Edited by Lincoln King, Cassie Downing, and Fiona McGarity

To the Veterans of World War II of East Texas and to the Summerlee Foundation
for the grant which made the book a reality.

From the Introduction by J.W. Howland, Carthage, Texas:
"More than a half-century has passed since these men were young and performed the endless array of miracles that helped the Allies defeat the tyranny of the Axis powers.   But the fact remains that these young men rose to meet the challenge.  They did their job.  They did it well.  And some were still too young to vote."

See photos of reception honoring World War II veterans interviewed in "Their Finest Hour".

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Contents of Book

Bill Applegate
"We had a directive from the Air Force to find an airplane that had crashed during the war.  This was after the war was over.  The plane had crashed into Mount Apo, the tallest mountain in the Philippines..."

Turner Britton
"The closest I ever got to being shot was with one of our own guns.  Another ship was shooting at the Japs and hit us.  There were seven sailors there right where I was and they all got hit...."

John Searcy
" I hit the water twice, one time when I was shot down by antiaircraft fire on the island of Guam.  I guess a gun battery there outshot me.  I ended up looking for a submarine to pick me up after I went into the water... I looked up and saw a Japanese bomber heading for the sub that was supposed to pick me up..."

Bob Beaty
"The major come up to us and said, 'Boys, you're going to fly Hump Happy Pappy, (a B-29 bomber) back to the States.'  We were chosen because we had more combat time, and because they had a special project for us.   We took the old plane and found there were 128 holes in its side...."

Jack Bowen
"After being shot down, I was injured rather badly.   I had a broken bone in my left ankle and a severe back injury.  I tried to get up after I landed by parachute, but I had taken a bad blow to the head and didn't know my ankle was broken.  I was captured immediately...."

Clarence Otterman
"The Arizona had just docked in Peal Harbor a few days before the attack.  I was cleaning up and getting the area ready for church services on the fantail of the Arizona.  I looked up and saw planes flying.  By the symbol on their wings, I recognize them as Japanese planes.  At these time the bombs had a already started falling.  That was the biggest shock and surprise of life...."

Lovis Phillips
"One time a German soldier shot at me even before I saw him.  I wasn't aware he was near.  I was on a long line of soldiers moving up.... This German raised up and fired at me but missed.  I turned and fired at him and he went down.  I was fortunate.... I never liked to talk much about this part of my experiences."

George Berry West
"The worst mission that I was on was to Brunswick, Germany.  It was the worst because the enemy fighters would fly in the contrails and shoot the hell out of us, because we couldn't see them coming up behind us and taking evasive action..... When we came back from Brunswick, we had to scrap my plane because it had one-hundred-eighty-seven holes in it, but no one was wounded...."

Travis Williamson
"This German colonel with a monocle in his eye came up.  He must have been about five feet six inches.  He walked up to me with a pistol with a barrel you could stick your thumb in.  I'd never seen anything like it.   It was like a .410 shotgun.  He goosed me with that pistol in the stomach about three times, and side, 'If that plane blows up, I'll kill you.'  His English was as good as mine."

Everett Woodard
"One time the malaria was so bad that I passed out.   It was when I was about to shave.  When I woke up, they had me in a big vat of water filled with ice.  I'd rather stay in my quarters and take my medicine.   They let me take it easy until I got temperature right.  I then got my discharge from the Army."

Farris Ivie
"I looked up and there was General MacArthur.   He called me over and I went over and saluted him.  He said, 'I want to see Lieutenant Peterson.'  Lieutenant Peterson was one of my officers at that time."

Jack Harris
"We had a special job for the D-Day.  That was to take out the German's big guns covering the beach.  We were successful in that objective even though we suffered very high casualties.... They said we had about 82% casualty ratio.... I talked to General Bradley about it, and he asked how I was coming along.... He told me he was afraid I would be a little depressed, which I really was with the high casualty rate.  But the general then tried to cheer me up by saying they expected a 95% casualty ratio for my unit.  It was still a sad day to have lost so many friends."

C.E. Marshall
"I flew 53 missions altogether.  I believe before we took off on our 14th or 15th mission, we got caught in a bombing raid by the Japanese on our air strip.  Their planes came in, and we took cover.   Everyone in the crew was wounded, but all of us except for one finished our missions.  The rest of us received a Purple Heart for being wounded."

John Howland
"We popped to attention with eager anticipation as the Captain spoke to us.  'Men, I have good news and bad news for you.  The good news is that we are in Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of some of the prettiest and friendliest girls in the United States of America.  Our takeoff time for the return flight to Hondo is 2200 hours.  The bad news is that during our stay in Tulsa,  you are all restricted to this base.'  I will forever believe that Captain was some kind of a mixed-up sadistic nut."

Loblolly Press

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04/07/08