WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.559 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 2 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.199 this edition is Melvin Hurwitz. He's a US Army Air 3 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:23.559 Corps veteran of World War II. He served as a 4 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.519 gunner and radio man aboard a B seventeen bomber in 5 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:30.199 the four hundred and ninety third Bomb Group during the 6 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:33.119 final months of the war in Europe. Today we'll hear 7 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.719 about why he joined the Air Corps, his role as 8 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:39.359 a radio man, and his most memorable missions during and 9 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:44.039 after the war. Melvin Hurwitz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, 10 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:48.159 in March nineteen twenty five. He was sixteen years old 11 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.200 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen 12 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.679 forty one, and he remembers it vividly. 13 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:00.320 That was interesting. Oh I don't remember, zach me what 14 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:06.959 I heard of the attack itself, but I remember sitting 15 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:11.400 in my senior year in high school and we had 16 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:16.319 little sound systems going into ease classroom and President Tellanor 17 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:22.319 Roosevelt made his famous speech saying that the Empire of 18 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:28.239 Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and we now were in 19 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:32.840 a state of war. I remember that very clearly. 20 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:35.599 Even though he was too young to join the service 21 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.359 at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Herwit 22 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:41.359 says he still wasn't fired up to join the military, 23 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:44.599 but by nineteen forty three he was ready. 24 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.079 At that moment, I really didn't know too much about war, 25 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.799 having the idea of the extent of the damage without 26 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:58.159 at Pearl Harbor. But as a time go on, I 27 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:01.680 knew I was going to enter the service, said, I 28 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.920 entered college for six months until I turned eighteen, and 29 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.920 then I joined the Art Corps. 30 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:10.520 Herwitz new he wanted to join the US Army Air Corps, 31 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:13.960 which would later become the US Air Force. So was 32 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.759 it a love for flying, or knowing someone else in 33 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:20.599 the Air Corps, or maybe some financial incentive that drove 34 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:25.159 his decision? Not at all. His teenage brain placed one 35 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.000 factor above all the others. 36 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.319 I wonder way that George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. 37 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.520 My brothers are all going down there. I knew I'd 38 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:37.280 only short time to fill in until I was eighteen, 39 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:41.639 and the fellows the city around the dorm's talking, and 40 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.039 why didn't you join the Air Corps? You'll always have 41 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:47.520 a bed you'll always have a hospital, you'll always have food, 42 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:52.000 and you'll wear silver wings. And the girls love silver wings. 43 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:57.599 So that sold me and I went down to the 44 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:02.439 recruitment center in Nashville. I joined the Air Corps, but 45 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:07.280 I wasn't old enough, so when I became eighteenth, I 46 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.719 went back to my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and was 47 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.400 inductor at Fort Hollibirn, Maryland. I went for basic training. 48 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:20.039 The first place was Greensboro, North Carolina. 49 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.439 The Hurwitz family devoted a great deal to the war effort. 50 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:26.719 Melvin says, all the boys in the family were eager 51 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:30.560 to serve, but none of them could agree unaware to serve. 52 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:33.919 There were four boys in my family, and all four 53 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:37.240 of us served in World War Two, and each one 54 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:41.039 in a different branch of the service. My youngest brother, Jerry, 55 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:46.280 served in the US Army. Brother Will was an ensign 56 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:51.400 in the Navy, serving the Pacific. My oldest brother, Albert 57 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:57.319 was a marine served in the first Marine Division, also 58 00:03:57.400 --> 00:03:59.919 in the Pacific, And I, of course was in the Air. 59 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:03.680 As Herwitz mentioned a moment ago, he did his basic 60 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:07.039 training in North Carolina, but there was a lot more 61 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:10.919 preparation to come and aptitude tests showed that he was 62 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.800 ideally suited to serve as a radio man on a 63 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:17.319 B seventeen bomber, and that led to a lot more 64 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:21.399 training and the formation of a crew before Hurwitz could 65 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.079 head overseas quite. 