HomeMy WebLinkAboutLowell J. Davidson, Brazos Valley HeroesBy Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Lowell J. Davidson's time in combat in World War II was
short but eventful. He left home as the engineer and top turret
gunner for a B-24 bomber in the spring of 1944. Eight months
and 35 combat missions later, he was back home to Texas in time
to witness the birth of his first child.
Life for Davidson began in Stillwater, Minnesota, on
February 6, 1923. His father was a brick mason who decided the
weather in Texas was much better than the weather up north for
the construction industry and moved his family to Texas.
According to Davidson, "With my dad in construction, we
lived various places in Texas, but I graduated from Reagan High
School in Houston in 1940. After graduating, I drove a truck until
I got a job where my dad was working construction. Thatjob was
working as a welder at a defense plant constructing torpedoes.
I was told that I wouldn't get drafted with this defense job, so I
decided to get married. Six months later, in 1942,1 received my
draft notice.
"I reported for duty and was sent in early 1943 to Biloxi,
Mississippi, for training as an aircraft mechanic. From there
I was sent to B-24 engineer school in Colorado, where I also
was trained as a gunner. After all that training, our crew was
assembled in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on our B-24. I was the
engineer and the top turret gunner.
"We flew to South America and then across the Atlantic to
Dakar, Africa. We lost two planes on takeoff from Dakar because
they had been sabotaged by the Germans. We landed in England
and became part of the 8th Air Force - specifically, the 489th
Bomb Squadron stationed at Adlebridge, England. During that
time of the war, if you completed 35 missions, the Army Air Corps
would take you off the flight line and find you anotherjobforthe
rest of the war. I guess the thought was that if you had survived
that many missions, you had tempted fate enough.
"There pre some missions you remember better than others,
but you always remember your first and your last missions - I
guess because you are so nervous on both. On the first, you don't
know what to expect and on the last you are thinking about
getting it done so you can go home and hoping your plane is not
one of the ones lost on that mission.
"D-Day will also be always be in my memory, because that
was the only day we flew two missions, both at low levels. We
were low enough that day that we could see them shooting at
us. I will also always remember the sight of all those ships and
the wakes they made going across the channel. Even from the
height of our plane, there were ships as far as you could see.
"During my time the German fighters were few and far
between, but the German anti-aircraft batteries were very
proficient, I guess because they had so much practice by the
time I got there. They also could pinpoint us on their radar, even
if it was cloudy, and hit us. Our people came up with a plan to
fool the radar and it worked real well when we went over known
radar sites. All of the planes had boxes of tin foil strips that we
would throw out of the back of the planes, all at the same time.
Those tin foil strips made their radar ineffective in locating us.
"On our 25th mission, we bombed Berlin. There was so
much flak that you could just about walk on it. The only time the
flak was that bad was on our last mission, which was to a plant
site on the northern coast of Germany. That may have added to
my nervousness on my last mission.
"When we were on a mission, we didn't put on our flak
jacket and helmet until we started seeing flak bursts because
they were so heavy. I remember one occasion where I had just
put my flak helmet on when a piece of shrapnel hit me on my
helmet. Another instance, a piece of flak hit the sights on my
turret gun. When it did, it exploded that plastic, blowing it in
my face and all over the turret. That was as close as I came to
being wounded.
"Our radio operator wasn't so lucky. His position was d irectly
below me, and when we opened the bomb bay door to drop our
bombs, those doors on a B-24 would sometimes creep down. To
keep the doors open and make sure we dropped our bombs, he
would squat by the open door and hold the lever that kept the
doors open. On one mission, while keeping the doors open, he
was hit in his rear end. I was really glad that wasn't my job.
"One incident that I was always remember occurred on the
ground before one of our missions. When we as a crew entered
our plane to go on a mission, all the gunners would get in their
turrets, elevate the guns and pull the triggers to see if they
clicked and were operational.
"On one occasion, our plane had been used the day before
by another crew and the ammo had not been removed. Our nose
gunner failed to notice the ammo and he also didn't elevate
his guns enough, because he sent about a 15-shell burst into a
brand-new plane sitting next to us on the line. It caught on fire
and burned to the ground. We thought our plane might catch on
fire also, so I went back into our plane and the crew chief and I
moved it away from the fire. It was a good thing that the burning
plane didn't have any bombs aboard"
For his service, Davidson received the Distinguished Flying
Cross and the Air Medal with three clusters. When the war was
over, Davidson was discharged and worked as a brick mason in
Houston for several years before moving to Bryan in 1970. When
asked about his time in the war, Davidson responded, "It was
quite an experience. That was a unique time in history. I am
proud to have done my part"
Lowell J. DMdso8 name is found on the Brazos Valley Veterans
Memorial. ff you want to have a name added to the Veterans
Memorial, for more information, to make a contribution, or if you
know a World War 11 veteran whose story needs to be told contact
the 8 WM at www.bvvm.org or Bill Youngkin at (979) 260-7030.