thedrifter
07-09-07, 02:25 PM
Shelby native recalls flying unfriendly skies
By Ron Simon
T-F staff
SHELBY -- In 1942, Roger Adam had a very important job. He helped make TNT at the Plum Brook Arsenal near Sandusky.
But that was not good enough for Adam. Not when America was at war.
"I had a deferment, but all my friends were going in the service and I knew that's where I belonged," he said.
Adam, 85, of 12 Seltzer Ave., joined the Navy because "I knew I didn't want to be a foot soldier."
Eventually, Adam emerged from the long and tedious Navy flight training program as a lieutenant junior grade and pilot of a Privateer in the Pacific Theater.
"The Privateer was the Navy's version of the B-24 and a far better model," Adam said. "We had dual 50-caliber machine guns in turrets. Just a lot of firepower."
Adam, who had lived in Shelby since his early childhood, graduated from Shelby High School in 1939 and attended a government program at Heidelberg University.
It was that training in chemistry and math that led him to a government job at Plum Brook.
Once in the Navy he applied to be a pilot. His choice was between fighter planes or twin-engine warplanes. He chose the bigger planes.
He started a rigorous program that began in Boise, Idaho, where he flew solo in a small plane.
The training trail led through California, Minnesota, Texas and Florida as Adam became competent as a pilot, navigator and bombardier.
"As a pilot you had to know all three jobs well," he said.
During his final training in Florida he was at the controls of a Navy PBY seaplane on a flight to Cuba. "There was no Fidel Castro then," he said.
He met the huge Privateer in Kansas and flew to California, where he joined his combat unit, VPD 108, which consisted of 15 Privateers and 18 crews.
The crew of each plane consisted of 12 men, half of them gunners.
The unit flew to Hawaii, where it spent two months learning how to work together. Adam said the gunners worked on their accuracy.
Then, in January 1945, the VPD 108 crew flew to Guam and then to Palau near the Philippines.
"We started our war patrols there," Adam said, but ran into no Japanese.
The unit moved on to Tinian and finally to its last stop, the recently taken island of Iwo Jima.
"It was hot. The runway was dirt and the ground was warm. Iwo, after all, was a volcanic island," Adam said.
This time, the Japanese were not that far away. Adam said there were even a few left hiding in caves on the island.
"They would come out at night to look for water, which was very scarce. The Marines would take care of them," Adam said.
Once an enemy soldier tossed some grenades into a tent, killing a few Americans, Adam said.
He said Iwo was important because it provided an emergency landing site for American B-29 bombers that had been shot up during missions over Japan.
From Iwo, Adam's unit went on searches for downed American flight crews or for what was left of Japanese shipping.
"We did encounter Japanese fighters, but I'll have to say that all the really good Jap pilots were gone by then. These pilots were not nearly as good."
Adam's crew managed to bomb and sink a lone Japanese freighter ship.
The unit's only loss was its commander, whose Privateer made a lone foray toward Marcus Island. "They must have known he was coming because he never returned and we never found him," Adam said.
Life on Iwo was interrupted only by the evening arrival of a Japanese plane the pilots called "Washboard Charley."
"He didn't do any damage, but he was loud and kept us up some nights," Adam said. "The best music we listened to in the Pacific was provided by Tokyo Rose (A Japanese propaganda radio announcer)."
Then, one day in August, pilots were told to stay out of a certain area the next day.
"We were told something big was going to happen in that area and it would either bring an end to the war or force us to invade the Japanese main islands," Adam said.
Adam checked out the coordinates and they centered on the city of Hiroshima.
Once that "something big" happened, the war soon ended.
Adam's unit provided area cover for Americans taking over the Japanese island fortress of Truk.
Then it was home.
"There were no jobs available right away so I spent a few more months in the Navy," Adam said.
When he got out, he came back to Shelby and quickly found a job with Miller Products. The company changed owners and names during Adam's 36 years there.
The other major event in his life came one evening at the Brickley Hotel Restaurant, where he met Katy Sheridan. The two were married in November 1947.
They moved to Seltzer Avenue in 1950 and raised three children there.
The children are Dennis of Shelby, Mary Ann Vaughan of Auburn, Calif., and Melinda Berdanier of Rapid City, S.D. There are five grandchildren.
"All are in or going through college," Adam said with a touch of pride.
Since retirement Adam has concentrated on volunteer work with Meals on Wheels and served on the local cemetery board. He and Katy are members of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church.
