Mr. Newbert Hetzler
[Born 02/09/1921]
Interviewed by Zach Hetzler
Recorded on 10/24/2005 by Zach Hetzler
Transcribed on 11/19/2005 by Zach Hetzler
[This interview was added on to a month or more after the initial interview; the additional transcribed sections that were added (indicated by ‘side 2’ of tape) were placed chronologically into earlier interview. As a result, when there are references to side 2 and there are also counter numbers, this is where approximately this information will be found on the tape.]
Zach Hetzler: today is October 24, 2005. And I am Zach Hetzler and I am interviewing Newbert Hall Hetzler at 5872 Ivy Knoll Dr. Mr.Hetzler is my grandfather. Mr.Hetzler is 84 years old and was born on February 9, 1921. Mr.Hetzler served in World War II. Mr.Hetzler was in the VPB208 and held the rank of Lieutenant. [002]
Zach Hetzler: Mr. Hetzler, did you enlist or where you drafted?
Mr.Hetzler: Enlisted
ZH: Where were you living at the time of enlistment?
NH: Indianapolis
ZH: Why did you join? [021]
NH: That was the thing to do back then. My friend and I enlisted in the Air Force, and on the way home I needed a hair cut. So we went to the barber and while we where there a whole bunch of draftees walked down the street and I told Harold Ford (my friend) “hey, Harold Look at those bunch of suckers.” Those men gave me the dirtiest looks. I think they completely misunderstood me.
ZH: Why did you choose the branch that you did?
NH: Well, its kind of a shallow reason, but because of the uniforms.
ZH: Do you recall your first days in the service
NH: Well, my sister thought that I was going to be shipped away for the war, so she threw me a big going away party, but once my service notice got there it said that I was to report to the Indianapolis Airport for my flight school. But my first days in the service where spent in flight school.
ZH: What did it feel like?
NH: It felt good. I’ve always been physical, but that basic training really washes out a lot of the recruits, but I made it.
ZH: Tell me about your boot camp and training experiences? [061]
NH: Boot camp was not really a boot camp. It was a pre-flight school. I know we had football, boxing and swimming. We did our physical activity in the mornings and in the afternoon we had the classroom portion of our day. But we had some of the best instructors at Iowa pre-flight. The swimming coach was the coach at Yale. He really didn’t teach us how to swim, but he would push us all in the water and make us keep our heads up for as long as we could. I could only doggy paddle, but it was enough to keep my head up. If you try to get out, then there were helpers with long poles that were padded at the end so if you try to get out, then they would just shove you back in. Football was the same thing. They would make us dress up in football gear and make us run dashes and sprints, there was no actual football, just training in football gear.
ZH: Which wars did you serve in?
NH: World War II
ZH: Where exactly did you go?
NH: In the Pacific area, Japan, Saipan and Okinawa.
ZH: Do you remember arriving, and what was it like?
NH: we where on an island called Mog Mog and it was a recreational island. It was also the island we left to get to Okinawa.
ZH: What were your job assignments?
NH: I was a pilot of a patrol bombing squadron.
ZH: What was the name of your squadron?[side2 of tape(004)]
NH: my flight crew was called combat air crew Baker.
ZH: How many where in a flight crew? [side2]
NH: Sixteen people where in each flight crew
ZH: What type of plane did you fly? [side2]
NH: It was a patrol bomber made by Martin. Two engine sea plane.
ZH: Where did you see combat? [side2]
NH: In the Pacific just south of Japan, and Okinawa
ZH: Did you see combat?
NH: Yes.
ZH: When did you see this combat? [side2]
NH: In 1945, early 1945 to the end of the war
ZH: Do you remember how many missions you flew? [side2]
NH: No I don’t remember how many I flew. It was quite a few. They award medals on how many missions you flew. Based on those probably about 25 to 30 missions.
ZH: Where there any casualties in your unit?
NH: Three crews out of fifteen so it was not that bad at all.
ZH: Can you describe a couple of your most memorable moments? [100]
NH: One of the scariest ones was when we where on a submarine patrol just south of Japan, and we where about 1000 feet above the waves. We had been warned bout these new Japanese planes that where supposed to be very fast and maneuverable. They had been taking a lot of our kinds of planes down. So we where looking for subs, when all of a sudden two Japanese planes come out of the clouds, and before I knew it there where sixteen or so of these planes. Right away I knew we had bought the farm. The only thing that I thought to do was to fly low, almost touching the waves. Fortunately for us it turned out that they were kamikaze planes. Funniest thing was that one of there pilots waved at me. Once we knew they were not fighters, we turned around and shot three of them down. We then radioed in those kamikazes where on the way. The Army’s Air Force flew out to meet them and not one got through to their target.
