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Serving Uncle Sam: A Military Life in WWll

Gerald Schwartz USAAC 1940 - 1945

This is a very special collection of memories from a ground crew chief supporting a front-line fighter squadron. What makes it special is that the events it describes were written down at the time and are published here without any editing. It is a vivid account of a young man, abroad from his native home for the first time but open to all the extraordinary experiences of war in foreign lands.



List of Contents

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Chapter 1: Enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Corps, May 1940

Chapter 2: Windsor Locks Airforce Base, Bradley Field, Connecticut

Chapter 3: Frozen in Long Island: Dec 12 1941. Overseas!

Chapter 4: Shipping Out July 15 1942. Submarine Attacks, Egypt!

Chapter 5: 57th Fighter Group Reunited. Attacked by Flies. Off to Palestine

Chapter 6: Snubbed by an American. Pummeling Rommel. Facing a Gurkha

Chapter 7: Lord Trenchard Briefing. Our British Allies

Chapter 8: Surviving the Desert and the Luftwaffe. Eating Sand. The Daily Routine

Chapter 9: El Alamein to Libya. Strange Diseases

Chapter 10: The Exterminators! Thanksgiving Meal. Eagle Sqd Veterans Join.

Chapter 11: Tripoli. A General's Tirade. Towards Tunisia

Chapter 12: Zuara, Libya. Intense Attacks. 8th Army Snuffs out Afrika Corps

Chapter 13: Tunisia. Lost at Night. Death of Captain Mitchell

Chapter 14: Fight for Mareth Line. Eisenhower. Dangers of Hitting Our Troops whilst Strafing

Chapter 15: Fierce Attacks on Afrika Corps. Desolation at Sfax. A Thief Caught

Chapter 16: El Djem, Tunisia. The Georgian Minister. Palm Sunday Massacre

Chapter 17: Butterfly Bombs. The Slobs Meet 1st Army. 65,000 Prisoners

Chapter 18: 120,000 Prisoners. Overcoming British Skepticism. Smells of the Casbah!

Chapter 19: Cap Bon, Tunisia. Scrounging off Afrika Corps. Enemy Surrender to our Planes. Sicily

Chapter 20:Rough Passage to Sicily. Montgomery's Praise. Pickled by Strega in Pachino!

Chapter 21: Scordia, Sicily. Wine Evenings! Conquest of Sicily. Catania. Learning Italian

Chapter 22: Our First Fresh Meat. Shelled by 88mm Cannon.

Chapter 23: Repairing Ju88. Major Threatens us with Colt45. Sabotage! Schwartz the Red!

Chapter 24: Invasion of Italy Begins. Italians Surrender. Scrounging German Planes. Mission to Naples. Fruit and Nuts A'Plenty

Chapter 25: Bad Feeding. Poverty in Italy. Using our Stolen Tent. Malaria

Chapter 26: Ride in a Fighter. Repairing My Plane. RAF Landing Technique. 460 MPH Beat-Up

Chapter 27: Repairing Italian Planes. Near Bari. Eating Ice Cream with Italian Air Force.

Chapter 28: Bari for Good Food. Lady Chasing with Italian Friends. Freezing Cold. Foggia. 100 Plane Strafing

Chapter 29: Electricity! Booby Traps. Front Line Fighting. William Benedict Scores. Over Yugoslavia. 200 FW-190s Arriving!

Chapter 30: Booby Traps. Malaria. Jewish Brigade. Losing 6 Planes. Some Chicken Some Neck

Chapter 31: Bombing Greece. Downing 6 Stukas. Red Benedict's 1000 Thieves. Scrounging Everywhere. Bombing Vienna

Chapter 32: Amendola. Bulls, Sheep, Turkeys. Meals Fit For Kings. Working the Me-109. Russian Front

Chapter 33: Angelo at San Marco. Hair Raising Drive Down a Mountain. Last of the Gobblers

Chapter 34: Preparing for Thunderbolts. Endless Rain. Scrounging for Thanksgiving. Recce over Yugoslavia. See Naples and Heave. Driving with Mustard Gas. Monty's Thanks. Jaundice

Chapter 35: Hepatitis. Mustard Gas in Bari. Rejoined American Air Corps. Special Scrounge Group

Chapter 36: Pig! Unrelenting Rain Grounds Our Planes. Montgomery Leaves Us.

Chapter 37: Leaving British Forces. Living off the Land. Equipping our B-25 Scrounge Plane. Memories of Roller Skating. Here come the Thunderbolts!

Chapter 38: B-24 Crash Lands. Making Pies. Survival Priorities. Paratroops to Yugoslavia. Rifle Inspection. Skip Bombing.

Chapter 39:P-47 Thunderbolts At Last. Race for Rome. Strafing Yugoslavia. Arrested as Spies!

Chapter 40: Learning the P-47. Stealing Hogs and a Cow. No More Doubled Decking. Incendiary Bombing

Chapter 41: Bombing Ourselves! Lt. Barlow Found. Freezing Butts. Making a Stove. Raining - Again!

