Calvin Dopp

95th BOMB GROUP (H) ASSOCIATION

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

2002 REUNION         ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

RM:  This is Russ McKnight.  Can you tell me your name and the date please?

CD:  Calvin S. Dopp, and the date is September 14, 2002.

RM:  I need to know about the time you spent in the Army Air Corps or the Air Force.

CD:  I originally enlisted on June 8, 1942, and I spent some time in (about six months before I was called to active duty) as an aviation cadet, and I took my final retirement on April 1 of 1972.

RM:  And of that time, how much time was spent with the 95th Bomb Group in England?

CD:  I spent approximately – let’s see, it was from November of 1943 until April 1944.  That’s when I finished my missions, and I came back to the States for 30 days and went back to the 95th, but I was reassigned to Headquarters 13th Combat Wing doing mission planning and photo interpretation.  I departed the 13th Combat Wing on January 1945 for permanent reassignment to the States.

RM:  What was your principal job with the 95th?

CD:  My principal job was as a bombardier on an aircrew.

RM:  What Squadron?

CD:  It was the 412th Squadron, and my first pilot was Bruce Hyde.  [Correct name?]

RM:  When and where did you enlist in the military?

CD:  I enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program on June 8th 1942.

RM:  Then how did you work up to being a bombardier?

CD:  Well, I was called to active duty in December 1942, and I went to preflight training at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, and after completing preflight, I was sent to San Angelo Bombardier School, and I went through the bombardier program and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and given a rating of Bombardier and Air Observer in June of 1943.

RM:  How did you get to England?

CD:  I was assigned to a combat crew-training program at Pyote, Texas.   We spent approximately a month with our crew in Pyote, Texas, then we were reassigned to combat crew training at Dalhart, Texas, and we completed that training in late October of 1943, and we were shipped from Dalhart, Texas, to Grand Island, Nebraska, spent approximately two weeks in Grand Island, Nebraska, and then departed on a train and went to New Jersey and boarded the Queen Mary, which had been converted into a transporter, a troop transport, and we were transported to England in that way, and we were reassigned or assigned to a crew replacement pool and were then shipped within a day or two to the 95th Bomb Group at Horham where we underwent some local training and familiarization with England.  I’m trying to think how I flew my first mission; I know where it was – it was to Emden, on the sub pens, and it was in mid-November that I flew my first mission.

RM:  Did you stay with the crew that you were put together with?

CD:  Yes, the entire crew completed 27 missions.  We were held back because we were a lead crew, and that extended our missions from 25 to 27; it was originally 25, so we flew a couple of extra missions.

RM:  So they got their money’s worth?

CD:  Yes.

RM:  Can you tell me about some of the more memorable missions you were on?

