HomeMy WebLinkAboutLloyd Whitmire, Brazos Valley Heroes :.
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One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest
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, ' Generation wl o served our country d u World War 11
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: Lloyd Whitmire was a country boy from Madisonville "I found another crew that needed my position, Ig r
who never expected to leave the family farm, much less which was assistant engineer and nose turret gunner. "
be a world traveler. But a world traveler he became. The pilot turned out to be one of the best pilots a guy
His journeys were to such places as Romania, Austria, could ever hope to fly with
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Italy, Yugoslavia, France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece, North Africa and South "When you were on a mission you had to look out
America. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to land in for enemy planes, but you had to be careful about your
', most of those places. own planes too. We were on a bombing run over Mu-
nich, Germany, and I was in the nose turret. 1 happened
g, "1 graduated high school in 1941 and knew when I to look up just before we were to drop our bombs and
graduated that war was about to start. 1 also knew I noticed anoiitier of our bombers directly above us. 1
didn't want to be in the infantry, so I volunteered for called to the pilot and asked if he saw the plane above
the Army Air Corps. They first sent me to Kelley Field and he said he did. I then asked if he noticed that the :?
in San Antonio for training, where I made corporal In other plane hadn't dropped its bombs yet. They had
1942 I came home and got married because 1 knew I the bomb bay open and you could see the bombs
" wasn't going to be close to home for long and thought they were about to drop -right on top of us. Our pilot
that would be my only opportunity until the war was backed off before they released their bombs."
t over."
To survive 50 missions you need to be lucky but
Whitmire attended various training sites to learn having a great pilot helps your chances a whole lot
including
everything he could about a B -24 bomber -
a how to inspect and pack a parachute, a skill that would "We had finished a mission and had taken some :'
come in handy later on. damage to our plane. We lost our #3 engine and a i
our hydraulics. With the hydraulics out, we couldn t get
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"I eventual)
y ended up in Colorado Springs, Colo- our landing gear to lock down. We tried by hand to get
' rado, where they assembled us into a crew. We learned it locked down and weren't successful. Our pilot said pr
to fly together, to function as a crew and eventually to we would need to bail out and for everyone to get their
drop bombs on target. We were shipped to Topeka, chutes on. Before we bailed out, he told us to hang on
Kansas, where we picked up a brand new B -24 just off and he would try one other thing. He took us up and
the assembly line and headed overseas. then put us in a steep dive. When he pulled us out of
the dive, the landing gear locked down and we were
"We flew to Florida, then to South America, where going to be able to land. Except we had no brakes now
we refueled and headed across the Atlantic for North because of the lack of hydraulics. '
Africa. From there we flew to Cerignola, Italy, which be-
came our duty station." "Our pilot told us to rig our chutes to the gun mounts
` on the waist windows and to throw out the chutes
At this time in the war, bomber crews were kept to- when we landed. As we toubhed down, we threw out
gether until they had flown their prescribed number the chutes. The right side chute ripped the gun mount
o f missions together and were then allowed to rotate out the window and the plane veered to one side The .,
back to the States. The number of missions for Whit- left side held and we were able to stop. It was a pretty
mire's crew had been set at 50. thrilling moment."
"We had a really good crew and enjoyed being to- Whitmire survived his 50 missions and came back .
gether. After our 19th mission we were back at our base home to Madisonville and to the farm after the war.
and had gone to a swimming hole on a nearby creek.
I was lying on the dam when one of the guys dashed "I tried to go to A &M for a while, but with a wife and
cold water on me. 1 fell about 15 feet off the dam on child, I needed to go to work."
the back side. I had broken my collarbone and had to
be hospitalized. My crew flew the remainder of their 50 Whitmire was in the dairy business for several years ''.:
missions without me and were able t� go home. before selling out and going to work for the Texas Depart-
ment of Connections, where he worked until he retired
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"When I got out of the hospital I didn't think I wanted
to fly with any other crew. You get superstitious about Lloyd Whitmire's name can be found on the Brazos ' •
things. Flying 50 missions together and being able to Valley Veterans Memorial. For more information to
go home together only happened if all of you were make a contribution, or if you know a World War II vet
lucky together. I already had my bad luck start, but it eran whose story needs to be told contact the BWNf ;
did change. at www.veteransmemorial.org or Bill Youngkin at (979)