66 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:28.639 A long time. From Nisai Air Center, I went to 67 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:35.600 a radio school at Scottfield, Illinois. And from Scottchfield, Illinois, 68 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:42.839 Miama was radio gunner. So after Scottchfield, Illinois, I went 69 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:49.639 to gunnery school in Yuma, Arizona. And after gunnery school 70 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:55.720 I was qualified. Then from there we I went to 71 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:03.839 McDill field in Florida. McDill field was a center for 72 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:10.600 putting crews together before going overseas, and it was at 73 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:15.439 McDill field that I met the nine that other gentlemen 74 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:22.439 fellows that I became members of crew with, and we 75 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.560 stayed together till the end of the war. 76 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.199 That crew would be serving aboard B seventeen bombers. As 77 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.720 we said a moment ago, Herwitz describes what those big 78 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:32.600 planes were like. 79 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:39.319 B seventeen was tough airplane. It took a lot of 80 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.000 battery and took a lot of injury. But at matt 81 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.199 it's always as much as possible to come home safely 82 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:54.319 or enough to justified being what it was. The quarters 83 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:58.040 of the B seventeen was very tight, very narrow, very 84 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:02.360 rough deal and so forth. There's not a lot of 85 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:06.600 comfort there. I was fortunate. I was the few of 86 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:10.839 the un listened men that have a seat because we 87 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.720 had I had a little table with the radio on it. 88 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:18.360 But the wastegunners some of the others did not have 89 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.319 that luxury. Of course, the navigator did. Of course. 90 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:25.920 Bob deer Herwitz elaborated a bit on his radio operator 91 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.160 training as well. He says his ability to tap out 92 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.600 Morse code very quickly made him a natural. 93 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:36.639 Fit standards about twenty twenty five words a minute. I 94 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:38.639 was talking about twenty eight to thirty words of an 95 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.519 I think. But once you were able to do that, 96 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.199 you were passed the tests and love with some other 97 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:52.040 slightly technical law lessons on the radio itself, but the 98 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.920 main thing was be able to take and receive Morse code. 99 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.480 Herwitz also says his main focus was as a gunner, 100 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.720 and his job as a radio man only mattered if 101 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:02.720 there was a crisis. 102 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:07.120 Well, on a plane, we did not do anything with 103 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:13.199 our radio unless have had an emergency the pilot had 104 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:17.759 its own method of communicating with us, with the base 105 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:23.000 and other airplanes, but in case of emergency, we had 106 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.680 the long distance capability of contacting. We also had both 107 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:33.040 known as a trailing wire antetta, which was all of 108 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:37.879 war less spool with a weight, and you could unravel 109 00:07:37.959 --> 00:07:41.040 that down below the plane and that would give you 110 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.480 have an opportunity to go spark to go for the distance. 111 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.160 In early nineteen forty five it was time to go 112 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:53.879 to Europe. Herwitz says they didn't take a ship. They 113 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:57.959 flew their B seventeen over to England, but getting there 114 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:00.199 was a bit of an adventure as well. 115 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:06.199 Shortly after our cruise made up around was as follows. 116 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:12.800 We stopped at Hunterfield, Georgia for refueling on the way north, 117 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.839 and we flew up to Bangor, Maine, and Bagor, Maine 118 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:21.360 was the last stop. We flew overseas completely in by 119 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:25.360 P seventeen. We never took a ship. We flew up 120 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:30.839 bag Or, Maine, and then Gann in Newfoundland and Goose Bay, Labrador. 121 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:35.759 We were refueling each one of those stations, and then 122 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:40.039 we stopped at Greenland refueled. The Greenland did not get 123 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:43.840 off the plane there. From Greenland we went into Iceland. 124 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:48.200 Iceland was one of the more memorable times in my 125 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.840 World War Two experience because we got there with a 126 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:58.600 large snow storm and we were snowbound in Iceland for 127 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:03.360 probably seven or eight days. We had to lock arms 128 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.279 three or four fellows at the same time, but to 129 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:08.320 go to bess Hall, but so we wouldn't get blown 130 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:12.279 off our truck. I had an interesting experience there. One 131 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.480 person out to stand guard on the airplane each night 132 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:19.320 with Chase. We never left the airpload alone. Our play 133 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:22.879 was right there, a little tin hunt with three or 134 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:27.879 four Welsh arabin had a little pot belly stove and 135 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:31.559 they fixed me tea and they were happy to see 136 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:34.440 a Yank and talk to someone different, talking to some 137 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:40.919 Welsh words and for a kid away from home, had 138 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:43.639 no experience of any figure in the world. There was 139 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.720 a lot of a lot of excitement. And then from 140 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:49.720 Iceland to cleared up and we went into landed at 141 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:51.639 the Hollyhead, Wales in England. 