CD:  Well, I was on the second Schweinfurt mission.  We flew a number of long missions, for instance, we went to Poznan, Poland, three times to bomb the aircraft factories, and I always dreaded that particular flight because you had to go up over the North Sea, and the ??? over Denmark to Poznan, which was in Poland, and I really did not like a flight up over the North Sea because in the Winter and early Spring, the weather was so cold and treacherous that your life span in the North Sea if you were not rescued was just a matter of hours.  I would have sooner risked myself over the continent on the possibility of being shot down and being able to evade.  I was on the first mission to Berlin the 4th of March 1944, and I guess that was my most memorable mission, and it’s one mission that I personally will never forget.  And as I recall, the first Berlin mission, it really was a mission that started the 3rd of March.  We would normally be called early in the morning on a mission that extensive, and you would end up with a breakfast of fresh eggs, which was kind of a treat.  On the 3rd of March, we were awakened, and we had our breakfast, and we went down to the briefing room, and the string was stretching from England to Berlin by way of the North Sea, going up over Denmark, and coming South as if we were going to Poznan and into Berlin.  Well, the weather was so horrendous that day, we took off and were assembling, and the clouds were up to 30,000 feet, groups were running into each other.  I saw several mid-air collisions where a group would come out of the clouds and – boom – there was another group in front of them.  The weather was so horrendous that they eventually called off that particular mission, and crews were then diverted or were dispersing, going back to home base.  It was just a horrible situation.  The next morning, which would have been the morning of the 4th, we were awakened early, and I guess everyone realized it must be Berlin again.  The weather on the 4th was much better.  We had our breakfast, had our briefing, our intelligence briefing, and took off, and then the rest is history.  We had the entire Air Force ahead of us and behind us.  I guess the 95th would have been midway.  My particular crew was in the second group of the 95th, which also had elements of the 95th, the 100th, and the 390th Group, which was not an uncommon situation.  Many times a group would be supplemented by another group.  And, of course, Al Brown and Col. Mumford, Griff Mumford, were the Command Pilot and Pilot of the first group, which the 95thput up.  The weather was much better that particular day than it was the day before, and we were tooling along.  I think the entire crew, my crew - my impression was that they were very serious.  This was the first time that Berlin was going to be bombed.  The chatter on the intercom was much more subdued than it normally was.  I think the people were…there was apprehension, but a natural apprehension that went with a mission of that importance, because this was the first time that Berlin would have been bombed by the American Air Force and during daylight hours.  The British, of course, were bombing Berlin at night for several years, you know, and then all of a sudden, the Air Force ahead of the 95th groups started to turn around and head back.  Here it is, a reasonably good day, and we had this max effort, and the Air Force is turning back for some reason, and we found…we got the story after we got back because being an element, a group of the 95th, we stayed with our group, and the first group did not turn back of the 95th; it went on.  And the story that we found out later was that apparently – and our radio man gave our pilot the same story – there was a recall, and although we were not in the lead group, lead ship, Col. Mumford apparently had asked his radio man to challenge the recall, and he did not get a reply to his challenge because the Germans had actually put this recall out we found out later.  And so he said well send back a message that we’re going to the target and send some fighter escorts, and we, as a result, we went in and bombed our target – I’m not sure that we really had a max strike.  When we got to the target area, there was some overcast, and targets were hard to pick up, but we did get bombs away, and we hit something.  We completed the mission, and I did at one time have or know what the losses were, but I know that my pilot, even today, when I call him, the one question that he asks was “What happened to that high squadron?”  We had them, and it took three other aircraft in the particular element, and they disappeared, and it was not funny then, but it was sure sobering to see those three…that three ship element one moment, then all of a sudden they disappeared.  And I understand that two of the crews, at least two of the crews, we went over to verify became prisoners of war, which was…I guess the one thing we can say is that it was…their period of confinement was much less than it would have been if it had occurred six months earlier, because we were only three months away from the invasion at that time.  But that I guess the Berlin raid of 4 March which I kind of extend to the 3rd of March because of the recall was the most unforgettable occasion of my life, other than getting married.  But it was certainly a privilege to have been on it, although I think much of life is because we’re either at the wrong place at the wrong time.  I think it’s just a real experience…anyone that was on that mission never forgets.

RM:  Who was your pilot?

CD:  Bruce Hyatt was my pilot.

RM:  All the way through?

CD:  Yes, all the way through.  The only person on our crew that did not participate in all 27 missions as a crew was our co-pilot, and he, I think twice, was replaced by Command Pilot because of the nature of our position in the group on that particular day, and he made up his missions, and he also finished his total tour the same time that we did.

RM:  Did you have any special feelings of relief when you got the 27th in?

CD:  Oh, I think you always have a feeling of relief.  We just had confidence in ourselves, and I attribute it a lot to good flying, good maintenance, which is of course our ground crews and what have you, and just working together.  We had some excellent gunners, and I think flak or anti-aircraft fire is kind of a chancy thing.  You know, even the best crew could get knocked down by anti-aircraft fire, but a good crew that flies close formation where you could take advantage of our guns and the other ships that were in your formation, where you could give a more concentrated fire meant a lot as far as being able to complete your missions.  You could put up a better defense.  I think good flying and good crew maintenance and good crew attitude and training were really central.  Your chances of coming through were much better if you could have that concentration of fire and power, you know.  And, from that standpoint, I think that we, our crew and the 95th  - the 95th always had a good reputation of being good formation fliers, and the concept of the flying fortress was concentrated fire - our guns taking advantage of another crew’s fire power because of the type of flying that we were doing.

