Description:
Tape Number WCWW2-054
04:00:43;24 04:00:45;28 [00:00:02:04] WCWW2-054
:keywords:
Bob Balliet - interview
Continued
Interview conducted on August 10, 2002
end of Black March
Paris
going home
parents
shortages
04:00:45;28 04:01:54;05 [00:01:08:05] WCWW2-054
:DAD THE POSTMASTER:
Q - What a crazy world?
BB - How can you meet your cousin over there? I never knew what he did. I knew, my dad was great. He was a postmaster and he would write all these letters for these parents. Not that they couldn't write, but he, being postmaster, he would write these letters and cards and get the addresses and he had... In fact the other day I found out how many letters. He'd write their name down and then make an X on it. How many times he'd call 'em. But anyway, he'd ... I got one card from my dad while I was in the service, while I was over there in the prison camp. The card said that Franny Rechner was the same as I was. You couldn't write a letter and tell what you wanted to write. They'd just tear 'em up. Franny was the same as I was which was a POW. But I didn't know that. It could have been anything. He could have been in the Air Force, I knew he was in the Air Force 'cause we went in together. But anyway, that was funny.
04:01:54;05 04:04:06;19 [00:02:12:08] WCWW2-054
:AFTER THE GERMANS SURRENDERED-OUR PHYSICAL SHAPE:
Q - When you got to Paris ... or even, when Slim handed you the rifle. I mean, it's like everything was moving so fast and was so unorganized?
BB - Well that's it. You didn't know what to do. The tanks were waving at you, the people were all along side the tanks, along side the road waving at them, Hooray, Hooray, Hooray. And all that kind of stuff. I went back into the barn and we all got up and ran out there by the road. Crying our eyes out. Just so happy that we were being liberated. We had long red beards, full of bugs, full of lice, full of everything. We just couldn't brush our teeth, we couldn't, people don't realize that we didn't have a damn thing. No First Aid or any of that stuff.
Q - How were you physically?
BB - I wasn't too bad but I was well under 100 pounds now. I don't know how much I weighed. Naturally there wouldn't be a scale but the first time I got on a scale I weighed 110. That's when we got back and they gave us an exam. Otherwise I was pretty healthy, we just had huge bellies. And, just our feet were festered because we were walking all that way.
Q - What kind of shoes did you have?
BB - I had, we had regular army shoes. Boots. We got those from the Red Cross. Red Cross were very good to us. And the Salvation Army was VERY good to us. When they could be. But naturally, when they had something to give to us they were confiscated by the Germans because they didn't have anything there, they'd take it themselves. So that's what they, we didn't ... lot of times we didn't get what we should have gotten.
04:04:06;19 04:05:07;12 [00:01:00:21] WCWW2-054
:GRATEFUL BUDDY & GOING TO PARIS:
Q - So did the guy that you buddied up with, did he ever appreciate what you did?
BB - He sure did. He told all my kids, "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be around here." He's long gone.
Q - Tell me a little bit more about Paris?
BB - Oh that was funny, we got there and there was nothing. It was early in the morning when we got there, about 2 o'clock. Where you going into Paris? You haven't got a dime in your pocket, you know, you just walk around. Everybody was excited. A lot of shouting, and yelling and screaming and stuff like that because the Germans just left. They were all ... and so we were a part of that. But there was nothing we could do until we met that guy on the jeep and he took us to this bank. This was late at night, it was. And we went in there, and the only questions he asked us was, "How long were you in the service? What's your serial number?"
04:05:07;12 04:06:33;20 [00:01:26:06] WCWW2-054
:GETTING MONEY AND GOING HOME:
BB - Things like that. What's your rank? I was a tech sergeant at the time. We all were tech sergeants. So anyway, that's all that he wanted to know, reeled out the money and gave it to us. So, it was something. But then we turned around and gave it away.
Q - People all over the place, just wandering around?
BB - Yeah. That's all. Sure, nobody knew who anybody, especially, we didn't have any uniform on. They didn't even know who we were, we coulda been Frenchmen, for crying out loud, or something.
Q - Was it Lucky Strike Camp where you finally got?
