Sgt. Mary Margaret Salm(Schisler) WAC-WWII
Nashville Tennessee

Email SGT.Margaret

I served with the WAAC/WAC from 11 Feb 1943 to 13 Nov 1945, discharged with the rank of Sgt. I served in the AAF and was first stationed at the Advanced Flying School at Stockton Field, CA from April 1943 to July 1944.Went over seas in September 1944 and was assigned to the Army Airways Communication System in London, where I did my teletype.

It was the night of 6 Dec.1944 that a V-2 hit on Duke Street, five blocks from our WAC billets. I remember the bed rocking and the wall cracking. I was scheduled for KP the next morning 10 blocks away from our billets. So on the morning of 7 Dec. 1944 at 5:30am I was walking on lots of rubble and debris--it was very dark and errie. As I passed Duke Street I could see some lights and people working digging in the rubble of buildings that had been demolished. There was a taxi on Duke Street when the V-2 hit and it was blown into the side of Selfridge's Department store. V-2s were as tall as a 7 story building-they did not make a noise so you did not know when or where they would hit. One more rememberance of that time-the King and Queen of England remained in Buckingham Palace all during the war and were always there for the citizens, coming out to the site of destruction to give encouragement. I was discharged 13 Nov,1945, returning to my hometown Nashville, TN.





Now, The connection with the 12th TC Sq.

I had a childhood sweetheart who was with the 60th Troop Carrier Group-12th Troop Carrier Squadron in WWII. Cliff and I met in the 7th grade and he used to bring flowers to me from his mother's yard, brought them to school but I had no place to put them so gave them to the teachers. In study hall we used to shoot paper wads at each other. We both rode our bikes to school. On Saturdays we used to go out to old McConnell Field and play in the planes in the hanger. He had my phone number written on the wall beside their phone. We got separated when I went back to the private school I had attended in the 6th grade and he went to the new public high school. We were together for a while but kind of drifted apart making new friends, etc. He played football at West End High School. We did not live close to each other. When the war came along I saw his name and where he was stationed, Wichita Falls, TX so I wrote him. We wrote each other until he was killled. I knew where he had been stationed at, Westover Field, MA, England, North Africa and Sicily, but not what he was doing. He was killed in a plane crash in Sicily on 24 Feb. 1944. If Cliff had lived we had plans to marry.





Having a computer has enabled me to learn a little bit more, including a site for military aircrashes.

I learned the plane he was on was evacuating wounded from Sicily to Maison Blanche Algeria. After taking off from Catania it crashed, killing everyone on board. Visibility was zero at the time.

Another search turned up the home page for the 12th TC SQ. It would be interesting if a older veteran would turn up who might have known Sgt. Clifford B. Webb, Jr in the 12th TC Sq. in WWII. I am enclosing my WWII photo and one as well for Cliff.




Safe Landings !

Sgt. Mary Margaret Salm (Schisler)WAC-WWII


Sgt.Cliffotd B. Webb Jr.
12th TC Squadron, WWII
Sicily

Editors Note:From all the Air Men of the 12th Squadron, We salute, SGT. C. B. Webb.
SGT Webb...you are a part of us.
If you look closly at the wings SGT.Webb is wearing, you can see it is an "A&E" wing. It can be seen clearly on the photo.


Women In The Military Service For America Memorial
Sgt. Margaret...Charter Member










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