Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest this week is retired
US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs. He's a veteran of World War Two,
the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In all, he spent more
than thirty six years in uniform. This is the second half of our conversation
with Colonel Peterburgs. In our first installment, we learned about his service as
a P fifty one fighter pilot in the European theater, starting in late nineteen
forty four. Peter Burs flew forty nine missions while escorting American bombers towards their
German targets. On his forty ninth mission, Peter Burs shot down one of
the most prolific German aces of the war. But on that very same mission,
he was also shot down and became a prisoner of war. Please be
sure to listen to that part of our profile of Colonel Peterburgs. Today we
look at his service following World War Two and how he returned to the air
and combat during the Korean War in a very different but critically important role.
We'll also examine his years in between Korea and Vietnam, which included the only
ejection from his many years in the service, and once in Vietnam, Colonel
Peterburgs will share the vitally important role he played during the air campaign there.
But we begin in the immediate aftermath of World War II, as Peter Burs
returns home and moves forward with his life while staying in uniform. When I
got back in the nineteen forty five, I got buried at thirteenth to June
to by Yeah, i'd say Joseph Pede, who I named my air craft
after, and I had an extended leave of sixty day leave. After the
honeymoon, we were transferred to back to Douglas, Georgia, and then I
mean Napier Field doth in Alabama, and that clothe We got there and we
were there for about ten days and they then that base close. So then
we were shipped off to Truexfield, Wisconsin, and we're there for probably two
months and that closes, and then we end up at Chanute in Illinois.
So that was the first part. But anyway, and then I started getting
jobs. I mean I didn't have time to get a job at any of
the other places, and so at Chanute, I was made adjut to the
group, the housekeeping group that ran the base. And then I was in
early nineteen forty seven or late forty six, it was right in that time
period. I was made command of the Squadron F and of course segregation was
in effect at the time. Then it was an all African American the unit,
and I'm the only white person. And fortunately the the first sergeant,
by first sergeant was a he had a two twenty year of debt print and
he was, you know, really, I'm twenty one years old and I
don't know, you know, run it out that. So he taught me
everything I knew and then we got along good. But that about six months
after I took commed of the outpit. Then Truman desegregated the armed forces.
So it was my job to integrate by unit into the various white units.
Now, the difficulty of this is is that all the white units that they
are now and I always have been in the in the services that they were
organized by trades, like you had a squadron of engineers, so you had
a squadron of cooks and bakers. You had a squadron of MPs where the
black unit. It was segregated based upon color period, and you had engineers,
you had bakers, and you had MPs, and you had all,
you know, all the skills all in that one year. So my job
was to take the proper skill and get it into the proper whites unit.
And so that was meant, you know, there were just a small you
know, maybe fifty fifty guys would go into one unit and twenty guys or
three guys or whatever. So the first hard and I worked out sort of
a feedback system where we would be able to tell, you know, how
they're treaty guys. And it was really difficult. It did not go smoothly
as far as the but my unit, what fruit. We got it.
Anyway, that must have done fairly condicent because in July of forty seven I
was promoted to captain twenty twenty one, twenty two years ago something like that.
And then after that I went into accounting and finance. I was a
finance officer and I went to Shepherd and I was there for a while.
Then I went back to Chanute. That was in nineteen fifty one. I
was the accounting and dispersing officer at Chadout that I got orders for Korea the
fighter pilot. But all I've been doing is flying. I hadn't flown the
fighter since the day I was shot down, and I was flying B twenty
five and stuff like that, mainly just to get maintain my proficiency because I
had an administrative gentleman didn't ever fly job. But even you know, the
thing was, you still flew. You flew at least four hours a month.
That probably ended up getting about twenty twenty five hours a month of flying
time that average. Anyway, I got the orders overseas, and I got
the side to the eighteenth Pight of Barber Squadron twentieth PARTIT group stationed at Pussan
and with a forward operating based up at hank Song, a K forty six
a month or probably forty fifty miles from the DMZ. So I get over
there, and then the first thing that happens to me is I just twelve
to the general's officer as General Rogers, and he said, well, well
you're going to make you the fineout officer, And I said, I've been
sent over here as a pine a bottle. He said, well, you
got to here. Two brothers that were killed and we know you're not going
to go to combat. And I said, well, I said you the
Sullivant Act, you know, didn't pass that. And I said, the
Sullivan Act says that is the load surviving sun. And I said, I've
got about three other brothers, three other brothers. That's home yet, I
said, I'm not this old surviving son. But anyway, after probably a
day or two of discussions and stuff like that, they said, okay.