BB - Yeah, then we got to Lucky Strike Camp. You know, they had four camps. I don't even know what they were now. Camel, Lucky Strike, Chesterfield and Old Gold, I think it was. The four cigarettes that they had at the time. We were in Lucky Strike Camp and then we got on a boat and that was a mess too, that was. A Liberty ship and it was ... we were going home, we went around the, around the crook end of Wales and loaded up with clay. There were taking the clay, more or less, so we could go in the heavy water. Ballast. So we spent a day there.
04:06:33;20 04:08:04;00 [00:01:30:06] WCWW2-054
:COMING HOME:
BB - And then came in to New York City, and that was... We're the first ones coming home, now. From anyplace. And they played their songs, the band was there. So that was interesting to see. Then we got off and went to Kilmer, NJ, and then they gave us a physical and they fed us and fed us and fed us. That was about it. Then we were on our way home to Appleton, uh, to Ft. Sheridan. We came home to Ft. Sheridan. Then I called my dad, I bumped into a telephone operator. I worked for the telephone company before I went in the service. I was at Ft. Sheridan and I got on the pay phone and I told the gal I didn't have any money. She says, "OK, who do you want to call?" I said I want to call my dad. What's the number? I said, Well jeez, I forgot. But I think it's this, and she said OK. So then I got done talking to my dad and mom, and dad says I'll meet you in Milwaukee at the train station. I said, OK Dad. So, he did. That was something, too. Boy, he was really glad to see me and worried all that time.
Q - What was it like for your parents, were they informed first that you were missing?
BB - Yeah, missing in action. And that was, oh, that was a long wait. A long wait.
04:08:04;00 04:09:47;26 [00:01:43:24] WCWW2-054
:PARENTS BEING INFORMED OF HIS STATUS:
BB - And then a, then a second telegram was I was shot down and taken prisoner of war. That was the second one. And that's all. I called them from Kilmer, NJ, that's the only time. The only time they heard from me, really. It wasn't that I didn't write, it was that I couldn't.
Q - They didn't know until you called them?
BB - No, they had no idea. Oh no, they got a letter from the Army, they got a telegram first. Then they got the second telegram telling them I was shot down and a POW.
Q - They didn't know you were released?
BB - No, they had no idea then. No. They were watching the war. Back then there wasn't like now, that TV's right on top of every part of it.
Q - What did they tell you afterwards? Did they know you were taken?
BB - They, yeah, that's about it. They were just so happy. We came home and the ones that were home were the ones that didn't get in the service. You know, there was a couple of those guys still around. So we had a good time, we'd go out with them. It was an interesting 90-day furlough. Then we went back to Chicago and got on a train and went to San Antone. Got our discharge from San Antone.
04:09:47;26 04:10:51;24 [00:01:03:28] WCWW2-054
:HOW THE WAR AFFECTED HIM:
Q-Were you a different person?
BB - Oh I feel I grew a lot. Aged a lot. But it wasn't like ... we didn't do anything extra. There's a lot of guys who had it a lot worse than we did. And a lot of them had it a lot better. I mean, never left the states, you know, and had a good deal. But then they went without too.
Q - So there you are, how old were you when you were discharged?
BB - 22 or 23.
Q - You'd been all over the world.
BB - So, yeah, say my prayers every day, thanking the Good Lord I got through it all. That's about it.
Q - You think it changed your approach to life?
04:10:51;24 04:12:13;05 [00:01:21:07] WCWW2-054
:LIFE AFTER THE WAR:
BB - Oh, I don't know that we changed. I married the girl I went with all through high school, or dated her through high school. And we've got 4 nice children, 2 boys and 2 girls. They all live right here in the area. So I've been very fortunate that way. Very fortuate on my health, it's been pretty good.
Q - What was life like in Appleton after the war? Was there still a lot of doing without at that point?
BB - Yeah, you couldn't get what you wanted to get, like meat, or butter, or things like that. It was pretty hard to get. 'Course a lot of them had their own gardens, they made their own jellies and jams and stuff like that. But, meat and potatoes ... meat, potatoes you had, but meat ... I don't know, it was pretty hard. I mean, they didn't have any shoes, they didn't have ... well, I mean, they didn't, couldn't buy shoes is what I mean. Lot of things you went without, that's all.
Q - How soon did you get married?
04:12:13;05 04:13:46;01 [00:01:32:24] WCWW2-054
:GETTING MARRIED, LIVING WITH IN-LAWS:
BB - I was discharged in June and I got married shortly after. It was about ... I'm trying to think now. It's one of those old age deals. I was married in '47 and got out in '45. Yeah. Two years.