RM:  Did you have any fun experiences in England?  I mean it would be kind of neat to be in England.

CD:  Any what…funny?  Oh, yes, our crew was a close knit crew.  We would go on leave together.  Our co-pilot who tragically lived through all these missions, and he returned to the States and drowned in Lake Michigan; he got pulled under by an undertow or something.  He was English; his father was born in England, although Wally was born in the United States.  He had a number of relatives…he had an uncle in London, so we went to the dining hall, and we got a ham.  The mess sergeant gave us a ham, and we went down to see Wally’s relatives, and it had been years since Wally and his uncle had seen each other, and they got to talking and talking, and they kind of forgot about the fact that there were three more of us there.  We never did get to bed to about 4 o’clock in the morning.  Wally realized that we were all lounged around in the living room down there, and they had forgotten to send us to bed or show us where we were going to sleep and all of that.  I had a bicycle when I was in England too, and another funny experience was when a couple of us were out cycling around the country, and I had an accident.  Of course, it wasn’t funny at that time, but I never did live it down.  I hadn’t had anything to drink either, hadn’t even had a bitters.  So, it was an enlightening experience; there was always something going on. The barracks that I was in – it was a two-crew barracks – and there were four officers from our crew and four officers from another crew.  We developed the myth that our barracks was a jinxed barracks.  We had about four missions, and we had a new crew come in, and there were five crews in succession shot down on their first mission after moving into our barracks.  I had a real good friend, a fellow by the name of Bill Barrett [sp?], who went through bombardier school with me and preflight and what have you, he went into Pathfinders shortly after -- well, they had about ten missions and -- his crew was – well, our crew was actually selected and our pilot went in and said my crew doesn’t want to go to Pathfinders, we want to just stay, and Bill’s crew decided or rather his pilot decided that they would have more advantage if they went to Pathfinders.  If the target was cloud covered, well then the Pathfinders would take over and locate the target by radar.  Well, my friend Bill, he was at this new station of his, and he decided he wanted to come over and spend a couple of days with me.  He and I were real close, and he was Best Man when I was married.  His pilot told him now, he said: “Bill, I don’t want you to go over there and stay in that barracks with Hyatt’s crew.  That’s a jinxed barracks.  There’ve already been three or four crews shot down on their first mission.  I don’t want you to jinx the crew.”  Well, Bill, he’s not superstitious, he came over, and he spent the better part of a week.  We had four vacant beds there because our crew had been shot down, and so he stayed in the barracks – he said that doesn’t mean anything.  The first mission that he flew after he got back to his station, they were shot down.  And we never did find Bill…was picked up and captured and became a prisoner and spent the balance of the war in a prison camp, but we never did get the word on his pilot.  His pilot apparently was killed by the Gestapo.  The underground picked him up, and he was in this house.  They were moving him along, you know, to get them out to England, and the Gestapo raided it, and we understand he was shot by the Gestapo.  I think what happened, Hocum was the type of a fellow that under attack we understand the house was raided – the Gestapo apparently had some word on it.  I guess Capt. Hocum went for his gun, and that was it.  He didn’t make it.