So I went got five hours in the P fifty one and we checked out
the fifty one, got five hours of start to flying combat. And it
was the fifty one that that you know, we in the World War Two
we were the Knights of the Sky, you know really, and then Korea
and we're given this ground support road worth aircraft in the Air Force inventory for
that type of road, you know, close air support. Very vulnerable there.
The fifty one was very bold to ground fire and as I could attest,
tore too. Anyway, I put seventy six missions and had some had
one that had the cannon. I was doing a rocket well, I was
doing the dapile brown and troops and trenches along a ridge and the mountain ridge,
and I let that day, Bob attack through that and what good?
Then I came around with the rocket. We had four or five inch rockets,
but they were not controllable. They went for you via aircraft was pointed
and that was about yeah, no sights and that anyway, in order to
do that, to be effective, you had to be straightened level, you
know, you can't be the slip and turn stuff like that. Then they
get the rockets and go fly off. So I'm level and I pop off
by first two and then on ready to pop the third one and buy a
canopy explodes and uh they reach out and I got a handful of blood,
and I don't know what, you know, what, how bad I've heard
or anything. So I called the called base. I'm only about thirty five
miles away from pace, and I called base that said what the problem was.
And coincidentally by wingman had radio lost his radio. So I there's just
a way of maneuvering that tells you can talk to each other that way.
So I wobbah by wagons. He comes in and George and I've said heading
back to base, and so we go back to base and then we get
to over the base and he feels off ahead of me and lands, and
all the meat wagons I've called, you know, the meat wagons, the
pirate engines and all were out by chasing down the run. So anyway,
I land non Shalotley and go to my truck on my parking place that I'm
down to the cockpit straightened up, but you know, you get the messy
cockpit with the maps are down on the floor and stuff. I'm there.
Who cheaps up on the legies waiting for my report, and I go up
and I startle them because I had blood, and he slips and falls off
the way. Anyway, what it was when the small arms went it through
the wing route and then you know through the academy he had that exploded the
Plexi glass and then bounce off my armor plating behind my head and and I
had plexi glass all around my faith. So about four or five hours of
flight church and picking the plastic class out of my face, and then I
was flying another couple of days later, So it wasn't that bad. That's
retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs still ahead. In this edition, we'll
learn about the critical role that Colonel Peterburgs held in Vietnam and how he barely
escaped serious injury there. But up next more on the close air support that
he and the other P fifty one pilots provided during the Korean War, specifically
whether it was a tough adjustment after the work he had done during World War
II. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles sixty Seconds of Service.
This sixty Seconds of Service is presented by T Mobile. T Mobile offers exclusive
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community. Near San Diego, California, Imperial Beach, veterans and active military
personnel now have a new way to help shape the way their city addresses issues
affecting their population. Earlier this month, the city council approved the creation of
the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and outlined its duties. We have a very
vibrant and active veteran and military community within our community, said Mayor Palomo Agiar.
I think having this committee will help us just guide our work better.
Aggiar, whom voters elected as mayor last year, introduced the idea of establishing
such a committee after campaigning and hearing across the board there was a need for
that. The coastal city of about twenty six thousand people is home to more
than sixteen hundred veterans. For more great veteran stories, just go to National
Defense Network dot com. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our
guest this week is retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs. Still to come,
we'll discuss the colonel's service in Vietnam and his close call during that war,
But first we continue in Korea. As Peter Burs explains whether it was
a big adjustment to use the P fifty one for close air support, It
would appear to be a tough justiment, but I did not have eight I
had never dropped a bomb uh and never fired a rocket. And the closest
thing that we came to close air support was fighter sweeps in Europe. You
know, after the bombers dropped their their bob's, usually a squadron would be
cut news to go hip targets of opportunities, opportunities or there were also fighter
sweet missions in which the fighters to go over and just and straight all the
air fields, but known targets. It was that idiot. This close air
support where the troops are in contact with other with enemy troops and they need
air support, and you go in and uh, you know that's that's sort
of close combat and also bobbing artillery positions, and it just came natural to
me. It just I didn't be firstly, whether did you ever have to
deal with enemy support aircraft or did you usually have superiority where you were Well,
you know, we were hit by bigs a couple of times, but
you know the fifty one was well, of course more maneuverable than the big
the big ends speed as at any jet. You know, the f eighty
six is were supposed to be escort against that time. Well, we had
the big missions and axequent missions up around the Riyalu and we were supposed to
get a support but with the eighty six is. But in fact I had
some harsh words form. We had a meeting and you know if I told
them, but their job was supposed to be is escorted us, and of
course they were more interested in getting the the tagli with the bigs that they
were with protecting US. So we occurrent quite a few losses without that support.
So between Korea and Vietnam, what were you focused down? And well
after after Korea, I, uh, I thought that well it was able
to be much of a The awards are all over itself. The PO be
such a demand for fighter pilots. I decided to go into command and control.
And I was at Tendall. I was running a I was operations officer
for the support for the Air Weapons Control of the school at Tyndall, and
I had I had a P fifty one h s there and then we later
got F E, d's, a's and b's and I was the first American
jet operational jet and then the T thirty three, which was basically a prove
you know, a two seat F eight and uh so we were flying that.
And then I decided after a while, I I'd go to the Air
Weapons Controller School and then get into commanding control. And that's what I did,
and then from there I just keep kept progressing into the commanding control field.
And then in the nineteen fifty six it was I think it was yeah,
I was transferred to Newfoundland to the sixth to fourth Nora D Region,
it had air defense responsibility for the whole lot east. The major routes between
Europe and America were in that area. They had come along that area in
the northern northern and so that was a pretty big job I had. And
then from there what to Dora had headquarters. Was a staff officer there and
commanding Control did a lot of work and commanding control there. And then I
was aside to that is, an officer to the ri Yeah Fighter Command and
where I was responsible for the operation of our BBus Buldistic Missile early warning site
at Filing nails More in England. And I spent a two year tour there
and then I got orders to Vietnam. After the completion in nineteen sixty seven,
I made lutenant colonel and then I was transferred to Vietnam. And what
role did you have in Vietnam? Well, I was the operations staff,
as are responsible for coordinating the airspace over the war zone. Now, this
entailed a lot of different things, and it means that you know, during
Vietnam there were still so minion aircraft flying in and out of Vietnam, and
like the Philippine Airlines, the Thai Airlines and in the American airlines were still
uh flying in it out. That's one aspect. I mean, that wasn't
too bad. You know, they they stiff stayed pretty well clear, but
they still had to coordinate their activities. And then you had the various You
had the Vietnam Air Force, and then you had the Army air you know,
the Army had a lot of their old aircraft, and then of course
the Air Force's aircraft were and you had to coordinate make sure that they weren't
uh, targets weren't overlapping and this sort of thing. And then you also
had the artillery, you know, the army and Marine artillery that would be
firing at targets and you don't want them firing their targets. So it was
a pretty big, pretty big job. And uh so, uh that was
that was it. And I had the the radar. I had commit of
the staff responsibility for for all the radars and the regular surveillance ralars as well
as the precision radars that were providing the ArcLight, the B fifty two information
on targets, stuff like that. That's retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peter
Burrs. When we come back Colonel Peterburgs shares more of his service from Vietnam,
his close called during an enemy attack there, and much more. I'm
Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm
Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is retired US Air Force Colonel Joe
Peter Burs. He's a veteran of World War Two, the Korean War,
and the Vietnam War and spent more than thirty six years in service to our
nation. Just before the break, Colonel Peter Burs explained the critical role he
performed in terms of air traffic during the Vietnam War, but he would not
be back in the air as a fighter pilot this time around. Oh no,
Well, I flew a lot flying up to my sights at the Dagh,
which was right on the border, and every time I went up there
we got artillery fire. And then during tent my room was blown apart by
one rocket that a piece of shrap. Little I was. It was the
middle of the light. A piece of shrup will hit right along my head
of my bed, and I had that as a souvenir for a long time.