ZH: When you radioed in the Kamikazes, who where you radioing to? [side2]
NH: We radioed to the NAVY airbase
ZH: Do you remember when this occurrence happened during the war? [side2]
NH: When it happened?
ZH: Yes.[side2(021)]
NH: Well, a couple months before the surrender; so it would be around July, 1945. That’s just off my head memory. It was right before the Okinawa fell into our hands.
ZH: Where you awarded any metals or citations?
NH: Yeah, I got an air medal with three clusters and a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) with two clusters.
ZH: You said that you received a distinguished flying cross and an air medal, how did you earn these? [side2]
NH: These where awarded for routine flights over enemy territory. The air medal is awarded for every five flights that you get and then after so many flights you are awarded the DFC, and the clusters are simple multiplications of the number of flights that you have.
ZH: How many flights did you fly? [side2]
NH: Well the air metal is awarded for 25 flights and I got 2 clusters, then I fly around 75 flights.
ZH: Do you remember how many you flew in a row? [side2]
NH: We would fly all night long, take off the evening, then fly all night long and land the next morning at dusk. But we never flew 2 in a row. We go home and sleep for a day. We would fly every third day.
ZH: What destinations did you go to the most during the war? [side2]
NH: What destinations?
ZH: Yeah like what places in the war zone did you go the most? [side2(040)]
NH: Well, we were actually through the Caribbean area patrolling for German submarines before going to the Pacific. In the Pacific the areas we flew to the most was south of Japan and the seas to the west of Japan, between Japan and China. I remember flying over part of China and northern part of Japan. Whenever there was a sub sighting or Japanese convoy we were always there so it was all over the place.
ZH: Can you tell me a little about your crew members and what kind of people they were? [side2]
NH: That’s kind of hard to go by. I can’t tell you a whole lot about them. We weren’t very close as friends. My friends didn’t consist that much of crew members, but mostly of men with my own rank. We shared common interests. Yeah ok, I can’t tell you much about my crew members.
ZH: Did you guys have any special nicknames on your plane? [side2]
NH: I know what you’re talking about, but no I don’t think we had any nicknames for our plane, but I know they used to call me the professor. I don’t know why, but they did. We had a lot of bridge games between flights.
ZH: Did you have to deal with any typhoons or bad weather? [side2(060)]
NH: The only bad weather I had, but yeah whenever we got a typhoon coming, we would fly some place else where the typhoon would miss or the hurricane. We never experienced any really bad weather, until I got sent back from relief from duty form Tokyo, and I boarded a heavy cruiser that was coming back and we did a great circle from a Tokyo to San Diego. And it took us right next to the Aleutians and down there we hit some really bad weather. It was so bad that three quarters of the ships crew was seasick. There where sixteen of us pilots that where coming back as passengers and it was terrible. Only one of the pilots got seasick. We would go down to chow, and just a few guys where down there as cooks. The rest of the cooks were too sick to cook. I know they tied the chairs to the table so you wouldn’t slide away from the table while you were eating, and the soup would be served a little below the top so that is wouldn’t splash over the sides. I remember that your weren’t supposed to go outside, but I wanted to go out and see what it looked like. So I went out and I opened one of the outside doors to get out and I stepped out, and went on the deck and, ohh, my goodness! The ship would roll so much that when you walked down the gang way, why a you would walk on the walls as much as you would walk on the deck, but when I went outside, the ship was just coming down into a swell and was about to go up, and I looked up to see this giant wall of water that looked like a sky scraper about to crash on the deck. So I ducked back in the ship. That was a sight that I don’t want to ever see again. Man that was a wall of water!
ZH: How was your life not in the air, like your camp life? [side2]
NH: That was very pleasant, over in the Mediterranean. We where stationed in Key West, FL and every weekend we would fly Liberty planes for the rest of the people on the southern coast of the U.S. They would come in and we would fly them to either Havana or to what are those islands? They’ve got a casino on them now. But any way, every weekend we would fly one or two of those planes. Of course we would also have a lot of sightseeing time to do what ever we wanted to do.
ZH: You talked about your weekends. But what would you do during the week? [side2]
NH: Weekends didn’t make much difference to us. We did are flying seven days a week. So through the week was like the weekend to us. We used to hang around the pool at the officers club down there, beautiful officers club in Key West. Palm trees around it. It was right by the ocean they would have orchestras come and play. It was a very live place, wonderful food. I had wonderful food throughout my flying career. Used to, we would fly all night and then load our grub onto the plane and one of our crew men would cook. We had steaks all the time. We had all the things that the people back in the U.S. would support the war and give up their food, all that stuff we had access to. So we didn’t have any problems at all. It was just a good time for young fellas.
