I compound. I never saw them again until after we were evacuated. The top turret gunner and the radio man went to an enlisted camp, and I didn’t see them again until the end of the war. So since then, the navigator has passed on. The bombardier still lives in northern California, and the radio operator lives fairly near me in San Diego.
JM: So the only one that you actually lost during the mission was your co-pilot.
ED: And the four gunners who bailed out over the water - presumably drowned. When we went back for the 95th - the dedication of the bells, which was my first association with the 95th as a group, we went to Cambridge cemetery. And on the wall of the missing, I found my five crew members: the co-pilot, and my four gunners listed there with the squadron and Bomb Group designation there. And I was not even aware they had the wall of the missing until this tour in ‘92. So that was a nostalgic trip too. And on that trip, after we had done the conducted tour around Horham and so forth - the 100th Bomb Group and the museums - Duxford and the British Air Museum in London - my two buddies and I, Fred Kennie and another, Jim Belingham, who was with us in cadet training, went over to Amsterdam, rented a car, drove out to where Fred’s airplane crashed in Holland. And then on up to Hamburg, Lubeck, and to Barth - went back to the old prison camp. And found that there’s not much there anymore. All of the north compounds are back to farmland. South compound, at the main gate area, they have a few concrete foundations from the original buildings. And there’s a memorial boulder there, and a nice little park that commemorates the POW’s who were there. That was a nice trip also. Then in 1997, Fred Kennie and I took it upon ourselves to go back to Horham. So we went back there and stayed with a British host that we had had in 1992. And we stayed at their cottage, which is right at the base. And they left us at the cottage with a car. And they came up from London on weekends to check on us. We were there for a month. So we got to go where we wanted, when we wanted. We hit a lot of the old airbases again and so forth.
JM: Now were you and Fred in prison camp together?
ED: Yes. We were in the same prison camp, the same barracks. And Fred got there probably a month or a month and a half before I did - because Fred was shot down in Münster October 10th of ‘43, and I didn’t go down until January 5th of ‘44.
JM: Tell us more about your time in the prison camp, and developing those relationships with people in the 95th.
ED: Again, when the barracks assignments were made in prison camp, I have no idea how they did it. Because, as I said, my bombardier and navigator were separated, and they went to a newer compound. Why I was selected for this barracks and this south compound, I don’t know. But I walk in and Jim Belingham is in the same room that I’m in. And Fred Kennie is down the hall in room 7. We knew from training and so forth, we knew personally these people. And they knew that I was not a German spy that was being wrung in, or anything like that. It was one thing that we were very cautious about because a newcomer would come in. If nobody knew him, then you had to be real careful what you said and how you said it until his identity was established, you might say. The time in prison camp was boring to the most extent. I did spend some time working with the tunnel groups - the escapes. We’d evacuate the dirt from underneath and put it in our pockets and walk around the parade ground to spread it around so that the Germans wouldn’t notice any fresh dirt. Of course the parade ground kept getting higher and higher as we brought more and more dirt out of the tunnels. Worked on seven different tunnels while I was there - none of them successful. I think the Germans were aware of our tunneling activity, and, to keep us busy and occupied and out of trouble, they’d let us dig until we got about to the outside perimeter fence. And then they’d pull a raid and close the tunnel down - a little punishment for everybody they caught involved in it. But other than daily, twice a day roll calls, it was boring. But as it’s been mentioned so many times, we lost our freedom. And you really don’t appreciate your freedom until you don’t have it. I was always optimistic that I was going to get home someday. I didn’t know when. There were times when the news was good, and we said, well, we’ll be home in a month or so. But that dragged on, and so I was there for a total of 16 months. After the camp was liberated, Broman and I had decided that we’d had enough of this. And we decided that we were going to walk back to the British lines. Well, we got just outside the camp, and our American military patrol who had been established in the camp for security purposes found us and said, you can’t do that. You have to wait for evacuation. They took our shoes away from us and put us in the cooler for the overnight so we’d learn a lesson and not try to evade again. But this brings up the interesting point that I mention in one of the talks that I’m in contact now with another room mate, Dave Goss, who turned out to be a 95th Group member in the 335th squadron. But he went through the same fence, but they didn’t catch him. So he walked back to the British lines, got back to England, and after I went through Camp Lucky Strike, I had a chance to get to London and I ran into Dave in London, and we spent four or five days in London before we finally came home from one of the west coast ports in England. My trip back to the United States was the same boat, ship, that my Dad came back on in 1919 after being in the trenches with the Marines over there. So it’s a small world.