Chapter 42: Too Many Men. Sickness Threatens. A Soft Mattress At Last. New Doc.

Chapter 43: Dive Bombing Ships. Softball Aches and Pains. Fighter Sweep Over Jugoslavia. Mix Up Over Move to Cercola. Counter Attacks at Anzio.

Chapter 44: Move to Cercola. Chasing Women Out of Camp. First Coke! Face Slaps for My Efforts. Vesuvius Erupts

Chapter 45: Nosing Over In Mud. Shooting down FW190s. Massive Effort At Cassino. Vesuvius Amazing Sight. Losing Pilots.

Chapter 46: Cercola Evacuated. Bombing Cassinonuevo. Naples and Flaming Onions. On Board British Ship. Wild Sailing

Chapter 47: Enroute Corsica. Travelling Through Corsica. Moroccan Ack Ack Crew. Speaking In Languages. We Get a Stove! Includes brilliant colour film made in Corsica about 57th.

Chapter 48: Dive Bombing at Po. Make Do and Mend. B Party Arrives. Red Benedict Flies In. Lafayette Escadrille Lands.

Chapter 49: Baseball Against Officers. AWOL. Bad Food. Pub Fight. Squadron Reunited

Chapter 50: Bomb Kills Two. A Big Canteen. Maintenance on P-47. Strafing Near Florence. Chased By Pig. Record Combat Hours

Chapter 51: Strikes On Arezzo. A Valley On Fire. 4000 ft Explosions. German Fighters Destroyed. Benedict Ditches. The Ideal Commander. Bombing Ourselves Again!

Chapter 52: Presidential Citation 57th Group . Stopping the German War Machine. Benedict Promoted to Major.

Chapter 53: Dive Bombing Northern Italy. Attacked by Ju-88. Destroying 6 Me109s.

Chapter 54: British/French Navy Mock Battle. Naples Attacked. German Commandos Seize British Radar. German Vessels Sunk. Presidential Citations. Spanish Accordion.

Chapter 55: Our Pioneering War Making. Early Dawn Attacks On German. Those Citations. Our Scrounge B-25 Loads Up Liquor.

Chapter 56: Pilot Killed. Changing Tires And Blowing Ourselves Up! How To Make Soup. Delicious English Tea.

Chapter 57: Drunken Respite From War. Corte and Red Headed Girl. Impromptu Party. Another German Commando Raid

Chapter 58: Return From Corte. Huge German Attack Kills Many. Move To Mountains. Push on Cassino. An Excellent New Camp

Chapter 59: Our New Swimming Hole. Drinking Cape Corse. Dive Bombing Near Florence.

Chapter 60: New P-47s Arrive. Red Cross Girls. We Drop More Bombs Than Ever! Serious Injury At The Party

Chapter 61: Blasting German Column Discovered By RAF. Puerto Rican Guards Arrive. New Friends! Benny Is Leaving! Some Pilots Glad Because Benny Wages All Out War

Chapter 62: D-Day At Last! Two Years In Combat. Two Pilots Crash. 5th Army Loses Contact With Enemy. Stomach Pains

Chapter 63: CO's New Plan. Percy Geuin Dies. Invasion of Elba. Tillson Goes Berserk. Lt. Barlow Crashes and Burns

Chapter 64: Barlow's Funeral. Early Morning Ops. Pettis Delirious With Malaria. Chocolate Arrives From Home. Another Citation. Quiet Independence Day

Chapter 65: Trials Of KP. Typhus Shot. Red Benedict Pays A Visit. Lt. Rahn Killed. Pass To Alexandria!

Chapter 66: Flight to Alexandria! The Waiter Called 'No Good'. Striking Out With Nené. Jewish Brigade. Hairy Landing in Malta. CO Leaf

Chapter 67: Transferring to B-29. Out of Debt! Bubble Canopies Due. Sharing Salami. The Whiskey Run. Throwing Oil

Chapter 68: 'Rabbi' Beck Going Home. 30 Bubble P-47s. 250 Bottles Gin Arrive. Ice from 30,000 ft! Morale Bad Blah Blah. Outr 2000th Mission!

Chapter 69: Bombing Along Arno. Knock Out Blows To Bergamo. Don The Barber Arrives. Offensive in Southern France

Chapter 70: Bombing Southern France. Planes Shot Up. Courts Martial. Finding Friends Post-War

Chapter 71: Laid Low By Cold. Mosquito Attack! Bubble Jobs Arrive. Paris Falls. Reasons Officers Treat Us Well!

Chapter 72: Bombing Missions Limited By Supplies. Looking Forward to Return to Italy. Man Kills Dog! Warned We Must Behave in France!

Chapter 73: Running Out of Bombs. Flying to France for Repairs. Too Low for Comfort. Flying Back to Corsica Two Up In Single Seat Fighter!

Chapter 74: Washing in 100 Octane. Our Pilot Killed. Francs into Lira. Italy!

Chapter 75: Singing the Night Away! Bombing Po Valley. My Pilot Killed. Liberating a Hogshead. Crazy Antics. Indian White's Knife Play.

Chapter 76: Barely Making Take-Off. Trip to Italy. Recruiting Barbers. A Busy Day! 66 Fighter Group Record Corsica

Chapter 77: Buying a Barber's Chair. Rain and More Rain. Hotel California in Rome and Romance.

Chapter 78: Flies, Bees or Mosquitoes. Mud. To Rome!

Chapter 79: Back to Rome. Romancing. Singing the Night Away! Shot At By Comrades! Death of Bud the Rooster

Chapter 80: 120mm Rockets. Family Dance at Castiglione. Spanish with Rivera. Present from Cuba

Chapter 81: Greasing the Planes. Food from Home. Jumping on Fruitcakes! Rover Joe Missions

Chapter 82: Rover Joe Explained. Stealing Food to Survive. Flame Bombing the Gustav Line. Selling Smokes.

Chapter 83: Mosquito Attack. Sore Throat. Brand New P-47. Home Made Stove. 20 Sorties Before Lunch

Chapter 84: My Own Plane At Last. Building a Home from Home. Army Foul Up. Rain, Again!

Chapter 85: Sleeping In. Fixing the Leaks. Carbines. Bella.

Chapter 86: The Great Flood of Grossetto.

Chapter 87: Desperate Measures After The Flood. Huge Allied Losses on Gothic Line. Dived Bombing to Protect Our Forces. Flying in Foul Weather

Chapter 88: Early Morning Missions. Pride in My Plane. Return to Our 'Home'. Lothar Gets Run Over. Retrieving My Stuff From A Tree

Chapter 89: War Boosting Thunderbirds. Hospital Again. Singing In Italian

Chapter 90: Sick Call. Rain, Rain. Early Morning Training Missions. Losing a Pilot. Storm Rages

Chapter 91: My Plane's Super Reliability. Drinking With Pettis. Decisions on Home Leave. Lost Carbine. Pilot Killed in Mountain Crash

Chapter 92: Wine, Food and Song. More Wine, Food and Song! I Start Teaching Italian. Red Benedict's Gift of Experience with Me109

Chapter 93: Eye Trouble. Bombing the Brenner Pass. Getting Set for Capri!

Chapter 94: Flight To Naples. Boat to Capri. Beautiful Hotel. Gold Stripes! Neapolitan Dialect!

Chapter 95: The Beauty of Capri. Meeting Spanish American from LA. Visiting Magical Blue Grotto! To Anacapri with Teresa

Chapter 96: Valentine Club. I'm Leaving For Naples. Then I Head for Rome. Driving Through Cassino Devastation. My Favourite Pension in Rome. Alexander Club. Yolanda

Chapter 97: Rome with Ashkenazi. Language Subtleties. Opera La Traviata! Drinking with British Soldiers. Broke Again! Romance Late at Night

Chapter 98: Christmas and Cold. Making Ourselves Cosy. Attacking Brenner Pass. Seeking Chickens!

Chapter 99: 3000 Missions! New Year's Eve Party of Parties. Hammering Po Valley. Mills Shoots Lowther on Guard Duty! New Exec Officer Trouble

Chapter 100: Bombing Brenner Pass. Request Transfer to Translators. Depression and Lethargy. Charles Leaf Flies 200th Mission. Nearly Caught by MPs.

Chapter 101: Depression Breeds Violence. Understanding Italian Movies At Last. Move to Villefranca. McDonnel Takes My Diary to USA for Safety. Living in Former Death Camp. Beautiful Italy!

Chapter 102:To Milan In A Jeep. Mixed Up With Surrendering German Convoys. Liberating a Kubelwagon. Sneaking Past Redcaps to Milan. On To Alps.

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Winding Down From War. Hiding Our German Jeeps. Getting to Bastogne. VE Party. Generalissimo Franco

Chapter 104: Podraze Goes To Stuttgart. Told We Are Okinawa Bound. Our Protest to Inspecting General. Our Colonel Under Arrest. We Are to Go Home!

Chapter 105: On Our Way! Accidents and Dreadful Diseases. Flying Over Appenines

Chapter 106:Fano Roman Town. Magnificent Florence. Sailing Adriatic. The Ladies of Italy

Chapter 107:Cameo Carving in Florence. Passing of My Comrades. Family History

Chapter 108: Leaving Florence. I'm Going Home!! B-17 to Casablanca. The Kasbah. News We Dropped The Bomb. Constellation to Accra. Japan Surrenders!

Chapter 109: Crossing Atlantic to Brazil. Difference Between a Year and Anus! Over the Rainforest. Glad to Get Away from Humidity

Chapter 110: Brazil Suriname. Piranhas. My Guns. British Guiana. Puerto Rico. USA At Last!

Chapter 111: Headed for Fort Dix. Discharge. Homecoming. Love of My Life. That's All Folks!

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