But, that’s some of the experiences that I recall - some humorous, others not so humorous.  But I guess you just have to take the best with the worst.  I have recollections – I don’t have my flight log here, but I went to just about every target that was well known – Munster, which was the second Munster I was at.  The first Munster was when the 100th Group was wiped out.  You probably had some people in here before, or you will since, that were on that mission and saw the 100th wiped out in just a matter of minutes.  I was not on that mission, but I was on the second Munster, and they almost repeated, but they didn’t quite do it.  We went to Schweinfurt.  While I was flying missions, some of the most difficult targets from the standpoint of fighter opposition and what have you were the missions to the sub pens.  Of course, the submarine was a weapon Hitler protected with all costs.  It was heavily defended by ack-ack.  I always took the approach, I would many ways sooner trust myself to the ack-ack than I would to some of these German fighters that were stationed along the English channel.  Abbeville was the home of a lot of the best fliers in the German Air Force; they used to call them the Abbeville kids.  It was really something to see because we did have some English Spitfire help when we were flying close to the English channel and some of the sub pen activities.  I remember vividly a mission to Paris shortly after I started to fly missions.  It would have been in December, and that was a…Paris was a heavily defended area, and when we flew missions in the occupied territory, like in France or Belgium, why we were much more controlled as far as where you dropped your bombs.  There was no indiscriminate bombing because they were occupied.  Even in Germany, at least the early time that I flew, they didn’t do any indiscriminate bombing.  It was not until the latter part of the war when they were really tearing Germany apart that…there was no…I never ran into or experienced anything that would equate to bombing of civilians or what have you as an intentional situation.  It’s kind of like even the air war today – occasionally our force today, whether we like it or not, everything is not copasetic, so to speak, and we have accidents that occur – not intentionally, and I, at least during the time that I was flying, I never experienced what I thought was considered indiscriminate or bombing of civilian targets.  It was all legitimate wartime and war-related targets, which I was proud of in a lot of ways.

RM:  I have one more question for you, cause you had a different sort of thing – cause you went over and back and over and back.  Did you ever get to a point when you got to be home and you felt like finally I’m safe and I don’t have to worry about the war any more?

CD:  I was young then, of course, and when I finished my mission and went home, and I went back and the Wing, or the Group and the Wing, decided that I shouldn’t fly a second time, and I went to Wing Headquarters and then, eventually, because the war was starting to phase out because it was…in fact, I got back to the States the day that Roosevelt was inaugurated for the fourth time, and I was reassigned and the war in the Pacific was still very active, of course, and I felt that if the war continued, that I was a prime suspect for B29s, but that never happened, of course.  I was…but I don’t think there was ever a sense until the atomic bomb ended it in September of 1945 that a person was really safe.  I did not let it worry me, let’s put it that way.  By the time the atomic bomb fell, I had been back in the States from January to September – I think it was September – there was always that looking in the back of your mind that you’re a suspect, because you had experience, you had combat experience, and I guess there was a little more apprehension because the Germans in most cases, if you were picked up and captured, why I’ve talked to a lot of people who became prisoners of the Germans, and they indicated that after the initial attempt to get information, that you were not harassed – they did their initial attempts to obtain it.  The Germans, at least, pretty much, I think, complied with the Geneva Convention, where the Japanese reports from Japan were not that way, they did anything but comply with the Geneva Convention, so I think that’s always an apprehension.  Although the losses in the B29s were not that great, I would have felt comfortable, I guess, if I would have been reassigned to B29s.  I was not overly happy about the prospect, you know, but on the other hand, if that’s what it would have taken, I guess I would have been there, you know.  I think that was always a thought in the back of most people’s minds – just the gross violation of the Geneva Convention that the Japanese were known to harbor.

RM:  Anything else you’d like to throw in before we’re done.

CD:  Not that I can think of.  Like I say, my total experience encompasses many years because of the fact that I did come back in, and I saw the Air Force grow from an Air Corps into a great force, and I’ve always been proud of that, because I think my pride of service would probably be my experience with the 95th.  I was in Korea – I spent a tour in Korea; I spent many years in the Far East and Vietnam.  I commanded a squadron in Vietnam and a Logistics Squadron, and I’m proud of all that service, but I think that my experience in World War II with the 95th was probably one of the high points of my career, and I look on it with pride and I look on my…there have been many people assigned to the 95th over the span of experience in Europe, but I also feel with pride that my one mission – the one mission on 4 March because of its uniqueness, and when I say uniqueness…one group some 300 or 400 men at max and the picture is in Life Magazine was probably one of the high marks…just because it was a unit like that.  I take pride in all of my service, but I think that was probably the high water mark of a lot of our experiences.