113 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c85e139e93faf0887b78fa26d70830bf.mp4 4098b68548853e90db9ca28b7a4ffef7 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f56f2cacd1fe630e50eb672cf6b8f7fa.pdf 351a45308f01801af883c581d60ef61d PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 1] FB: If you could tell us, what were you doing prior to even hearing about the AVG. CB: Prior to hearing about the AVG, being in bombers and the United States staying out of the war but wanting to help had set up an arrangement to ferry Lockheed Hudson bombers from Burbank to Montreal to turn over the RCAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and then they would ferry them on to the British. They selected a lot of we bomber pilots to go on TDY to Long Beach, California, pick up the bombers, ferry them to Montreal, come back with a parachute and go again, which became very boring. Of course, I was still in the bomber business and then, I got a phone call and that was my old buddy, it was "Jebbo" Brogger who knew I knew I wanted to get in fighters which I was trained in at Kelly field in 1939, and let me know that I had a chance to get in fighters if I was interested, and he gave me the name of – I think it was – wait a minute – FB: Let's just start with you got the phone call from your buddy. CB: Yeah, I got this phone call from my buddy at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, he said, "Charlie, you still want to get in fighters?", and I said, "You bet", so he gave me the name of Skip Adair whom he knew. He said, "You call him" and he gave me his phone number "and talk to him, and he'll tell you what your chance is to fly with the AVG in Burma to protect the Burma Road for the Chinese and under a guy by the name of Claire Chennault who used to be in the Air Force". I thanked him and I immediately called Adair and then he gave me the phone number of a Colonel Green whom I don't know this day who was in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. "You just call him and tell him that you want to get in the AVG and he'll ask you a few questions". So I did that but I didn't do that until the following day, I got to talking to some of my buddies, Jim Cross 1 �and George Burguard who had come with me from McDill to do the same ferrying job and when I told them about the story and they were interested, so they said, "Look Charlie, we want to go too", and I said, Well, I'll mention your names", so the next day I called this number and Colonel Green answered and he asked me a few questions, I told him who I was, my qualifications and all and I said "I want to get in fighters" and I mentioned Jim Cross and George Burguard's name and he says, "Okay", and he says, "Probably within the next day you'll get a wire telling you what to do". Lo and behold, the next day my Commander got a wire at Long Beach. This was the forerunner of the old air transport command, it was called the Western Division of the United States Army Air Force Ferrying Division, just set up. He called me in, boy, and he was mad! "What the hell's going on?" Well, I explained it all to him and finally he settled down and sure enough, he had to publish orders that very day releasing Charlie Bond, Jim Cross and George Burguard from the United States Army Air Corps and I had to resign my reserve commission, all connections with the armed forces of the United States and I was told to report to my home in Dallas, Texas and I'd be notified later. So that's what happened. I went home and stood by, and eventually – I'd say within about a week, I got a letter from a CAMCO Organization, Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company. which later on turns out to be a background for the AVG and they gave me instructions to report to San Francisco, and I think it was early September, about the 10th of September of 1941 and paid my way, airline ticket and all, and that's how I ended up going to San Francisco and finding a lot of other characters just about like me, ready to go to China. FB: Now what was – when you met with the people in San Francisco at CAMCO – when you got to San Francisco and you got a chance to actually talk to the people at CAMCO, what did they tell you to expect – what did they expect of you and what did they tell you to expect when you arrived in China? CB: Well, when I got to San Francisco, the first – and I checked in with registration of course – and some guy came up to me and I can't remember who it was – I think it was one of 2 �the other guys who had already reported, and he says, "Just don't say anything to anybody what you're doing here, just register." And I registered and it ends up we had about 25 of the other characters there, and then we began to talk, and I recall now that I was told by Skip Adair the general concept of it was I would go over as a wing man, I would be paid $600 a month and this would all be in writing, and it would be for a year's contract and we were relief being organized to defend the Burma Road for the movement of lend-lease supplies up into China from Rangoon. He did say that also, you will get $500 for every airplane you shoot down, and this of course, made me perk up my ears. And we discussed this among all of the guys and they had been told the same thing, and we ultimately signed a contract which essentially said everything, but the $500 was not in the contract, however, it turned out,they faithfully did pay us $500 for every aircraft we shot down. FB: Why would you want to go to China – what was your motivation there? CB: I really jumped at the idea when I first heard about this from my buddy in McDill. I was trained in – at that date in those times, we called it Pursuit at Kelly Air Force Base, I was an Air Force guy, and lo and behold – and I've remembered this since '38 and '39 and the war was in Europe and we were trying to stay out of it in the United States – sort of, the hand-writing was on the wall – and the bomber concept was being pushed hard by the United States Army Air Corps and they began to expand the bombardment forces, so they took our class graduating in February '49 to pour into the expansion of bomber outfits and it took the top risk deal alphabetically. Well, Bond being it's top – but I was trained in Pursuits – lo and behold when they published – or the orders came out – I was assigned to second bomb group of V18's and D17's at Langley Air Force Base. I wanted to get back in fighters and also – now the three reasons why I went to the American Volunteer Group – I wanted to get back in fighters, and I wanted a regular commission. I figured if I went to the Far East – Burma and China, I was convinced, I was really convinced that we were gonna be in a war ultimately with the Japanese, and after a year I'd have combat experience and then I'd come back home and be on – I figured they couldn't help but give 3 �me a commission because I'd have combat experience. And the third reason, I wanted to buy my mother and father a home which was better than than the one they were living in, and that's the reasons I went to China. FB: What did you know about China? CB: China, in my opinion, was the other side of the earth and of course, being young, this is adventure and all and "Gee! – this will be interesting". I didn't know much more about China than what I studied in History class in High School and by the way, I never went to college before that.d FB: What about the Japanese, what did you know about the Japanese? CB: I knew where Japan was on a world map, I knew the Japanese were oriental, I could tell a Jap when I looked at one. FB: I was just thinking in terms of during that period of time there was a lot of – you'd go to a movie and there was always these films in front of – and newsreels and whatnot about the things that were happening in Europe and things that were happening in Japan, I was just wondering if that had any effect on you. CB: Oh definitely, that's – I was convinced based on what I was reading in newspapers, and being in the military – in the Air Force, and flying bombers and all, and you know, the war in Europe was already taking place and shaping up and President Roosevelt, listening to him talk, like I do now – president's talk – there was no doubt in my mind that the United States was going to be in a war, and everything seemed to fit for me, so the overriding reason is, I wanted to get back in fighters, so if there was a war I'd be fighting with fighters, not in bombers, and this gave me a year to get some money, and at $600 a month compared to $125 a month as Second Lieutenant, this was great, plus the adventure being in the Far East, and I just figured I would achieve my objectives and, fortunately, I did. FB: Once you were in San Francisco and they had you signed up and ready to go, you boarded a ship, can you tell us anything about the trip itself. 4 �CB: Well, after we were at San Francisco – staying by the way in the St. Francis Hotel for a fabulous week or two, we boarded ship, the Boschfontein, a Dutch motor ship in the harbor at San Francisco on 25th September, 1941, and I think we were the second contingent, or perhaps third contingent, certainly the second contingent– some thirty or forty of us with some Chinese missionaries and some American missionaries going back, and we sailed from the harbor on the 25th September, 1941, and for some reason or other – I don't know this date – I decided to write a letter to my Mom and Dad when we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge because somehow or another I felt this was an historic time in my life and that was the starting of the first entry in my diary which produced that book. FB: Of the trip itself on the boat, one of the things I found interesting is that, you knew why you were going there, but your passports were rather creative in terms of what you guys were going as. CB: By the way, when I went over – we act separately completely from all relations with the armed forces, and my passport I picked up at the hotel from some of the administering people from CAMCO, Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, my contracts and all, and my passport that identified me as a clerk, and this surprised me, but that was explained to me, that well, you know this is – not a lot of people know about this, and certainly we don't want the Japanese to know about this, and so forth and so on, and I began to check with my buddies, and Jeez, various names and occupations – it was crazy. FB: What were some of these occupations that you ran into? CB: One was a teacher, one was a musician – I think that was one of the characters, I forget who he was – of all things, he wasn't a musician. But it was all comical – didn't make sense. FB: You knew some of the guys that were on the trip, and you got to know some of the guys as the time went on, what were some of your impressions of some of the people you were going to China with? 5 �CB: We boarded the ship, "Boschfontein", Jim Cross and George Burguard and I, we'd all met at the hotel, and we had become associated with the other 20 or 30 of them, and we rapidly became very close with one another, all of use of a sort of military background, in other words, we came from the military, either army, navy, or marine corps – army air corps which is air force later on, and the marine corps and the navy, and our group which was representative of the overall outfit of about 52% navy pilots, some six or seven marines and the remaining air force, that was just about the cut of 35 or 40 of us aboard ship. Pappy Boyington was in our group, R.T. Smith, no Snuffy Smith, an air force guy, Dick Rossi was aboard, Bob Prescott who later became boss of the Flying Tiger Airline, so we rapidly became very close to one another, and before you knew it, we were acting as a typical bunch of fighter guys that had been together for years. FB: How did the trip………started out as a letter to your parents and that eventually motivated you to write – don't mention the book, I just want to talk about the diary itself. Start off with the fact that you started as a letter to your parents under the San Francisco Bridge. CB: As we sailed out of San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge, it was late in the evening, the sun had begun to set, and I remember going out on deck deep in thought and I actually remember wondering, gee, I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, and did a little soul searching and then went to dinner and went back in my bunk and I decided to let my folks, naturally I was thinking about my folks, also Doris, a girlfriend I'd left, and I thought I'd write them a letter and I sat down and I – for some reason or other I had purchased two or three of these little composition books and I started making my first entry: San Francisco, 25th of September, 1941, and I began to describe my thoughts: Am I doing the right thing, gee, China? Half way round the world? Young. I knew what I wanted to do and this made me think that I'm doing the right thing and I was content, but I ended up writing about three or four pages that night and then went to sleep. And the next day, come the evening, for some reason or other, I decided I'll write some more, 6 �and as a result I ended up writing a diary for my entire, almost exactly a year, every night just as faithfully and religiously as I could, I'd enter my writing for that day, my thoughts, my events, be they good or bad, my anger, my fears, my complete happiness, elations, my fights I had with some of the guys, the haircuts I had, I always included all of the events I possibly could, and I ended up with about four booklets full of events including – it was really my life for that one year, and ended up with August 17th, 1942 when I came back home and landed in Miami. FB: The diary you speak of talks about the trip over and you had mentioned also that a group of young pilots and how they acted and all that, what was the trip like? CB: Well, it took us almost two months to go from San Francisco to Rangoon, Burma with stops in between, and of course, the first few days – I think it took us six days, or seven days to go from San Francisco to Honolulu where we first ………we began to get in sort of a – not a rut, but a routine of how we would get up in the morning, go to breakfast – the ship couldn't have been over 200 ft. long – a small one. We didn't have much recreation. Eventually they put in a swimming pool for us, they had good food, little Javanese waiters, they had a bar and we made use of the bar – many times too much. We could walk around the ship, sailing most of the entire trip all the way over to Rangoon from San Francisco was really relatively very calm seas. I was worried at first about getting seasick but that didn't bother me. It took me about three days to get used to the drumming of the motors; this was a motor ship with diesel oil and running propellers and the sound – the droning of the sound – it took a little time to get used to that, at first I got headaches from it, but never any seasickness. We ended up in – if you will – hangar flying, even in those days, but none of us had been in combat but telling about stories, you know, where bombers, fighters – some of the guys had just graduated from flying schools, others like – I was actually a First Lieutenant at the time I entered. We'd talk about our earliest experiences. I didn't realize it at the time but two or three of the guys 7 �were married, the rest of us were bachelors, though some of the guys may have been divorced I don't recall, but we were young FB: (That's a good place to stop) 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 1 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his background before joining the American Volunteer Group and his journey overseas from San Francisco to Rangoon. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b2e1fa64f68658c723e79042d1c45cd6.mp4 05f8d1bc9d233460d9c5a5609a8e4f94 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fd07889c47fe6f4f4043a67810150497.pdf a5ee40cfc2ac2009690f16319a8fe2fb PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 2] CB: …it was wild. There were two or three times – as a matter of fact after some hours at the bar before going to bed on two or three occasions there were brawls. I remember seeing one of the marine guys, Smith, next morning I saw him at breakfast, he had a split lip. Obviously he'd been in a fight and I found out later on – I think it was George Burguard hit him but they were both drunk and neither one of them remembered it. There was a lot of planning for the crossing of the equator which – we call it Neptune day and I learned later on from the other guys they did the same thing, so we planned a party for the group and this really turned out wild. Of course, there was a lot of drinking with it, the crew had put a swimming pool in one of the hatches of the ship with a tarpaulin around of course, and we had planned the celebration at the swimming pool and I ended up somehow or another writing the script for it and I turned out to be the queen of Neptune and I believe Gunvordahl or – I forget, maybe, no, it wasn't Dick Ross, one of the them was king, and we had a barber. Now the barber used a normal kitchen mop for washing dishes as the shaving brush and the shaving lotion was a concoction that you could smell ten feet from the guy that was carrying it. It was in a huge pail and we'd usually grab anyone at random, usually the guy that was most crocked and we would put him in the so-called barber's chair – and of course you had to hold him – first we'd smear him with this horrible concoction of dead fish, flour, you name it, and obviously always he'd holler and the first thing the mop would go in his mouth and I think a lot of the guys threw up and it was horrible smelling and of course, a lot of that got in the swimming pool, then ultimately all of us would get in the swimming pool, and finally, one of the guys, I guess it was revenge, got a hold of me and threw me in and somehow or another I got entangled 1 �in the net that we had used as a volleyball net by the way crossing for polo in the swimming pool. I got tangled up in that net and I felt sure I was gonna drown, but fortunately I untangled myself and got up above the water. But it turned out to be one of the wildest events we had and I assure you that next morning there was nobody for breakfast. FB: There was also quieter things that happened, I understand there was church service on board too. CB: Yes, you know, sitting on a lounge chair on the deck of a boat, I'd never experienced before, but I remember that I did it a lot just to have a good old sun bath, bask in the sun and sleep a little, take a nap and all, and in between one of the Javanese boys would bring up maybe a cup of tea, and snack; you had a lot of time to think and – where we were going, what we've done and all, and listening to other guys and exchanging stories – "Gee, Joe, what are you going over for? Charlie, what are you going over for? And "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" And we'd talk philosophically about it, then we'd exchange stories about the girlfriends we were leaving – "Are you going to get married when you get back?" "Oh, no", "Oh, yeah". And then finally, "Gee, we've got to do something about our bellies. We were gaining weight, every one of us was gaining weight, we didn't have enough exercise, so we developed a – we called it a "ring game". It's like tennis or volleyball except you threw a ring back and forth and that really got a lot of us in shape, besides walking around the deck, and on Sunday, we had [???] we had some American missionaries, God-fearing gentlemen going back to China and also some Chinese returning to China. Some of us actually – and I remember doing this for about a week – I'd studied lessons in Chinese with the idea of learning the Chinese language, but I rapidly lost interest – this thing's impossible – a few of the other guys did the same thing. On Sunday morning service – there were a lot of us in church – it was difficult to pay attention to the minister talking, thinking about the things we'd just done the previous 2 �day, there was no relation whatsoever. But it, amazingly, most of us on board ship did attend those services. FB: What kind of things were going through your mind while you were in the service? CB: Say again. FB: What kind of things were going through your mind while you were in the church? There's a reference to "Rock of Ages" and you were thinking about your mom CB: When I'd go to church, most of my thoughts would go back – carry me back to my mother, bless her heart, her stamina in taking care of six kids and then – we lived during the time of the depression – here I was about 27 years old and recalling the days of the depression and her greatest strength was her religion and she took us kids to church and so forth and I'd go back and think of her a lot and here I was attending services and, I must admit – looking back now – I think that it really helped and right now I could say I'm glad I did it because looking back now, knowing what I do now, it did tend to lift me and give us some moral. I think it probably helped a little too in our life aboard the ship. It was different, it was – looking back now, I knew that I was a little bit closer to God. FB: Before you left to go to China, what did you actually tell your parents you were gonna do? CB: When I had made up my mind to go to China and be with Chennault and AVG, naturally I told my parents about it and my brothers and sisters and Doris, who ultimately I married, I told them the very three reasons that I wanted to go to China, and I told them that I would be back after one year and to worry about me. At that time I had now idea of the intensity of the combat we would ultimately be involved in, probably fortunately. I would still have gone but I did my best to relieve them of any anxiety because my mom and dad had never been out of the United States, as a matter of fact, hadn't been very far out of state of Texas and my sisters and brothers – older brothers, younger brothers – and I let 'em all know I'd miss 'em. I remember shedding a few tears when I told my mother and dad goodbye, but I felt good about it and I told 'em I'd write 'em and thank goodness I 3 �did, and they wrote me. As a matter of fact we ultimately sent wires back and forth, and they'd read – when we got in combat over there – they'd read stories about it, and of course, they were very proud. FB: The trip over had a few stops, like the ship would dock at certain places, can you tell us a [??] about that? CB: The trip from San Francisco to Rangoon took a long time; first stop was Honolulu. We were allowed to go to shore about eight hours there and the most interesting thing there I remember is in one of the hotels, I was with a group of my buddies and one of them was old Pappy Boyington and we got sloshed but we just barely got back to the boat in time and it took us about a day or two to get over that, and then we had a long, long leg of the journey after that, that sail down past Christmas Island then around Australia with our first stop at Sarabaya, Java, the navy base for the Dutch there. We stayed there about three or four days, actually we stayed there about a week, and George and Jim and I in a bar one night met a local guy that said he would take us to the island of Bali. The island of Bali was a very fantastic – it was a fairyland really and the stories we'd heard of the – the women there supposedly didn't wear anything above the waist so we talked to this guy and he says, yeah, he'd take us over there. This turned out to be a wild side trip in an automobile that was driven – I think his name was Benny – at any rate, the wild ride through the roads of Java, then a boat trip across a straight where we loaded his little car on the boat and at night sailed across about a three mile straight and landed at the other side in the valley, and then up to a camp – it was a country club supposedly, and of all people who was running it, a blond headed Californian, so we felt perfectly at home, and we had a wonderful time on the beach and stayed there about two days, then the trip back which was equally wild. I guess we must have killed ten or fifteen chickens, one or two goats and probably just barely missed a lot of ladies, but we got back to Sarabaya, and lo and behold the boat had already sailed to go further up to the coast of Batavia, so the only we could do was get on a little narrow gauge railroad and catch the boat up at Batavia. 4 �Smitty, Smith was Curtis Smith, the ranking guy, military wise, so he was sort of boss – he jumped on us a lot for not showing up, but it was a terrific side trip. Then from there we were going along finally to Singapore. Singapore two or three days where we took a side trip to the little principality of Singapore where I remember sitting – or going through a room where this guy could serve a dinner for guests of a 125 people in settings of pure gold. And we passed by rubber factories and all – very interesting side trip. Then from there we went on up and finally arrived at Rangoon. FB: Now at this point you've had a lot of time to think about what you were going to be getting into, what you were going to see when you arrived in this exotic land. What did you actually find? CB: On the way over, I wondered and wondered what I'd be getting into, what Burma would look like, where we would train, and what China would look like, the people and so forth. Arriving at the port of Rangoon and getting my first glimpse of the city, port side, and then in the background, the golden domes of French – there's a ???domed pagoda right there at Rangoon, one of the largest in Burma. It was so strange and it made – everything was exciting. The smells and odors I had never sensed before in this foreign harbor which was typical of the middle east. The people, generally smaller than the Americans, much darker of course, and some just almost black. The streets and the homes, architecture and all was considerably different. I remember making a lot of entries in the diary about the difference of the country and then the little railroad that we used, the little narrow gauge railroad and the cars that we got on to go up some 160 miles to Toungoo in the center of Burma where we trained, it was like a local streetcar in a town. It must have stopped every fifteen or twenty miles. Very boring but very interesting. It was just different from anything I could imagine. FB: Once you arrived at the base, describe what you saw and what your reaction was, your feelings about finally getting there. 5 �CB: At Rangoon when we first landed, Skip Adair, Eric Schilling and one or two others of the previous group who had arrived had come down to greet us, and I remember Pawley – Mr. Pawley who was one of the top men of CAMCO, Central American Manufacturing Company, he even met us, and by the way, the first time we got paid, and sure enough he paid us what they said we'd get. As a side comment you might say that we knew we wouldn't need much money over there and most of us, practically all of us had made arrangements to just draw so much money and then have CAMCO, through their offices, deposit our remaining salaries in banks back in the United States. For instance, I had my money deposited in the Bank of [???] Houston in San Antonio, where I'd begun to use a banking service for a measly $125 a month – actually $75 a month as a flying cadet actually. But to get back to the point, going to Toungoo, Burma, when we get out the station there at Toungoo, we had another Studebaker station wagon meet us and I think Eric travelled on up with us on the train, and I remember the first thing coming to Kyedaw Airport where we were gonna train there, it was an RAF base, was the barbed wire around it. It wasn't the cyclone type of fence, it was just barbed wire, like around an old cattle ranch in the state of Texas. And a guard, a British guard – actually a Burmese in the British army, standing guard at the gate with a rifle. But no problem, we drove on in and then I saw a hangar. I got a glimpse of a paved runway, and then a glimpse of the rattan walled, Burma thatched – palm thatched roof of the little dormitories we were gonna be in. No windows, just open. Then they dropped us off there, we took our baggage and found bunks, cots with mosquito bars on 'em that we'd be using. Like a typical army barracks if you will but wide open to the rain and the wind and the heat and the mosquitoes. And then after we got settled there they took us to the flight line where we had typical operations shacks. One – only one hangar and the P-40's I first saw, a P40, and I remember thinking, Oh, I'm back in fighters. Then meeting the other group of people and then seeing an airplane, a P-40 come in and land and all, and I began to get excited then, and I was glad. 6 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 2 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses the experiences aboard the Boschfontein including their stops in Honolulu and Singapore, in addition to their eventual arrival in Rangoon. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/82d89d0bd3257ae0a99b3b9adb874357.mp4 f9fdafd1d58f297d57dc3613b79f465b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8d1bec4123d524b4654c5502c93f019a.pdf d80dcafda09d392008f894fbce08d075 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 3] CB: After getting settled in the so-called barracks and going over to the flight line to get indoctrination and learning where you'll have a parachute and where our aircraft would be parked and ultimately the first, second and third Pursuit squadrons where they'd have their area on the ramp and the one runway for some 4,000 ft. runway and where the old man, Colonel Chennault – of course at that time the old man, Colonel Chennault, the boss, that's what we called him and ultimately I met him, but before he gave us really a reception, an orientation speech, sort of a: "This is what we are, this is what we're going to do and ultimately we're gonna do this", I naturally began … FB: Stop there. If you could just tell us about some of the first – after you got settled in, before you met Chennault, your impressions of some of the guys you met, whether there were some that you recognized and what was the camaraderie like. CB: It turned out that when they assigned us to squadrons, Jim and George, George Burguard and Jim Cross and I ended up in the first Pursuit squadron. The Operations Officer was Frank Schiel, whom I had heard of back in the States but it was the first time I had really met him, a fighter pilot from the United States Army Air Corp and I remember the first briefing I got on the P-40 was old Eric Schilling and I had known Eric at Virginia Langley Air Force Base. He was in the Eighth Pursuit Group, I was in the Second. Eric I think remembered me but not as well as I remembered him, because he had a nickname. He was called Mortimer Snerd at Langley Air Force Base and it's only been just a few days ago that I really learned why, but I leave that up to Eric to explain that to you. He really knew the P-40, he'd experienced it before and he gave us a briefing on its flying characteristic. Goyette, a navy man, briefed us on the aircraft itself, the operation of it 1 �and cockpit orientation and so forth, and I remember meeting Bob Little who was a combat pilot out of the old eight suit? group and I remember I had to talk to him. We had a mutual friend, old Johnny Allison who ultimately came over to China in the Air Corps and I had a great respect for Bob Little because he was a fighter pilot. As a matter of fact, I learned a lot from him in actual combat, I mean in actual training in the aircraft. We had a control tower, a little makeshift control tower if you will, right by the runway, and we took turns being the control officer for air traffic control to the extent that our communications worked. I met Doc Richards, Doc Prevo, the dentist, Doc Bruce. Lo and behold I met the two nurses, Red Petach? at that time, Mary Jane Red Foster, and Joe and we – of course, I eventually met the parachute packer?, the weather man, our communications man, my crew chief, Walt Dolan – we rapidly became very close to one another. Of course, he was responsible for maintaining my aircraft and did a terrific job – kept that airplane flying. FB: What was your – you've walked us through a number of different things – what was this feeling that you had as you were meeting this person and that person, what kind of impression did you get about this group that you were joining? CB: I remember when I met Frank Schiel, I had a great respect for Frank and for some reason or another we hit it off very quickly, I guess primarily because I was going to be his assistant in operations. I was impressed by Eric's knowledge of the P-40 and Goyette's knowledge of the aircraft, the engine, props, armament and so forth. I met a lot of the armament boys. I remember meeting Rode the first time, terrific little guy. I remember meeting Pappy Boyington for the first time and I remember him from stories I heard from some of the other guys, he had been there about 48 hours you know. I thought, "who is this guy?" I was particularly proud of myself, I had been in golden gloves and I figured I could take care of myself with anybody but never with intentions in mind or anything but he was a very controversial character, but we had a respect for each other. Hennessy, I 2 �remember meeting old Hennessy who eventually turned out to be the General's pilot in a little beachcraft airplane. Kuykendahl. FB: What I'm looking for is – was there a sense of confidence on meeting these guys and how did you feel like –you were gonna to be going to war, you knew that, eventually and if the people you were gonna work with didn't give you any sense that they could do it, I would imagine you'd be quite worried. What did you actually feel when you got a chance to meet all these guys? CB: When I would meet one of the pilots or one of the airmen, naturally I'd think about his background. Eventually I'd learn to know the background of the people and I had gradually begun to have a respect for the guys. Some I knew were better than the others, just based on their experience and the way they talked about the airplane. Of course, there had been one contingent there before who had already flown the P-40. Here, I had flown B-18's and B-17's when they took me on as a volunteer and now I was going to get into a fighter but I was very confident of handling the airplane because I had graduated in fighter Pursuit aircraft at Kelly Field? and an old BT8 which was a forerunner of the P-47 ??? which turned out to be a fantastic airplane in the air force. That airplane was as much of a groundlooper as a P-40 turned out to be. I didn't like the idea that they told me I was going to have to fly an old BT14 or BT9 before they'd let me get in the P-40. This – I didn't like this idea, I figured I was better than that. But at any rate, firstly the airplane wasn't in commission so they had to put me in straight in a P-40 and after I took off in a P-40, very confident, as a matter of fact, on my first flight I was doing slow rolls, loops and all because I had been trained in it and I learned, fact is, to go into a terrific power dive and because of the propeller, the centrifugal force you get in a skid. I learned that. It was sensitive, but it was a great sensation, being in the airplane, and then came the landing, my first landing, and I admit I was tense. I'd been cautioned, "Don't dare try to put this thing down on three points with your landing gear in a tail wheel, land it wheel first and then stay with it – the rudder, later on if you ??? fight the rudder to keep it on a 3 �runway and I came in fast. Some of the guys later on told me we was holding the aircraft as – here was a bomber guy flying. But I came in fast then set the airplane down. I was tense but after I stopped and taxied back I was completely confident from then on of handling another airplane. FB: What was your first impression – your first meeting with Claire Chennault? CB: I think it was the second or third day – it was the second day we were there, the old man came in dressed in a – one of these desert sun hats, with a bush jacket on and I'd seen pictures of him and the minute he walked in to introduce himself and indoctrinate and orientate and really give a talk to all of us new arrivals, I thought, gee, he looks just like the pictures I saw and it immediately came into mind the term I remembered calling him "leather-face", and I could understand. He had a pretty deeply pocked face, that stern jowl. There was no doubt that his appearance immediately struck me as a real guy, a real leader, and definitely I'd read about him and history in the air force, and definitely a fighter pilot. And I rapidly learned that he was very hard of hearing but he covered it up greatly. And when he spoke he spoke in a slow voice. He never laughed out loud, he kind of chuckled. He reminded me of the way General Mays used to laugh. General Mays couldn't really laugh, just chuckle. He spoke very confidently. I was immediately impressed with his knowledge, and I just became enrapt in his talk about the Zero versus the P-40, it just all made so much sense. He told us the comparative weaknesses of [??] Zero versus the P-40 and this encouraged all of us. In my opinion, I just couldn't wait to meet one of these guys. And I felt that the rest of the guys felt the same way about him. He really impressed me and I think I remember saying, "This guy's a military man." Subsequently I, of course, got to know him much better later on and I would use the word "genius" in certain aspects of tactical air war for the redeployment and movement from base to base and his strategy, tactics and all. He was a genius at tactical air war, there was no doubt about it, and he proved to be. 4 �FB: In the United States you have been given an image of what the Japanese pilot was going to be like, but what did Chennault have to say about the enemy you were going to be going up against? CB: In the briefing about the enemy that we would be meeting, and of course, at that time you know, none of us had any knowledge of December the 7th – December the 8th over there to us when the Japs hit Pearl Harbor, but we felt, and I described them as the enemy, Japanese, we were going to protect the Burma Road and I expected and the rest of the guys too, we expected to meet Japanese in combat over the Burma Road to defend the supplies going up the Burma Road, so we talked of them in terms of enemy. The old man having been over there since as early as '37, '36, something like that, he knew 'em, and in my opinion one of his greatest strengths that lent to the performance of the Flying Tigers was the intelligence that he had of the Japanese aircraft, their pilots and so forth. The pilots of the Japanese army which the first ones we really met in most of our combat, up until the time of Hankow later on, they were disciplined all right, but they were regimented in their thinking. They were briefed for certain things; the flexibility wasn't like the old American boy, and this sort of gave me confidence as being a little bit, if you will, more capable of taking them rather than them taking us, and I think that's the way it really turned out in combat, until I remember up at Hankow later on when they brought the Japanese navy in, the Japanese navy pilots, definitely we could tell the difference in the capability of those pilots. And I remember one incident in combat, later on in Rangoon, Bob Deal and I cornered a little guy that obviously had to be a flight leader or a flight commander or a squadron commander, and I can remember distinctly right now, he had a yellow stripe around the fuselage of his airplane which indicated he was boss or something anyhow. We fought that guy for about five or ten minutes. I never could get a beat on him, here he was fighting two P-40's against him and finally Bob got a beat on him and shot him dead. My respect for 'em at that time wasn't the greatest in the world. 5 �I'd heard stories about, "Well, they've got bad eyes, they can't see." That's not true, they could see well. FB: During the day, what was your routine like? Your routine, what was the routine like around the base? Were you going to training sessions? You'd already met Chennault now? What was your routine? CB: We'd get up about 6.30 or 7.00, have a quick breakfast and then go down a line, and each one of us, at first centrally controlled until we were assigned to squadrons and operate with squadrons, if you will, decentralize. But we actually had a formal course that we were briefed on by the old man and I think it was some 60 hours of ground training and some 60 hours of flight training, then supposedly we would be qualified. We'd study the manuals, flight manuals of the airplane, we'd get briefed, we'd have special briefing's about, "Now if two of you are going out and practice combat, here's what you're gonna do", and they'd assign us to a certain area, and not specifically altitude really, we had wide open space, and if it was a test flight in engineering to take data on the airplanes and so forth, if it was a navigation flight, instrument flight, very little instruments really were used. We'd got to because the war came so quick. And gunnery, we got instant ground gunnery, and that was exciting. When we'd get on – come back, we'd fill out form 5, typically, pilots, fill out your form 5 telling something didn't work, and the crew chief really didn't, and a lot of the time we'd stick with the crew chief to remedy whatever comes in the airplane. The crew chief's, they turned out to be fantastic. We did things on those airplanes that we'd have been court-marshalled, the crew chiefs did, the maintenance people, we'd have been court-marshalled back in the United States. You just did not do this. They'd tear a carburetor completely to pieces and put it back together. And then, of course, we had have athletics in the afternoon. The old man wanted to keep us in shape. Some of us arrived there with the idea of, "I'm gung-ho", and "Lead me to 'em", "I wanna take 'em over". The old man saw this and we didn't have much transportation and I think one of the reasons we didn't have much transportation – he 6 �wanted us to walk. We all bought bicycles – we got into bicycling instead of walking, and then we had softball games. The old man played softball with us and boy, those softball games got wild – sometimes as wild as the bar got. No tennis, of course, no golf, a lot of court playing, except when old Red Probst? would get bad by losing a game, and he'd tear up a deck of cards and that made everybody furious because nobody else had a deck of cards. FB: We're going to get into also – there's a reference to – sometimes. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 3 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his initial impressions in the early days of the AVG and the camaraderie that formed among them, in addition to his first meeting with Claire Chennault. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8effe69ef1245cc6888f6d7273200cf6.mp4 905f134719ce09a479840e80d2aa8c1f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e4fbe3002dfe60fbe1c4a9a741e034e7.pdf 65d7c1511fc6ad34b06399a89a973e96 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 4] CB: There's a terrific story, later on … don't let me forget – "Hasty", just say "Hasty" FB: Okay. As you were being trained and you were working on the airplane, a lot of this was the type of military training that you'd had in the past, but what was different about this unit and what was different about this place? Was it straight military type or was it something else? CB: Remind me to tell you the three reasons why I went over to the China AVG. At Toungoo during our training phase from the time we got there, November up until December, mid December when we went up into Chunking in order to be deployed. We got to know each other much, much better and more closer and I found that to the greatest degree, most of the pilots and the airmen that volunteered to go to China wanted to get out of the military. A lot of them I talked to definitely, some of them – didn't want to have anything to do with the military. This was the greatest chance to get out of the military. As I told you, I wanted – I'd already made up my mind then, I wanted the military, but I can understand this. A lot of the other guys just came over for adventure, but there was an underlying feeling, I felt, for instance – to give you a perfect example – the pilots oppose? the officers. We were housed and ate at a different mess from the airmen, the so-called enlisted men if you will. All of us came from military units, army, navy, marines, and we had a – to me it was a sort of a ingrained, albeit maybe a year or two for some of the guys just out of the flying school – there was an ingrained self-discipline that the old man didn't have to impress on us that, "You're an officer and you're an airman and you don't mix." None of that. We felt that and we lived with it and it was fine. I personally, at times, got a little bit worried about it because I remember writing in my diary that 1 �sometimes the moral got down, people got bored. As a matter of fact, right at the outset, I'd only been there about a couple of weeks and two of the pilots decided they didn't want it, and they resigned, went back home. Not too many instances of this, but some of them did so. And I – particularly Frank Shields, Frank Shields sort of had the same idea that maybe we ought to have some more definitive guidelines, if you will, not regulation but guidelines to live by and maintain a respect for each other and a semblance of military – I knew the old man – one of the first thoughts in my mind about – he was a military man and to a great extent his experience – my experience was somewhat like his, parallel. He left the air force and I have read some books where some people describe General Chennault – he was hurt and I can understand that. He was the minority – pushing fighter. The air force had oriented bombers in – they'd wanted to build up a bomber force so – and he had hard of hearing, he had some ill health and – so that's the reason he got out. I could still feel a military – I had a respect for him as a commander – in my mind he was a commander and a real commander. Some of the guys, but by far a minority didn't have that same feeling towards him I had, but as a result of – I wanted to write – talking to Frank Shield and Frank said, "Yeah, let's do that", so I sat down and began to make a project of it, writing certain definitive guidelines which they did appear, if you will, to be regulations and it got around amongst the group that I was doing it and eventually I was gonna give it to the old man, and eventually I did. But he didn't reflect very much on 'em, but at the same time, I think he admired me. See, he came from the military and, of course, I did. I felt a feeling that he respected me for it, but there was no doubt he was the boss, the commander, and I let it go at that. FB: Would it be accurate to say that you wore uniforms? CB: When you say uniforms I think of the time that in a scramble, one of the guys was in his shorts with a tee shirt on and his little hat on, flying the airplane in an actual scramble mission, when he expected to be in combat. Uniforms – this led a little bit to the military appearance because we came over with navy jackets, army air corps jackets. I brought my 2 �air force flying clothes with me. I brought a pair of boots. We eventually were issued with some gloves which were navy gloves. We were issued helmets, cloth helmets, goggles, but as far as off-duty it was, for all practical purposes, civilian clothes, mufti is what the RAF called it. We eventually though, later on, as we began to develop a camaraderie as a unit, first, second and Pursuit squadron, then the headquarters guys, we began to, as typical, and this reflects again the military training, we began to have a healthy respect for our outfit, and this of course, led in eventually to squadron insignia and later on the Tiger shark's teeth on the airplane. But the uniforms as such off duty – we wore pistols. Of all things, I had a little 25 mm pistol on my hip which I could have put it in my pocket. I remember going off and practicing targetry on a range with it. A lot of the guys had old 45's that they'd brought from the United States, some good 38 calibers, a few guns, rifles and shotguns. Later on we carried the pistols with us in the cockpit in combat in our uniform. Eventually some of us began to wear bush jackets like the old man and the khakis which really were a sort of the RAF in the Far East where it was hot, and the old sun hat pith helmet, that became a favorite of mine and then ultimately later on, old Jim and George and I, all three had been together, we had made Chinese – Burmese copy the old, what we called "pinks" in the army air corps. The grey type slacks with that beautiful blouse of drab olive o.d. and eventually we did develop some epaulets or stripes, if you will, rather than metal insignia of one, two and three bars for a wing man which I originally went over for. Most of the pilots went over as wing men originally, then a flight leader, then a vice squadron leader, and then a squadron leader. FB: After your duty during any given day was over, what did the guys do for entertainment? What kind of incidents happened that we might be interested in? CB: The old man knew value of keeping our moral up and not working us to death, and keeping us in good physical shape because he foresaw more than we did, really what we'd get involved in, and we had quite a schedule laid out for athletics like primarily 3 �softball, and he'd play with us a lot of the time, by the way. We'd have that usually in the afternoon. On a Saturday afternoon and a Sunday, normally it was just like typical military back home, days off. Except in some cases where emergency – go on an aircraft – get back in shape. We'd have the athletics after that, then we had time enough to shower and some of the guys didn't play in the actual teams, and they took a nap in the afternoon. We didn't have much reading material, it got to the point where we would read anything that was in English just to have something to read, but we didn't have a library as such. We had some books and interchanged them amongst all of us. Then in the evening before the mess, we would have – at the bar, open bar and some of those evening got pretty wild and sometimes by typical individuals. There were a few of them that tended to drink more than others and for various reasons. Some got bored; there was boredom at times. I remember old Skip Adair warned us at times, "There'll be such a thing as ennui" I had to look that up in the dictionary to understand what it was. And sure enough he was right. At times it got boring, so we'd lay in our bunks maybe and between snoozes and naps in the barracks and you'd think about, what I am doing over here, and so forth and so on. But those 'downs' didn't last very long. You always managed to get up and then in the evening we'd have dinner, and then after dinner, maybe we'd stay up and have bull sessions. Then we finally got some movies and those turned out to be one of the greatest things that we looked forward to, other than mail and nothing, nothing would approach mail back and forth, and wires and as a matter of fact, it was surprising how often we got the mail and how reliable it was. FB: It was mentioned in one of the books "Men at War", where it credits you with trying to stop one of the guys that apparently had been drinking too much so you were shooting a gun in the air, something like that? CB: One of the duties we had, this was typical military, that's why I say we still had a little military in the outfit. We had what you'd call 'officer of the day' in the army air corps and I forgot what the navy called it. We actually had M.P. type duties you know, but 4 �primarily the officer of the day, which time was a 24 hour duty, he was responsible and most of the time his action was at night. His duties was to go into town with one of the few pieces of transportation we had, maybe with a buddy and check the various haunts in town, railroad station which had one of the nicest restaurants in Toungoo and then come back to the base, sort of supervise the – not supervise if you will, but observe and make up your mind whether you were gonna do anything about it, the drinking bouts at times. I say drinking bouts, I don't want to over emphasize that, arguments if you will, and fisticuffs, and disgusted losers at poker games, this type of thing, and I remember – I took on that duty one night and I remember I dressed up in my black tie and my o.d. shirt and my bush jacket and I even polished my boots and I was gonna be o.d of the day and that night after the show, the movie, I'd say around nine o'clock in the evening I was en route from Toungoo back to the base and as I was entering the gate I heard some pistol shots and I found out where they were and I found out Snuffy Smith and somebody else, I forget who the guy's name had been shooting their pistols in the air and they were really clobbered and I was trying to quiet 'em down or take the guns away from them and all and finally one of them – he'd fallen down in a ditch and by the time they found him I think he'd begun to sober up, and he agreed that he would take charge of Snuffy. So I drove off and I was so angry about that, when I drove back after my [???[] that I run over, I think it was Mickelson's bicycle, and just destroyed that thing, but I was glad when o.d. duty was over. FB: Were there any other incidents – we heard that since the Tigers were a very tight knit group that anybody that was not with the Tigers if you were in town or whatever, there was some disagreements or fights with other groups and one of them was that Allison Company, some guy from the Allison Company – do you recall that at all? CB: I don't really recall any – I remember an instant, two instances I can quote – We rapidly became a close knot outfit, knowing people like in the United States you go into town you know your friends and so forth. We didn't know anybody in town, but we'd go in 5 �maybe some time, maybe have dinner at a restaurant, particularly in Rangoon, the Silver Grill. It eventually got to be the hangout of us later on in combat and, of course, we ran into the RAF a lot. As a matter of fact they were fighting with us and once in a while they'd be quite a ruckus in the – for instance, I remember one case, George Burguard and I were out watching a night raid on Mingladon Airport at Rangoon by a Japanese bomber and we no had no night fighter capability and we were watching them fight, and lo and behold, all of a sudden a fighter turned up and we saw a trace of fire and the bomber was shot down and an RAF officer was at this particular group where we were living, as a sort of a lone arrow at a lawn party, and he began to brag about the Hurricane versus a P-40 and this got quite a discussion between which is best. I for one, and I think a lot of the guys felt the same way I did, the Hurricane was not the airplane a P-40 was, but aerodynamically and performance it was just about like the P-40 but in my opinion not near the airplane, but George Burguard almost got in a fight with him, finally decided to go to bed. The RAF was mostly the support people at the air base that was giving us support mixed with Burmese but when Singapore fell, some of the RAF pilots evacuated out of there and came up and flew with us in Brewster's, and then we had some RAF, Royal Air Force Blenheim bombers. They were bomber boys, and actually I think they argued much between themselves more than they argued with us. I remember instances where rumors got down that the higher ups, so I'm talking about the strategic level of planning after the war was going on between United States officers, British officers and the Chinese, Generalissimo and down to Chennault and Stillwell. There was a lot of bickering going at the higher levels about who was gonna stay in Burma and who was gonna go up to China and that really became a factor later on, on the way we deployed two squadrons into [???] men, one down to Rangoon. FB: Let's talk now about the origin of the Pursuit squadron, the Adam and Eve – the origin of that. 6 �CB: I had arrived as I told you – arrived in Rangoon on the 12th of November 1941 and only two or three days later on a Saturday evening, November 15th, a lot of us were invited – that's the first time I was invited – previous to that a lot of them had been invited from time to time on weekends, to a missionary's home, a Mr. and Mrs. Klein, terrific people, in the city of Toungoo, so that on the night of the 15th I and George Burguard and Jim Frost and Eric Schilling and Gil Bright and several others – ten of us if I remember. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 4 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses how the AVG compared to his experience in the military and their means of entertainment when off-duty including softball games and movies. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/23c92fdee9b1634424a949ec7d40de35.mp4 b223dac60f6d4938da50c982b9fab530 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86b70eb40376210b5c4541b912869739.pdf 096dd5d091ad5dfab8651794c3f7b183 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 5] CB: As I told you, we arrived at Toungoo air training base in the middle of Burma on the 12th of November and after getting settled down and all, on a Saturday night which was two days later and a Sunday which would have been a holiday for us, having known a lot of the guys, some of the things they did on a weekend, I and about nine or ten others were invited to go into town on an invitation from missionaries, Mr. & Mrs. Klein, two great people, to give us some good old American Boston baked beans, ham, coffee and so forth. It was so coincidental that about this time that it was obvious we began to think – I was assigned to a squadron already and to me and my military background every unit I'd been in had a squadron insignia of some kind, so a thought began to develop about the squadron insignia would be and so forth, and it was just coincidental at this night that after having dinner, after dinner, talk in this Christian home, several of us were sitting around the coffee table having coffee, and I looked down and saw a British type magazine on this rattan coffee table and on the front of it was a colored picture of a P-40 just like ours, but it was in the Royal Australian Air Force in the African campaign. I think this was an India illustrated type of newspaper. And I picked it up and looked at it and it was exactly like our P-40, except for one thing. It had a gaping mouth of a tiger shark that was painted around the oil scoop on the lower part of the front fuselage that just so fitted perfectly, and I just absolutely was – I immediately – as a matter of fact, I remember saying out loud to myself, "I'm gonna paint my airplane like that", and here Eric and Gil Bright and Jim and George, all of use standing around, they looked at it and they thought, "Boy it's the same thing", so it really hit us so – I said, "I've just got to take this home", so I went to Mrs. Klein and asked her if I could have that. Of course, 1 �graciously she said yes, so I took that back with me to the air base, and at the same time we had been thinking about fighter squadron insignia. Now as I say, Eric Schilling was there too and I think old Eric – I know all of us agreed, this is great. It was just a matter who did what first. So when I went back to the base, the very next day I pedaled into town on my bicycle to buy some red, white, black and green paint to paint the tiger shark's teeth on my airplane with the eye up near the top scoop. And I think old Eric had the same idea and I think that character drove into town or bought that newspaper some place and knowing actually having that picture on the front of the magazine is bound to have a supporting article inside, I didn't take the trouble to look at that. Apparently Eric did, and he found a picture of the history of where this tiger shark's teeth started. It was on German aircraft – I think it was on ME-110 and Eric, I think he started with the same idea, but now Eric was much closer to the old man and he was, if you will, on the staff. I just said, "I'm gonna paint my airplane like that" and I started the very next day, and Eric I think had the same idea and he may have started the same day but his squadron was around the hangar, couldn't see anything, couldn't see me and we weren't interested to look at each other. I was interested in painting the airplane. At about the same time, I'm pretty sure now that it was old Dick Rossi with his dry wit in a bull session we were talking about squadron insignia and we were the first Pursuit squadron, so in a bull session, it was Dick Rossi, I agree now that was the first. The first Pursuit had to be Adam and Eve, Eve chasing Adam and there again I had the same reaction I did about the – gee! I agree! Then when I started painting the tiger shark's teeth on the front of the airplane I was thinking all the time, what sort of a design would this be. Nobody had started this. I developed the idea of a red apple with a black serpents round and round it with the – I call them toothpick figures – Eve chasing Adam on the apple. So I dreamed up that idea and in the next few days, I finished – I think actually was around the first week of December – I finally finished everything on my airplane, but in the meantime, I have since learned, Eric had the same idea about the teeth on the airplane but he wasn't in 2 �the first squadron so he wasn't worried about that. But he, as I understand it, went straight to the old man and said that this is what we are. He recommended that we put this as an insignia of one of the fighter squadrons. General Chennault told him at the time, according to Eric and I think he's telling his story, and I think it's true – the old man said, "No, if we do that I want it for the whole outfit." So that docked Eric for a while, but I remember distinctly one day the old man drove up, this was towards the latter part of November when I'd just about finished the thing. I had both the insignia on my airplane, number 5, of the red apple version of Eve chasing Adam – it was about almost 3ft. in diameter on the fuselage, and the tiger shark's teeth just about finished except for touching up. And I remember him getting out and going around looking at all of this and he didn't make any comment or, "Hey, what're you doing and so forth and so on," and drove off. I learned later on that he told Schilling to go ahead with this. In other words he had approved the idea of the tiger shark's teeth on that airplane. On the 5th of December, I remember I referred to you before I was writing some regulation about guidelines, and I was raising some business to the old man and I had my first real personal discussion, one on one, with the old man in his office, and we talked at length about our backgrounds and so forth and he was very complimentary. He'd heard about me and there's two or three stories that are not in my book that I can relate to. Looking back now, I'm convinced that one of the reasons that Skip Adair took me so readily into the Flying Tigers, was that I had already a number of hours in the B-17, a bomber, and I have since learned, years later, even after I wrote the book, that there was plans for a second, and maybe even a third American Volunteer Group, which would be bombers, and looking back now, I am reasonably convinced the idea was, "Here we've got a B-17 guy, we can catch him out in a P-40, eventually we get this and we have a ready made for the B – sort of like Eric, he'd flown a P-40 before and he fitted into the fighter business, and at the end of the conversation as I was getting ready to walk out, the old man said, "By the way, Charlie, that red apple on your airplane not gonna do", and I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, it 3 �looks too much like the Japanese setting sun", and I though, gee, he's right. I said, "What am I gonna do"? And I walked out very disheartened, 'cos there went one of my plans. Well, I got to thinking and before the next day, I said there's green apples. So I readily, without referring to him at all, I just changed the – started painting all my airplanes again on that insignia, changing the red to green and this got around very rapidly. I have since read the diary, supposedly written by Bob Prescott, and Bob Prescott was referring to this instant of – who designed and thought of the first Pursuit idea, and he and his – and he was always a great one to get a laugh out of people, he was great. He claimed that somebody came up with the idea of Eve chasing Adam as the first Pursuit, but he put a uniform on Adam and they wouldn't accept it, so I don't, to this day, I don't know what Bob Prescott did, now long gone, but to this day, I don't know if he knew the story of the old man telling me that I must change it, and that's the story of two paintings. FB: Before we get into December 8th, Peal Harbor, when you found out – before we get into that, one of the things I find very interesting – I wonder if you know anything about – is, how the airfield itself was built, how the airfield that you were operating on was built. CB: Kyedaw, I guess it's a Burmese name, it's in the central part of Burma, about seven miles from the little town of Toungoo, really on the road to Mandalay, which is just north of there. It was a British built – you know, Burma was a commonwealth of the British Empire. It was British constructed, British operated air base. Ultimately, for what I don't know, except that maybe their strategy and politics for the British Empire throughout the world, I don't know, all I know it was a training base. There was one runway, Macadamized and a hangar on it and all, and I presume that initially on the idea of the Burma Road, built to send supplies up the road to China, and Chennault planning that that would be our training base and that presumably the British agreed with the Chinese and so forth, and Rangoon would be the port of entry for all the lend lease supplies to go up the so-called Burma Road to China, so it was a matter of – and of course, at that time, initially we were being hired to go over there as a volunteer group to defend the Burma 4 �Road. This would help the British as well as the Chinese, but looking back now I remember there was a catch there. The British didn't want to get – the Chinese and the Japanese had been fighting for years before this, ever since about '37 and the British wanted to stay – they didn't want to get tangled up in this and having us trained in Burma, one of their so-called commonwealth, just wouldn't fit. But at the same time, this was the additional commercial activity of lend-lease supplies going up to Burma and of course, by then, we