142 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:54.840 From there it was onto their new base in East 143 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.440 Anglia in the UK. 144 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:01.600 Our base was in Debitsch, England. Could train from Wales 145 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:07.559 down to uh Davits, which was there the city of Ipswich, 146 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:10.519 all in East Sanglia, where most of the Air Corps 147 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:14.000 bases were. In East Aanglia, it's closest to the to 148 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:18.679 the coast. I stayed that the four ninety third Bomb Group. 149 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:22.000 The four ninety third Bomb Group was the last bomb 150 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:25.799 group to be formed in the Eighth Air Force. 151 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.720 But even then it was still not quite time to 152 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.759 get in the fight. Herwitz says there were still some 153 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:34.679 more flights they had to complete before getting the green 154 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.279 light for their first real bombing run. 155 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:43.600 Now we were flying sped Frice at that time. The 156 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.799 weather Dengler was terrible. We had the bath Stone and 157 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:53.840 Margan Bridge and and all these uh battles going on, 158 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:57.600 and UH they're waiting for us to come in to 159 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:01.960 give them air support. Were ignored the bars, just waiting 160 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.559 for the h weby to clear. 161 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.399 That's Melvin Hurwitz. He's a US Army Air Corps veteran 162 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.120 of World War Two and served as a gunner and 163 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:15.159 radio man on board of B seventeen bomber. In a moment, 164 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.399 Hurwitz takes us with him on his first mission and 165 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.200 remembers what he was thinking as he joined the fight. 166 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:24.639 Near the end of the war. I'm Greg Corumbus and 167 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:27.399 this is Veterans Chronicles. 168 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:28.919 Sixty seconds of Service. 169 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:32.159 This sixty seconds of Service is presented by T Mobile. 170 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:35.320 T Mobile offers exclusive discounts for a veteran and military 171 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.000 families and are proud supporters of the National Defense Network. 172 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.240 Visit t mobile dot com slash military to learn more 173 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.679 about how they support our military community. Three Corps veteran 174 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.519 Kevin Thompson from Phoenix noticed the lack of support for 175 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.840 veterans dealing with PTSD, so he took matters into his 176 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.960 own hands. Kevin started a peer led support group called 177 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.559 Silent Warriors, offering a space where veterans could talk openly 178 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:02.039 about their struggles and find comfort in knowing they weren't alone. 179 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.919 The group provides emotional support and connects veterans to local 180 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:10.120 resources like counseling and therapy. Through his efforts, Kevin has 181 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:14.200 helped dozens of veterans heel and thrive after the military service. 182 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.519 Today's sixty seconds of Service is brought to you by Prevagen. 183 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.159 Prevagen is the number one pharmacist recommended memory support brand. 184 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:25.120 You can find Prevagen in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. 185 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:29.679 This is Veterans' Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 186 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.960 this edition is Melvin Hurwitz. He's a World War Two 187 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:36.840 veteran and a veteran of the US Army Air Corps, 188 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:40.600 the precursor to the US Air Force. He served as 189 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.960 a gunner and radio man on a B seventeen bomber crew. 190 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:48.159 Hurwitz and his crew did not enter the fray against 191 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:52.240 Germany until the spring of nineteen forty five, and as 192 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:54.960 they got ready for their first bombing run, there was 193 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.360 still one final piece of unfinished business naming the plane. 194 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:04.679 Herwitz explains how they're B seventeen got tagged with the 195 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.639 name Organized Confusion. 