ZH: What type of supplies did you have? [side2(117)]
NH: Well, it depends on what type of clothes you’re talking about. I told you about our uniforms. Food was no problem, we had great food. There were officers clubs all over the country that included Hawaii. We could go there and eat better than any restaurant. That was no problem. The equipment supplies. Like the planes gasoline, well there was plenty of that for us. I remember one time we were in Japan in the Pacific and an old crew of mine landed there at this fuel barge. So they taxied up to the barge and re-fueled and took off, and about a half hour later they went down. So they got towed back in. They found out that they had been fueled with water. Because if you stick the gas hose to far down then you will just get water.
ZH: How did you keep in touch with your family?
NH: Letters
ZH: What was the food like?
NH: Absolutely delicious, we ate well where ever we went.
ZH: Did you have plenty of supplies?
NH: Yup
ZH: During war time did you feel pressure or stress?
NH: No, except when flying combat.
ZH: Can you describe the pressures or stresses during flying? [side2]
NH: Well, the stress that I normally as an individual I don’t feel stress. I just kind of accept whatever comes along and I deal with it. The trendmendous stress that you put one example is that we where flying south down from Japan to Okinawa were our ships where based, and we were going about five miles off this chain of islands and we observed what looked like a Japanese cruiser in these coves, and we were, all had our glasses on and could see that it was a Japanese war ship. So we didn’t vary our course any because we didn’t want them to know that we saw them. So we flew on. All of us got pretty excited over this. So we decided to turn around go back, and bomb that cruiser. We where going to keep on flying south and then cut over and fly back over the top of the islands. And then as soon as we. Saw the cruiser drop our bombs on it. So I made sure that everybody in the crew agreed to take that chance because that was not part of our regular job. We turned around and started flying back over the top of that island. And we where staying low so that no radar would pick us up. Which meant that we where flying over the hills. Coming up to that battle ship, I knew without a doubt that we weren’t going to make it. Because no cruiser is going to be there without their guns being armed with American planes flying around. So I knew that if they could hear us that they would have the guns armed. So that is the only kind of stress that I really felt during my war time.
ZH: You where talking about bombing a cruiser how did that go? [side2]
NH: Well, we came down and there was the cruiser alright, but the thing was it had already been bombed out.
ZH: Did you do anything for good luck?
NH: No
ZH: How did your men entertain themselves?
NH: Most of the pilots played bridge; we would go to the lounge area and play great games of bridge.
ZH: where there any entertainers? [183]
NH: Yeah, there were. Not very often though. On Sipan I went to one of the tents and got a bed made up for me while I stayed there. I went to the bar close by, and when I got back all my stuff was on the ground in front of the tent. When I looked to see who had taken it I realized that some pro tennis players had. They where down there for a rec. game to entertain the troops.
ZH: You talked about being on Sipan, did you fly in support of the invasion? [side2]
NH: No we got there after Saipan was secured.
ZH: What did you do when on leave?
NH: Had a good time and rested up.
ZH: Where did you travel while in the service?
NH: Pensacola, FL-Virginia- Key West- Cuba- Nassau- Grand Cayman- san Francisco- Hawaii- Saipan- Mog Mog- Okinawa- Tokyo and finally back home.
ZH: It seems that you where in a lot of places during your services can you tell me what you did in each of these places? [side2]
ZH: First is Pensacola, FL [side2(169)]
NH: Yeah starting there. I had just come down from Norfolk, Virginia. I was assigned to my first perminate base which was VPB208 and there we, well I told where we flew.
ZH: To Cuba next [side2]
NH: The resort islands
ZH: Nassau[side2]
NH: Nassau was the island I was trying to think of before with the casino on it. The Bahamas.
ZH: You went to Grand Cayman! [side2]
NH: Yeah
ZH: Hawaii [side2]
NH: After we went with the squadron to the Pacific. We flew across the country in our sea planes. Naturally we had to land in water so we flew across Texas and landed in a lake there. In New Orleans we spent the night at Salton Sea. And then went on up to San Francisco, where we stayed.
ZH: What did you do on Hawaii? [side2(185)]
NH: On Hawaii we did a lot of training missions, mostly with submarines. It was a fun game; I think any young man would have enjoyed it. The game was that we where to go out flying for subs. And we knew approximately
Where they where and what time they would be there. But we would have smoke bombs and the idea was to come out of the clouds and dive on the subs and hit them before they could get submerged. And their part of the exercise was their where not aloud to use any radar they had to go along on the surface until they visually saw our plane. Then they could take diving maneuvers to get out of our way. It was just a race to see which one of us could win. If we hit them with a smoke bomb then we won, if we didn’t hit them with a smoke bomb then they won. That was a fun exercise.
ZH: What did you do on Saipan? [side2]
NH: We did a lot of sub patrol outside of Saipan. We did a lot of recovery missions for the armies’ planes that where going up to bomb Tokyo. Where the B29’s. They would get lost and a lot of times we would have to go up there and find them and bring them back.
ZH: What did you do on Mog Mog? [side2]
NH: Mog Mog was a recreation base. I don’t know what I told you about it before, but we went down there for RNR. Which meant we where supposed to go down there just to relax and rest for a couple of weeks. We would go down and lay on the beach; we drank a lot of beer. And played a lot of volleyball. We slept in open sided huts. It was a nice time.
ZH: What did you do on Okinawa? [side2]
NH: That was a pretty busy time on Okinawa. Was a still had a number of. We where in a little chain west of Okinawa called Carramareto. Which some of those islands had Japanese soldiers on them. But we cleared out some of the islands which made them ok to land on. I think once liberty boat went to the wrong island and they where all massacred. Simple because they went to the wrong island. I went to one of the islands and I can’t remember the name of them, but they used to have bombs with rails on them so that a person could sit on them and steer them into targets. You know suicide bombers. Type things. I think they called them Baca bombs.
ZH: What where some of the pranks that where pulled?
NH: Out in roscoe turners, there was a guy named down wind shipman. He got that name because he would come in and land down wind instead of up wind like every one else. But he would do anything for a Pepsi. So one time we gave him a hot foot. We put shoe polish in his shoe and lit it; it flared up bigger than any of us expected. He was asleep at the time and the funny thing was that he slept rite threw it. The toe of his shoe even turned black.
ZH: Do you have any photos?
NH: Yes lots of the destruction in Tokyo.
ZH: Can you describe any of the photos of the destruction in Tokyo that you have? [side2]
NH: Well, its just areas that where heavy industrial areas that where terrible destruction. Whether it be shells of bombs in the dirt or buildings that are cut in-half. One picture I had was when the bomb exploded in Hiroshima. The exact spot. I don’t have that picture now. I guess someone’s got it. That’s a terrible thing to unleash that bomb. But I have never regretted that we used it because that saved a lot of lives.
ZH: What id you think of your fellow soldiers?
NH: I liked them all they were good friends.
ZH: Did you keep a diary?
NH: Not really a diary but more of a flight log that kept track of all the flights I made, but it got stolen in transit.
ZH: In reference to your flight log, what kind of information did you keep in it? [side2(245)]
NH: Every flight that I made. I put down the time of take off, the time of landing, where we went, and anything that happened of interest that happened on the flight. I kept it up religiously. My promotions from second pilot to first pilot. To patrol plane commander where all logged in that flight log. All stamped and signed off. I was. Huge disappointment to me that it was stolen.
ZH: Do you recall the day your service ended?
NH: Yeah December 25, 1945
ZH: Were were you?
NH: In Los Angeles.
ZH: After your service did you return to any of these places? [side2(227)]
NH: Well, I went to Hawaii with my grandson!
ZH: No I was not alive yet. [side2]
NH: Right right, with my granddaughter. No but I haven’t, yeah I have been to Japan I have been to China. Since the war. No relationship between the two visits, I didn’t go to the same places.
ZH: Did you work or go back to school.
NH: Yes I did both, first I worked for awhile, then got married then I went back to school and attended UCLA.
ZH: Did the G.I. bill support your education?
NH: Yes it did.
ZH: In reference to the end of your service you seem to be talking a lot about California. Where you originally from California? [side2]
NH: No, I had never been there at that time. Your dad was born there. Your uncle and your aunt where born there.
ZH: You had family there is that the reason why you stayed there? [side2]
NH: My sister Margaret was there. And back then why everybody wanted to live in California. So I had my chance when they asked me where I wanted to be discharged.
ZH: How long where you in the service?
NH: I joined early 1942 and got out December 25, 1945, so for about 3 years almost.
ZH: What was your career after the war? [284]
NH: Several pick up jobs, but I went into engineering company as a caulity control engineer.
ZH: Did your war experiences influence your opinions about the war?
NH: No, I just have a general feeling towards it.
ZH: Do you attend reunions?
NH: No, well no.
ZH: How did your service affect your life?
NH: Mostly very positive part of my life. Being a pilot in the Navy gave me a lot of confidence.
ZH: You talked about being a pilot in the NAVY giving you a lot of confidence. How did it give you confidence? [side2(263)]
NH: Something to be said as far as any kind of situation for a young man to be throne into. If it demands from him things that he has never experienced or never had to do before. Commanding a large ship like that a lot of people that you where responsible for, and handling it in a very adequate way. Is a, will give a young man confidence. There where some material things that came out of it to. I got for years of college at UCLA out of it. I just can’t think of any negative thing involving that is my personal view.