had started supplying the British with just vast – in fact we were their depot if you will from then on for the war in Europe. So it was quid pro quo. And as a result, we were permitted to train the AVG at this air base in Burma with the ultimate deployment of pulling out of Burma and going into China. FB: Is there anything further that you want to cover before we get a personal recollection of that? And then there's a notice we found that – we got the impression that after Pearl Harbor you guys would be out there fighting already, but of course it was much later like the 20th or so or 23rd, and it says here you were so bored you shaved off your mustache. CB: That was before I think. I'm not sure when that was. I think it was just a side effect FB: What was your first reaction when you heard about Pearl Harbor? CB: We had made a lot of progress in the training curriculum, both ground and air, and early December, as you know, that infamous day of the 7th December back here, the 8th of December in our side of the world, I remember in my personal recollection of this – always everybody says where were you at so-and-so and what was your reaction? I remember very distinctly, several of us pilots with maybe a couple of airmen were sitting around on the ground near our aircraft on the ramp and we were just having a bull session and all, and then somebody came up all of a sudden and cried out, "The Japs just hit Pearl Harbor and that stopped everything we were talking – we turned to him and a lot questions – "What are you talking about" and so forth. To me, it was unbelievable, but, then he said, "Yeah, we just heard on the radio", and then without further ado, I think all of us arose and just rushed to the operations room where maybe we had a radio and all, 5 �and it was, as a matter of fact, as soon as we got in the operations room, sure enough, they'd heard it on the radio. I don't remember seeing the old man right then, but later on he came in, but we were stunned, we just couldn't believe it, but then all of a sudden, I thought – and a lot of the other guys thought the same way, "Well, gee, we've already been doing gunnery", and as a matter of fact, we didn't have to think as well, we'll just go on alert right now. The orders came out of the other end of the operations shack from the old man's office, "Everybody goes on alert", so we immediately went into a ground alert, air defense posture, and towards the evening and the morning from December the 8th on, we had aircraft even in the air in the evening. As a matter of fact, we had some airplanes in the air before dawn one morning, and none of us had flown at night before. But to be sure, in case the Japanese came in and made a strike on us. The old man I know was fearful of this and all of us thought, gee, they could come in and hit us but looking back now, in my opinion, Japanese made one of the greatest mistakes they ever made in the entire war, is they didn't come over and wipe us out. But they considered us to be just a polyglot bunch of people that were representative of previous volunteer groups that attempted to assist China. But we immediately went on alert and a few days after that, as a matter of fact, I personally, with Bob Little and a couple of other pilots, made a flight across from mountains in the Chiang Mai Thailand area to look at that base in case there might have been Japanese already employed there with the idea of hitting us. From then on we were in a war posture and I remember one time a civilian airplane, a little puddle jumper type came across the air base about 5,000 ft. high. We scrambled and we made that guy come in and land at our base, he was just a business man in Burma. But I distinctly remember in the evening or early in the morning looking across the horizon, as the sun began to rise or set, you could see tufts of clouds, then your imagination got into the act and I visualized Japanese raids against us, but never did it occur. But I remember one time and all of us agreed that there was a high flying reconnaissance Jap ship, it must 6 �have been a Jap ship that flew over our air base. A couple of guys took off but it was impossible FB: When did you first see action? CB: The plans for the entire group to finish the training would have carried us I'm sure into even January. As a matter of fact, after the 8th of December were there, I think I had only about ten hours in the P-40 but of course they struck Pearl Harbor there was a war, and here we were an American Volunteer Group of Americans in Burma, flying in P-40's, ready for combat, having been set up initially to fight the Japanese over the Burma Road, and the high diplomatic, strategic thinking began to be interlocked amongst the British, Chinese and the United States, and here we were, for all practical purposes going to be the Chinese air force. Where would we deploy? We had three squadrons. Eventually, they decided we've got to cut the training short, just do what we can, but we've got to these airplanes up to Kunming, and of course, [???] a training place in Burma – an action – terminals of big China with the capability of flying down south [???] Burma Road. But it so ended up where one squadron deployed to the Rangoon – for the defense of Rangoon where several of the RAF, a Royal Air Force contingency, was already stationed and the other two squadrons, first and second, would fly on up to Kunming. We actually flew up, I think it was on 17th or 18th, and Kunming is another story of course, we can get to later on. But Kunming had been continually bombed for years before we got there in the war. Actually it was the target for training Japanese pilots out of French Indo China. They used it as a training target and it's no defense whatsoever, and we were prepared. As a matter of fact, I was shocked, amazed at the preparation made for us in Kunming, a beautiful airfield, hostels, everything, complete support and we were ready to go. And we got a few air raid alarms, but nothing came over until I think the 20th or 21st of December, it turned out to be the real thing. And on the 10th – I mean on the 20th, I believe it was the 20th of December, I flew I guess my first aerial target in a fighter airplane, it turned out to be one of ten Japanese bombers. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v05 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 5 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses the origin of how he came up with the iconic tiger shark painting that the group adopted for the Flying Tigers' airplanes. He also describes his reaction to the news of Pearl Harbor and the days that followed for the AVG. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ffae3ca3224b5f86f78700e217c6b061.mp4 fc391ba61190de86a3149a572f1b34ca https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/723c8ff60193eeffb5bfc5042759ab67.pdf 166bf692995af83e946c7d63e4004452 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 6] CB: … First time and they'd take me to a hostel to the bombed out city of … but we can get to that … FB: Let's talk about the airport at Kunming and then the people and witnessing the bombing – let's talk about Kunming. CB: As we arrived at Kunming we arrived as a unit – all the airplanes and came in and landed at this huge air base right out Kunming adjacent to a huge lake. It was a grass field. We had no trouble, as a matter of fact, it was easy to land on grass as paved runway, but adjacent to – the first thing I noticed there was a huge runway layout that you could visualize already they had the surface outlined on it, and just hundreds, hundreds of coolies carrying mud and rocks and mixtures and as many as forty or fifty pulling a huge roller by ropes. That's the way they were constructing that runway, which eventually would take B-17 airplane bombers. That was the first thing I noticed, that really grabbed me. In other words, boy, we're coming to a place that's really arranged for us. And then when we saw the alert shack with revetments around it, they knew what they were doing. People had been bombed before and the long-range plans of the Chinese and General Chennault's idea and all to have some defensive capability to withstand the bombing of these Chinese, just absolutely merciless. What defense did they have other than a warning? The old man had set up a ground observer corp – GOC system years before, he'd been over it a long time. It was for this purpose. He'd visualized it all and this was they way it was turning out. Sure enough, now here we were at war with the Japanese and the AVG was gonna be the Chinese air force if you will. Then when we got out of our airplanes and we had just untold number of Chinese air force mechanics and service 1 �people for refuelling airplanes and all, hovering around airplanes. There's no doubt we had plenty of support, that's the next thing that struck me. And then as we drove past the alert shack as I tell you, we saw that, and then we drove over into our hostel. There were two areas, the hostel which turned out to be ours right near the air base, and then another down in the middle of the city which I think used to be a French school, turned out to be the hostel for the other squadron, the third squadron of course being down in Rangoon. And then the showers, hot showers, and the food, and there was a little barber and our number one boys that brought charcoal braziers in to our room, very solidly before we even awakened, in order to warm up the room. It was much cooler and we were about, remember between 5,000 and 6,000 ft.at Kunming whereas down in Burma in a sweating jungle is considerably different. It was cold, but much more invigorating and it so happened a day after that – being interested in the city and given the support people time to get things arranged for us, we didn't do any active flying the next day. But some of us wanted to go into town and there we saw the evidence of the bombing in the past. Now here is a city if I remember correctly that was about 400,000 to 500,000 people but it was the size of a much, much smaller town, if you will, geographic wise it was the United States. The streets were just covered with people. Very few vehicles, just people with rickshaws and dragging carts and so forth and you could see the evidence of bombed out buildings. Really the word that came to my mind more than anything was filth and they had to live in this, and when they had a air raid warning they had a big pole in the middle of the city, they'd run a bowl half way up which is warning and when the bowl went all the way to the top, that was it boy, take refuge. And the bombers had been over I don't know how many times, but just freely bombing the city and the first thing it meant – boy, we're in the war now, we're in the war. And I might bring up a point that it's often been discussed amongst us and most people I've talked to. Were you all a mercenary outfit? And I've even gone so far as to – I remember when I was writing my book, I even looked up the classical definition in a huge dictionary I've got, what was the definition of a 2 �mercenary, and looking back now, I never considered – I didn't consider myself a mercenary whatsoever, because I had three objectives to go over there. I was gonna fight, get combat experience, and come home and prove myself worthy of a regular commission in fliers, and I'd have enough money, and I eventually accomplished all that. And the rest of the guys – the whole idea of leaving the military to get away from regimentation and all, you could just feel this fading away and we all knew now that we were in a war. And another point, the $500. This thought would boil up every once in a while, particularly in the evening in bull sessions and at the bar about the $500, and I remember I said at Kunming while the third squadron was really scrapping around Christmas Day, latter part of December, and the thought, gee, I wanted to be down there, and every once in a while the idea of $500 an airplane would come up and I'm sure this came up in the minds of the other guys, and then I think about the tape. Maybe this is an ideal way to generate some real aggressive spirit, but of course, that's imaginary thinking. We rapidly picked up the spirit of "We're in a war now" and just like it dawned on me, we were now now only representing China but we were representing the United States and we were patriotic, we rapidly became more angry, and particularly after that first combat, on the 20th of December, when the first word we got from the Chinese that the ten bombers that came over to bomb Kunming, only one got back, so the first combat you have was a terrific success and I'm sure that's one of the main things that's helped us get off on the right foot, if you will, to be just an invincible, self-confident outfit, a real tiger outfit. FB: What was your first experience in the air? CB: … in the combat. After we got to Kunming, we had a few air alerts, but the bombers didn't come over. This got us oiled all right you know, expecting combat, and we had a regular alert procedure. As a matter of fact I was initially setting up schedules – who'd be on alert the next day and so forth, and who'd be on the ground. But primarily, the old man's genius – what if they're going to have a real air raid, you get all these airplanes off 3 �this base. But sure enough, it happened – the real one, and I think again it was on the 20th. We had two squadrons that got off, both of us, Sandy – Sandell was our squadron leader and I think we had twelve airplanes in our unit and the other squadron I forget how many they had, but we eventually caught sight of the ten Japanese bombers in formation, just one 'V" formation, a beautiful formation, and they must have seen us about the same time because they turned and started back, way short of Kunming, their target. And I remember we had to practically fly at full throttle even getting high temperatures and everything to catch 'em. Finally we caught 'em, then they slowed down and I think slowed down to be more defensively and oriented and in tight formation. And then we began to make attacks on them. I remember I was so excited that I must have turned my gun switch on and off, I don't know how many times. It so happened when I came in from a high approach above the bomber on the right echelon, to come down and then underneath and come up in a blind spot underneath him, when I pressed the trigger – no guns, and I used a lot of four letter words, but I pulled off immediately. I was so excited that I had turned it on so many times that I had left it off. Then I immediately turned it back of course and got back in combat. We just hit 'em from all directions and just the excitement and glory of it all, when we landed, nobody would stop talking and the old man was just delirious, all of us were so happy about it. And no bombing of Kunming after that for a long, long time. FB: What was the reaction of the Chinese people? CB: Of course, this word got out rapidly about this AVG bunch came up from Burma and here, no air raid and all, immediately we became heroes, particularly in the city of Kunming. I think eventually it got to other parts of China, there's no doubt about it, but we were called heroes and later on at a banquet, I remember, some madam came in and called us her white angels or flying knights or something, just deliriously happy for us. And of course, you can imagine what the – Chinese are people too – looking back at the poor guys, they hadn't much and I've wondered in the countryside whether they even 4 �realized a war was going on, but I'm sure they did., and you can imagine how they felt, they were happy. FB: Almost immediately after that there was more fighting. Can you describe the next encounter you had with the Japanese? CB: After this attack on Kunming – there were two squadrons there – that I think was on the 20th, and shortly after that – remember the third squadron – and Ole Olson was down at Rangoon – shortly after that, just before Christmas, they had a real encounter with fighters and bombers, and they also had a terrific success and then again they were hit on Christmas Day and they really were in the fight there. It was obvious the Japanese were gonna concentrate on that outfit and then eventually take Burma and come on up back through the back door in China, and I'm sure that's one reason that the British and the Chinese decided we'll put one square in there and help defend Rangoon. But it could mean there were no naughty mini air raid sirens or anything, that the Japanese had learned their lesson, and so we at Kunming thought, here we'd two squadrons, one squadron down at Rangoon, gee we wanna go down there, and sure enough the old man had planned for rotation and he began to rotate us back and forth down there – there airplanes need replacement – a few of them were shot down, one or two were killed – as a matter of fact, two or three. And then of course, airplanes shot down. They lost airplanes but save the man. But after Kunming we were doing nothing. We continued training up at Kunming though and we even had an outer base where we'd just deploy airplanes because the old man still – the Japanese weren't gonna give up and they were bombing Chunking to you know. We wanted to get down into Burma, the two squadrons up at Kunming. FB: At this time though, there was one incident that happened that was a disagreement. Apparently there was some uproar over the leadership of Sandell. Can you tell us anything about that? 5 �CB: As I've said, the fighting after the raid on Kunming was really down at Rangoon area – in Burma area, and here we were two squadrons, already having seen one combat – a taste of it, and supposedly at that time, realizing and thinking we've been told – you destroyed nine out of ten airplanes. We were really gungho just wanting to get down to Rangoon. I think this fermented a lot of boredom and frustration on parts of not only pilots but the airmen too. The airmen – they were proud of their pilots you know, they wanted to get into combat too. And I think as a result, there began to be frustration – some of the guys beginning to drink too much, and I remember, I was personally frustrated. I wanted to go down there. And then when the first rotation I did came up, somebody draw numbers out of a hat to decide who'd go down to replace some of the pilots down there and so forth and I think this caused a lot of turmoil. Some of the pilots would come in – some of the airmen would come in and talk to me with griping and so forth about, "We're not doing anything", and that led from one thing to another. Eventually the feeling grew that the squadron commander wasn't good enough to control this outfit, and then I and some of the other pilots – I remember Pappy Boyington was a great one in this area, for talking about it. I must admit, I got too. I heard so much from airmen and some of the pilots that I became involved and, as a matter of fact, Sandell and I personally talked. I remember one time, I went with him to talk with the airmen, and as a result, there was some animosity that grew towards Sandy as a squadron operator. Sandell was a – he was a – I think he came from Borkdale? Air Force Base where they had P-26's. He was a trained fighter pilot and a good one. He was a little short guy and he had a tiger spirit about him. I think that's one of the things, thinking back now, he had a little bit more than a tiger spirit. Dominating, impatient atmosphere about him and I think this led into a lot of it and eventually this dissipated when finally the entire first squadron eventually moved to Rangoon – that dissipated and unfortunately that's where old Sandell was killed in an accident testing his airplane. 6 �FB: What kind of things were you doing at Kunming? Since you weren't fighting and you were frustrated, bored and everything, what was the social life … CB: At Kunming, we definitely always had a scheduled day on alert, but we didn't have everybody on alert, we always had about eight or ten pilots – what we called a ground alert, to get out there before daylight and have our airplanes ready. But the other guys that and there were twice that many off duty – more than that – and we'd continually train in such things as recognition of airplanes and all. We talked combat. We reviewed in each other just automatically what we would do in a certain case, and of course we always used that terrific, successful initial combat we had as an example. We were just full of confidence and all, but at the same time, it was a full day what you'd do. We had the usual mess hall and combined bar. We did get some reading material, finally, some books, very few though, and I think – we didn't have an English newspaper to my knowledge, but we did have some books to read. And then of course, some more bull sessions at night and some of this I think was a reflection of the same thing I'm talking about – Sandell, some of the guys were drinking too much. In fact, the old man had to step in and take disciplinary action against some of the airmen one time who beat up one of the pilots, and, as a matter of fact, there were some guys sent home, and little bit later on that Pappy Boyington got into too much trouble and I think it was a little later after that he was given a dishonorable discharge. Several of them were given dishonorable discharges. FB: So there was apparently an institute involving Hasty? Can you tell us about that? CB: For some reason or other, particularly when the first squadron was on alert and the second squadron was off at Kunming, then we would have the responsibility of making up the alert schedule for the next day and it so turned out that, I was with Frank Schiel in those operations also to make up the alert schedule, and we had a little bulletin board in the alert room. We had cots where you'd come in and snooze or nap in between, expecting an air raid alert. And I walked in there one morning before daylight, before the 7 �rest of the guys got there to set up the alert schedule – who was gonna be on for the next day. But that morning, as I came in, I turned on the light and there was one of our buddies, old Hasty, who was asleep on the cot, and right next to him was his girl friend whom I think he brought up from Rangoon, I'm not sure, but a beautiful girl, and she was asleep right next to him on the other cot. They didn't wake up when I came in and I thought, well, gee! I think Hasty was supposed to go on alert, so I just thought I'm gonna have some fun with this, so I took the schedule down and revised it to put Hasty on alert and then his girlfriend on alert also, and I tell you, Hasty never did live that down. 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 6 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses the bombing of Kunming, the AVG's first combat with the Japanese pilots, and the Chinese people's reaction to their success. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a5192bef14b2c22b047ca907142ca1d9.mp4 838553d94f03e4b3736620728424f315 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f5343b57208d08020465d24532d4c9e5.pdf 3106963ff8a4b30857d8f1942495a196 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 7] FB: There's two people that have cropped in the various books that we've read, I wonder if you could comment on Harvey Greenlaw and his wife Olga. What can you tell us about them? CB: I considered Harvey Greenlaw, if you will, as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Vice Commander, whereas, Skip Adair was the Chief of Staff, that's putting him in the military vernacular, that's the way that I passed. But Harvey Greenlaw had a lot of experience over in the Orient before, similar to Chennault and he knew the ropes of the Far East and he was, of course, much older than me or most of the pilots and airmen, and Olga was his wife. I don't even know how long they were married, but she was oriented to the Far East too, and she turned out to be a sort of historian really of the Flying Tigers, and I remember in Burma when I was thinking about writing the regulations, if you will, of [???] and all, I wouldn't go to the old man, I'd go to either Skip Adair or Harvey Greenlaw who'd talk to me. We got along great, as a matter of fact he always said, "That's great and so forth, see what the old man has to say about it". Of course, the General in these days, before he went to [??], they didn't participate in the actual flying, none of them got in a P-40, certainly Harvey Greenlaw didn't. I don't even remember meeting Olga in the Burma area, but up in Kunming of course, I remember meeting her and I think that's where she and Greenlaw were living all the time, and Harvey Greenlaw, a lot of pictures you see him with the old man and he was really part of the staff, the command structure of the unit with the three technical squadrons under him. I didn't grow to know him too close, he'd been a okay guy to me and Olga was a very striking woman in my opinion and she was close to the guys as were the two nurses, Red & Jo, but I don't know 1 �much about her. I remember speaking to her. I remember one time in Rangoon, she wanted my diary, or what I'd written so far, but I considered it personal so I wouldn't give it to her. FB: What led up to the arrival in Rangoon? Did you transfer there by airplane, did you get there by train? How did you get there? CB: The fighting was fierce at Rangoon in the December and January time, and the old man had to replace the pilots and the airplanes and in particular get rid of the boredom up in Kunming. I think the first rotation element was the second squadron out of Newkirk's outfit. They stayed there awhile. The squadrons overlapped and there was always a mixture of the Third and Second and the Second and the First and ultimately, the First which was our was ultimately evacuated. But the rotation of the men and equipment which the old man decided to use as a system, it caused us to arrive in increments. The first increment of pilots and aircraft that went down from our First Squadron, it was one out of a sort of a random selection of… CB: It was done out of a sort of random selection – in other words we'd draw numbers out of a hat. I didn't get to go and I was very frustrated, I remember that time. But soon thereafter, maybe a couple of weeks, a second chance came up and I made that one and there was about eight of us I think in that crew and we flew our P-40's down. Naturally I want to tell you a non-tired if you will P-40 down with us. On the way down we landed at Lashio of course and then into Kunming, and of course when we arrived there, we arrived ready to fight, and unfortunately I remember landing my aircraft on the runway at Mingladon, I ran over a bomb fragment with my right landing gear and blew a tire and I've never flown an airplane so much in my life to keep it from nosing up, but I did. I didn't lose the airplane fortunately, and they had it repaired in nothing flat. You're talking about maintenance now. Those boys down there were just fabulous at maintaining those aircraft. So we arrived ready to fight. FB: When you did arrive, what were your living conditions like? Where did you stay? 2 �CB: When our contingent arrived at Rangoon, we were ready to fight, ready to go. We didn't think in terms of anything else but, gee, when will I get the first Jap, when will I get involved in this thing first, and all of a sudden, we didn't think, gee where's the alert shack? Where we gonna eat? Where we gonna live? And finally all of that began to reveal itself, that evidently the RAF had a contract with the local civilians – there was no barracks – as a matter of fact the RAF contingent, what few barracks they had, the Blenheim bomber boys and the Hurricane boys of the RAF, Royal Air Force, they had taken up all the facilities they had on the base, so we had to be quartered on the city, and it turned out to be that anybody – any family that was living in the city that had space and by the contract, and I presume the RAF paid 'em, they would take us into their home and it ended up that evening that George Burguard and I were assigned to live with a employee of the Dutch Oil Company, terrific guy, and he had a servant for us, and we had our own room, and our own bath facilities. We had this boy that waited on us. As a matter of fact in the evening when we came in, he'd come in with a drink for us – handed it to us – and then the cooking was absolutely outstanding. And then we had jeeps, and that's another story, how we got the jeeps. Everybody had a jeep, everybody had a jeep. And that's the first time, by the way, I saw a jeep. I was amazed at this little thing. And we'd spend more time training ourselves on how to operate that jeep than we would on an airplane. I remember Bob Neale trying to drive up a revetment one time, so we had plenty of transportation and we'd just drive up to one of the – I think we used aircraft gas out of the aircraft refueling tanks to fill up our jeeps. That way we had plenty of fuel and always a ready jeep. Each one of us had a jeep, the whole outfit, and of course towards the end when the whole thing got pretty rough, we was fighting so much and it was obvious the Japs were gonna take the place, and of course, the people began to evacuate and leave, the wealthier people began to leave Rangoon and then eventually the poor people had to leave too. Mr. Jenkins was our proprietor, if you will, terrific man – never forget him as long as I live – just as nice to us – he gave us a key to his house and everything. He'd 3 �already evacuated his wife and his boy stayed with us for a couple of nights but that wasn't gonna work. Eventually we moved into another facility that had extra space where I think Bob Little – Bob Prescott moved in with us. So we had – laundry was a problem. Eventually when everybody was evacuated from Rangoon, mess eating was a problem. We began to go to the officer's club, the British – I remember a lot of times we had warm beer and toast for breakfast. The airmen were doing a little better. We called it the ranks, it was an outlying – I think it was a military installation from the field proper, a few miles from it where the British RAF airmen lived, and that's where they put our airmen. Of course, each one of them had a jeep so they had transportation. And then every once in a while we'd go out there and have food with them, and boy, it was like going to a restaurant. It was really good. FB: When did you finally get a chance to see battle again? CB: It was some time in January. If I remember correctly we arrived – the contingency I was in arrived in early January and to tell you when the next time … [Interruption] … When we arrived at Rangoon the contingent I was in – we were primed and ready to fight and then we got quarters and the next morning we were out there before daylight, because we'd been briefed, and a few hours talking with the guys that had already been there – and they were just jubilant about the record we were having – there's no comparison of the number of airplanes we would lose, practically nothing. Many times nothing, and we'd shoot down maybe 15 or 20 of their airplanes. But also, here we were 15 to 20 airplanes, and the most I ever saw at any one time when I was there was 14 P-40's in the air at one time against maybe 120 Japanese airplanes. The new arrivals thought this is gonna be grim, so there was good and bad aspects of it. We didn't have long to wait because the Japs were determined to wipe us out at Rangoon, and make it easy for the ground troops to come up and take the place and they were advancing all the time, the ground troops were up in Singapore. When we arrived, my contingent arrived with Sandell leading it, Japs were already up to as close to Mu Ming, right across the border in 4 �Thailand from Rangoon. They were very close. We immediately started fighting. The British had a little radar, early warning radar deployed out towards the east and south east to give us a warning. It would give us a few minutes. At first it would give us maybe ten or fifteen minutes and towards the end, as a matter of fact, we'd sweat the takeoff, hoping to get off because it was such a short warning, but I remember one day, I was taking off, beating Japanese, shooting, getting shot at, coming back and landing as many as four times in one day. That's how intense it got at times. And of course, in between those times, various guys, including myself, were shooting down airplanes and getting shot and getting hit. We lost a few and we lost a couple of pilots. It was continuous FB: When you got an alert, you had to go scramble … CB: As I say, it just seemed like it was continuous every day. Of course, we had enough pilots that we'd have days off, and I remember this specifically because I hated to be on a day off and I'd come out to the field next day and find the guys had combat, met the Japs, had a chance to get into it. As I say, we lost a few. I remember losing one or two pilots and I forget specifically which one this was. I think it was old Hoffman, one of the oldest pilots we had, a navy boy. I was a pall bearer at his burial and Padre Frillman, our chaplain, was the – he was administering the last rites, and I remember distinctly, when we carried his casket with the flag on it to the grave, we could smell him, and that odor you never forget. I remember it was either right during that funeral and, by the way, this was right near the airport where we buried him. It was either during the funeral or right after, we had a air raid alarm and some of the guys took off – I don't think it was that one but the second or third one, I was back