Q - Was it hard getting a house?
BB - Yeah, everybody was living with their mother and dad. That was normal. People were remodeling their house to put an upstairs apartment on it because there wasn't any building going on. So we lived above my mother-in-law. We just built the apartment and that was it. We had 3 children there. And then I built my house that we live in now. In fact we still live in that house. It worked out nice. My mother-in-law was great to the kids and she taught them a hell of a lot. They know how to make a stew or mashed potatoes, they could make anything now. 'Cause she had a stroke and she was paralyzed on one side, so they had to do a lot of the work for her. She was a great gal. Then I went back to work for the telephone company and I stayed there for 44 years. I was at the telephone company.
04:13:46;01 04:14:52;27 [00:01:06:24] WCWW2-054
:GETTING A CAR:
Q - Did you have trouble getting a car?
BB - Yeah, my father-in-law was a car salesman but he died shortly, he died two weeks before we were marrried and insisted that we go ahead with the wedding. And then I bought a 1936 Chev for $125. And that's what we had for about 3 years. And it was pretty hard to get a car. You'd put your name on a list. He had the Studebaker, my father-in-law had the Studebaker agency in Appleton, but he couldn't get cars, that's the problem. So he ... he just put your name on the list and when your name came up you got a car. Those were the good Studebakers, the '47, they were just beautiful cars. And why they ever went out of business, I don't know.
Q - They remind me of a P-38.
BB - Yeah, that's right. With that nose. Jeez, yes that's true. Those are pretty cars.
04:14:52;27 04:16:22;14 [00:01:29:13] WCWW2-054
:PHYSICAL PROBLEMS FROM THE WAR:
Q - Did you have any physical problems that stayed with you from the war? Your back?
BB - Oh yeah, I had both knees replaced since. And my back is still in trouble. And ... I was pretty fortunate.
Q - I wanted to ask you, when you bailed out, even though you don't remember it, had you ever bailed out before?
BB - Oh no. See, when you had training and bailing out, it's not gonna happen to me, you know. Why listen. But that's true, we never had any training in that. Another thing, my parachute was, when I was in the upper turret, you couldn't wear a parachute because there wasn't any room. But my parachute, my parachute that I used all the time was in the backend of the plane, because normally I was a waist gunner. But anyway, because we were shot up so bad, the pilot made me take the upper turret ... anyway. So when I came down, I had to get, I had a chest chute. So I had to put my strap around, well I couldn't get it around. I could get one, my left one, but my right one I couldn't get. I bailed out with the one strap and so it worked out alright ... hit hard. Very hard, but other than that, no. I don't know.
04:16:22;14 04:17:44;02 [00:01:21:16] WCWW2-054
:FIGHTING THE FIGHTERS:
Q - I hate to put you back into this, but there you were, 12 planes, falling behind, and you said there were fighters everywhere. What was that moment like?
BB - Well, you just kept on fighting, you don't think of anything other than that. You're just ready to get 'em. You see the, the fighters are after the pilot and co-pilot, are after the upper turret first. They want to get the pilot and co-pilot, so if they get the upper turret, which is right next to the pilot and co-pilot. They're coming in, right below, and they're just... They've got their protective spots. The ME-109 has. They got their belly. And then they'd take off like that so that we couldn't hit 'em. Well, we could hit 'em, it was hard to hit 'em, harder.
Q - Because that's where their armor is?
BB - But anyway, that was the story, I guess.
Q - You were a bunch of kids, right?
BB - Yea, that's all we were.
04:17:44;02 04:18:48;12 [00:01:04:08] WCWW2-054
:DANGEROUS MISSIONS:
BB - We had more guts than a rendering factory, because we wouldn't have done it if we were 10 years older, I don't think. I don't know, I don't know.
Q - That's the only reason you could go, because you all knew you were immortal?
BB - Oh, I suppose that was it. We never thought of that. Like when we'd go up on a mission, they'd tell us 50% of you guys aren't coming back. It was that, that close. And we knew that. And the Chaplin would say good-bye to us when we'd leave on a mission.
Q - Too busy to think about that when you were in the turret?
BB - Oh, you didn't think about anything, gettin' that guy outta there. Yeah, hoping that your ammunition would last as long as you did. Those were the days. |
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