As for his chief memory of service in World War II, Adam said, "I've had my share of Spam, dried milk and dried eggs."
ronsimon@neo.rr.com
419-756-7269
Ellie
By Ron Simon
T-F staff
SHELBY -- In 1942, Roger Adam had a very important job. He helped make TNT at the Plum Brook Arsenal near Sandusky.
But that was not good enough for Adam. Not when America was at war.
"I had a deferment, but all my friends were going in the service and I knew that's where I belonged," he said.
Adam, 85, of 12 Seltzer Ave., joined the Navy because "I knew I didn't want to be a foot soldier."
Eventually, Adam emerged from the long and tedious Navy flight training program as a lieutenant junior grade and pilot of a Privateer in the Pacific Theater.
"The Privateer was the Navy's version of the B-24 and a far better model," Adam said. "We had dual 50-caliber machine guns in turrets. Just a lot of firepower."
Adam, who had lived in Shelby since his early childhood, graduated from Shelby High School in 1939 and attended a government program at Heidelberg University.
It was that training in chemistry and math that led him to a government job at Plum Brook.
Once in the Navy he applied to be a pilot. His choice was between fighter planes or twin-engine warplanes. He chose the bigger planes.
He started a rigorous program that began in Boise, Idaho, where he flew solo in a small plane.
The training trail led through California, Minnesota, Texas and Florida as Adam became competent as a pilot, navigator and bombardier.
"As a pilot you had to know all three jobs well," he said.
During his final training in Florida he was at the controls of a Navy PBY seaplane on a flight to Cuba. "There was no Fidel Castro then," he said.
He met the huge Privateer in Kansas and flew to California, where he joined his combat unit, VPD 108, which consisted of 15 Privateers and 18 crews.
The crew of each plane consisted of 12 men, half of them gunners.
The unit flew to Hawaii, where it spent two months learning how to work together. Adam said the gunners worked on their accuracy.
Then, in January 1945, the VPD 108 crew flew to Guam and then to Palau near the Philippines.
"We started our war patrols there," Adam said, but ran into no Japanese.
The unit moved on to Tinian and finally to its last stop, the recently taken island of Iwo Jima.
"It was hot. The runway was dirt and the ground was warm. Iwo, after all, was a volcanic island," Adam said.
This time, the Japanese were not that far away. Adam said there were even a few left hiding in caves on the island.
"They would come out at night to look for water, which was very scarce. The Marines would take care of them," Adam said.
Once an enemy soldier tossed some grenades into a tent, killing a few Americans, Adam said.
He said Iwo was important because it provided an emergency landing site for American B-29 bombers that had been shot up during missions over Japan.
From Iwo, Adam's unit went on searches for downed American flight crews or for what was left of Japanese shipping.
"We did encounter Japanese fighters, but I'll have to say that all the really good Jap pilots were gone by then. These pilots were not nearly as good."
Adam's crew managed to bomb and sink a lone Japanese freighter ship.
The unit's only loss was its commander, whose Privateer made a lone foray toward Marcus Island. "They must have known he was coming because he never returned and we never found him," Adam said.
Life on Iwo was interrupted only by the evening arrival of a Japanese plane the pilots called "Washboard Charley."
"He didn't do any damage, but he was loud and kept us up some nights," Adam said. "The best music we listened to in the Pacific was provided by Tokyo Rose (A Japanese propaganda radio announcer)."
Then, one day in August, pilots were told to stay out of a certain area the next day.
"We were told something big was going to happen in that area and it would either bring an end to the war or force us to invade the Japanese main islands," Adam said.
Adam checked out the coordinates and they centered on the city of Hiroshima.
Once that "something big" happened, the war soon ended.
Adam's unit provided area cover for Americans taking over the Japanese island fortress of Truk.
Then it was home.
"There were no jobs available right away so I spent a few more months in the Navy," Adam said.
When he got out, he came back to Shelby and quickly found a job with Miller Products. The company changed owners and names during Adam's 36 years there.
The other major event in his life came one evening at the Brickley Hotel Restaurant, where he met Katy Sheridan. The two were married in November 1947.
They moved to Seltzer Avenue in 1950 and raised three children there.
The children are Dennis of Shelby, Mary Ann Vaughan of Auburn, Calif., and Melinda Berdanier of Rapid City, S.D. There are five grandchildren.
"All are in or going through college," Adam said with a touch of pride.
Since retirement Adam has concentrated on volunteer work with Meals on Wheels and served on the local cemetery board. He and Katy are members of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church.
As for his chief memory of service in World War II, Adam said, "I've had my share of Spam, dried milk and dried eggs."
ronsimon@neo.rr.com
419-756-7269
Ellie