on alert, and I took off, and this is when we were meeting a ten or fifteen to one type odds. We'd scramble and take off and this was one of the most intense combats I remember me having, and I remember the first airplane that I knew positively that I had shot down personally, and I could claim it personally as opposed to the Chunking raid, where so many of us came in and shot – and the bomber didn't go down but later on they went down. In other words, they divided the $500 per airplane 5 �amongst all the guys who were on that flight. That's when you see somebody get – for instance I had nine and a fourth or nine and a half to my credit. FB: As I understand it, the fields, the airfields themselves had unique names, you named them different names? CB: During the part of the fighting which I was personally involved in at Rangoon during the months of January and February, it go so intense – it was intense even before it got down there – but it continued intense. The Japs even came over at night and started trying to bomb us at the fields, and they made a couple of bombing runs actually against the fields, the bombers got through without us keeping them away. A few Brewster's and Hurricanes were lost and maybe one of our aircraft got strafed, I don't remember. At any rate, we had to do something. We couldn't get caught on the ground, the old man had taught us this and I'm sure he briefed old Sandell and Bob Neale who eventually took over from Sandell, that you can't get caught on the ground. So, with the cooperation of the British, and I think what they did just bulldozed out some of the flat countryside not in the rice field area but old hard clay area, a few miles from Mingladon proper. We used those as dispersal fields at night. Just before darkness we'd fly the airplanes out there. An airman would be out there to meet us and bring us back in jeeps and for the lack of a name or something, we'd use liquor names. One was called "Whiskey Field" I believe, and another one was called "John Haig Field", wait a minute, "John Haig" for one, and I think the other one was "Whiskey" – no, "John Walker Field", that's right, "John Walker" and "John Haig", and to my knowledge, it was only those two. This got pretty touchy at times because early morning fog – trying to take the airplanes off on a grass field with no maintenance capability at all, and with the fuel still in the airplane we'd put in the night before, then taking off, and maybe even climbing through low clouds and then getting on top, with no navigation capability, yet it was only a few miles to go. But it got kinda touchy, and towards the end, just before we had to evacuate, we actually went about 6 �dispersing some of the airplanes on the extreme outer edges of the field proper. But even up towards the last, we were still using some outer fields. FB: There was an incident, I guess, where you and Neale fought one enemy pilot for over ten minutes. What was the story behind that? CB: I might tell you one story where I think it's the first airplane I definitely identified as I personally shooting it down. I knew the bullets were my gun's ammo, and actually knocked that airplane down. He came up from above and he mis-judged and coming up out of the loop and then turned on top like – top of the loop, and right in front of me, all I had to do was squeeze the trigger, and he was just engulfed in fire. As a matter of fact, it closed in so close, that suddenly it dawned on me I had to pull up one wing to get over his wing. Just that quick, in the flick of a second. As I flew past him, I recognized his cockpit. He was sitting in flames in his cockpit, and evidently he was dead, and of course, he went on in. Then I remembered – I reached out and patted the 50 caliber guns, that come out inside, [???] the wing to recharge them, and I think I remember, "Oh, got one! There you are old boy Hoffman!" And I felt good about it. Later on you have philosophical thoughts, gee, shooting down a man. There were other incidents – about Neale – after Sandell was killed in an accident, checking his – he'd had a damaged rudder and they'd repaired it so he was checking it, and I saw the actual accident the instant it happened. He was evidently practicing the rudder and all, particularly the key element in doing a slow roll, and he was pretty low but he had enough speed, and evidently he just – something maybe didn't work on the rudder, maybe something wasn't right and he went in upside down. Then of course, Bob Neale replaced him as squadron commander and Pappy Boyington became vice squadron commander and was, for all practical purposes, operations officer. One of the missions that we were on – we were in strictly an air defense interceptor mode. Some of the missions only lasted about 30 minutes. Later on, we got into strafing modes, a touch of air warfare perse?, if you will. One of the missions, we'd stay with them until the Japanese starting retreating and eventually get low on fuel 7 �and have to come back because you were always operating at maximum amount of fuel [???] practically and high RPM. I remember seeing a single I-97 type Japanese airplane and I started after it and of course I had higher speed than he had and I eventually caught up with him and Bob Neale was – he wasn't with me on my wing around his wing, but after we started making a turn, somehow or another Bob Neale came in the picture and I knew it was his airplane, he had number 7 on it, and I came in close enough to this little character, this Japanese pilot where he had a yellow stripe around the tail of the airplane, just forward of the empennage rudder and that little character evaded us – they could maneuver, they could turn on a dime and we had – we'd go on past, we had to go on and come back. 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 7 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses his impressions of Harvey and Olga Greenlaw, in addition to his squadron's arrival in Rangoon and the combats that took place there. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a8cfa594c9fe2ce9c8e2f439c2bcdaf8.mp4 a1544bb708e0946b4ef3ed328a43f2f0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a0a2852e102fe042b7d431dc7afa7fb5.pdf bee4cc47bf444c3becc9b8de9576814a PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 8] CB: In this engagement, on my first, second pass, well really on the first pass I didn't get him into position to fire on him. I definitely remember a yellow stripe around the rear part of his fuselage, just ahead of the empennage rudder, and the next thing I knew, I was looking back trying to get into position. I saw Bob Neale in number 7. And so both of us were trying to corner this little character, we'd make a run on him and then when we'd pass him he'd turn east and we'd try to catch him again, try and make another one on him. And finally, after at least six or seven minutes I know, maybe even longer, I had come up on the rear of him, and Bob was behind me, and of course he saw me coming. And he turned at the proper time to keep me from, I was too far away to fire on him, and then I might have caught him in a full deflection, my gunnery wasn't that good. I fired at him of course, it went on past him. And then Bob – then they started to straighten out, you know – and then Bob came up behind him and just let him have it. So it was between us two that we finally got him down. And I never will forget, I remember making comments in my diary and thinking about it later on, that that character had to be an experienced Japanese fighter pilot, and probably even a squadron commander, because he knew what he was doing. FB: There's an incident, apparently at the hotel where you and the RAF had a little bit of a battle. [CB laughs] Can you tell us about that? CB: Course in between all this fighting, you know, when we had a day off because of fatigue and all, and all the pilots would go on rest and recuperation, if you will. And one of our favorite haunts and hangouts was the Silver Grill Restaurant and Hotel, the main one in 1 �downtown Rangoon. And it was the favorite one for all of us to get together, and start out with drinks and have something to eat. And it was the closest thing to American food we could get. And of course, you know, no matter who you are, a fighter pilot in the RAF, a fighter pilot in the Flying Tigers, or even one of the poor old bomber boys, we'd get together and have bull sessions. And at times, you know, sometimes they'd get heated up. They'd brag about their Hurricanes, the RAF that came up from Singapore would brag about those poor old Brewsters aircraft, and then the Blenheim boys would stick their two cents in. But usually it ended up in an argument between the RAF and us about which was the best airplane, so forth. Burgard and I, and I think it was Bob Little and probably one or two others. But we'd had drinks, and I distinctly remember I was getting clobbered. I remember George Burgard telling me later, he said, "You sat there with a dirty, sneering look on your face, and you made a comment. Something that just further irritated them." And you know, we almost came to blows. And it ended up, we didn't come to fisticuffs, but as we were leaving I had to go back to the men's room and as I came out these other guys were gone. And as I walked out the front door, here was Bob Little and Burgard leaving me in a jeep. And I remember screaming to the high heaven and hollering at them and finally they heard me and turned around and picked me up. And that was a wild ride to get us back to our quarters, because here was Bob Little, George Burgard and me, skunk drunk, and trying to find where George Burgard and I lived. We'd go in one driveway after another, and [laughs], and running over the, you know where the streets come together, they'd have a circle. We wouldn't go around the circle, we'd just go up the curb and down through the next curb. And finally we found where George and I lived and we told Bob Little goodbye and apparently he got back home. [laughs] (break) FB: … he didn't show up for duty, didn't even show up for duty. Neale, Bob Neale balled him out. Were you privy to that? 2 �CB: Oh yeah. It's in my book. FB: Could you tell us about that? CB: Uh, well carrying on from some of these escapades to [?]. I remember one occasion – this turned out to be a party at one of the other pilot's homes. I mean the home of some British or Dutch RN Company guy. Where they stayed, they had several bedrooms. They decided to have a party, so all of us that particularly had the next day off, or whether we had the next day off or not because we had the same schedule. We all went to the same party. It turned out to be a wild one, and particularly with the RAF boy – those RAF boys know how to have a party. So it really got wild. Matter of fact, a few of them fisticuffs, I remember I had to hold old Jim Cross off little old Kuykendall one time. FB: Pulled him off of? You had to break up a fight? CB: And you know, it got to fisticuffs, I remember one instance where old Jim Cross was going to take on poor little old Matt Kuykendall and I had to pull him off, and finally settle that down. And I didn't know that I was even capable, but I did so. And that went on through the wee hours of the morning, and the next morning I, being the scheduling officer, had to go out there anyhow and I didn't know how I made it. But some of the guys showed up late, and you know, poor old Pappy Boyington, sure enough, you know, boy he had his share of it. And two or three others showed up just like him, but particularly Pappy, he was just too drunk to fly an airplane. And Bob Neale, of course being the boss, oh he just became furious. And that's the first time I really remember Bob Neale really, really getting on old Pappy. And here Pappy was his vice commander. And I was just standing off to the side listening to this, and boy, he just let him have it. And I think that was really the start downwards of Pappy, and later on when we eventually got back up to Kunming, you know, that's when he'd had it and the old man fired him and he left the theater. FB: What were the last days of Rangoon like, the fall of Rangoon? 3 �CB: This in between time at the Silver Grill and the furious fighting during the days, it seemed to get worse, and worse, and worse. We even got to talking, at times, you know in the alert shack, "Gee, what if these Japanese would make a parachute drop with airborne troops on this place, what would we do?" And you know, these types of thoughts began to crop up in our minds and we were getting tired. You know it was really time for us to rotate, but there was no sign of it. We were getting low on oxygen and all, and the warning time, I remember many times towards the last few days of February. I think we evacuated on the 27th of February, last time we flew out. But just a few days before that, I wouldn't even check my mags. I wouldn't even check my mags on takeoff, because I'd rather get in the air than stay on the ground and abort a takeoff with a bad engine, and got by with it. But the… well I remember one evening, got to talking with Bob about this, we were sitting around between air raid alarms. And, you know, I said, "Bob, maybe we ought to have an evacuation plan." He says, "Yeah, let's write up one. How 'bout you write up one." So I drew on my experience back in 1939, when I went from Langley Field to McDale Field. I had to write a plan there to take troops down. And I prepared an evacuation plan to move north to Magwe, several hundred miles up the river. And we had that plan prepared and, sure enough, I’m glad we did because it was towards the end, Bob Neil came by our quarters where George Burgard and I were asleep and woke us up and said, “The British have pulled out their radar.” He said, “We’ve gotta get out of here.” And I remember we had one load of oxygen – the load in the aircraft, that was the last oxygen we had and I think we were out of tires. So we were all up the rest of the night getting the polish together and getting the airplanes ready to take off at dawn. And the first elements of the crew chiefs with their individual jeeps [?] – jeeps and trucks – and some other trucks loaded with a lot of stuff we’d gotten from the docks incidentally. And get them up the road to Magwe. And the next morning we took off, but Bob Neil, bless his heart, he and one other guy – Snuffy Smith – they decided to stay and make one flight that morning to make a search to see if they could find Ed Lieboat [?] who, one of our 4 �polished in first squadron, had taken off the day before in combat and never returned. And to this day, we don't know what happened to him. But we evacuated in the last few days of February up to Magwe. FB: Did you go into Rangoon? I mean, did you go into the town as the evacuation was happening? Did you actually have a chance to go in and see the docks? [Inaudible] CB: It was during this intensive combat, some of the airmen had times off too because their particular airplane wasn’t on schedule. And the rumor got around towards the end everyone was evacuating – the people, the civilians – and they were even turning the lepers and the insane people out of the asylums. We could see them wandering up and down the streets and all of our host and hostesses were gone. Matter of fact, we gave one of our crew chiefs a job of being the master sergeant. He would go around and get eggs or something from the countryside and we’d eat off the back end of the pickups. The [?] was still coming in, ships were unloading, the equipment I have no way to estimate all of it but I do know there was just millions and millions of dollars and hundreds and hundreds of trucks – big six by’s – and jeeps… that’s where we got the jeep. So some of the airmen, it was a favorite pastime of theirs during these breaks, they’d take their jeep – usually a truck – and go down to the docks and here the Burmese [?] unloading these ships. And they didn’t know from nothing, all of their bosses are practically gone, too, but the guys who had the ships, they wanted to get out of there so bad. So these airmen would act like some tycoon or some boss in charge and say something in English. Of course, they couldn’t understand them and they’d tell ‘em, “Put that over in my jeep, put that in the truck.” And they’d come back with those trucks just loaded down. Bob Hasting was a great one with this and no telling how many trucks he got up the road. Well one time at the field a liquor store salesman, Dutchman, came by where we had our aircraft parked for takeoff, you know, for alert, and honked for us. And a couple of the guys went down there and he threw the keys over the fence to these airmen and said that’s his liquor store “so you can go down and get anything you want.” So there were 5 �truckloads of liquor that went up. As a matter of fact, I remember getting two cases of Dry Sack Cherry, which was good stuff, but it was awful sweet! And no telling, well Bob… George Burgard brought a jeep back full of toothpaste, cookies… one of my crew chiefs, I think it was, brought me a radio back and I used that radio for the rest of my tour in the Far East for getting news on the war. FB: There was a day, apparently, six AVG’s escorted RAF bombers on a mission to Bilin and you attacked [?] trucks and you flew so low that the propeller got… could you tell us about that please? CB: As I said before, we were primarily in an intercept mode, but towards the end the British became desperate, we had to do something to help the retreating Gurkhas and British troops because Japanese were pressing them. Pretty soon began to get so close to Rangoon that they wanted us to give them some close air support and of course we had the six guns and the aircraft – we could do it. So they began to schedule strafing missions and I remember one occasion it was sort of a hunt and seek or seek and hunt and kill type of a reconnaissance. Bob sent me and I believe it was Snuffy Smith. We took off and we were to… it was initially patrol east of Rangoon in case of poor warning. We’d at least have an airborne patrol and if nothing happened towards the end, go down and look at the approaching highways or roads - main roads - to Rangoon from Thailand in case of any Japanese convoys and strafe them. So low and behold, that’s exactly what happened. We caught a Japanese column on the road and Snuffy was firing on wings so he followed me and we strafed that column from one end to the other and this thing had to be at least four or five miles long… FB: Alright, so you were strafing… CB: This column had to be at least five or six miles long and we strafed ‘em. I remember I jink to fire and pull up to keep from running into them. And a lot of the artillery pieces were pulled by horses and I remember seeing the men scatter and go to the ditches at times and I remember killing, you know, seeing horses fall. And I remember once seeing 6 �a hole in the top of my wing where the metal curled out, where a bullet hole had gone through it. Fortunately didn’t get in through the fuel tank – that made me think a little. But anyway, that was towards the end of the strafing and we made a run on him and no telling how much damage we did to those, but at least we did it. And then on the way back, Bob had told me that there was a [?] that had been shot down over in the area and be sure, if you see it, they belly-land strafe it and be sure it destroys it or maybe set it on fire. I made several passes at that thing and as I pulled off my last pass, my aircraft went into a very high vibration, the whole airplane, and I thought, “Oh, what’s happened?” I thought I’d gotten ground fire. And I throttled back and finally I found a position in the RPM where the vibration was released and I finally – very tense – finally got back to [?] and landed. And when I pulled up on top of the engine, the prop blade turned up and it was a bullet hole, fifty caliber, right through the middle of that prop that, of course, made it unbalanced. FB: How did that happen? How did it happen – how did the hole become? CB: I think what happened in that case… see the two fifty calibers are in the top of the fuselage and the butts come out right over your knees. As a matter of fact, our trousers were full of oil all the time from the oil dropping off the gun and we charge them, you see. And they shoot through the propeller – they’re timed to shoot between the blades and you could imagine. If you hold the fire too long and I think that’s what I was doing, you know, holding down the trigger too much and my bursts were too long. The barrels get awful hot and your ammo, your bullets, do what we call “tumble.” You know, the [?] expands and the bullet isn’t guided and it tumbles. And therefore, the time from the muzzle to the propeller gets out of timing and eventually one of ‘em catches the prop. And of course, fifty caliber knocks a hole in it about an inch and a half and that makes the balance of the propeller balance wrong. FB: I understand at this time there was a real sense of war-weariness… all of you guys were getting tired. The conditions in Magwe were really poor and I understand that you 7 �actually had to talk to some of the men about like a pep talk or something. Could you please tell us about that? CB: Well as I told you, you know we evacuated from Rangoon up to Magwe and Magwe was quite a lively base with a lot of evacuating RAF outfits from the lower part of… some from Singapore even went up there without coming to Rangoon but the remaining RAF outfit in Rangoon also went to Magwe. And there were some bases… there were some [?] already based in Magwe, so it was a pretty heavily populated base. And then when we got our P-40’s in there it was really heavily populated. You can imagine after this type of combat – we were daily fighting, the airmen just working around the clock to keep the airplanes in commission. And we began to worry about supplies and all and then we began to worry about air envelopment of the Japanese troops. And the morale of the outfit began to droop a little and I remember feeling battle fatigue. By that time I think I had around eight to my credit and I had bullet holes in my airplane. But even then… I detected the morale of the men and after we got up to Magwe we thought, “Well the Japs are still coming up, surely they’ll hit this base.” So the airmen were tired, too, and I can understand because we were just working them to a bone. And they got…as a matter of fact they began to talk about, “I’m going to quit” or “I’ve had enough of this,” you know. And so I remember one night sitting down, Bob Neil and Snuffy Smith later on came up after we had landed and they got lost on the way so we didn’t really recover them until the next day. The haze was almost impossible – anybody would get lost. But I was there by myself so I decided to get the men together and give them a talk and I did the best I could and they took it. And after a lot of commiseration involved… we worked it out. And the next few days the British didn’t – I mean the Japs – didn’t come up and hit us there. But we retired and the old man, so he sent the third squadron down at Magwe to replace us so we… and then later on, boy the third squadron got what we really feared. They got all-out attacks and practically wiped out almost. 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 8 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses the fall of Rangoon and the war-weariness the AVG experienced after they evacuated from Rangoon up to Magwe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/032fd84272405fc2363a1ff746a62aa0.mp4 9fedf46bc4560dc56bdaaf3946ed94cb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2adfbb53d4d013f71b120f96537864a6.pdf b8199e3312930b3a168f2a5526455d90 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 9] CB: …… from my book, I guess, than me. FB: It's not just that book, you mentioned a lot of books – most of the ones we've read about. CB: This is off the record now but old Dick Rossi and I, we're very proud, we always say to each other – and Bob Neale of course – our squadron did most of the fighting, but I dare say, so'd the first and second. FB: I understand you met Stillwell, could you tell us about that? CB: In one of the occasions while we were at Kunming, I hadn't yet gone down to Rangoon – we'd do anything to kill time and I remember if an air force – army air corps airplane would come, most of us would go down where our operations was to see if anybody's on it we knew and a lot times some of our old buddies would come in, particularly in a C-87 or B-24. FB: So occasionally you could see some of your old buddies …… CH Yeah, and it happened on one of those particular occasions that I saw some men sitting under the wing of a C-47 Gooney Bird that had air force markings on it, army air corps marks on it, and I strolled over to see what it was, and lo and behold one of them turned out to be old General Stillwell with his old war beaten Stetson on. I got into conversation with him and we knew that he and Chennault were locking horns about strategy, support and so forth in China. I got to talking to him – he, of course, was more interested in hearing our stories and I guess I talked to him about 20–30 minutes and I remember making a warrant that we felt was pretty good – I and two or three other guys – I forget 1 �who – but I remember him making a warrant, he says, "You guys have done a terrific job", or something like that; he really complimented us. FB: On 23rd March, there was a raid on Chiang Mai, and you and Rector had to escort McGarry's burning ship across the Salween. Do you recall that, he was later captured and imprisoned? Do you recall that particular incident? CB: Can you cut off for a second? After we, the first squadron rotated out of Magwe to go up to Kunming and then all the Olsen third squadron came down and replaced us. Here again, we were sitting there with nothing to do. No [???] bombers coming up from French Indo China whatsoever to bomb Kunming, and things got pretty boring. Really at Kunming, we were too far from the Japanese front where the air bases were to hit 'em by let's say offensive strikes without deploying, I mean stopping at some base en route. As a result of Magwe getting just clobbered, this was I think in early March, just getting clobbered. As a matter of fact we lost 2 or 3 boys bombing on the ground – being bombed on the ground from Japanese bombs. So the old man – he set out and between him and Bob Neale and Jack Newkirk, he figured out a way we could hit the headquarters and the headquarters base of the southeastern Japanese air force at Chiang Mai, Thailand, but we'd have to stop at one or two bases which actually the plan turned out to be. Bob Neale came in one day and says, "We gonna go hit 'em. The old man is tired of this, we gonna take revenge against the Japs on Magwe. So it ended up 10 aircraft between Newkirk's four and our first squadron, Bob Neale's six, we took off for Loiwing, which is just north of the Burmese border, to refuel there and go to a little air base called Namsang, just across the border from Thailand and a northeastern portion of Burma. It was another sort of RAF outlying base but did fly out of it, and they had a fueling service and all. I'm sure the old man laid on plans with the RAF to do this and the whole idea was to catch the Japanese air force on the ground at Chiang Mai Air Base and a supporting air base, I think it was called Lampang, just south of Chiang Mai about 20 miles, an outlying supporting base if you 2 �will. And the plan was that we would sneak in to Namsang, just before dark out of Lashio and early the following morning before daylight, the ten of us would take off, the plan of six of us, Neale's, an outfit of six, we'd strike Chiang Mai and Newkirk's four, him leading them, would fly past Chiang Mai off to the east a little, and go on down and hit Lampang, I believe that's the name of it, to the south. We were supposed to take off and rendezvous at 10,000 ft. This was before dawn and I remember, I hadn't flown a P-40 at night – I'd flow a lot of airplanes at night but never had I flown a P-40 at night – and some of the boys just – I think it was Bill Bartling if I remember correctly – he hadn't had much time in a P-40 and not much time at night. He'd never flown a P-40 at night and here we were blacked out and all on a grassy field, no lights and we parked a truck up at the end of the field with the headlights on, aimed our aircraft at that as the only reference. When you revved up the old P-40 with those exhausts on each side, blue flames coming out of that things, 52" of manifold pressure would stream past you way back past where you were sitting in the cockpit and it was sort of blinding. I was worried about some of the guys taking off, as a matter of fact, I worried about myself, but I eventually got Harris, the second guy to go with Bob Neale. Our six got in the air, then Newkirk's four and we assembled at 10,000 ft. and it was just breaking dawn when we could get together. For some reason or another, I don't know to this day, Newkirk's four never did rendezvous with us, and Bob decided to go on. Let me back up just a second. Bob and I discussed this in detail that night before we went to bed. We had to maintain radio silence because it's – complete surprise, and I had been over Chiang Mai, Thailand when we were at Toungoo reconnaissance mission, and it's right at the foot of a huge mountain which is a summer palace of the king and queen of Thailand. That mountain just sticks up like an ice cream upside down. I had seen the base, I knew the position of it. Bob Neale had never seen it and I remember Bob and I – he said, "Tell you what, I think if I'm not mistaken it was gonna take an hour and two minutes on a specific heading, I forget what that heading it was, just purely dead reckoning because (a) it was so much, we couldn't 3 �even see the becalmed river, couldn't even see the ground, just the top of the mountains coming through, so purely just dead reckoning, and Bob says, "Now, if you see me – " I was flying on his wing, there's four and then two, I think Ed Rector and McGarry were in the top cover, they were gonna be top cover for us. And Bob Neale and I, and Bill Bartling and Pappy Boyington were the attack four. Bob said, "Tell you what, Charlie, if you think I'm past this place, and I don't know where it is, you come up next to me and wiggle your wings and pat yourself on the head, and I'll know that you know where we are, and you do this, see." I said, "Okay." When we assembled by the way at 10,000 ft. when I saw Bob Neale's airplane when I came with Tex Hill, Bill Bartling had joined him. Bill looked back and saw me, he knew he wasn't supposed to be there, so he dropped out and I got on his wing. I watched the clock ahead on my dash [??] and of course looking down, and finally I saw this peak coming up – in about an hour and two minutes coming up – sure enough, just opposite, I knew where I was exactly. Just opposite it where it began to disappear between a line through Bob Neale's wings, I thought, Bob, this is it, and just for a few seconds, I let it go – fly further on, then I said, "gotta do it". So I pulled up, wiggled my wings, touched my head. Bob nodded and he talked back, pulled back, finally got out of my way, and I immediately went into a shallow diving turn, pushed the throttle open and as I got lower, of course, you could see through the haze, and right in front of my airplane, the nose, I saw that square of the field. And I was just jubilant. Another thousand feet or so, I checked my guns and fired the guns so they could trace us. They knew this was it. As I came across my first pass, they were caught completely flat-footed, and three more P-40's right behind me, and with six guns and those aircraft were lined up, wing tip to wing tip, and this downed one that made it 273 [??], downed another one, and I ended up making four passes before I saw return fire – passes going past me – I only saw one airplane, it was Bill Bartling's airplane, doing that pass. The rest of the guys made several passes too, but I distinctly remember making four passes, and thinking back now, I'd never do that again. At any 4 �rate, we did it. Then we started climbing off, and as we climbed away coming around the mountain and looked back, the entire field was up in smoke, the entire airfield was covered by it. Newkirk, coming back from the lower – attack on the lower field – they confirmed the fact that they could see the smoke before they got back even with – Chiang Mai airfield. As we were going back, we assembled, I think it was Ed Rector, McGarry and Bill Bartling with me. Bob Neale had Boyington with him. We were gonna to recover at Namsang, refuel and take off immediately. We were still worried about maybe some of the Japs'd get off but there was no way. McGarry's airplane began to show smoke and he started falling back and I knew something was wrong so we circled him for a while and he got lower and lower. Finally, his airplane turns upside down and he did, he rolled it, rolled his canopy back and baled out. Then I circled and dropped him a map, just in case, but I don't know whether he ever got it or not. But he ended up as a P.O.W., then when we got back to Namsang, I told Bob Neale about McGarry, and of course that was a black spot on the whole mission. But we felt absolutely jubilant about the success of it. When we got back up to Loiwing, we found out – we found that out at Namsang, Buss Keeton came in before with Newkirk and he told us about Newkirk who went straight in a target, we don't know whether it was a tank or what, but he went straight in from strafing. What they did was, on the way back, there was no airplanes on that field, so they strafed the railroad and the highways coming back up, and he saw, from what Buss Keeton said, he saw what looked like a tank or a personnel carrier, military weapon – military vehicle – and I'm sure Newkirk was good enough at hitting not to have target fixation. I think he was shot down and he went straight in. He was killed instantly. FB: There was a time that you and some other pilots were asked to bring in some new P-40E's from Karachi? I understand that there's an interesting story about that – an interesting story involving Claire Booth Luce and somebody called you the "seven wild men?" CB: There were a lot of wild of wild things about that! Our airplanes were running out. They were not only tired but they were wearing out. We lost a few and we did replacements, 5 �and of course, this was April – United States was at war against Japan, so they had to consider supplying Generalissimo with his little air force with a handful of P-40's. Generalissimo arranged for us to pick up some replacement P-40's in Karachi. They turned out to be a P40E version of [??] His later P-40 had six 50 calibers in it, three in each wing tip, devastating fire power. Little bit heavy airplane, about the same type fire power, and about the same type of performance. The old man would send those that seemed to have had most in combat or looked to be the most fatigued and I guess I was one of them; eventually he got to take a flight with me down across India to Karachi to pick up these airplanes and we of course flew by CNAC and in a Dutch patrol – a Dutch amphibian type aircraft. At the river at Calcutta, took off for the last flight, flying about 70 miles an hour, flew all the way across India to Karachi. Landed once in a lake at – I forget, some place in India. In between, when we got down – first we landed at Lashio?, then Dinjhan, northern India – that's just across the hump, and refueled there and then went down to Calcutta. At Calcutta we had to wait for this British, BOAC aircraft, so we decided to have some fun and go on out into the countryside and we went to a theater where they had a show and a lot of – it was a live show, a lot of girls, prettiest girls, American girls, and several of us ended up supposedly having dates with them and then we went on the rest of the night. It's a good thing we didn't [???