HomeMy WebLinkAboutVictor Dittfurth, Brazos Valley HeroesOne in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest
ati" kvlto scrvcct otaofutr rta9. fld,ar ►[
Change was In the air for Victor H. "Vic" Ditdurth
in the spring of 1941. The Kurten resident and recent
graduate of Stephen F Austin High in Bryan knew his
world was changing. The Great Depression was ending,
he had just graduated and war may or may not be
coming but the draft was.
"I decided that I didn't want to be drafted because
I wanted to be able to choose. So my cousin, Wallace
Stevener, and I enlisted in the Army Air Corp on June 3,
1941. We were sent to Houston to be mom in, to March
Field, Calif., for boot camp, and to Hammer Field near
Fresno for duty assignment.
"The people of Fresno were so nice to us. They would
Invite the servicemen into their homes for dinner. They
tried to help out as best they could."
In 1944 Dittfurth was sent by boat to New Guinea
from San Francisco. It took six weeks. On New Guinea,
Dittfurth was trained to load C-47 and C, -54 aircraft that
carried supplies to troops In the South Pacific. [The
planes would) carry out the wounded to hospitals that
had been set up around the area. Dittfurth's group,
the Air Transport Command, was headquartered at the
Admiralty Islands.
"The pilot of one of the planes that I flew as a
crewmember was another Bryan boy, Guy Davis. He
started Davis Airlines after the war [and it] connected
Easterwood with Dallas and Houston.
"We flew out most of the Bataan survivors that
needed hospitalization. I remember one guy we had on
a stretcher who clutched a small package to his chest
with both his hands. He wouldn't let us take it, telling us
It was a bag of gold he had stolen from the Japanese. n
wasn't. He said he wanted a drink of whiskey so one of
the guys gave him a sip. He died before we landed."
Dittfurth and the Air Transport Command were
relocated to Biak Island to support the battles taking
Victor
place nearer the Japanese mainland. After the invasion
of Okinawa, they were relocated to Okinawa to prepare
for the final push into Japan.
"When we left Biak Island for Okinawa we were issued
M1 carbines and two bandoliers of ammunition, but the
carbines were still covered and full of Cosmoline. When
we landed in Okinawa some Japanese planes flew over
us. You talk about guys cleaning Cosmoline out of those
carbines so we could use them. The Jap plane that flew
over us was shot down by the artillery battery just past
our landing strip but we were ready for any others."
Dittfurth's group was to fly the 11'" Airborne to Tokyo
for the invasion. After the bomb was dropped and the
Japanese surrendered, Dittturth's outfit airlifted the 11 °
Airborne to Tokyo as an occupation force. His unit also
became part of the occupation forces.
"When we flew into Tokyo, parts of the city were still
burning from the bombs we had dropped. I found the
Japanese people to be very friendly and seemed to be
truly sorry for what they had done, Whenever you might
meet someone on the street, they would bow and say as
best as they could, 'So Sorry.' "
Dittfurth received his orders to return home and was
discharged on Nov. 11, 1945. He was married on Jan.
12, 1946. He worked as a rural mail carrier for the post
office for almost 40 years and as the bailiff for Judge
Tom McDonald in the 85'" District Court for 12 years.
Dittfurth than did retire.
"I volunteered for the service and never regretted that
decision. I'm proud of my service for my country."
Victor A. Dittfurth's name can be found on the Brazos
Valley Veterans Memorial. For more information, to
make a contribution, or if you know a World War II
veteran whose story needs to be told, contact the
BVM at www.veterans- memorial.org or Bill Youngkin at
(979)260 -7030.
The Eagle