196 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.639 Towards the end of the war, and our plane did 197 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:13.879 not have a name, and we had all these glory 198 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.399 names of place they sided as a plane, so we 199 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.639 decided to name it. One of the guys came up 200 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:24.080 with a plane organistitution. So then one of our crew 201 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:27.320 was a French boy. We called him Fredgy, and he 202 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.519 was an artist. He did a beautiful painting of our 203 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.240 plane on the back of our A two jackets. I'm 204 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.960 proud to say that my A two jacket is now 205 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.960 on display in our museum in Devitch, England, and it's 206 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.720 the only A two jacket in the museum that originated 207 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:50.840 from that airbase. 208 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.960 Finally, it was time for the real thing. Herwitz remembers 209 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.120 some of the thoughts that ran through his mind as 210 00:13:57.159 --> 00:14:01.039 that B seventeen climbed into the sky, got into formation, 211 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:03.799 and prepared to strike enemy targets. 212 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.240 I remember figuring what I was up at first time. 213 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.840 I was up at about thirty thousand feet twenty eight 214 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:12.720 thousand feet, had the mask on and the flying suit 215 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:16.399 and everything. I'd say, so, how did you get here? 216 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:21.600 What did you do to get here? But I'm not frightened, 217 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:26.519 that was excited, it's nervous, but the whole out of 218 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:28.480 this world experience first time. 219 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.720 Hurwitz referenced the special suit and goggles he and the 220 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:35.879 others had to wear on their bombing missions. It was 221 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:39.720 standard attire and without it anyone would pass out and 222 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:40.840 likely die. 223 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.120 Well because you would freeze the death if you get 224 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:48.240 over ten thousand feet. The human body can't take that cold. 225 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:53.480 If your fingers are exposed for more than ten minutes 226 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:58.320 at a time, that you could, you could freeze, freezelf. 227 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:00.399 Hurwitz and the rest of his crew were fortunate to 228 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.519 arrive in England when they did. Being on a bomber 229 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:06.120 crew towards the beginning of the war was not only 230 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:10.120 a possible death sentence, it was almost a guarantee. The 231 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:14.679 combination of bombers flying without escorts from fighter planes, aggressive 232 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:20.039 German pilots in relentless anti aircraft fire or flak made 233 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.159 completing enough missions to go home virtually impossible. By the 234 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:26.240 time Hurwitz and the rest of his crew took to 235 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:29.639 the skies, the danger was still very real, but the 236 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:33.759 odds were far less daunting, as evidenced by Hurwitz explaining 237 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:37.240 how much flak he dealt with in the skies over Europe. 238 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.480 None we had to flack the one player go down 239 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:45.960 with flock. But uh, very little of that too. But 240 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.000 we saw it, but no, I saw no fighters. 241 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:52.960 The other major benefit was that after just a few 242 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.159 missions the war was over. 243 00:15:55.480 --> 00:16:00.879 Ali flew four combat missions. I say only, but one 244 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:07.759 could be fatal. In fact, the four ninety third bob 245 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:12.159 group flew one hundred and fifty seven missions the day 246 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:17.320 before the war ended. On the final missions, one did 247 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:18.879 not return her. 248 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:22.440 What's elaborated on those four missions where the targets were 249 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.559 and the other details that stand out from the final 250 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:28.879 weeks of the war. But it was a mission targeting 251 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.960 Germans who were still in France that stands out the most. 252 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:41.000 After one mission into Germany and one into Czechoslovakia and 253 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:48.240 two into France. That's another story that's very interesting to me. 254 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:54.399 There was a pocket resistance of Germans in Rayon fress 255 00:16:54.519 --> 00:17:02.000 Roya n and there's about fifty thousand German soldiers there 256 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.559 that were entrenched and would not give up, and the 257 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:09.640 French and the Allies let them stay because they had 258 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.400 to conquer the continent. They stayed there, but the end 259 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.519 of the war was near and they still would not 260 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:21.400 give up. My plate was one of them. Our mission 261 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:26.200 and I have verified it was the first planes in 262 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:33.240 World War Two in Europe to drop napalm bobs. Napalm 263 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:38.079 was never used in Europe after that. It was predominantly 264 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:43.079 used in the Far East the Pacific. But we dropped 265 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:49.119 napalm onto these Germans in Rayne and the first they 266 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:52.880 did not give up. The second mission dropped them and 267 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:55.880 they did give up. We dropped the napalm and then 268 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:59.119 the planes behind us dropped the bobs at the far 269 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:04.079 Remember the bomb and deer said to me, Hapes, Parky, 270 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.480 He said, let me show you something. Come over here. 271 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:10.359 He never called me over when he dropped Bob's I see, 272 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.920 but it was new to him too. So I went 273 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:21.319 over to looked down and there's like pipes, long black 274 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.839 pipes were sort of bundled up, and these buddles were 275 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.720 dropping from the bomb by instead of the bobs. And 276 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:31.880 that was the n A bomb and that was new 277 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:32.480 to him too. 278 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.960 But there were more missions to come after the combat ended. 279 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.319 They were missions to save lives in two very different ways. 280 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:43.279 And we'll learn how Hurwitz was planning to join the 281 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.400 war in the Pacific. Our guest is Melvin Hurwitz. He's 282 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.000 a US Army Air Corps veteran of World War Two, 283 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:53.160 serving as a gunner and radio man on a B 284 00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:59.359 seventeen bomber crew. I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles. 285 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:05.240 This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 286 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.799 this edition is Melvin Hurwitz. He's a US Army Air 287 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.960 Corps veteran of World War II. He served as a 288 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:15.599 gunner and radio man on a B seventeen bomber in 289 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.759 the four hundred and ninety third bomb group operating out 290 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:23.480 of England. We just heard Hurwitz explain his four bombing missions, 291 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:26.880 with a special focus on the German forces still holding 292 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.799 out in France. But soon Hurwitz's focus shifted from combat 293 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.720 to humanitarian missions. He shared his memories of carrying out 294 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:41.519 General Eisenhower's orders to provide badly needed food to parts 295 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.039 of Europe left on the brink of starvation by the Nazis. 296 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:51.880 I have four missions after that that stood out vividly 297 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:57.880 in my mind. The week before the war ended, the 298 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:04.880 Allies had made a truce for the Germans that if 299 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.200 we came in and dropped food, they were not far 300 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:13.839 on us. Well, the Germans were starving too. The Dutch 301 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:19.599 and Belgium were really our need of food, and eyes 302 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:25.559 hired General Bill Smith. They all knew, and they stuck 303 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:30.359 out tons and tons of food in England. And we 304 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:35.680 called it Americans called it our our drop operation Chowhound. 305 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:41.960 That sounded very American chow The British used another name, 306 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.519 Regency or something like that, but we didn't like that. 307 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:52.119 So we think that Chowhound and our pictures, wonderful pictures 308 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.880 of uh We're coming in about three hundred feet and 309 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:02.319 hoping the bomb bays and dropping this food and big 310 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:06.880 axes marked in fields and one uh one field and 311 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:09.720 hatover which is a tool of capital at the stand 312 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:13.759 of the world, and hadover had a big field thank 313 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:19.400 you Yanks, made out of flowers, tulips and so forth, 314 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:23.200 and it was maybe four or five acre field. It 315 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:26.920 was very heartwarming, and it got choked up thinking about 316 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.160 it because here we are so far away from home, 317 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:35.200 and everything we did was with it ourselves. We did 318 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:38.359 not shoot at anybody, We did not look at anybody, 319 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:42.119 was just up there and here these people doal below 320 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:47.359 had made this thank you Shanks sucked for us, and 321 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.079 it was very heartwarming. And uh, I remember talked to 322 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.039 this somewhat afterwards, who's a sort of a historian on 323 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:00.960 the Dutch droppings. I said, you know, Alex, I said, 324 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.400 when we weren't head over, I think I remember dropping 325 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:09.799 food in the stadium because I saw people cheering from 326 00:22:09.799 --> 00:22:14.519 a stadium. He fakes permitted quietly, and he said it 327 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:20.640 was a it was a racetrack. We had dropped the 328 00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:23.400 food in the middle of a racetrack. 329 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:26.920 The Germans surrendered in Europe in May nineteen forty five, 330 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:30.799 Not long after that, Herwitz says he and his crew 331 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.400 were tasked with flying to pick up prisoners of war 332 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.480 from the Germans and bring them back to Western Europe. 333 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:43.839 Two other flies that are very memorable that I'll never forget. 