[ the following morning or we'd never have made it, but we had a good time there, and then we finally took off and went up to Calcutta and there we had to get checked out in a P40E – a bit different, briefed on it because we were gonna fly it back. Unfortunately they had only five ready, but they had some P-43's they were putting together at Karachi to give to the Chinese, P43's or 4, one or the other, P-47 [??] Being the leader of the flight, I said, "You guys can fly the P40E's, I'll get checked out on the P43 and fly it back. They got checked out in it and a lot of the other guys also got checked out in it, and of course, getting checked out and being used to the way we flew it, particularly Toungoo and Kunming and other places we located at, we had our procedure to come in and land tactical, come across the 6 �field, low altitude, zoom up, practically acrobatics and then come in, practice [???] landing. They didn't have very good air traffic control and as a result, the United States Army Air Corps Colonel, he got very upset at us and I remember when they finally got checked out and were ready to take off and leave, I think the operations officer said, "We're glad to get rid of you guys." But we flew them on back to Kunming. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 9 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his meeting with General Stilwell in Kunming and the time when a group of AVG pilots known as the "seven wild men" picked up replacement P-40 airplanes in Karachi. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3f321f246c5e5cd5a2c099a635fff2d4.mp4 e8b3325febdce08dc23f49462f152493 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ab05ed2270700e8f8600444743391a47.pdf c0d7d6eda8825c5bbe7a73182eb38dd5 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 10] FB: Tell us about buzzing the… CB: On the ferry trip when we took off from Karachi, I think our first leg through horrible haze and through dead reckoning navigation, our first place was Jodphur?, India, about the central part of India. Then from there we'd fly on straight down to Calcutta. The city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal was, was sort of en route, and I got thinking about it – the haze was so bad that we gradually had to get lower so I could do some piloting, know where I was, and I was leading the flight, and as we got closer, you could see the beautiful Taj Mahal from a distance. I talked myself into coming down real low, the other guys of course were right with me flinging out, and we turned – we couldn't have been over 50ft. because I remember looking over straight opposite and seeing the Taj Mahal and we circled it just as tight a circle as we could go and then took on off and went on down to Calcutta and as we entered Calcutta where the British were fearful of Japs even coming on over into India, so they had the more prestigious air and for any airplanes coming to Dum Dum Airport I think it was called. We had to fly down what you call corridors and one of the corridors was right down the middle of Hougli? River that flows past Calcutta into the bay. You're supposed to be below 2,000 ft. to identify yourself and then make a right turn at certain time. I got down to about 200 ft. We were right flat just practically in between the taller buildings, flying down that river and the end of the river goes right by the airport, so of course we couldn't get lost. Here we were screaming past me in a P-43, a great deal over there at that time, a little like a zero and with the other P40's following me. If I remember correctly I think there were a total of six of us and we 1 �circled the airport and came in and landed – the usual combat type landings. I remember the operations officer making a comment later on to us – by the way this was sort of a headquarters for CNAC – Chinese National Airways Corporation which was a Chinese airline – making a comment, "You guys are the wildest pilots I've ever seen in my life", but to my knowledge nothing ever got back to the old man that we were in trouble. Everybody enjoyed it! FB: You also at this time currently met some AVG ground crew people who had actually quit. Can you tell us about that? CB: I believe this was in – on the way back we got into Calcutta, we wanted to be sure that the aircraft was in good enough commission and I remember we had to pick up a couple of Chinese pilots flying P-43's since I was going back, and we stayed there a few days and I recall – I don't recall the name of the airman, but a there were a few of them that we ran into in the Great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta. They were on their way back home and we found out they were just fed up and again this was that bad morale when you sit and you don't do anything, and boredom sets in and disgust and confusion, and drinking and so forth and so on and they just decided to quit and go home. FB: And what about once you got back and Chennault told you there were some problems with the pilots too. Apparently there was ……… CB: After we took off from Calcutta we went up to Dinjan and then that was a flight over the hump, flying in a P-43 leading these other guys in the P-40's, single engine airplanes and just dead reckoning navigation, and that's the first time I'd flown my own airplane across the hump. But just opposite Loiwing, as we were going to Kunming, the old man happened to be at Loiwing, he and third squadron was in deep combat and then also I think Tex Hill was second – sort of a conglomeration of first, second and third pilots and airplanes. Of course we were getting low on everything and they were getting hit continually by the Japanese still trying to wipe 'em out, pre the time of actually the ground troops trying to enter southern China. So the old man – I checked in with the 2 �Loiwing ground station instead of a P-43 was [???] communication boys to talk to someone and lo and behold the old man came on and told me to bring the airplanes into Loiwing and I remember distinctly contesting the old man. I think I said something like, "Are you Chennault?" and trying to identify and I made up my mind to sound like him. So we turned and we recovered all the airplanes at Loiwing and turned some of those new P-43's over to them, then the pilots picked up some of the weary ones and I stayed in my P-43 then we were going on to Kunming. We didn't stay at Loiwing too long, didn't get a chance to talk to the pilots except – we were so busy that talking about the intensity of the fighting and it seemed like they were getting over-powered and getting tired, of course, and out of supplies and then we got up to Kunming, after laying there and talking to the grounded pilots, I felt the same type of atmosphere as – getting tired, no action at Kunming and a few of the pilots were leaving and the ground crew too. FB: How did that affect you? CB: It was about this time, actually earlier, that we began to – after December 7th, 8th, we began amongst all of us to talk about possible induction, what's gonna happen to us. Here we are, an American volunteer group, what's gonna happen? We even questioned the old man at times, are we gonna be inducted. We began to hear rumors that he was gonna be inducted and become a brigadier general, and it was about that time that it happened, and this was another thing that sort of caused confusion – what's gonna happen to us. Some of the guys I think began to worry about that. I didn't wanna be inducted, personally. I wanted a regular commission. And is so turned out that I personally went to Chunking in the office of General Bissell personally and told him, "I'll stay here". I told the old man, if I get a regular commission – of course, he rarely dismissed me and said it'd take an Act of Congress. But this is the – I remember talking to a lot of the other pilots – a lot of us felt the same way. I think that had the representatives of the army air corps that came up, and I'm talking about colonel types and even General Bissell – I think if they had approached us in a different manner rather than than dominating, you're gonna do this and do that. 3 �Remember, a lot of these guys, they went to the AVG to get out of service. I remember personally myself that it a little bit demanding. We were tired, combat weary, no doubt, and he was talking to some war weary guys and we were low men on totem pole on supplies and I guess the old man had his problems too, in fact, I know he did. I saw weariness in his face. We were tired and morale was getting bad. Finally, later on [???] did talk to us and officially we were – I got off my subject. FB: We'll get into Bissell in a minute, I'll return to that. There's one other major incident that we'd like you to talk about. Apparently there's a period in May when 25 bombers caught the AVG by surprise at Paoshan and you managed to get a plane in the air but you got shot and you shot one bomber and you ran out of ammo, and then you were attacked by three Zeros and had to bail out on a Chinese cemetery? I that all accurate? If you could talk about that incident. CB: If I were asked what the most gratifying and satisfying event in my AVG life was and what the worst and most horrible catastrophic and traumatic incident in my AVG experience, I would mention the day at Rangoon that I shot three airplanes down and possibly a fourth one on one 30 or 40 minute combat mission. I was jubilant, but at Paoshan when I was shot down the first time in flames, I assure that was not only humiliating but pretty demoralizing, and I must confess it was my own fault. I made a lot of mistakes that a fighter pilot shouldn't make and I think it stemmed from utter confidence, supreme confidence, over confidence. I'll make a short story of this. As I say, at Kunming, we weren't getting in combat, but the third squadron and combination of third section and first squadron at Loiwing were just catching poundings from all directions and continuous and the old man had to do something. The ground troops, the Japanese army was approaching the southern border of China through Burma, and the old man decided that he needed a little bit more support in that quarter of the southern,. extreme southwestern tip of China. There was a little field called Paoshan just across the border from – Bob Neale came in one day and said, "We're gonna have some action". We 4 �took I think it was eight airplanes to Paoshan with a mission of – several missions really – to try to support the retreating Chinese, at least make an appearance over them. We didn't particularly care for that. Also air defense in a an air defense posture, strictly innocent posture. Also with a forthcoming efforts of some, last straw efforts, to stop the Japanese from penetrating the southern tip of China and entering the back door if you will. It would have been annihilating to China, so with those missions in mind, that's the reason he deployed us down there and eventually the outfit at Loiwing had to evacuate to another airfield closer up towards us at Paoshan, I forget where that was. But we lost eventually [???]. But in the meantime, we'd been there only a day or two at Paoshan and no warning at all. Bob Neale and I, I remember this very vividly, Bob Neale and I were cleaning our pistols in the alert shack and Bob Neale ran in and says, "The bombers are coming, or the Japs are coming, get in your airplane." We rushed out of course, and my airplane happened to be the closest one to the alert shack. As crew chief, I'd be all ready to start an airplane. We looked up and we could see the first wave of about 25 Japanese bombers in great big Vee. I'm told, later on I found out that a C54 type aircraft, a four engine airplane that we'd given the Japs earlier, was actually leading that bomber flight and the rest of them were Japanese bombers. But I didn't realize this at the time, didn't pay any attention to it. Bob Neale saw this all so he started shooting his pistol in the air and said, "Too late, get in your ditches, get in your ditches!" But I had already jumped in the airplane, engine was running. Sitting there and looking up and I thought, I can make it, I can make it. Then I was the only one in the airplanes. I disregarded Bob, number one mistake. I shoved the throttle forward, just sitting in the airplane, I hadn't had my seat belt on and my parachute not strapped in, my helmet not on, canopy open. As I stared down the grass field, I knew I wasn't gaining speed, my flaps were still down. I upped those, nearly nosed up as a result of that, but I finally got in the air and I just barely cleared the rocks at the end of the field, and then I realized that I wasn't strapped in. I got strapped in, seat belt, communications, helmet and oxygen mask. Then I was climbing up off to the 5 �left and at the same time looking around, keeping the bombers in sight, and I realized I wasn't gaining any altitude and my engine was heating up too. Suddenly it dawned on me, I hadn't even raised my landing gear. I upped my landing gear and I thought, "It's pretty warm [???]" I looked back and I saw a second wave of 25 bombers coming over. They were some 18,000 ft. at least. I remember I went 20,000 ft. to get above 'em eventually. I was too late to get to them so I figured I'd catch the second ones. The first 25 waves had already dropped all their bombs on the city rather than Paoshan. The city was flooded with refugees coming out of Burma, and the desolation there, I'll never forget it as long as I live after I drove through it later on. It was beautiful bombing, and it just decimated them. I finally got to altitude, about 2,000 ft. above the second wing, caught up with them, and I'm headed down toward the bomber. They dropped their bombs the same way. I remember getting in position and making the first runs on the extreme right hand guys. Formation – beautiful formation – 25 airplanes. I remember my tracers going in an airplane and I saw bits of the – one of the cowls flying off and I came back out to – making those passes – he began to drop off and smoke was coming out of him and I saw him go down towards the overcast – dense smoke – I figured he's done for, so I let him go, I figured I'd shot him down. Then I started after a second one. The second one began to pull off and he started some smoke coming out which was a bluish color and I had been warned about this tactic, that what he was doing was making like he was damaged. You always go after a lame duck so he kept me from going after the others. I started after him, but I was never sure I shot him down. Last time I saw him, he was going towards the overcast, but he was still [???] flying. I figured I'd gotten one for sure and one probable. I remember about that time getting ready to go up and make another pass. I started in on a pass, nothing happened. I'm convinced I had run out of ammunition. In my excitement, thinking I had 25 bombers coming and I'm just gonna eat 'em up, and here I'd run out of ammunition. I think also I was probably holding my purse too long. Again I got tumbling ammunition and inaccuracy. At any rate, it was time to go 6 �back, I'm not sure I know where I am low on gas. I turned around and come back and I forgot completely in my excitement and jubilation about knocking a bomber down and all and coming back and successful and all, I finally found out where I was. I even felt greater then. I came down across the field. Never thinking about fighters possibly involved, and it made sense, here's such an attack, they didn't need fighters. I tried to call a ground radio station but that character was in a ditch so I couldn't get any response. I thought before I land I'll just make my victory roll and I came down and buzzed the field in a victory roll and then I turned around to make my traffic pattern, normal traffic pattern. I thought I'll widen my traffic pattern to fly over the city to see the damage which was disastrous. I became completely entrapped in that while I was making my – and then towards my approach to the field, throttling back, put my flaps down, my wheels down, and as I started putting my wheels down, I heard a loud explosion. I thought, gee, that's my hydraulic system. I'd been having trouble with my hydraulic system or landing gear. Then I reached down to recycle it and then I pulled my hand back. I looked down – it was fire coming out from the rear. Then I knew something, I turned and looked back and it was three Zeros right on my tail. I hunched – I remember hunching to get my [???] up behind my armor plate because the shells, the ammo had gone through my fuselage tank which was right in the back that had emptied fuel but had [???] fumes but was a perfect thing for explosion. That's what exploded and then the flames began to become to curl around my legs up in the cockpit. Just for a split second, I gave up. Just for a split second I gave up. Then I thought, you can't do that. Then I thought, I'm out of ammunition – this is all much faster than I can tell it. I remember pulling back the – rolling back the windshield. Then I said, "The flames kept getting closer so I unbuckled my seat belt. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v10 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 10 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond discusses the period when the pilots were concerned over the future of the American Volunteer Group and their possible induction, in addition to the most memorable event in his life in the AVG that took place at Paoshan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d848417cd17597604a4404f87de8436a.mp4 e9b8c2f516221d1f10c495910f624a2b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8aba6e9b2d9d079b37031265eb3a3ab4.pdf c40edd976b90437df783692256f05bfd PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 11] CB: Then I made up my mind I said, "I've gotta get out of this, so I rolled back my canopy to get it all the way back, then I leaned forward and unbuckled my seat belt to get away from the fire because it began to come up around my back, it was already around here, then I closed my eyes and went through the procedure of half roll. I figured when I got to the half roll. By the way, I was pulled up because I was on my approach from about 200 ft. Later on, the guys told me I got up about 500 ft. When I thought I was on my back I just turned lose the stick to get out. Actually I'd only turned over about 90 degrees, but when I leaned out, the wind blast pulled me out and I had forgotten to disconnect my radio linkage and that pulled into my neck that flesh was already burned and tore. That was the biggest injury I had of that. But it tore lose, but I couldn't feel any of that. I was just interested in getting out of the airplane. I missed the tail surface and the next thing I knew I was tumbling because I saw the sky and then the ground so then I reached over and pulled the ripcord and instantly it opened up and by the time I was about 50 ft. off the ground. I slowed down enough and hit in a rice paddy area that had just been ploughed up and [???] for a foot and a half in diameter and I hit and rolled over on my back. I got out of my parachute, then I started running to get behind something – I was afraid they'd strafe me. I ran through a wet rice paddy area and one of my boots came off, sucked in mud. I realized I was in a cemetery. The Chinese bury their people in a dome, several feet high, and I was running – was gonna run over to get behind one of them and look at these Zeros. These three Zeros began to circle and I was afraid they'd strafe me, at least I could stay behind the dome. Then I felt something burning on my back, and I realized that my 1 �coveralls were burning and it was a little strange, so I laid down in that and then got up and I looked at my hands and of course they'd begun to swell up and burn, then I felt my head – something on my head – I reached up and one of the bullets had just managed to pass by the armor plate, just enough to tear open my cloth helmet and graze my head where it started bleeding, a little cut. When I brought my hand down, it was blood on it and I thought, I've had it. The next thing I thought was, they're gonna strafe me so I got hunkered down behind one of these domes. Then I saw a Chinaman coming towards me, he had one hand behind his back. They were out in the field too, for the bombing raid, they'd gone to the cemetery. Just a Chinese coolie. I started going through the motion of a telephone. When the Chinese talk on the telephone, they always say, "Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa! Wa! And their inflection means something different. So I went through that routine. He stopped and then I guess it finally dawned on him that I wasn't a Jap, so he dropped his hand down and it had a huge rock in it. Then he came on over towards me and he realized that – he looked at me and finally motioned for me to follow him. I was right off the edge of the airfield, so he took me up to the edge of the airfield where there was a bunch of huts and that's where I got to a phone. Then they called somebody and I eventually got a hold of Doc Richards, and he was on the other side of the city in a hostel, and of course he came over in a jeep and by the time he got to me, I was in shock and everything else, and making comments that I thought I was gonna die. I'd like to go back to – and to me, nowadays when I think back at this, the very key thing that happened when I bailed out, I was so afraid that my parachute wouldn't open, I was so afraid that they were gonna strafe me, that I openly aloud, prayed to God, "Save me, God save me." Of course, I remember 'em strafing either Izzy? Morton or somebody in a parachute down at Rangoon and I guess the Lord did save me. FB: Can we pause for a second? CB: For me, it's worth relating from a standpoint of aerial combat was when I was shot down a second time, where I made a few mis – not really mistakes, over confidence. Then on a 2 �– really a funny episode that might be worthwhile describing what happened in China as a result of the war – of all the airmen talking to us at great length about, "You've got to go down and see the red light district." So one night, Bob Neale and I said, "Okay, let's go." That was something. And I assure you, we just walked through it. FB: This all came at around this time, right? Bissell arrived, General Bissell arrived and he made a speech to your group. Can you describe that? CB: I'm not sure exactly what time Bissell came onto the scene, but it was during this – as the buildup began to build up in our minds as rumors and speculations and all, what's gonna happen to us, he showed up in Chunking, and of course he was the Supreme Air Force type commander, over Chennault and he and Stillwell were sort of opposites, army and air corps. They were interested, hindsight now, that I'm talking about. General Hap Arnold was interested in getting our outfit [??] over there. The old man, he wanted to keep us, he wanted replenishments and just sort of continue on and continue on as a fighting unit because of the experience we had, rather than just be completely replaced. But he, General Chennault, he knew our morale situation and he knew we were tired and I give him full credit, he gave complete compassionate consideration to our situation and didn't – "You do what you want to do." I'll never forget him for that and he told each one of us that. As a matter of fact he told us, "I don't blame you". But he was gonna stay, he was already a Brigadier General. I think it was the first time we had one of the air force representatives talk to us. General Bissell decided to come down and talk to us from Chunking, and we had a big meeting, sort of a dinner type banquet and then General Bissell made a talk to us with the idea of trying to influence us to stay and be inducted on the spot without a lot of explanation of really how it would be done, what will happen to each one of you all, and of course, there were a lot of questions in mind, whether we'd get promoted or what. At that time I was making $750 a month and $500 for every airplane I shot down and being inducted back as Second Lieutenant, reserve. I couldn't see it. And this was the way a lot of the other guys – a lot of them knew I wanted a regular 3 �commission. They'd heard me say outright, "If I get a regular commission, I ought to stay in." A lot of them I know told me. I remember "Buster" Keeton definitely saying this to me one time. And Bob Neale talked the same way. But the way General Bissell talked to us – I remember I didn't become outraged but I thought it just wasn't fair. So he didn't impress us very much. FB: What did he say? CB: He talked in terms of, patriotism, duty. In a way it was a fair speech, but the insinuation or the inference that we got – tired, demoralized guys, naturally seeking a negative reaction if you will, I admit probably that was an element. It was too much of a demanding thing for us, and looking back, I know at the time I was saying, "I'd stay right now if you'd give me a regular commission". But the other guys, "I ain't about to go back, I'm tired and I wanna go home." Some said they wanna go home first but they'd come back. But the short, brief, to a certain extent, inconsiderate, not near the approach General Chennault had talked to us about, it just left a lot of us cold. I remember distinctly discussions with some of the other guys later on we decided amongst us, "I'm mad." It didn't go over. FB: What did you do the last days? July 4th was approaching. What was that like? CB: After that the old man –the Japanese tried to cross the river and he used primarily Tex Hill's outfit, a combination of a lot of the first, second and third squadrons with actual bomber – we had some makeshift type bombers – put 'em on the bottom of the P-40, particularly the P-40E. Looking back now I think that's the reason the old man had me bring those P-40E's into Loiwing, with that in mind. I wrote in my book I remember – this wasn't necessarily my own idea or thought but I've read since there's been a lot others thought – the only thing that kept the Japanese from successfully invading southern China, across one bridge, across that deep, mild deep gorge, the Salween river, was that one little bridge – was the logistics problem of getting tanks and everything across that one bridge, that bottle-neck choke point, and a handful of P-40's that began to bomb his 4 �columns on the hairpin turns of the roads going down, and coming up on the other side, plus the bridge itself, just completely destroyed their effort. And I think, looking back now, the world situation was taking on a different strategic aspect. The Japanese were taking a pounding by that point by the United States Navy in the Pacific and they began to change their tune a little. And I think that was one of the reasons. The change in the world situation and the Pacific. The logistic problems of that bridge and supplying and the roads for the supplies, and a handful of P-40's. I'll never forget that's where we lost Bob Little, either a bomb didn't get off his rack and exploded or ground fire tore a wing off, but one of the wings tore off and he didn't have time to get out. Then after that, the old man had to pull the airplanes back, we were through there. Then we had to re-orient ourselves in accordance with the Japanese re-orientation to come in from Hankow and the Pacific and then take China again from the east. So we deployed some of us up to Chunking then to Kweilin. At Kweilin I was shot down again, but it wasn't near as bad as the first time. I belly-landed and got out with a score on my head. Then after that it was a matter of meeting the Induction Board at operations, saying, "No, I'm not going to stay". I'll never forget that last deal with the old man came to Kweilin and this was just before July 4th which was supposed to be the last day of the AVG, then [???] goes home, except for the ones that agreed to stay. The old man asked through Bob Neale – Bob Neale came in to us and I sensed something was going on and he says, "The old man has asked for volunteers to stay over another, I think it was two weeks" – to give the 23rd Fighter Group at the time I think it was, which included guys from the regular army air corps from India, to replace us with new P-40E's and all coming in, but they were slow in getting over there and the Japanese were well aware of all this and that's when they moved navy pilots into Han Kal area to completely wipe us out, and the old man knew the pressure on him and a lot of us, including me was just heart-broken. But I couldn't say now and a lot of the others couldn't say no. I think it was 20 of us volunteered to stay over another two weeks, and a lot of airmen. And that was nip and tuck too, I didn't have 5 �any close shaves after that. In late July, determined to go home, I got on a Gooneyird at Kweilin and started my trek back to the United States. FB: Did you have a difficult time getting back? Some of the guys had some problems getting back. CB: The standpoint of getting back, I didn't even worry about it. I'd heard stories about guys previously – as a matter of fact, one of the colonels in the – old Tex Sanders, I knew him back in the States, he was on the induction board back in Kweilin. "Charlie", he said, "I knew you were going to stay over here aren't you?" He said, "You know, going back home on a boat, a submarine would probably sink it." I remember making a comment, I said, "Look Tex, what I've been through, that's the least thing that worries me." I had heard, a lot of them were gonna ask to go back on a boat. A lot of them had been talking to the, I think it was Pan Am that had been flying airplanes were beginning to supply China and some of buddies were flying those airplanes – I knew some of them and they had already made contact with them in order to get back in, maybe an airline, and maybe Pan Am would sign on with them or maybe CNAC. They'd be getting air transportation home. But I didn't even really think about that until I got up into Kweilin – no it was Chunking, where Skip Adair was and we were gonna say the old man good-bye there and Skip Adair asked Bob Neale and I – I told Bob Neale, I said, "Why don't we go together?" We'd been together as Commander and Vice Commander, and inseparable. When we got go Chunking, talking to Skip Adair, he asked us off the side, whether we'd be willing to help Red Petach get back. Her husband had been killed and she was pregnant. Of course we said yes. With that, we took off and told the old man good-bye, and you can imagine how that was. Never forget it. We finally got to Calcutta and there you know, we said, "Well, what do we do?" So we all holed up the British hotel and fortunately, I had some old friends, colonel types, including Colonel Naiden who was a full Colonel at Langley Field when I was a brand new Second Lieutenant. He was Commander of the 10th Air Force at New Delhi, and Colonel Charlie Caldwell who I was 6 �very close to at Langley Field, they were full colonels and generals and I was brazen enough to talk to Bob, and I said, "Let's go up to New Delhi, see what we can do there. We got on a little train, we all went up to New Delhi and I went straight to headquarters, ran into Charlie Caldwell and of course, we just latched on to each other, and told him, and I'll remember for the rest of my life, he got in, got me an audience with General Naiden and General Naiden remembered me at Langley Field and I pleaded my case and I told him, I said, "By the way, we've got Mrs. Petach with us and her husband was killed, they got married several months ago and she's pregnant, and we're taking her back." He said, "I'll see what I can do." So ended up, he didn't even send a wire to General Arnold, he called personally on the telephone. We got a wire back from General Arnold, it says, "Bond, Neale and Petach full privileges all the way home." So, that's the way we got home. FB: Could you tell us about … 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v11 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 11 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his survival after the combat in Paoshan, the meeting between the Flying Tigers and General Bissell, and the last days of the AVG. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a376850e3c717a295deb5475b5401662.mp4 a17165360420fc9368bbe72f4c0e3c7e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/67cc6d9ebec6b367654853825edd4be1.pdf 0e03ac9b5da2150519b1ca61552df627 PDF Text Text RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Charles Bond Date of Interview: February 23, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 12] FB: …shot down, if you could explain about that? CB: The second time we were shot down was in Kweilin where we again were to speak in from Chunking and with a lot of P-40's – we had not been to Kweilin before – to catch again some of the training missions from Hanoi against Kweilin and catch them with all of our P-40's by surprise and just blast them out of the air, and sure enough, they came up the second day and they had a surprise for us too. They knew we were there. We had twelve airplanes and I lowest one at about 16,000 and four more at eight and I think Bob Neale was twelfth at 18,000. Joe Rosbert was on my wing in that flight and we had ground communications and we they kept telling us to come in, come in, and I didn't at first see the first wave of bombers. Joe saw it and Joe came up to – and he fired his guns, and I looked over and then I saw them. As we started off toward that formation, I saw another one, another formation of bombers up ahead. To the best of my memory, I think I turned to go against them because I was in the better flying position against them. Of course, the other guys stayed with me for our attack position. This time, Bob Neale – I forget who the other leader – but they knew we were in combat and starting in after this formation of four bombers – I had a P40E with a 450 sten, and I was fully confident. I was over my first shooting down – I was over that – I was just gonna start on number one, two, three and four and just blast 'em out of the sky with the other guys on my wing. The next thing I knew, I had return fire, obviously. My press tone light turned on yellow and my peg went clear over. Then I knew that I to get – and I turned off and looked up. There was an I-97 fighter escort appeared on the scene and a flight of brand new twin 1 �engined fighters – that was the first time a Japanese flew into the war against us. But I didn't get involved with them though the other guys did. I looked back the field, that's how close we were. The Japanese fighters were straight over the field so I knew I couldn't go in there. But I had to get away from these fighters that were coming down on my tail. We could go into a 450–480 miles per hour power dive but I kept pulling back on the throttle to keep my prop from freezing – I knew it was gonna burn up soon. I just had to stay away from them, and I stayed out of the range. Steam was coming from my airplane and suddenly my prop just froze – blades were sticking up in front of me. About that time, the fighters pulled off. They saw this too, they knew they had me, so they pulled off and left me. I began to look for a place to belly land. Suddenly it dawned on me, "Hell, I'm too low to bail out again." So I picked a place in a rice paddy to land. I belly landed, threw my head against the gun site, scratched my head a little, but got out and walked away from it. Some coolies in the rice field got me to another phone, got me in town, had to walk about 5 miles. A Chinese missionary bandaged my head, gave me a fire-crackers hero's parade, got me on a train. When I got back to Kweilin, General Chennault was there but at the time, when I got back, his comment was, "Charlie, you're having hard luck aren't you?" FB: Could you describe in Paoshan the death and the damage that you saw at Paoshan. You talked about it earlier. We want more detail about what you experienced there. CB: When Doc Richards got to me in this little shack there close to the airfield, I was in shock. He looked at me and the first thing he did was, he gave me a shot. He [???] that glass thing and he gave me shot of Morphine. I was in shock. He looked down, and I had an air force ring on my hand that had already started swelling. I was walking back and forth in pain. I remember saying, "I wanna die, I wanna die." The Chinese were just standing there watching me. He said, "Charlie, that ring's got to come off." When he pulled the ring off, all the skin came off of it. The only thing we had then for burns was gentian violet, a purple salve. Which you have to wear off eventually – it just has to wear 2 �off. He took my coveralls off and smeared me all over with gentian violet. My eyebrows and eyelashes were gone. There deep burn back there and in my hands third degree burns here, and my back, my coveralls were smoldering. I had three big – about the size of pancakes on my shoulder blade. He doctored all that, and by then the dope began to take effect. By then Bob Neale showed up in a jeep. I forgot to mention, Bob Little got in the air in a P-40, that they didn't strafe, and I remember when I was crouching behind that ???, I saw him on the tail of a Zero going past the field but that didn't particularly thrill me, I was too much in pain. FB: That's fine. In Paoshan itself – hold on for a second ……………… CB: After Bob Neale got there, Doc Richards said, "Charlie, we'll take you over to the hostel." About that time, a phone rang and he got a call. He had to be back to Swartz who had been – no it wasn't Swartz – I'll think of his name later on. They wanted him over there because he was – a Chinese doctor was gonna amputate his leg, he wanted to see Doc Richards so I told Doc Richards to go. So Bob Little and Neale got in a jeep and we started heading – to drive through the city of Paoshan to get to the hostel, and I'll never forget it as long as I live, the bombing of the city, just utter destruction. The people just milling about. The bombing was over but fires every place. We constantly had to shoot our pistols to get the Chinese out of the way to make progress down the road. At times we'd have to stop and move debris from the road. And I remember one scene of a Chinese woman on her knees next to her dead husband with a baby in her arms, mourning the death of her husband and I remember another occasion where, I though Bob Neale and Bob Little were gonna upchuck several times. But I was full of dope and I just was just looking at it numbly. But I remember so distinctly, we had to stop one time – Bob Little got out to move a piece of burning timber and as he moved it, the head of a Chinese woman rolled out across in front of us and that's when I thought Bob was gonna lose his cookies. But we drove through all of that and were just complete desolation. I saw war at its worst and I'll never forget it and the smell of burning flesh you'll never 3 �forget. I saw Chinese bodies that were burned so badly, their lips pulled back from their teeth showing, and arms and legs missing, and I'm glad I had the dope in me. Finally we got to the hostel. FB: Would you describe for us the last good-bye with General Chennault? CB: Bob Neale and I as I told you, were taking Red home, and after having a session with Skip Adair, Bob Neale and I and Fox, I forget Fox's first name, one of the greatest crew chiefs we had in the entire AVG, we three went up to Chennault's quarters to tell him good-bye, and Fox folded up – he just cried like a baby. Bob Neale shook hands with the old man and he was really emotionally affected. I looked at the old man and I shook hands with him, and I don't remember the exact words but I know I was full of emotion. I told him good-bye, and I remember him saying – he looked at Bob and I and Fox and said, "You guys get back and tell 'em what we did over here." He asked for us to please to get supplies to him. Then, Skip and I and Bob went to his room and I think we got loaded and I never saw General Chennault after that, except one time, and that's when I met him at Cairo at the Cairo Conference, right after the Turin Conference, where I was Ambassador Harriman's pilot in Russia and his Aide, and the Cairo Conference was held to make plans for Russia to enter the war against Japan, and he was there with Generalissimo, and it was a much better meeting. FB: Looking back on that period of time, what do you consider your own personal – your personal accomplishment with the AVG? CB: That's simple to answer. The first immediately is I accomplished my three objectives, not immediately, but I had gotten in fighters, and had been in combat. I had the experience, and that subsequently I proved to General Hap Arnold in his office. I had made enough money. All my money, like I told you – at the end I was making $750 a month and I only drew $100 to live, and all that was being deposited in the National Bank of Fort [???] in Houston, and I felt confident, in spite of what Colonel Bissell told me, that I couldn't get a regular commission, taken an act of congress. I just knew that I had to get that done, 4 �and subsequently I did in 1947 Defense Department Act, where the air force ended up awarding a lot people. I was promoted to a full Colonel, permanent regular commission. So I achieved all of those. The other – there's a lot of things. I learned so much about what makes a successful military unit. The first thing that comes to mind is no doubt. It's spirit. It's spirit. Nothing can match the spirit of a man. Second of course, it's the winning. Our first combat was just a miraculous success, we were on the right road, we were fully confident. We were already unbeatable, but we were still green – I got shot down twice. The confidence of winning at first, and then, at one time in January and February at Rangoon, I remember, we shot down 23 Japs and never lost one, in one day. That type of experience – you just become completely confident. You realize that you can't be beat, and then the other two elements was the intelligence that General Chennault had at his hand from the Chinese, of knowing exactly what our enemy was, what his weaknesses were, and then he designed the tactics and told us to use – which was definitely a secret to our success. And the other ones now – how would you like to be given the privilege of going across the United States and picking who you wanted out of the existing forces, navy and army and marines, and taking them over into a unit, and without the regulations and all where you had freedom – airmen had freedom to tear a corporator to pieces and did it, and if he didn't, he'd learn on the spot of doing it. It's all of that. The terrific support that we had out of those airmen, backed up by the Chinese to do the dirty business. It was spirit, our success at the start, and continually the success, but eventually we were worn out, worn out. FB: I've got one last question for you. Did you get that house for your parents? CB: Yes. Thank you for reminding me of that. You bet I bought it for them. As a matter of fact, I can tell you specifically. I had 15,000 bucks in the bank and this was in 1942. I got home in mid-August, and after going to Pentagon, and personally talking to General Hap Arnold in his office for a regular commission and him saying the same things, "We can't do it Charlie, it'd take an Act of Congress, but tell me how you guys did in a P-40." He 5 �was under pressure from the press about why is Zero greater than a P-40, I'm sure that's the only reason I got his audience. I spent 30 minutes telling him about that, and then I went home, and within – I alerted my mother and father – "Look you start looking for a place." And within one month after I got there, I bought a little 2 bedroomed house for them right out near Hemsley Air Force Base in West Dallas and I think I only paid $4,500 for that house. FB: It's a pleasure talking to you sir, it was a pleasure talking to you. 6 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Bond_Charles_1991-02-23_v12 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bond, Charles R., Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-23 Title A name given to the resource Charlie Bond interview (video and transcript, 12 of 12), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his last goodbye with General Chennault and his personal accomplishments during his time as a Flying Tiger. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4bf5f1dec2acf9c0363078c4f7c684e1.mp4 af1f8c387173008f47768a8a77b4847a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f678926067e4b7b2f204c009adf84e85.pdf e51f8e9fadb6c8d523f847efab498fde PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II Richard Bonge (1:05:24) Introduction (00:22)               Richard was born in Holland, Michigan on August 21, 1917. His father worked at a shoe factory for 16 years, once his health began to deteriorate he had to quit and buy a farm. The family moved to the farm in 1926. Richard lived at this farm until he left for the war in 1942. During the depression, it was “hard scratching” but they got by. Their farm was 40 acres, with 2 horses that both were killed in a barn fire along with five or six heads of cattle and a few pigs. The barn was a total loss. To make ends meet, Richard’s father worked a second job unloading coal from a train for 12-14 cents a ton. Richard was never able to finish high school; he made it through the first half of tenth grade. (2:36) During high school, Richard heard a state trooper speak, inspiring him to become a police officer, but because he didn’t have a high school diploma he was ineligible to be a state trooper. Instead he became the local constable in the township that he lived when he was 21 years old. Along with being the constable, he was also helping on the family farm. (4:35) He bought a used John Deere tractor, which he used to work on his families farm and also did custom work with it. Eventually making enough to buy rubber wheels to replace the original steel ones that came with it. Richard heard about Pearl Harbor being attacked the night of December 7th while listening to the radio. He immediately thought he would be drafted. His mother told him he wouldn’t because he had asthma. (5:48) Richard met Ruth in 1938, she lived in Chicago. She was 18 or 19 and he was 20 or 21. After dating for awhile, they were engaged in 1942. The schools taught current events, so people were caught up on Hitler and what was happening in Europe. (7:50) He was drafted in May 1942. Upon receiving his draft notice, he didn’t enlist, and instead let God have his way. Training (9:00)    After being drafted, Richard was sent to St. Louis, Missouri to Jefferson Barracks, he was there for three weeks. He was then shipped out to Lincoln, Nebraska. Before leaving Michigan, he was sent to Fort Custer. �              At Jefferson Barracks, he had to perform physical testing, written testing, general background knowledge, and he was sent to the rifle range for one day. He had fired a gun before, but never a high powered rifle like in the military. (10:36) While Richard was shooting, an officer that was standing behind him watched him fire several shots then told him “Damn good shooting, soldier”. In Lincoln he attended the Airplane Mechanics School. He was in the first class that was conducted at the base. He learned the basics of every aircraft. This school lasted seven weeks. Upon completion of this basic course, he was transferred to Chanute Field in Illinois to choose a specialty field, which was propellers. (12:09) He had four schools to choose from at the time: Power Plants, Propellers, Instruments and Parachute Rigging. Chanute Field was located 100 miles south of Chicago. Discipline and drill were not strictly enforced during this time. (14:13) The first instructor he had there would often say “Let’s don’t be for doing that”. All the instructors were military, not civilians. He was working on the propeller mechanisms, which can change the pitch of the aircraft. (16:11) While in Brazil, he witnessed a plane that had its propeller shatter on the runway. At Chanute Field, about 2,000 permanent personnel were stationed on the base. Bombers and transport planes would often fly into the base. (18:00) Richard was at Chanute Field for four weeks. While there he caught pneumonia, and he spent five weeks in the hospital. Once he had recovered, he had to finish his last two weeks of school. First Unit (19:00)      After he graduated from propeller school, he was sent to Love Field in Dallas, Texas. He was assigned to the 5th Ferries Command to the 62nd Ferry Squadron. They began transporting their aircraft to England. When he arrived at Love Field, he was placed on a detached service to the guard squadron. After two weeks he was sent to Florida where he learned that he had been transferred to the Corps of Military Police. They remained in Boca Raton for a month training. (21:00) Richard was then transferred again to the 1208th Military Police Company in New Orleans. After one week, the first Friday night after Easter in 1943, he boarded an old troop carrier that belonged to the United Fruit Company named The Algonquin. One of the sergeants in his company told him that he was sent to France during World War I on that same boat. They were sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They sat in the harbor for six days, and they were not allowed to leave the boat. The men would amuse themselves by throwing quarters over the side of the boat and watched as local children would dive down and bring up the coins in their teeth. (23:10) �     The ship then brought them to Trinidad, where they remained for a month. At Fort Reed, which was located inland, the men conducted training there in close-order drill, mechanics of arrest, and whatever the officers could think of to keep the men busy. Once his unit had received other orders, they boarded a much larger ship, the General Clem. Clem was a Michigan volunteer who rose to the ranks of General in the Civil War. Richard claims that Clem wanted to reenlist for World War II, but was told he was too old. [John Lincoln Clem died in San Antonio, Texas in 1937 at the age of 86] (25:05) His ship sailed in a convoy that consisted of around 15 to 20 ships. Once they had a U-Boat scare when one of the ships began dropping depth charges. He never knew if they got it or not. They were on the first ship for 21 days, and 14 days on the second. Natal, Brazil (26:48)                 They were sent to Natal, Brazil which was the home of an Air Transport Command Base that was in the early stages of being built. (27:08) The base was about five or six miles outside the city limits. The military sharpened tree saplings, which was supposed to be a defense against parachuting Germans who might try to attack the base. Two runways were also being built there, each a mile long in the form of an X. Natal was used to ship supplies all over the world, to such places as Europe, North Africa, India, China and Burma. (29:20) Surrounding Natal, the area was very poorly with some people earning 15 cents a day. Richard was earning $50 a day, once a month. (31:05) Shortly after being in Brazil, Richard was promoted to Staff Sergeant and was commander of the guard. At the base, the MP’s were in charge of security, with one company designated for town patrol, which would keep order in the nearby town amongst the men who were there on leave. Natal was a very poor town that only offered whorehouses and beer establishments for the men stationed there. (33:18) A USO was built later, but he rarely went there. Richard was never on town patrol, until the last three months he was in Brazil. He was sent to a different base where he was in charge of town patrol. He had to work from noon till around 11pm. The town was Sao Luis, close to the Amazon. This base also had Blimp Duty for one week at a time. The landing crew had to assist in helping the blimp land. Richard was in charge of getting the crew to and from the landing zone. (36:12) In Natal, security risks ranged from men jumping the fence and going to unauthorized villages, getting killed or contracting a venereal disease. Once he found the Navy Base Commanders [?] and tried to arrest them, one of the men ran, Richard ordered the man to halt and then fired a shot and the man hit the ground. Thinking that he hit the man, he asked where he had been shot. The man replied that he hadn’t, rather he had tripped and fallen over a barbed wire fence. (39:38) The man was later found guilty and was sentenced to ten days for resisting arrest and assaulting a superior. �            Richard mentioned that the base in North Africa was shut down for two weeks due to a malaria outbreak. Once it had been cleared, the base continued operations and people stuck in Natal were shipped out. (41:23) He had quite a bit of contact with the locals, and learned a lot a Portuguese. He still remembers some of it today. The base had many Brazilian civilians that worked there doing laundry and working in the mess hall. Once he was called to an accident that occurred off base, involving a 6x6 truck carrying local workers. The driver lost control and rolled the truck, which had an open back. It was carrying around 25 or 30 people and Richard crawled underneath the back end to look for any survivors but couldn’t find any. (44:40) The base had around one plane crash a week. Most of the time there were no survivors. One crash involved a B-24 that crashed and was engulfed in flames. The plane was carrying ammunition. The survivors were removed and taken to the hospital before Richard got there. (46:58) Another crash that he remembers was a B-29 that was hard to find, and when he did find it, they were unable to access it because of the swamps. Richard was told to stay at the road and not let anyone pass except fire and ambulance crews. Two men approached him, he told them “You can’t go there” but they continued to advance, he sharply yelled “Halt” and he pulled out his weapon. Finally the two stopped and he found out that it was the commander of the base. The officer that posted Richard there assured him he would not be in trouble for following orders. (48:52) Richard was married on October 10, 1945. (51:06) They were married in Evergreen Park, Illinois. He was discharged in November 1945. Richard just spoke with a man he served with who just turned 91. They had a tornado where he lives in Georgia. This man often served on town patrol, and he once got into a fight with a drunken sailor and had his nipple bitten off, but it was later reattached. (54:31) Richard recalls that his commanding officer, Lieutenant Glass, was sending home a .30 caliber carbine rifle. (56:26) He was sending it home in pieces, and Richard reported it. The postmaster in Miami, Florida was contacted and he stopped the package and sent the others back. The man was court-martialed and he pleaded not guilty. He was found guilty and convicted. Later, it was discovered that he had sent home many other things as well. They had the FBI search the man’s parents' house and his wife’s house, and discovered the items. (59:09) Brazil had many tropical diseases, and malaria nets were used to keep away the mosquitoes when he was in a transient camp. Back in the States (1:01:51)   After the war, Richard worked for his brother at a wheel alignment shop. He was sent to school to learn about alignment and he worked the job for about three years. When business there slowed, he got a job working for the Holland Police Department and continued with that job for 15 years. (1:02:43) �   Many of his calls were domestic disputes and he was sent without back-up. At the time, many officers had been killed on such calls so he eventually quit. After he quit the police department, he worked for 14 years at General Electric. He was forced to retire because of arthritis in his upper spine. Looking back on his military service, [video cuts off before interview is finished] (1:05:23) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bonge, Richard (Interview outline and video) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bonge, Richard Description An account of the resource Richard was born in Holland, Michigan on August 21, 1917. He was drafted into the Army in 1942. He was sent to aviation mechanics school and specialized in propellers. He was stationed at Love Field in Dallas, Texas as a part of the 5th Ferries Command to the 62nd Ferry Squadron. Shortly after arriving however, he was attached to the guard squadron and eventually was transferred to the 1208th Military Police Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. Richard was sent to Brazil where he worked as base security in Natal. He remained there until his service ended in 1945. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Air Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BongeR0121V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ca49895acfbc87124d8270a6723137b.mp4 cbf737c7d1efcbfc593b65b8f53b08bd https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/56f869786401b0f75a5e618c79dcd07f.pdf adc181c2ad604f4c34517dcb77f651c4 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Interviewee’s Name: Robert Bonner Name of War: Vietnam War Length of Interview: (00:27:42) (00:10) Background Information        Robert was born on December 29, 1950 and was in the Navy during the war in Vietnam Robert grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan His father worked a couple of different jobs and his mother stayed at home Robert had 2 uncles that had fought in the Korean War whom he admired and influenced his decision to enlist in the Navy When he was younger he was interested in rockets and jets; he sent the Air Force many letters requesting pictures and diagrams and they always replied to him Robert spent 3 years in Army ROTC while in high school and was also in boy scouts when he was younger While in ROTC Robert learned about weapons and uniforms and did very well (3:25) Training  Robert turned 18 in 1968 and then went to a Air Force recruiting center, but the men in the office seemed lazy and he did not like them  He then went to a Navy center and liked the men there and decided to enlist in the Navy  In April of 1969 Robert was sent to Detroit for physicals and then was sent to Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago  Training was not hard for him because of his ROTC experience; he made company commander right away  2 weeks into training Robert was promoted to be a drill instructor to teach other commanders  Because of his promotion Robert was able to avoid a lot of hard physical training  He was later moved to the Naval Training Academy in Chicago to train to be a Navy engine man and spent another 20 weeks training  Robert really enjoyed training in Chicago (8:00) Philippines  After training in Chicago Robert was sent to the Philippines where he worked at the Subic Bay Naval Station  He was assigned to a service craft and worked with a harbor tug  It was during the height of the Vietnam war and they were busy 24/7 in the bay pushing ships in and out and transferring barges �  It was very hard physical work, but also fun working with the large aircraft carriers and barges Robert worked on the boat during 3 different typhoons and thought it was thrilling (9:40) San Diego  Robert was transferred to work at an amphibious base in California and began working for Boat Support Unit 1  Robert drove and maintained boats for the Navy Seals  They were all very high tech boats and Robert spent most of his time on the water  Robert later took a boat and group of Seals to Okinawa and he was stationed there for a few months working on boats  He was then sent to the Philippines again where he worked for 13 months training locals (12:05) Men in Service  Robert made a few good friends in Chicago who worked at other bases with him  He had a good friend in San Diego and they later moved into an apartment off base  Robert had made the rank of E5 and he was making more money (14:30) Motorcycle  Robert bought a motorcycle while in the Philippines, a large Honda 750 and he spent a lot of time riding it  The area of the base had a lot of mountains and nice scenery; he enjoyed riding the bike around the area  Robert had a lot of adventures with the motorcycle, but he eventually crashed the bike  He got it fixed for a very low price and then brought the bike back to California  Robert took many trips while in California to the zoo, Las Angeles, different hotels and beaches (17:00) End of Service  Robert shipped his motorcycle back to Michigan and cleaned out his apartment before he moved back  He was discharged on March 3, 1973 and had a fun goodbye party in California  Robert took a plane to Michigan and had plans to do more traveling on his bike across the country  His mom met him at the airport and said she already had a good job lined up for him, so he decided not to do any traveling  Robert had never liked repairing boats and getting dirty all the time  He had taken tests that suggested repairing boats would be a good job for him; they also recommended that he work as an interpreter or in communications �(23:01) Civilian Life  It was hard for Robert to re-adjust to civilian life without ranking status and paying for things again  He eventually angered his parents and had to move out on his own  Robert was no longer allowed to travel and was stuck in a boring job so he decided to go back to college � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bonner, Robert Allen (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bonner, Robert Allen Description An account of the resource Robert Bonner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on December 29, 1950 and enlisted in the Navy as soon as he turned 18. He did well in basic training thanks to his ROTC experience, and then trained to service engines. He served at bases in California, the Philippines and Okinawa, repairing aircraft carriers, barges, tugs and other naval craft. He also worked in an amphibious base in San Diego before he was discharged in March of 1973. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bonner, Alexander (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-05-29 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BonnerR Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/82e8a655459ba28dfd8724eb2d72cf35.pdf 2d9bd6498062c9bdc9d4d2b577089c3c PDF Text Text � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6bdc76886c6c696368769399e4f633c5.pdf 05d0a5e828fa28d936faf1a324e258e3 PDF Text Text Cleveland, Nov. 24th 1877 C.C. Rutteranoff[?] Esq. Dear Sir, Having no desire to take part in the controversy to which you refer, nor to be granted[?] in any way whatever, I must decline the interview you propose. I can furnish no information on a subject in which I [?] no interest. Truly yours, Edwin Booth � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-45_CW1-0247 Title A name given to the resource C.C. Ruthranoff from Edwin Booth Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1877-11-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893 Subject The topic of the resource Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865 United States--Politics and government--19th century Correspondence Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Cleveland (Ohio) Ohio Washington (D.C.) Description An account of the resource Letter from Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, declining an interview. Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fb0e8af7f94eacb7df373b922927353.jpg 07e5d434772d62a69d08b14adce55f4d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS3527.I35 P6 1907 c.2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0455 Title A name given to the resource The Port of Missing Men Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, Franklin (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of The Port of Missing Men, by Meredith Nicholson, published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1907. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/25f41aa2f3509aca711ad09734d2e734.mp4 dd9a743384bcbf98296b40a63f282072 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8cfc74728fcac15f447fe14c6303a9bf.pdf 39ff3485b8cdf32178db8115ce8c8e31 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Lyle Edward Booth (00:20:20) (0:53) The draft • Just turned 18 and then drafted into the Army • Left hometown of Onaway, MI for Detroit where passed a physical and was inducted into the Army on April 10, 1945 • From Detroit went to Fort Sheridan, IL where received gear o There for 7 days • Went to a fort in Texas for infantry training o Learned to fire an M-16 [M-1] rifle • Went to Fort McClellan, AL o Trained in Heavy Weapons Field Artillery ƒ 105- Howitzer, known as “the big guns” ƒ Here for a few weeks and then had a 10 day leave home (3:12) Politics • Shortly after back from leave, FDR died and Truman became president o Authorized the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki o Signed peace treaty on a ship in Yokohama (4:10) October 1945 • Booth and men sent to Japan • 3,300 men sailed from California for 21 days to get to Yokohama harbor, Japan • Arrived in Yokohama on October 31, 1945 • Involved in police action o Main objective was to gather up all unused ammunition, guns, air planes, and other war materials and destroy them (4:44) November 1945 • Booth traveled to Hiroshima to see the aftermath of the atomic bomb o “something to see” o As far as the eye could see in every direction was rubble with an occasional tree stump or smokestack o Vast destruction (6:10) 77th Artillery Division • Went to Sapporo, Japan • Joined up with the 77th Artillery Division, who had been fighting in the Philippines o Those men shared many stories • Spring 1946, 77th Artillery Division was disbanded; men with enough points could go home o Booth did not have enough points so he had to stay • Went to Kyushu for rest and relaxation (7:12) Military police duty �• Given the choice to either join the Air Force or the 1st Cavalry Division o To join the Air Force, need to complete 50 jumps from a plane ƒ Booth did not want to do that so joined the 1st Cavalry Division • Went to Tokyo for military police duty o Spent the rest of time in service doing police action, road checkpoints, and inspections (8:14) Home • Went from California to Fort Sheridan, IL, where Booth was discharged • Spent a total of 2 years in the service (8:39) Opinions on the atomic bomb • By authorizing the atomic bombs, believes Truman saved his life o Strongly believes that he would not be here today at 80 years old had it not been for the atomic bomb • When see people today holding demonstrations about the innocent lives lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Booth wants to say that he was an innocent person too and didn’t want to go yet either. • Felt the atomic bomb was an answer to a prayer (9:58) More about being drafted • When 18, had to register • If physically fit, got a greeting from the government (10:46) Most memorable moment while in Japan • Destruction saw at Hiroshima and the people o The people of Japan were so poor – they literally had nothing o The cities were bombed out so badly; there was no food o Terrible to see the extreme poverty o Many times, would see old Japanese men with coffee cans standing at the end of the chow lines in the mess hall. Usually when soldiers finish a meal, they scrape the left over food from their mess tin into a barrel and then rinse the tin in another barrel of hot soapy water. Instead of scraping it into the barrel, the old men would stand there with their coffee cans and soldiers would scrape their leftovers into the coffee cans. When the cans were full, the old men would run off, bringing the food to their families. (12:57) Japanese reaction to American troops after the war • Welcomed Americans with open arms • A majority of Japanese people didn’t want a war any more than America did (13:35) Homecoming • Felt served country well • Very welcomed and well received, even upon returning a year and half after the war had ended • A band was playing the soldiers off the ship when they arrived in California • Men in uniform were always sent to the front of lines and treated with great respect (14:44) Boot camp • Did a lot of training with M-16 [M-1] rifles o Fields, woods, day and night, for many days at a time �o First experience crawling with backpack and rifle through field happened while shooting over them with big guns ƒ Guns sounded like rattling a brown paper bag ƒ Machine guns used tracer bullets where came awfully close to the soldiers • Field artillery training meant working with the big guns o Shells 6 inches in diameter (17:37) Japan • Felt safe when there • One of first groups there after the war • No casualties in unit (18:22) Other family members who served • Older brother, Harvey o 2 years older o Served in the European Theatre ƒ Was in the Battle of the Bulge ƒ Served under General Patton and General Eisenhower o Booth and Harvey wrote back and forth during the war o After the war, they would swap/compare stories ƒ Harvey received the Purple Heart and had shrapnel in his shoulder until the day he died ���������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Booth, Lyle Edward (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, Lyle Edward Description An account of the resource Lyle Edward Booth is a WWII Veteran who served in the United States Army from April 10, 1945 to March 30, 1946 in Yokohama, Japan. Although he was stationed in Japan after the end of the war, Booth's experience gives a clear description of the immense poverty and destruction present in Japan by 1945. In November 1945, Booth saw first-hand the aftermath of Hiroshima, which he describes in this interview. Booth shares how older Japanese men had resorted to standing at the end of the soldier's chow lines, quietly begging for scrapes. This interview captures not only the daily struggles facing the American soldiers serving in Japan but also that of the Japanese civilians. Photographs appended to interview outline. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Booth, Kelsey (Interviewer) Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-05-31 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BoothL Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8a83b985a92f7fdf28350f44992d11ea.mp4 1867053afab357a25883e13b90b20a0b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fade5a4b3fd1447564aadb4f16f2debf.pdf 4cfd55cee8a97f528eaead39497a9564 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Interviewee’s Name: Mike Borah Name of War: Vietnam War Length: (00:44:35) (00:00) Background Information    Mike Borah was a sergeant in the Vietnam War and served there from 1969-70 in the central highlands Mike worked in heavy weapons infantry, working with basically anything that someone could carry on their back, such as M-16s, shot guns, 12 gauges, 45 calibers and pistols He also worked with a mortar platoon that was heavily camouflaged (1:55) Living Conditions  The conditions in Vietnam were horrible and they had to sleep outside every night in the bush  They were not able to sleep in sleeping backs because they were outside for the “element of surprise” and the bags made too much noise  They got up early every day and their squad leaders met with the captain of the company  They then received their orders to move to a certain location, set up ambushes on the way and sent out patrols  A good day was coming off a mission from being out in the bush from anywhere from a week to a month  It was very hot weather, like stepping into hell when they got off the plane  It was always well over 100 degrees with terrible humidity that was unbearable and many men got heat stroke (7:25) Leaving Vietnam  Everyone was always excited to go home as soon as possible and keeping track of their time left on the calendar  Mike could not wait to go home and everyone else hated being in Vietnam also  It was very hard to leave through because he knew he would be leaving some men that would never make it home  No one was aware of all the negative feelings American citizens were harboring for the troops and it was a complete surprise coming home  Mike was spit on when he returned and refused from many bars, called names (14:00) Bad Conditions �      Mike was in the First Air Cavalry Division working on combat assaults and often getting rides on helicopters They usually walked 1-3 miles a day through swamps and rivers Mike thought the medevac workers they worked with were amazing and always there to help no matter how terrible the conditions were They always put their life on the line and the men really looked up to them While in Vietnam Mike missed bullets going through his backpack, the heels of his boots, but did catch malaria twice He was often near the spraying of Agent Orange, but has not experienced any side effects (26:00) Changing of America  Mike feels that the US government has gotten weaker and would have never been afraid to torture terrorists 40 years ago  He feels that there is not more pride or patriotism and the country is headed in the wrong directions, though it is neither the fault of Republicans nor Democrats  More and more freedom is being taken away from Americans and they are losing more rights every day (31:15) Working in Vietnam  The conflict in Vietnam was not declared an actual war for a long time, even after Americans were stationed there  Some areas of the country where Americans were stationed were not even paying combat pay  While in Vietnam the men were never harassed by Officers they way they were in the US  He was often on guard duty for 2 hours a night and then went to sleep  Mike enjoyed receiving letters from home and cherished the packages he received from his mother (39:10) Looking Back  Mike had enlisted in the Army with the hopes of getting into something better then the infantry  He ended up much worse, with heavy weapons infantry  Mike really enjoyed being in the Army, but did not enjoy his time in Vietnam  After working in Vietnam he was sent to Fort Hood, Texas and many tried to convince him to re-enlist  Mike was interested in continuing with the Army, but was told that if he did re-enlist he would be sent back to Vietnam right away, so he chose not to do so � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Borah, Mike (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borah, Mike Description An account of the resource Mike Borah served as a sergeant in the US Army during the war in Vietnam from 1969 through 1970. He enlisted in the US Army with the hopes of getting a better assignment than he would get if he waited to be drafted, but things did not work out that way, and he spent his year in Vietnam with a weapons company in the First Cavalry Division and spent a lot of time in combat in the jungle. Mike enjoyed working in the US Army, but really hated his time in Vietnam and was even more displeased with the welcome he received from US citizens when he returned from the war. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Allen, Mark (Interviewer) Kelloggsville High School (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-05-29 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BorahM Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/aa2f94fc02164710db46b97d48cfd191.mp4 c949f5637086a15f8599867d056fa302 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e41976f9e0c8cb07461c57b0518744e7.pdf d086562a2140f1bf42eb594e536cb600 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II Eugene Borek Total Time – (01:26:41) Background      He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 27, 1925 (00:27) His parents were Polish immigrants His father was a farmer until they lost their farms in the Great Depression (00:51) o His father ended up as a carpenter – he worked in the furniture factory o His mother would clean offices (01:14)  There were five children in the family that she had to work to help support (01:19) He attended a parochial school – St. Adalbert until the ninth grade (01:28) o After St. Adalbert, he went to Davis Tech. (01:48) At Davis Tech. he studied machine shop Recruitment/Training – (02:00)      When he was in the eleventh grade, he was walking home and stopped in a recruiting station (02:15) o The recruiter asked him how old he was. When he said he had just turned 18, the recruiter showed him where to sign He signed with the recruiter in 1943 (02:47) He remembers hearing of Pearl Harbor when he was roller skating at the park (02:59) Before Pearl Harbor, he knew of the war in Europe because of his family that lived in Poland (03:45) o The Germans attacked his family – his cousin was captured in Warsaw, Poland  He was a POW for seven years (04:02) o He felt a familial responsibility to do something in the war effort o At one point he told his mother that he was going to join the Polish Army (04:13)  His mother told him, “No” (04:25) After he processed in Battle Creek, Michigan, he was sent by train to Camp Grant, Illinois for Basic Training (04:47) �             From Camp Grant, he was sent to the 78th Division at Camp Butner, North Carolina (05:15) o He spent roughly one year at Camp Butner Camp Butner was a tobacco plantation at one time (05:43) o It was a nice camp and a good division There were southern Sergeants and the new recruits were all Yankees (06:06) o The soldiers were given “certain chores” Training was very interesting and he enjoyed what he was doing (07:05) He was in Company Headquarters for some time – when he was with them they were in maneuvers in the Smoky Mountains He learned how to take care of himself in training (08:32) He knew after training that he was going to be in the mortar division Part of his training was learning how to run with the supplies, living in the mountains, etc. (09:16) o He believed that he was supposed to be going to the Pacific  He heard that MacArthur did not like the 5th Army – that was why they did not go to the Pacific (09:30) When he went on furlough and came back, he found out that he was in another division headed to Europe (10:04) During Basic Training he was able to go Durham, North Carolina and other areas where larger universities were (10:50) When he was at Camp Butner, he learned how to dig a lot of holes (12:00) o They thought it was pointless, but when they got to Europe they realized how important they were When he joined the 83rd Division, he was just another soldier in the E Company in Mortar Section (12:32) o The 83rd Division was short people when they got to Fort Pickett, Virginia (12:52)  The 78th had to be broken up He was happy going to Europe instead of the Pacific Active Duty – Part I – Carentan & Hedgerows – (13:17)   The trip to Europe was on a cruise ship (13:22) o He had to sleep in a hammock that was hung in the dining room (13:43) o The trip took 17 days o They were in a 100 ship convoy (14:03) o The trip was in April of 1944 o The weather was rough the entire time (14:42) o The food on the ship was terrible (15:15) o He preferred to spend his time up on the deck (15:40) When he got to Europe, he landed in Liverpool, England (15:51) o It was completely dark in Liverpool when they arrived o They were fed when they first arrived �             From Liverpool he was sent to Wrexham, Wales (16:57) o General Patton was in Wrexham, Wales with the 3rd Army (17:05) The soldiers did not dare walking out of their tents without having their gear on Close to the invasion of Normandy, France, he was reassigned to the 1st Army with General Omar Bradley (17:42) o He remembers watching the airplanes flying overhead just before the invasion He was then sent on a train from Wrexham, Wales to Portsmouth, England (18:20) o They traveled on a boat that held the entire Company o On their route to the mainland, they had to turn around and go back because of weather o They then boarded LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) (19:12) They landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France (20:04) o They landed in the latter part of June, 1944 The job of his division was to fight there way through to Carentan, France (21:02) o Carentan had already been taken by the American forces He spent some time in Carentan (21:49) There were a lot of paratroopers that were scattered around because they had been dropped in the wrong places He can remember one spot where they were cleaning out houses – two men would go in to clear a house – one would go upstairs and the other would go downstairs (22:52) o He would often go downstairs where there was no light (22:58)  He would have to go and feel around  It was scary, but it had to be done (23:38) They would sometimes wonder why they were sticking around in that area (25:31) o He was not simply clearing out rear areas, but they are also trying to move forward The hedgerows were terrible because soldiers never knew what to expect (25:56) o At one time, after they had just gotten new recruits, a new guy threw a hand grenade over the hedgerow – the grenade came flying back at them  They all hit the ground – the Sergeant told the new recruit to hold the grenade for three seconds after pulling the pin, then throw it (26:21) o The hedgerows were typically chest high  They varied based on the farmer (27:04) o The Americans lost more people in the hedgerow fighting than anywhere else (27:45) The Germans defended the hedgerows by using rifles, screaming mimi’s [Nebelwerfer rocket launchers], and other artillery and weapons (28:35) Fighting made the soldiers feel like they were not simply friends, but brothers (28:50) o Every time a soldier was killed, they not only lost a friend but they also lost someone to help them (29:11) �     For the majority of the time, he stayed fighting in the same place and did not advance much farther or capture any territory o He remembers looking at a map at one point that showed one of their objectives to be Saint-Lo, France (29:50) o The infantry was making a push to the peninsula so that they would have open country ahead of them They occasionally encountered German tanks (30:39) o There was often not enough room for the German tanks to pass o The tanks' turrents did not traverse like the American tanks (30:50) At one point he looked down the barrel of a German tank (31:22) o He was ordered to take a look around the corner and he saw the tank When they were in the bocage country, they slept outdoors (32:13) o He had very little sleep while he was there o At Camp Butner he learned that he should not sleep a lot (32:31) There were planes that would come through and try to drop bombs on them o When a scouting plane flew over them, a new guy shot at him and gave away their positioning (34:07) Active Duty – Part II – First Injury/Problems With the Sergeant – (34:29)      The day he got wounded was the day that they were making a big push to get to [out of?] the Cotentin Peninsula (34:36) o They were all ready with their ammo and guns when the Sergeant told them to go back and get some more o The Sergeant said it was time for him to go in front since others had gone in front before (35:17) o When they were running through a field, he was the last one to run – he was halfway through the field when he was shot o The bullet must have been an armor-piercing bullet instead of lead (36:12)  The bullet missed his spine by a quarter of an inch (36:24)  It missed his heart by an inch and a half  He felt like he hit a wall He yelled for a medic when he was down o He pulled out his micro-morphine shot (37:02) o He took seven sulfa pills without water (37:20) When he was picked up by the medics, the German took another shot at him and it grazed the front of his jacket o The medics dropped him and he hit the ground (37:50) When he go to the hedgerow he was put on a jeep and taken back to Omaha Beach o He had to go cross-country because the roads would have taken too long (38:37) When he arrived at Omaha Beach, the medics were great o He laid next to a tanker that was on his twelfth pint of blood (38:54) o The nurses were great – they were always there for him �               o The girls were just like infantry soldiers – the nurses deserve a lot of honor for their service (39:14) He was then put on an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) and tied down He ended up in a hospital in Birmingham, England (39:50) He was taken in very quickly and lined up like a food line He spent roughly one month in a bed (40:54) There was one nurse that he did not like and he would try to avoid her by hiding underneath his bed (41:23) He was one of the first people in the Army to receive penicillin (41:52) o It was always cold because it had to be stored in the refrigerator When a new doctor looked at his records, he said some smart remark and told him that he was going back to war (42:50) o His wound was still not healed When he was discharged out of the hospital, he was taken on a train to Le Havre, France (43:44) o Every time they stopped he had to have his bandage replaced He was expecting to go back to the 83rd Division (44:15) o He did not know where they were The train would only go as far as Aachen, Germany and he would have find his own way from there (44:25) o The Hitler Highway went from Aachen to Berlin (44:41) Once he got to Aachen, he went to a replacement depot that told him he was not going back to the 83rd Division o He said that he did not want to go to any other division, he wanted to be back with the 83rd (45:18) o They told him that he was going to go with another outfit and be squad leaders  They were squad leaders without rank (45:35)  He was never given the rank o The Sergeant that was in charge of him was “a horse's behind” (45:57)  They did not like one another  The Sergeant was killing people because of his stupidity (46:05) o His men liked Borekbecause he did not ask them to do anything he would not do himself They went on one mission where he and the Sergeant split – they ended up back together and he had all of his men while the Sergeant had only half of his men left (46:52) o The Sergeant was upset and reported him – he was taken off of squad leader and put in the Sergeants squad There were a lot of instances where new men would get others killed for unnecessary reasons (48:20) At one time the Sergeant decided that they were going to march down the railroad tracks that had banks on each side (49:01) o He told the Sergeant that the enemy was going to kill them He joined the 104th Infantry Division in September of 1944 (50:20) �  In November of 1944 he was not in an area with a lot of fire o There was a lot of fighting during this time in the Hurtgen Forest (51:02) o They got out of Hurtgen Forest as quick as they could He had three brothers in the service – he saw his brother Vic while he was in the field (51:36) o They were going to celebrate Christmas together (51:50) o When the Battle of the Bulge came, his brother had to go because he was in a tank destroyer unit that was being sent to help stop the attack (52:19) Active Duty – Part III – Second Injury/Remaining Military Service – (52:31)       The soldiers used to wade in the Ruhr [Roer?] River to check out the German movements When they got ready to move forward, the Germans blew up the dams and significantly raised the water level of the river (52:45) o The Navy then came in with their big boats – they ended up paddling across the river Once they crossed they went forward and took a town o They set up on the main road going into the town (53:34)  He was in the forward position  The infantry was ahead of everyone else (54:09) o He was wounded in the attack, roughly an hour and a half after the battle started (55:11)  Once it got dark that night, he was taken out and put on an ambulance o The men were in a butcher shop (55:52)  He was wounded when a shell hit the building – the ceiling came down and everything collapsed  He was hit with shrapnel all over his body (56:26)  His face is still loaded with it  “He keeps it for souvenirs”  One of his friends was hit as well  He had four kids at home (57:14)  He does not remember much of what happened after he was hit (58:26)  All he knows is that he was on an ambulance, headed for a train The train ride after he was injured took him a couple of days to go from Germany to Paris (59:34) When he arrived in Paris, he was sent to a hospital in Fontainebleau, France (01:00:00) o He was there for roughly two months (01:00:10) o His older brother was stationed in Paris  His brother came to see him in the hospital (01:00:38) The treatment in Paris was very good (01:01:13) �             o The doctors were great as well While he was in the hospital in Paris he was not allowed to move around in the hospital at all (01:02:04) o He could not get a shoe on because he had shrapnel in his ankle There was one doctor that got a bunch of the soldiers together and told them that if they get home, remember one thing: “talk about everything that you saw and had happened to you. Don’t let it eat you.” (01:03:13) o He always talked to his boys and girls about his experiences o One person told him that he did not think that he was actually in the war because he described everything so positively (01:04:29)  He told the man that he was there – that is why it is so positive After he was able to walk, they would go out to the Red Cross and go into Paris (01:05:36) After he was released from the hospital he was getting ready to go back to the 104th when a Captain told him that he had been wounded too many times o He was given the option of going back to the field or not (01:06:53) o The Captain told him that he was done He was then put in the Military Police (01:07:27) o He spent his time chasing G.I.’s “that were naughty” o He was able to travel around France a lot o At one point he was in the Vosges Mountains, he saw castles built in the mountains, etc. (01:07:55) o He went wherever he was needed o He never had to go back to any parts that he was wounded in (01:08:26) o He spent time in Luxemburg, Belgium, and many other places He spent a lot of time directing traffic and being on cathouse duty (01:09:27) He was in about four or five different MP outfits o A Captain told him that he would not go home until the war ended (01:10:16)  He told them that they were renowned infantrymen He spent a lot of time in Strasbourg, France o Strasbourg was on the border with Germany (01:10:53) o The German flag was out when the Germans were there and then the French or American flag went up whenever they were there (01:11:02) Switzerland was a leave center and the soldiers had to go through Strasbourg There were a lot of Muslim, African soldiers [serving in the French army] stationed around there (01:11:45) o They had a lot of problems with them There were Americans that would try to cheat Muslims out of their money (01:13:02) o They would sell them a carton of cigarettes with a block of wood in it There was one story that was told by a French Foreign Legion Officer of a time when four Muslims snuck up and cut off the heads of thirty German soldiers (01:13:48) The French people, after the war, were very happy o He was able to make friends with some of them (01:14:38) �     o They would sometimes give the French people some of their food A lot of people in France had no use for the people in Paris (01:15:13) o A lot of the people in Paris spoke English (01:15:28) The Rhine River was a bad spot for the Americans to operate in He remembers there being a lot of people that were forced labor workers o They would always go to the military police and ask for directions (01:16:30) o In one area he served as a Polish interpreter  He had gone to a Polish school and learned the language there – he is also Polish (01:17:29) At this point he still did not know much of what was happening in Poland His cousin was a POW in Germany for seven years – he was captured in 1939 (01:18:32) Leaving Europe/After the Service – (01:18:50)         Going home, he left from an airport just outside of Marseilles, France (01:19:09) o He went home on a boat in December of 1945 o He was on a Kaiser Liberty Ship (01:19:50)  There were 2,000 soldiers aboard o They landed in January in Newport News, Virginia (01:20:42) He left Newport News and went to Camp Atterbury, Indiana o At Camp Atterbury he got a ticket home  He was 20 years old when he went home (01:21:28) He got married in September of 1946 When he got back, he worked in a factory building door panels He then switched careers and worked in a tool and die shop (01:22:07) He eventually got into show business o They ran nitrate film (01:23:03) o He was the business agent for the local union He met Lena Horne through working in show business (01:24:18) o He also met Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, and many others When he went into the military he was a kid, when he came out, he was a man (01:25:28) o The service prepared him for future jobs  He was capable of making important decisions � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Borek, Eugene (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borek, Eugene Description An account of the resource Eugene Borek was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925. He enlisted in the Army shortly after turning eighteen, and trained with the 78th Division at Camp Butner, North Carolina, until his unit was broken up and he was assigned to the 83rd Division. He sailed to England in April, 1944, and landed in Normandy in late June. He fought in the battles near St. Lo until he was wounded and sent to England. He was then sent as a replacement to the 104th Division in September, and fought near Aachen, in the Hurtgen Forest and western Germany until he was wounded again in early 1945. After that, he was assigned to a military police unit based in Strasbourg until he was sent home late in 1945. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-05-11 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BorekE1111V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/89162dba74b7052d86c46ea343dd7c12.m4v 81976db78846f78abee48e93dfd4e837 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3d2a68e38166ba62d7f78ff2a1ff49cf.pdf f9dda5a2b031f688aad4e2cdd9e24270 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Robert Borey World War II 1 hour 27 minutes 31 seconds (00:00:14) Early Life -Born in Flint, Michigan in 1920 -When he was an infant his family moved to Detroit -Lived in Detroit for a while -When he was in his teens his family moved back to Flint -Attended high school there -His father worked for General Motors -Initially in the factory itself and then in the office -He had one younger brother -He graduated from high school in 1938 -Went to Flint Junior College part time -Worked at AC Spark Plug (now ACDelco) for $0.65 an hour (00:02:46) Start of the War -Before Pearl Harbor he paid some attention to the war in Europe -Remembers being out in the street playing touch football on December 7, 1941 -Someone came out and told them that Pearl Harbor had been bombed -At didn’t time didn’t know the gravity of the situation -Later learned how serious the attack had been -When he was in the Navy he met some men who had been at Pearl Harbor that day (00:04:56) Enlisting in the Navy and Basic Training -He joined the Navy shortly after Christmas 1941 -He knew for sure that he didn’t want to get drafted into the Army -Went to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training -For him basic training was a culture shock -First time that he had been subject to verbal abuse -Had to adjust to getting up at 3 AM to go on marches -He got sick in basic and had to go to the hospital for a couple weeks -Learned about how to use and to maintain a rifle -Learned general information about the Navy -Got used to taking orders and being disciplined -During the second of half of basic training you got weekends off and could visit Chicago -In basic training he got paid $21 a month -In Chicago the Navy provided you with free hotel lodging and baseball tickets -One time when he was in Chicago on leave he missed the last metro train back to the base -Cab driver helped get him back to base -People in Chicago were incredibly supportive of military personnel -Basic training lasted eight weeks -Stayed a little longer at Great Lakes because of his hospital stay �(00:12:55) Hospital Corps School -He was waiting for an assignment at Great Lakes -He was offered ten days of leave if he signed up for Hospital Corps School -He signed up for that training and stayed at Great Lakes for the training -He had classes all day -The goal was to learn a lot about medicine in a short time -That training lasted another eight weeks -Received training on first aid, pharmaceuticals, and other general medicine (00:15:28) Assignment to California -He got assigned to the Navy hospital in San Francisco -Got sent to California on an old train -Slept in the chairs -Stopped at a town in Nebraska where the people fed you -They fed every troop train that came through their town -Located at North Platte, Nebraska -Lived in a tent on the hospital lawn initially -Worked in a ward and met the men who had been at Pearl Harbor there -Learned more about medicine in the hospital -During down time would go and watch autopsies being performed -Led to him getting into the surgical program -Watched an operation and was advised to become an operating room technician -Became close with a Dr. Ogden who was from Twin Cities, Minnesota -One of the best surgeons he ever worked with in the Navy (00:23:30) Pre-Deployment -Prior to deployment went down to San Diego and then to Camp Pendleton -Receiving preparatory training through the Marines -Grueling physical training -Had to qualify on the obstacle course to be able to deploy -Went to the Navy hospital at Long Beach -Bought a 1925 Buick in Long Beach -He had nowhere to store the car when he was deployed -So he found a good spot to park the car and he left it -Before they deployed Dr. Ogden said they were short on surgical supplies -So he and another sailor managed to find and steal some more surgical supplies (00:30:02) Deployment to the Pacific Theatre -Got attached to the 1st Marine Division -Got on a ship in Long Beach -During the voyage to the warzone he didn’t get seasick (00:31:00) Guadalcanal -First stop was in Guadalcanal -First impression of the island was that it was hot -When he arrived the Battle of Guadalcanal was largely over -Spent the first night sleeping on the ground -Took care of sick call for the Marines on the island -Some Marines just didn’t want to work -Some men were contracting tropical disease �-Remembers one man coming in because of malaria and dying -Took the drug, Atabrine, to prevent malaria -After the Navy he came home and contracted malaria then (00:36:22) Northern Solomon Islands -After Guadalcanal went to a smaller island in the northern portion of the Solomon Islands -The island was going to be used for an airstrip with which to attack Bougainville -Boarded an LST (landing ship, tank) and sailed north for about two, or three, days -He was told that they would have to invade the island -Fortunately, he didn’t have to be in one of the first waves -The invasion ultimately went off without any initial opposition -Remembers when they ran into a Japanese machinegun nest -One soldier with a bulldozer drove up and buried the nest destroying it -The terrain was mostly jungle -Had to sleep on the ground because there weren’t even tents -Didn’t have any bathrooms, or outhouses, so they had to use the jungle -Finally got assigned to a tent and met one of his best friends that way -His friend wound up getting killed in the fighting on Okinawa -When he went home he talked with his friend’s girlfriend at Michigan State -He still feels bad about his friend’s death -Once they were established they started receiving casualties from different forces -Got men from the Air Corps, PT Boat crewmen, and Marines -They had a small hospital on the island -Saw some of the native populace -Friendly towards Americans -He got used to seeing native women that didn’t wear tops -Remembers when President Roosevelt died there was a lot of apprehension -No one knew how Truman would be as a president (00:47:38) Interacting with Casualties -He remembers when they brought in a soldier that had a serious head injury -The man’s brain was exposed -Called over a doctor and immediately he said the man was a goner -He remembers when an Army casualty was brought in -Told them that he was glad to be in the Navy’s hands -Said that the Army doctors were worthless (00:51:10) Downtime and Contact with Home -Movies were shown on their island a couple nights each week -They were B-Rated movies (not top quality productions) -They were fun to just laugh at and unwind with -Once a month they were given two cans of beer -Came from unknown breweries in the United States -Cigarettes were free -Spent a lot of time reading -Read whatever books were available -Also read the Stars & Stripes military newspaper -He got letters from home -He got care packages from home �-It showed that people back home still cared -Over time it just got to be incredibly boring (00:54:58) End of the War -The island he was on was essentially abandoned as the war moved closer to Japan -He was given a thirty day leave to go home -While on leave reported to a military office in Detroit for a psych evaluation -Told the doctor that he wasn’t fit for military service -Sent on a train to San Francisco and went to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay -He was placed on a ship and sailed to Pearl Harbor -When he arrived in Pearl Harbor he saw hundreds of ships -Learned that they were massing there for the invasion of Japan -Given manuals about what to do once Japan was invaded -While he was waiting to invade the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan -The second atomic bomb was dropped three days later and Japan surrendered -He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to take part in the invasion of Japan -He never saw so many happy people -Went to Sasebo, Japan (a naval base) -Stayed there for a few days -Went ashore and walked around the city -The whole city was in ruins due to bombing -Japanese people would not look at American soldiers -Went into a destroyed naval building and looked around -Ran into a Japanese man who ran away as soon as he saw him (01:03:30) Coming Home -Returned to his ship and was told that he had enough “points” to go home -Points were given based on duration of service, combat, and dependents -A ride was then arranged for him to get back to the United States -He boarded a ship and sailed to the Philippines -Stayed in the Philippines for a couple days -Boarded another ship that was bound for the United States -On the way home ran into a typhoon -Helmsman did well in the storm and kept the ship level throughout it -Pulled into the port in Seattle -The helmsman who had done so well in the storm managed to crash into a dock -Spent a few days in Seattle -Went back to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois -Spent a couple days there and then was discharged from the Navy -Took the metro train to Chicago and then boarded another train and went home (01:07:40) Life after the War -Took a couple weeks off -Went back to work for AC Spark Plug -Attended the General Motors Institute, which was an engineering school, on the GI Bill -Met a girl and got engaged to her on the third date -Took his engineering courses and wanted to specialize in tool design -In his third year there he decided to drop out -He got into sales and worked at a small spring company �-On his very first sales call he made a sale -The next fifty sales were not as successful -Eventually got good at sales and made a good living off of it -Got married to the girl that he was engaged to -They had three children together -Lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood in Flint, Michigan -After his children were grown and out of college his wife got cancer -Spent $80,000 fighting the illness, but she eventually succumbed to it -After his wife died he was overwhelmingly depressed -On top of that he lost his job and had to sell the house to pay off the debt -His son worked for American Seating in Grand Rapids, Michigan -Wound up moving to Grand Rapids to be closer to his son there -Got a job at the Grand Rapids Public Museum -Started to enjoy his life again (01:21:23) Reflections on Service -The Navy definitely changed his life -At the end of his service several men told him how much they had appreciated him -He didn’t dislike his service, but was glad to get out -He had had good and bad experiences in the Navy -He learned to get along with people in the Navy -War made him mature quickly and showed how people really were -Showed the total selflessness and selfishness of people � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_BoreyR1659V Title A name given to the resource Borey, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-07-24 Description An account of the resource Robert Borey was born in Flint, Michigan in 1920. He finished high school in 1938 and went to work, and enlisted in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor. He trained at Great Lakes, Illinois, and became a hospital corpsman. He was assigned first to a Navy hospital in San Francisco, and then went to San Diego to train with the Marines. he deployed to Guadalcanal in 1943, and then his hospital moved into the Northern Solomon Islands. He served as a surgeon's assistant and helped treat many sick and wounded soldiers. He got leave home in 1945, and was on his way back when the war ended. After a brief stay in Sasebo, Japan, he came home and was discharged. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borey, Robert Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy United States. Marine Corps Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b449f207249a2cc4a252cf4e502606e4.mp4 67d9d2780a425915e2cc692ef831e39e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/271c73137bb38c4652709ce63d8f560d.pdf 2605d36c50dfae6657180f0536296252 PDF Text Text Living with PFAS Interviewee: Sue Borgeson Interviewer: Dani DeVasto Date: June 22nd, 2021 DD: I’m Dani DeVasto, and today, June 22nd, 2021, I have the pleasure of talking to Sue Borgersen. Hi Sue. SB: Hi Dani! DD: Sue can you tell me a little bit about where you’re from and where you currently live? SB: Well, it's a little difficult to tell you where I'm from because I was born and raised in the military, so I've lived all over the world all over the United States in the military and landed in Rockford Michigan. Thirty years ago, I met my husband, and he was from west Michigan, and you know the story of falling in love so here I am. So yep, I live in Rockford, and I absolutely love living here. DD: And you said you've been in Rockford for about 30 years? SB: Um well actually 20. We lived in Grand Rapids for about 10 years. DD: Great. Sue, can you tell me a story about your experience with PFAS or with PFAS in your community? SB: Actually, in my community my story with PFAS goes way back to the early 80s. Growing up in the military. My dad was in the Air Force, we lived in Oscoda, Michigan in a Wordsmith Air Force base. And we arrived in Oscoda from Austin Texas, and this was I believe our second time living in a military installation. Um so we arrived in Oscoda, happy, healthy um no concerns and within a short period of time um it seemed as if our whole family suddenly was getting really sick. And weird things would happen um weird ailments, it especially affected my mother, and we had no idea. She was experiencing extreme fatigue, excruciating migraines and it was suggested that it was her teeth, her back molars needing to be aligned. So, they went in and started grinding on her teeth and they said oh um maybe that's not it we think you have a TMJ problem. So she ended up down at Wright Patterson Air Force. They did temporal.. um had her mouth wired shut for probably a good three months. That did not help… um just it was really very awful. My mom… ended up going to a doctor down in the Saginaw area who started doing testing on her and ran blood analysis and hair analysis and came back and said you have high trace minerals in your hair but your blood, mercury is off just skyrocketing, sane with lead, arsenic and a few other things. And my mom's got black hair and the doctor said to her "If you're dying your hair chances are your probably getting poisoned by your hair dye. So I came home from school and she had shaved her head. So this woman had been put through hell and back and thought that the only way that she was going to feel better was to shave her head. And then in that time um my dad retired from the military, we stayed behind so I could graduate from uh High school with my class. And he headed to west Michigan here and we stayed behind but we �moved to um house in downtown Oscoda. Everyone had well water, um and the problems just kept getting worse and I had a sister um who was terribly ill, hospitalized, they told her she had toxic shock syndrome, mono um. But nothing was confirmed they could not say that this was definitive this was exactly what was happening, the same thing was happening with me. Um we moved to West Michigan and I left went to college and didn't come back till about thirty years ago when I met my husband, lived in Grand Rapids for a while and in that time just continued to be just a deathly sick person. Energetic and was athletic, and I liked to do things but was finding I wasn't able to function, so I started going through the same thing that my mom had gone through seeing doctors all over the Midwest all the way down to Cleveland clinic to check out, maybe what was wrong with me. Did I have MS, did I have chronic fatigue? Did I have fibromyalgia um I had carry malformation, grossest on my body in my body, right now I'm going to be hanging surgery here in the next couple months to have them removed but I've had cysts grow that nobody can explain while it just you know a freak thing. But things really seemed to come to a blow when my husband and I decided we were going to start a family. And in that, it was not happening we started seeing different specialists, but nobody could explain why we weren't able to conceive a child, we didn't want to go the fertility route, then we wondered about adoption, and it was like if we're not supposed to have them, we're not supposed to have them. And we're ok with it. We kind of moved on from that and um but I still was sick, and you know then they started telling me my cholesterol was high, my HGLS was all out of whack, just out of this world and extremely anemic on top of all of it. Um there was actually a point in time I was so sick that they were suggesting to me that I was anorexic, and I was doing it on purpose to be hospitalized. Um you know, I assure you, I am I’m not anorexic, not doing this intentionally that's the situation with the medical field, they can't figure it out or help you with it, they start telling you it’s in your head and they start coming up with alternate solutions or situations to say ok we think this is what it is. So, you go down that route for a while and discover indeed that is not it. And not only cause I was going on this route, did it make things worse. I still don't know what the heck is going on. So, about that time I started hearing stories, well I should say we moved to Rockford in that time, and we live in downtown Rockford not too far from Rogue River and that is how getting water, smelled funny. I didn't like drinking in Oscoda, on the air force base. To this day I have a hard time drinking water. Our water smelled bad, tasted bad, so I called the water department, they came to test it, the gentleman who came out said um you know usually when we go to people’s house because they say its smells. Usually, they have a lot of animals, animal waste, garbage, he said your house is immaculate. He said so we don't know what it is, but you know we'll get it fixed for you well that plant got decommissioned. They hooked us up to you know the whole area to this aquifer that's just outside town here. And you know things kind of seem to level off for a little bit and when you don't know what the heck is going on and you see these things and you like to try to put them together and it's just it's just frustrating. And so, we used to walk our dogs down by the river and walk along and in the fall when the river goes down you could see the tree roots exposed on the riverbank, and we would see these like these long-twisted things that were like shoved into the roots and they were all along the bank. And we get to a remote area, and we let our dogs off the leash, and they would run, and they would bring these things back to us and we had no idea what they were. And we kayak and canoed, there’s foam in the river we had no idea what it was and just to go back to Wordsmith again for a second Wordsmith is on a lake than at lake which is just outside the gate area, and they had their own private beach facility where all the military families could go and swim and they had docks and all kinds of cool stuff. And we was sit there and play �in this foam that would just come up on the beach and we would cover each other in this foam. It was just, we were thinking it was just this natural occurrence that came from lake nobody even had a clue. So I started hearing things coming out of Wordsmith about the water quality up there and the things that they found with regards to PFAS and it's to PFAA and then started hearing about the Wolverine factory, the PFAS, you know on packer and those drives that are just a West of Rockford. And started putting two and two together and discovered a group out of Wordsmith that was a community of people that had all the same symptoms, all the same ailments and they were coming together to talk about their issues yes, I can't have kids yes I've got high cholesterol yes I have thyroid problem multiple sclerosis just the whole gambit. And they were going to hire Erin Brokowich to represent them in a suit again the United States Air Force. So, I joined the group and having worked in engineering industry, friends that were environmental engineers, started asking them questions about things. I asked this group these questions and I got kicked out of the group because they thought, I was a mole. And I was like what? How come I can't be in your group? And they said nope, you're obviously a mole, and I said what makes you think I'm a mole? Well, you're asking questions nobody else would ask. Cause I work in this industry, you can go to my LinkedIn profile, it will tell you my work history. So, it didn't matter I still got kicked out anyways. Um but what they did for me was I said OK I don't need a group of people to figure what is wrong with me. I think this is what has happened to me and to my family. I'm gonna just investigate it myself and put 2 and 2 together and I went to my doctor, and I sat down with studies with studies and reports and articles, and you know she's got my high health of history, and I had all that. I had full on hysterectomy bout 5 years. And the doctor that did the hysterectomy said that there was no way on God's green earth that I was gonna get pregnant because my uterus and ovaries were nothing but one big lump of cysts, that had been growing for a bazillion years. And said that was never going to happen, um you have the strangers looking uterus we've ever seen you for. We stopped counting the number of cysts that were on your reproduction organs, anyway, so I sat down with her went through everything. And you know I think I would like for you to see a toxicologist. So, she scheduled an appointment to talk to a specialist at Devos children’s hospital because if there if somebody poisoned, it's usually a child. So, they have them at, the toxicologists are associated with the children's hospital. So, I go to meet, this doctor, explain my situation I’m concerned about my health going on in the future, are there tests for my blood, what's can we do here? And he told me he said, how long has it been since you lived in Oscoda? And I said oh about 35 years, and he said, well what happens when you take the pan off the fire, he said it cools down. He said there's no way you would still have any chemicals in your body from 35 years ago. So now um Pfas is considered the forever chemical, and um I don't know there's what 17 chemicals, 31 compounds in PFAS that settled within your tissue, in the organs in your body. Just the frustration with that, um to try to help yourself to figure things out um and to be told id you take the pain off the fire, it stops getting hot. The other thing that as military raised child, individual there's no way of tracking any of this health issues. Because once you turn 18, 21, 18 if you don't go to college, 21 if you do, you no longer afford military health care. So, they can't track you, so there are a ton of us out there that lived on these bases exposed to the chemicals. Going to my first class reunion ten years after I graduated because when you're in a military family, when your dad retired, everyone goes with ya. So, if you retire, wherever you and your family usually goes with ya. So, nobody is really essentially located there anymore. Going back to 10-year class reunion, nobody had kids. But some people were feeling kind of sick and getting diagnosed with things. Twenty-year class reunion, people are in wheelchairs, people �have died. My best friend across where my best friend who lived across the street from me, was a firefighter on base. Worked on those runways every day in that, passed away a number years ago of some bizarre liver cancer that they could not even identify how it may have even started she died of that same liver cancer her mother died of the same liver cancer so going back to my 20th class reunion and I said to my husband how am I gonna handle this when people start asking you about you know my kids cause this is where we're going to show pictures in what. said you know it's not a big deal to me to not have kids, but I don't want to stand there and have to explain to a 150 people why don't we have kids? And To my surprise a large majority of the people did not have children and if they did very difficult to conceive and/or that they had adopted so at adopt it so you know it's just if you start looking at the population then you're looking at all the different elements that people have that lived in that particular area there was something not right To my surprise a large majority of the people did not have children and if they did very difficult to conceive and/or that they had adopted so at adopt it. It's just if you start looking at the population then you're looking at all the different ailments that people have that lived in that particular area there was something not right. And the medical profession is not able to help us, maybe it's something cause it's a chemical, it sits in your body. Maybe its another cure or those sorts of things, but the direction I wanted to come from, On this was doctors need to be with the research community, new search community needs to be working with the technical scientists on not only getting rid of this chemical but also at the same time what is going to pop up out of this I mean are people going to be having you know Parkinson’s and ALS I mean I went to Chicago on Friday and it was a really kind of a taxing day the heat and the whole just a whole day while my Nero you're a lot of what is it neural muscular system just went on the blink and so I get fried and I'm not able to function so we ended up having come home because I was absolutely exhausted. And it’s taken me um since Saturday, and I was like oh please I hope I'm not too tired to do this on Tuesday because I have to say something about it. Um but you know I have um my sisters and brothers same sort of thing. Um and it's just, it's tragic to also live in a community where how the heck did, I end up here. After living wordsmith and Oscoda and living right smack dab in the middle of Rockford. And what is going to, what's going to pop up next with all of this? Um so that's kind of where that's kind of my story. Kind of rambled, that's kind of it in a big nutshell. My mom never did recover from of it. And when you have, you know healthcare professionals I'm drilling into your head that the pain that you feel on the tired that you feel is all in your head while it eventually ends up in your head and you know it's just at the time I want people invent these things they're really cool everybody's excited all this is you know the next greatest thing and then you know 10 15 20 years later we find out that you know what it's no dumb what it's doing too not only our world but you know what are the vitamins but people in health and You know I don't know what the solution to that is but you know but I feel like I needed to say something and health and spending some time investigating those kids of issues. DD: Yeah, thank you. SB: Sorry, that was a half an hour answer. �DD: It was great, it was a great story to tell and I'm so glad you told it. What concerns do you have with PFAS contamination moving forward? You might have hinted this a little bit, but can you speak to that question a little more? SB: Well, I do know that you know there's a full court press on trying to develop in our water in wastewater treatment plants filters to filter out PFAs to track it to see where it's going. My concerns with it it's not just in the water it's water it's in the soil so even though you may not be drinking water it's still in my backyard and still in the dirt. Um what is that going to mean for us, here's something I learned too, I was really surprised by. PFAs is on hamburger wrappers, you know when they're collecting water samples, to test for PFAs, you cannot have eaten a hamburger without washing your hands. They have this whole long list of things. It's still being used in products that are detrimental to the health and welfare of people of the world. I'm just you know, I'm glad in the industry that I'm in because it allows me to be a little more informed. And aware of what's transpiring with the world of PFAs and but I also know there's a whole of health issues that nobody is willing to say yes this is directly an impact from PFAs. Allot of liver cancers. You know H TAL's LDL is the Al's LD o's triglycerides cholesterol is cholesterol even when you take medication it does not lower those so just you know what does that mean for liver and pancreas and not just me but you know everybody that lives around here. DD: Well before we wrap up today, Sue, would you like to add anything we haven't touched on or anything you want to go back to and say more about? SB: Um, I think I pretty much said what I wanted to say about, but it's been 35 years almost 40 years, of being exposed to PFAs. Um I'm a pretty healthy girl, you know um I've endured a lot look great on the outside, I think. But on the inside, um not so much on certain days, I feel fortunate that I'm able to care through it where a lot of people have not been able to manage it. Because they don't know what’s going on with them, and they just continue they just continue to tread water and I'm excited about the ideas of people being able to come together and connect with one another over these issues maybe not me but generations behind me that have been exposed to this are they'll come up with something that can help people live better lives that have been exposed to PFAS. I think water is the war of the world in It's a precious resource that we have a tendency to take a pic take advantage of, but you don't know what you don't know so what's the next thing. DD: Yeah, very true, SB: So that's kind of my story in a nutshell, um I don't have anything seriously terminal to this particular point, but um sometimes you can live a long life and just be miserable every day. You know because of the things people have to deal with. And um as a result of this chemical, so I pray for those people, every day at least 3 or 4 times. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. DD: Well, thank you so much Sue for taking the time to share your story today. �SB: Absolutely, thank you for your interest and spending the time with me today. . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living with PFAS Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Devasto, Danielle Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2021, the Living with PFAS interviews were recorded to gather the personal stories of individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. PFAS, or per- and polyflourinated substances, are a large group of human-made chemicals used widely since the 1940s to make coatings and products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They can be found in countless household items, including food packaging, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, and water-resistant clothing. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, and build up in animals, plants, and people. PFAS have been linked to increased incidences of various cancers, increased cholesterol, decreased fertility, birth defects, kidney and liver disease, and immune system suppression, and thyroid dysfunction. It is estimated that PFAS are in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans (Andrews & Naidenko, 2020). In Michigan alone, over 280 sites have PFAS contamination exceeding maximum contamination levels for groundwater (MPART, 2024). Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Motion Picture Text Sound Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PFAS0018 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borgeson, Sue Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06-22 Title A name given to the resource Sue Borgeson, 2021 (Interview video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Sue Borgeson grew up in a military family and has lived all over the world and the United States, and currently resides in Rockford, Michigan. In her interview, Sue discusses the impact PFAS has had on the health of her family after being exposed on military bases and at her home in Michigan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource DeVasto, Danielle (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bedfa65b8197c5e8993527386936cd94.jpg 68c01f2b056985257134eeb6cbe5fa01 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS658 .C4 1896a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0097 Title A name given to the resource Stories from the Chap-Book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borie, Adolphe E. (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of Stories from the Chap-Book: Being a Miscellany of Curious and Interesting Tales, published by Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1896. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/97a365b30d9b7b8b8a563b7b02726da6.pdf fa44da3c6ddd09d3f95715825d664632 PDF Text Text �� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/01c63619d67569069d6822c4bb817c94.pdf bce35014b45d935ddb7ff7edf37a6a5f PDF Text Text [Page 1 Baton Rouge October 9, 1844 [Could be 1842?] Dear Sir Yours of the 21st [?] was received by me a few days since; and as soon as I learn of Sen. Bullits [?] arrival at New Orleans I will address him a line, upon your business; and wire with pleasure, endorse your qualifications, or a correspondant, for his paper; during the next session of Congress. Bullit is now in the West stirring up the coons; & pressing cider, preporitory to the campaign of 44; and it is somewhat uncertain whether he will return to New Orleans; to resume his Editorial chair; or I know he has been strongly solicited, and advised to go to Washington, and take charge of a New Paper, which it is contemplation to start there the next winter --Should he conclude[?] to enter upon this new theatre; that will not cause the ‘Bee to cease flying & humming in La, once I will speak a good word for you to his successor --- There is a dead calm here in the political atmosphere --- but the execution of Captain Tyler, one [?] tho’ not loud both parties [?] the most sovereign contempts for him --- on my route home, although I made diligent inquiry I never even heard of such an animal or a Tyler man --- I am very respectfully yours Alexander Borrow �[Cover] � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-44_NS1-UN003 Title A name given to the resource Nathan Sargent petition and letter of recommendation for Commissioner of Customs, October 9, 1844 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1844-10-09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borrow, Alexander Description An account of the resource Letter of support dated October 9, 1844 from government officials recommending Nathan Sargent retain his position as Commissioner of Customs. Subject The topic of the resource Sargent, Nathan, 1794-1875 Whig Party (U.S.) United States--Politics and government--19th century United States--Officials and employees Petitions Pennsylvania Washington (D.C.) Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent papers, (RHC-44)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3a46a590e2738401fc66fe44ecbacc4f.mp4 9a57470f2865a9994dbc09be878ae66a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3d7732fe864918d92d89045ecc9a33b7.pdf 6fca0abdf96a5f32f7af2f6491f31488 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Interviewee’s Name: Joseph Borst Name of War: World War II Length of Interview: (00:12:04) (00:10) Background Information        Joseph was a sergeant in the United States Army during World War Two After high school he had been working in a bakery before he was drafted into the Army Training was not too hard on Joseph, but it was difficult for him to adjust to military life After training he was sent to Europe where he fought in France, Germany, and Luxembourg Joseph did not like fighting in Europe and felt that no human being should go through any war; it was very depressing There were bodies everywhere and it took a lot of willpower to not go crazy Joseph spent about 6 months fighting in Europe (4:10) Military Life  Joseph was in charge of two machine gun crews and they both showed him a lot of respect and followed orders well  He did not have much time to write letters and would have liked to receive more mail  He was in Luxembourg when the war ended and was then sent back to Grand Rapids, Michigan that December  It was very hard for him to re-adjust to civilian life and his wife later left him because he had become such a different person while in the war (7:50) After Service  When Joseph returned to the United States they landed in Virginia and there were many people there to greet the troops; it was the happiest day of his life  It took Joseph 10 years to adjust and get back to normal  He feels terrible for all the men that died in Europe that were not allowed to return home � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Borst, Joseph L. (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borst, Joseph L. Description An account of the resource Joseph Borst was drafted into the United States Army during World War II. He was sent to Europe after going through training and fought in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Joseph spent about 6 months in Europe and had two different machine gun crews working under him. He did not enjoy fighting in Europe and had a difficult time working there. After the war Joseph returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan and it took him about 10 years to re-adjust to civilian life. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Van Dommelen, Kyle (Interviewer) Kelloggsville High School (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-05-27 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BorstJ Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives