NAVIGATING THROUGH
WORLD WAR II

A MEMOIR OF THE WAR YEARS

By Gordon W. Weir 1995

DEDICATION

IN MEMORIAM

Friends of My Youth:

Robert Conrad 1922-1941

William Thayer 1922-1944

Good Men Gone!

Robert Conrad 1922-1941)

Photo comes from the Venice, California, High School Yearbook for 1940. Bob was a scholar and active student leader in several fields. To be prepared for the war he saw coming to us, he enlisted in the Navy at the age of eighteen.

William K. Thayer, "Bill", (1922-1944)

Photo comes from the Greenfield, Mass., High School Yearbook for 1940. Bill was my closest friend in Greenfield.

Gordon W. Weir

Lincoln, Nebraska; March 1943

PREFACE

This is the story of my war years, written more than a half century after the events described. My story is inspired by looking again at photos from those years, by reading the memoir of my pilot in combat, Ellis M. Woodward, and by talking with my co-pilot of the war, Bill Rawson, and with others who flew in the 8th Air Force.

In 1943-1945 none of us considered writing our memoirs 50 years later a likely option. We were aware, however, that we and the nation were caught up in some defining actions of the century. In those years we all had our private war as young men adapting to the military life, striving to learn our specialities, and facing the hazards of flying and combat. The early '40s were not the happiest or most significant years of my life. The years of fulfillment came later with marriage to a beautiful and intelligent woman, sons and daughter growing to adults, and a career with the U.S. Geological Survey trying to comprehend the history of the Earth. Nevertheless, the early 40's marked me by many strange happenings. It was a time when I was stirred by the juices of youth, and faced the complexities of the world with optimism and an unadmitted innocence.

Memoirs are by their nature peculiarly personal. With the spin of time some events fade in memory, but others are as clear as yesterday's. No doubt, in the propaganda-loaded 40's mistaken beliefs common to many were common to me. But if we believed them, they were "true" at the time. All the following paragraphs should be flagged with a cautionary, "As I recall ...", but for me they are true.