All right, let's back up a little bit here. I feel like
this is being downplayed. Explain, explain this explosion and how close it was
to you and how you responded. Well, it was it was like I
say, I was sleeping and it was within oh, I say, ten
yards of my barracks. Previously to that, we had one of the barracks
one of my units hit on twenty two and were akia in that one.
And this week came like I say, probably ten fifty yards right outside my
room, and the splattered my room with shrapnel. And so that was one
of the pieces at the hit right above the head. And so that was
close call, I guess, So, Colonel, for our last several minutes
here, I want to circle back a little bit to World War Two and
a couple of things that we talked about. First of all, we talked
briefly about how you were at first not permitted to fly in Korea because you
had lost to brothers in World War Two. Tell me a little bit about
them and their service and what happened to them. My dad was born in
November of eighteen eighty four in Germany and Ebbs, Germany, and he was
in the German cavalry out of a Munster when he was sixteen seventeen years old.
Then he became a merchant seaman and then he and then nineteen oh six
he was in the New York doc in New York and he decided to join
see if he could join the United States Army. And he went over signed
up and took the physical and stuff as aid. In the end of December
of nineteen oh six, he became a member of the second Calvary of the
United States Army and then was later transferred to the sixth Calvary and he was
shipped to the Philippines around the nineteenth seventh nineth teen eight time period, and
he was a fight He fought Tomorrows during the Morrow Uprising that were defeated in
nineteen oh nine, and then he came back and then with the assignment in
Iowa. He was in the sixth Cavalry at that time, and he during
the up the Mexican Revolution, Pato Billo was coming across the boy about overisent
Hell that the American side and his unit was set down to Fort Ucci in
Texas and no Arizona in that area anyway, that he was chasing Potchovilla Footill
and then they had the nineteen fourteen I think it was they started in the
American Putative Expedition led by Blackjack Persian, and he was part of that incursion
to to Mexico, and then World War two one came along, and being
of German extraction and of being able to speak four or five languages, he
was transferred to counterintelligence and he was infiltrated into the pow camp at Port Leavenworth,
Kansas, where he collected and he had some other Claddstine operations, not
really familiar. I don't know that he had them though, And then he
got out about nineteen twenty four something like that, and became a Sumlion was
electrical steem manager until Pearl Harbor, and he was able because of his influence
with his friendship and a lot of guys back in the early part of the
century, he was able to put Gil himself, at sixty years old,
back into the army. Had ended up. Long story short, he ended
up in the Pacific in nineteen forty three and island hopping and wounded twice,
and in the Battle of the Philippine, so that my death my oldest brother
George, and he joined the army in nineteen thirty six. I think it
was when World War two started. He was promoted to a lieutenant and he
spent time in Iceland, and then he was in the invasion of southern France
just that occurred just after Neda, the major invasion, and he spent the
rest of the war fighting in Germany. And then Korea came along, his
unit was sent home, and then when Korea came along and teen fifty,
he was transferred to his entire unit was transferred to Korea, and he was
up in the northern the northern part of North Korea. And on the second
of November of nineteen fifty, his unit, on the eighth Cavalry was overrun
by the Chinese. Of the eight hundred, only two hundred survived, and
so he's lost in the dust step in North Korea. And then the brother
just older than me was Paul. He was born in nineteen twenty two,
and we were the best friends as far as brothers. He joined the navy.
He graduated from high school at sixteen, and then before he went to
college, he wanted to get experience, so he joined as sort of the
Navy reserve. And then the war came along, and then he was stuck
in the navy and they recalled everything, and so he was ticked off because
all of his brothers were officers. He was a master. But she just
made a subchaser and he was escorting the convoy from New York down to Quatallibo
and they were torpedoed off the shore of North Carolina, and uh, just
about all of them were killed. Of course, he was a Machidas based
so he hadn't been down out of deck at the time, so he was
killed there. It's an incredible legacy of service from your family. Your father
serving in two World Wars and more. And he had six sons and all
of us served, and there are five of us have served in World War
Two. And then the youngest was in Korea and he made he was a
paratrooper and he made several jumps at the north and fortunately he was able to
bump into my oldest brother about a week or two before he was killed,
and so they had at least that little time together. One thing else that
you did in Korea was having to reject Oh no, I wasn't in Korea.
