Traverse City Record-Eagle

Terry Wooten: Elders Project

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  • Dick Miller and the crew of the B-26 Miller piloted during World War II. Special to the Record-Eagle

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  • A plane on fire after being shot during World War II. Special to the Record-Eagle

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May 24, 2010

Lifelines: End of war experiences

By TERRY WOOTEN Local columnist

Recently I met a retired teacher who now teaches World War II veterans about World War II. He told me the war was so huge that most veterans only knew it through their own experiences, or the archetypal information. They don't like watching the movies.

Dick Miller was a pilot of a B-26 bomber over Germany. His older brother, Jack, was on the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and spent the entire war as a POW. They didn't talk much about it until we asked.

This month was the 65th anniversary of the end of war in Europe. I could fill this entire edition of the newspaper with war stories collected with the help of Kingsley and Elk Rapids students. The hard part was paring my column to three poems. There will be more here over the months.

On Memorial Day weekend, Interlochen Public Radio will be interspersing its regular programming with Elders Project poems. High school students from Kingsley and Elk Rapids will be reading their own works and mine. Check it out.

The first two poems are about Dick Miller, 86, of Elk Rapids. The last one is about Betty Bowden, of Kingsley, who turns 89 today.

B-26 Pilot Over Germany

It wasn't too bad,

except people shot at you.

 

On our very first flight over

we went on sort of daydreaming.

We weren't even near our target.

 

All at once …right in front of us

a plane completely …it didn't go into flames,

it exploded.

It must have been a direct hit.

After that

we were a little more careful.

 

Another time

we were on our way home

all relaxed.

Our navigator got too close to a bridge.

All at once

it sounded like

somebody was pounding

on the plane

with a baseball bat.

 

What the heck!

I made a dive and got out of there

in a hurry.

 

Back at the base

we found twenty-seven holes

in our plane.

The radio operator had a piece of flak

touch his cheek,

just enough to draw blood.

 

The tail gunner had a piece

go through his insulated suit.

It came out farther down

and never touched him.

Think how close that was.

We were lucky.

— By Cody Matteson, Elk Rapids High School

Loose in London

Crews took turns

going on what we called "Flack Leave."

In the summer guys would go

down to the French Riviera.

 

They gave our crew a month off in England

in early spring.

For two weeks we had a hotel

on the west side on the coast.

 

Three officers and three enlisted men,

we had rooms and food,

beer and booze

and could do anything we wanted.

 

Then they turned us loose in London

for two weeks.

I was twenty one,

and girls were pretty back then too.

 

We were in Piccadilly Circus,

a theater and amusement area

on the main square in West London

when we heard the news.

The war ended in Europe

on May 8, 1945.

People went crazy.

 

Right about that time

we were supposed to go back

and finish our missions.

We all drank

and did things that were normal

I shouldn't talk about.

My memories are a little vague.

 

After a few more days

we went back to our squadron

but we didn't have to go bombing anymore.

That was the idea

that took getting used to.

I flew twenty-eight missions.

 

— By Terry Wooten

Willie

After Phil was wounded

in North Africa

and came back from overseas,

he was sent to Utah

to guard German and Italian

prisoners of war.

 

I went there on a train to join him,

and worked at the same depot

teaching prisoners

how to mend uniforms

with sewing machines.

I taught them military correspondence,

typing and filing.

 

One of these prisoners

was Willie Joseph.

He was fifteen years old.

One day the guard

knocked on the class door,

and wanted to speak

to Willie Joseph.

 

Both his parents had been killed

in the last battle

in Germany.

He came back into the class

crying.

I felt bad

and hugged him. (Almost cries)

It's hard to explain.

— By Terry Wooten

Poet Bard Terry Wooten has been performing and conducting writing workshops in schools for 27 years. He is the creator of Stone Circle. Learn more about him at www.terry-wooten.com.

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