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Two WWII Fliers Lieutenant Bill White of California and John D. Bowser of Johnstown PA mentioned in Ernie Pyle's book, BRAVE MEN (1943
Do you have any idea who the parents are of John D. Bowser? John D. Bowser's parents were.In Ernie Pyle's book, "BRAVE MEN", he wrote the following: Page 237 238
Ernie Pyle wrote:
Page 132 BRAVE MEN THE FABULOUS INFANTRY BY ERNIE PYLE 1944
The American campaign against the Japanese on Okinawa still raged when a war correspondent new to the Pacific theater stepped ashore on Ie Shima, a small island just west of Okinawa. Traveling with a group of infantrymen, the reporter was killed by a sniper's machine-gun bullets. Saddened by their loss, the soldiers paid tribute to their fallen friend with a simple plaque reading: "At this spot, the 77th Infantry Division lost a Buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945."
One day at the hotel, there was a knock at my door and two young lieutenants with silver wings and bright medals on their chests walked in. they were in town on leave and had decided to pay a social call.
They were the pilot and navigator of a Flying Fortress. They came to see me because I had known the pilot's mother in San Francisco. She was Mrs. Mary White, and she used to manage the coffee shop at the Hotel Californian, which was my home whenever I was in San Francisco.
Her son, Lieutenant Bill White, was a likable young fellow whose blond hair stuck up high from his forehead and whose eyes crinkled when he smiled. His navigator was Lieutenant John D. BOWSER of 19 Antonio Street, JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania. They had been overseas, whacking at the Germans, since February.
The boys were in the midst of an eight-day leave, given them as a sort of reward for having survived a ducking in the cold North Sea. They had had to "ditch," as the expression goes, and after a crew ditches it always gets a leave of absence.
They had a close call when they ditched. They had been to Berlin--their second mission over the big city. The flak was pretty bad. On the way back Bill White looked out and saw a big hole in the right wing. It didn't seeem to be causing any trouble. Pretty soon he glanced in the other direction and saw a big hold in his left wing.
At first he thought he was crazy and had forgotten which wing he'd seen the hole in. His head went back and forth as though watching a tennis match. Actually, there were identical holes in the two wings.
But that wasn't what put them in the drink. Apparently the ignition system had been hit, for every now and then all four motors would stop for about five seconds at a time and then pick up again.
Finally the engines started going clear out, one by one. They saw that they couldn't make the coast of England. Lieutenant White had everybody get in "ditching position." The radioman sent his distress signal. They hit the water. The plane broke in two. And yet not a man was scratched or bruised.
When they hit, salt water rushed up over the windshield in gigantic waves. The plane stopped moving and Bill looked uup. All he could see was water. He thought they had dived straight into the sea and were going on down head first.
"I thought this was it," he said. "I was so convinced I was going to drown that I almost just sat there and didn't even try to get out."
But actually they came piling out of that plane like rockets. They said that in training they had been taught that a man would be all right if he could get out in thirty seconds. They were all out in ten seconds.
The plane sank forty seconds after hitting the water. They were twenty five miles from shore. The men clung to their rubber dinghies, and in less than an hour a rescue boat came alongside and took them aboard.
Ever since, they had had a wonderful time talking about their experience. They called themselves sailors. Before the ditching, the crew used to do a lot of joking about "White's little air force goes to war." Then they changed it to "White's little navy goes to sea."
Whenever a flier was fished out of the North Sea or the Channel, the RAF rescuers gave him a little felt insigne about an inch high, in the form of a half wing--showing a fish skipping over the water. This was a membership badge in the "Goldfish Club." It was sewn under the lapel, and displayed when occasion demanded. It wasn't worn outwardly because, I presume, we didn't want German agents to know how many guys had been fished out of the water.
The boys had another memento of their salt-water bath. They all had Short Snorter bills. But they had started a new series of signatures on bills which they called "Dinghy Snorters." Only fliers who had had to ditch were allowed to sign those bills. They flattered me by asking me to sign, and said mine would be the only non-Goldfish signature permitted on their bills.
All ten of the ditched crew had wrist watches. Two watches, apparently waterproof, were still running. The eight others were corroded by salt water and had stopped.
Lieutenant White still wore his, even though it didn't run. But while he ruined his watch he did save $40. He had ordered a $40 pair of fancy boots made, which he had expected to be ready the day before the fateful mission. They weren't. he was pretty sore about it as the time but later he was glad, for he would have had them on.
These two boys really enjoyed their job, I believe. The saw the funny side of ife, and they were able to take things as they came. But still, of course, they wanted to go home.
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