That was after the after Korea. So T thirty three, like I
said, earlier. I was an operation officer for the unit, and we
always did a weather check to make sure the area was clear so we could
run our operations. And I took off I think it was about five thirty
something like that, and it was pretty thick soup and seely was about three
hundred feet and I was climbing through the weather at about eighteen thousand feet and
uh, I got a warning light blunted chamber, the fire warning light amber
light, and said something was wrong. So I immediately called the bass that
said I've returned to the base. And I pulled the throttle back and it's
going to make a dead stick back in and uh, I made the turn
of heading down. A few seconds later, the red light came on and
then blinked. It was blinking and uh, so I immediately stopped, cocked
the fire thotvel which cuts off all fuel to the engine and uh and then
it came on bright and I said, I want to so I have to
punch out. So you're setting basically out of thirty seven millimeter canny shells.
So you're set there and and so you blow the canopy, uh, and
you bring the armbrust up and pulled the trigger and you're blown out, and
of course you're still strapped to the seat, so your seat is tumbling.
And as it's tumbling, you got to figure out, well, I got
to release myself from the seat. So you release your seat hardness and then
you throw it away from the seat, but you're both still tumbling. So
then you have to figure out what should I pull my ripcord because you don't
want close it up to the seat where your parachute will get tangled with the
rip You know, with the parachute. Everything worked perfect, and I've tumbled
it. I pulled the ripcord and shoot open, and I was in the
weather and came down, broke out about three thousand feet and uh I was
swinging at a real high rate. You don't of course you're vertigo. You
don't know this is happening. When you've you know, you're you're in the
weather. And uh So, anyway, uh I been able to get the
lanyards and slow it down and and get it and anyway, I landed the
swamp and the helicopter was there in about five minutes to pick me up.
So and then uh I had a little compression of the spy that I did
recognize it. That's what I got hold after I finished a hospital. But
I got home and uh, my son, my oldest son, said,
what where'd you get that bump? Buddy? And I had a big knot
and there's a turn blue, I guess, but they didn't notice that at
the hospital. But anyway he noticed. But it was just a little black
eye. When I released from the seat, the oxygen tube was still hooked
up. That I think that just you know, that broke loocid popped me
in the head. There's a couple of questions before we go, Colonel,
after more than thirty six years in uniforms, serving in three different wars,
what are you most proud of from your service. I'm most proud of my
last tour at Germany, where I was companed of several thousands of troops and
I was able to make their professional board recognized and working with the troops and
spending time with them and getting the job. And we did a fantastic job
there, and we built a complete structure and with dedicated men and women,
and integrating women into my units, the combat units, was a great achievement,
I thought, and I felt that that probably was my most meaningful job
that I had in the airport. The other job, yeah, I was
a combat pilot. It's a comb yeah, and you know, you do
things you're you're lucky sometimes, your skill sometimes and but but this took a
lot, I think, a lot more humanity to come out, to be
able to to to work with people. And my poudest thing was that at
the end of my tour I was affectionately called Colonel Pete by all my men
and women. So they became better service members and they loved you for it.
So that's a that's a good combination right there. Lastly, sir,
what does it mean to you to have us at the American Veterans Center record
and share your story. Well, I think you know, it's a job
that had to be done, and it was very reluctant for uh, you
know, most of the or many of the veterans of the wars to to
come out explain it. But it is so important that that we who experience
these things, you know, give it to you from the horse's mouth.
You know, just exactly what our feelings were and how you know, how
we we related to the times, and how we uh have made mistakes and
and made tremendously heroic acts. At the same time, you know, it's
a it's a necessary part of humanity to to know what has gone before so
you can adjust and learn from the past, so you don't keep reputing the
same mistakes over and over and over again and letting that pendulum swing back and
forth, back and forth with the whole human race. To live in ignorance
of the past, I think is one of the saddest things that a person
could do. Well side, Colonel, thank you so much for your time
today, and most of all, thank you so much for your many years
of honorable service to our country. Heekku retired US Air Force Colonel Joseph Peterbergs.
He's a veteran of World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. In
all, Colonel Peterburgs spent more than thirty six years in uniform to our nation.
I'm Greg Corumbus. This is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg
Corumbus, and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American
Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter dot org. You
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