JM: So, when you got back to the states, did you maintain contact with Broman and Fred?
ED: When we returned to the states, basically we pretty well scattered because they had a big reduction in force and they didn’t let us have any flying assignments. So I decided it was time to go to college on the GI bill. So I separated from service. I did go back down to Sebring, Florida and requalified in a B-17 before the armistice in Japan. But with the end of the war in Japan, they didn’t need us anymore, so that’s when I elected to go to college. Went to Cornell. And for the first two or three years we kept in contact - Christmas cards and so forth. But not close enough for personal meetings or anything. And the use of the telephone was not nearly as prevalent as it is today. And we got married and started raising kids and so forth. And we had our own families. We did not dwell too much on what we had been through. It’s only in the last twelve, fifteen years that I’ve become interested again, and excited about renewing old friendships and getting to reunions and so forth. But I always kept in touch with Jim Belingham and Fred Kennie because I’d known them for such a long time. I always knew where they were and what they were doing. When I got back from Korea, I started with American Airlines. And American Airlines opened a crew base in San Diego in 1973. And I decided I’d had enough of New York and snow and so forth, so I transferred to San Diego. This is where Jim Bellingham and Fred Kennie live. So from that time on we’d have occasional lunches and so forth. And then in ‘92 Fred got his notice from the 95th that they were going to have this reunion in England. And Jim and I decided that if we don’t get back there now, we probably never will. So we decided we’d just go along with Fred on his reunion. So that’s how I got - my initiation with the 95thBomb Group. And from day one, they welcomed me with open arms, even though I was the 96th Bomb Group.
JM: Are there any particular stories or memories or people that stand out during your time?
ED: No. Only the people I mentioned: Fred Kennie and Jim Belingham. And of course, Broman will be forever in my heart because of prison camp - because he bunked just above me, and we were so compatible and so close in age. I think Broman was a little younger than I am. I think he was 19 when he went into camp. And I had just turned 20. So I had my 21st birthday in prison camp. Other than that, I have no knowledge of anybody with the 96th Bomb Group because I was there such a short time. And as a crew, we maintained crew integrity. And I never flew with any other crew. None of my crew members ever flew with anyone else. Each of the bases seemed that assignment differently. A lot of crews got over there. Their pilot would go with some other crew - had five or six missions as an introduction to combat. But ours, after two training flights, they said you’re ready, and we went out and did the formation bit, and away we went.
JM: Can you tell me a little bit about the hierarchy in prison camp? I understand that you established the rank as you would in military.
ED: Yes.
JM: And was there very much structure? Were you assigned physical training and things like that?
ED: No, that was pretty much left to the individual in our compound. What North I, II, and III had, I don’t know. But it was, the highest ranking officer was the Commanding Officer. And then he would have the next ranking down I guess would be his __________________ so forth. I really did not understand much of the military hierarchy at the time because my job was pilot. All I did was go out and manage my crew and fly the missions. But the senior officer in the camp - at first it was a British officer outranked any of the Americans. So he was the South compound commander. And then, as ranking Americans came in, they took over and so forth. And we did not have, per se, one camp commander. If we had one, it would be Colonel Zemke near the end, because he was the ranking officer at the time. I don’t know that we had any General officers there. They did have, at the end of the war, when we knew that the Russians were coming, the Germans were going to leave, the military established within the camp took firm control. And they established their own security force, intelligence force, contacts crews to go to talk to the Russians, and so forth. But I was still, as far as I knew, as 2nd Lieutenant. I found out when I got home that after my fifth mission they’d promoted me to 1st Lieutenant. It did make a little difference in pay when I got home.
JM: Now, the digging of the tunnels, was that an organized thing, or if you felt like it, you went down there and dug?
ED: No. It was coordinated and it was - we’d had an escape and evasion committee in there. And nobody just - well, a few people arbitrarily would try to go over the fence by themselves, to be loners. But basically we worked as a group to cover up. Some would do the tunneling, and some would be there to man the air pumps. Some would be there to keep the margarine jars filled, so we’d have light down there and so forth. And then we had to have another group that disposed of the dirt after it was removed from the tunnel. It was not a willy nilly thing. It was coordinated and pretty well planned out.
JM: I had a question......it’s gone by.
ED: That’s the first thing that goes (chuckle). But I have been very fortunate in my life, I think. I’ve been exposed to some real danger, and have survived. I’ve had a fairly contented, happy life, doing what I wanted - flying. Stayed in the Reserves to fly. Got all the flying I could get there. Went back to Korea; flew from Ashia to different places in Korea. This was troop transport over there, and we carried munitions, bombs, ammunition and so forth, guns over to Korea. And generally a load back would be body bags. It was an essential service. When I got back in ‘45, I tried to get with the airlines, but they weren’t hiring at the time. The airline industry is very cyclic anyway, so. I did the bit in the Reserves, and Korea. Came back, and American was hiring, so I started with them - got 28 ½ years flying with them - very happy years. Finally retired in the 747 as a pilot on that. The last trip was non-stop to Honolulu, 24 hour layover there, non-stop back to LA. Age 60, you’re done. That was one of the biggest disappointments in my life, was saying you can’t fly anymore, commercially. You can still fly for fun and stuff like that. I was very fortunate in that, when I was in for my last ___________________ training with the airlines, they asked me to come down to the flight academy and work as a simulator instructor. So, I retired from July ‘83 until September ‘83, and that was enough of that. So I took them up on their offer, and started from San Diego over to Dallas working flight simulators. I’d go over and work three days, or four days in a row, come back to San Diego and have a week or two off. So it was just like flying the trips with the airline. But I did that for a year, instructing American Airlines pilots on the DC-10. And then American got a contract with the Air National Guard, working on KC-135 E models. And those were tankers that were modified, but the engines from American Airlines 707's, and some from TWA. And the Guard contract was for five years. So I worked that. And then we extended for another five, and then another five. And I finally ended up with 19 ½ years of flight simulator instructing with the Air National Guard. Met a lot of nice people with the Guard. One of the benefits of our contract was that, as a flight simulator instructor, we could go out to the bases and fly their airplanes. So we’d go to Air National Guard base, and they would put an instructor pilot in the right seat, and put us in the left seat, and away we’d go. Did the take offs, the landings, a lot of times in the seat for re-fuelings and so forth. Of course, with the Guard pilots, high time Guard pilot would be maybe five or six thousand hours. And I retired from American with about 24,000 hours - 9,000 of it in the 707. They felt quite confident about having me in the left seat to handle the airplane.
JM: I remembered what I wanted to ask you. When you came back, did being a prisoner of war linger with you? Did it stay with you? Did you think about it a lot?
ED: Not too much. I know there were recurring dreams that I had for a period of time. But then going on with my life, going to college, getting married, having children - that all kind of faded in the background. But in recent years, it’s started coming back a little bit. My personality is such that basically I remember the good times rather than the bad, so I don’t have any wild nightmares that I can’t sleep, or anything like that. The memories are there. I wouldn’t give them up for $1000, and I wouldn’t want to do it again.
JM: Okay, well we’re almost to the end here.
ED: Already?
JM: I know, it goes by pretty quickly. Is there anything else that you would like to add for the record, or anything that popped into your mind.
ED: No, not really. I had the Legacy talk the other night, and this morning again. I don’t like to repeat myself too much, but I realize this if for a different thing. No, I think you’ve led me very well into this interview. I hope I’ve satisfied your needs.
JM: Absolutely
ED: Good.
JM: Thank you so much for taking the time today, and also for your contributions during World War II.
ED: Thank you.
JM: And we’re so happy to have you in the 95th.
ED: Thank you very much. And it sure is my pleasure to have a group of you young people like this, doing this.
JM: Thank you.
ED: You’re welcome.