334 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:50.799 We went on two missions to repatriate French prisoners of 335 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:58.440 war from Germany back to France. We flew into Lynz, Austria, 336 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:03.759 right on the Danube. I never saw, I'd ever see 337 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:06.319 the Danube, the Blue Danube, which was a buddy at 338 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:11.240 the time the war. But we flew into Lynz, Austria 339 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:15.319 and picked up these prisoners had been just like you 340 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:20.640 see in the movies, emaciated and shrunken and glass eyed 341 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:27.359 and uh in rags. And we stripped them of all 342 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.759 their clothes, and we burned the clothes on a pile 343 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:36.119 of fire, and we deloused them with some sort of powder, 344 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:41.279 and each wrapped each one in a blanket, and we 345 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:46.680 lined them up with a fuselage on each sidey you know, 346 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.039 huddled up against the back. And we must have had 347 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:56.440 thirty or forty prisoners each strip. And we had stripped 348 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.559 taken out the gods, we stripped the place of everything 349 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.119 that were over, so we had were able to carry 350 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:08.680 the the fellows, and we did that twice. We went 351 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:13.400 from Let's to Chantay, France. We say, said Tilly here, 352 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:19.240 but SCHALTI and that big carnival that night, and we 353 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:25.279 were kids were just we were heroes, you know. 354 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:28.039 Her what says the condition of these prisoners was all 355 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:31.400 you needed to know about the cruelty of the Germans 356 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:32.839 during World War Two. 357 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:40.039 They were too weak and two almost like in a daze. 358 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.680 They just looked at us, you know, they wanted to 359 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.200 say thank you, but they couldn't speak English, we couldn't 360 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:51.240 speak French. And they're just so almost like walking zombies 361 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:56.200 sort of, you know, just but I'm sure they couldn't 362 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:59.240 believe that this was happening to them taking them home. 363 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:02.720 Soon after those missions, Hurwitz was on his way home, 364 00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:07.039 but there wasn't much rest. The fighting was over in Europe, 365 00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:09.759 but the US was still at war on the other 366 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:14.160 side of the world, and Melvin Hurwitz fully expected to 367 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:15.160 be in the middle of it. 368 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:19.359 I went home too weak leave and then I went 369 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:23.799 to be twenty nine training in the Cannon Air Force 370 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:28.799 Base in Clovis, New Mexico. And the first week I 371 00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:36.480 was there, they had us a classroom, studying the plane 372 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:40.480 and preparing us to get up in there. But I 373 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.839 remember looking out across out of the window the clan 374 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.720 froom and looking across the tarbaccent and see these monsters 375 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:53.440 be twenty nines, and thinking to myself, our play was 376 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:57.880 like a toothpick compared to these guys. They were monsters 377 00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:02.000 compared to the B seventeen. And while I was there 378 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.960 for the week, then they dropped the bomb and. 379 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:07.839 That was it. 380 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:11.279 I did not go right over, but I did not 381 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:12.200 get to Japan. 382 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:16.079 Melvin Hurwitz left the service in nineteen forty six and 383 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:20.039 went back to civilian life. He spent his professional life 384 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:23.440 in the jewelry business, but he hasn't slowed down much 385 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.279 at all. In recent years, Hurwitz has traveled back to 386 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:31.400 Europe to take part in remembrances of the war, including 387 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.960 at Normandy. He says it's critical that no one forgets 388 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.759 the war, why it was fought, and the cost of victory. 389 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:46.160 It's history, it's remembering. It's you've got to know what 390 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:48.839 happened before before you know it's going to happen in 391 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:52.200 the future. I was taken over by the Bens of 392 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:57.640 Fence Foundation, so wonderful organization. Paut Donnie Edwards and his 393 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.759 wife found that they've taken me to Germany. They've taken 394 00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:05.200 me to Pearl Harbor and uh three years to France, 395 00:27:05.319 --> 00:27:08.839 and I'm most grateful for that, all expenses paid. 396 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:12.880 Herwitz was among the veterans honored at the eightieth anniversary 397 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:16.119 of the D Day landings in twenty twenty four, and 398 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:18.599 much to his surprise, he became a bit of a 399 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:23.880 celebrity thanks to his interaction with Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelenski. 400 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:26.839 They said, Melvine, you went Varral. Yes, I said, I 401 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.519