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Art Morneweck
When we were flying phase training at
Chatham Field, Savannah, GA. We were training formation flying and hit a
weather front , I didn’t see it, but one plane crashed. The only person
who got out was the ball turret man. There is no room for a chute so you
have to leave it on the deck, now this man climbed out of the ball , got
his chute on , saw the guys in the waist pinned by centrifugal force to
the side of the plane, and had no idea how or where he left the plane.
He was the only person to survive. When we were flying missions we could
see the B-17s off to the right or left of our bomber stream and would
see them spin in then they might come out of the spin for a minute and
you would see some chutes pop out., then it would start to spin again
sometimes the rest of the way to the ground. I would imagine some would
get out thru the bomb bay, or the waist window , or the back door on the
B-17, or the bottom hatch at the back of the B-24. This was a awful
feeling seeing these planes going down. We were very lucky that no 262’s
hit us, as they would come thru the formation and knock down 2 or 3
planes with one pass. If the Germans would have had more time to build
these jet’s it would have made one hell of a difference to the AF. I was
5-8 tall and weighed 150 lbs---a good size for the ball. I think any one
taller would have had a hard down there as even with my size it was
crowded.
Art
Morneweck and Belle Isle
How we met – the love of my life She
was 19,,,,I was 20
Early in 1943, I went on a double date with a friend and the Matthews
sisters to Eastwood Amusement Park at Gratiot and 8 mile. It was a long
drive from Detroit's west side. I was paired with Blanche, but her
sister, Charlotte (Micky) was a great looker and I thought she was the
one for me. We all had a good time together. It was more like a friend's
outing than a date. Two nights later, Micky was on her way home from her
job at G.M.C. She stopped at Simone's soda fountain shop where I was
having a frozen Power House candy bar. We talked a while and I asked her
to go for a ride. We drove to Belle Isle in my father’s 1940 Ford and
one section was a parking that you faced the river and watch the boats
go bye. There was no open parking space so we had to ride around the
island. When you come to the bridge there was about 5 or 6 driving
lanes that all turned right and takes you back off the island. Luckily I
was in the 6th lane that took you over the bridge or you
could drive straight and go around again. Something in my heart said
go straight and I did. This time there was a parking space open. I
parked and we had our first kiss. We watched the boats and then Micky
said she had to go to the bath room. We left and stopped at first bath
room and it was pad-locked, I looked at my watch and it was after
mid-night, so was the second bat room locked. Going across the bridge
Micky said she really had to go. I new if we turned left to go home we
would not find a restaurant so I turned right and found a restaurant
about two blocks away. I stopped and Micky used their bath room.
About four months later we got engaged just before I left for Army Air
Corps cadet training. I returned to Detroit to get married during a week
long furlough.
Micky and I were apart for the next two years as I was sent to the
Philippine Islands and occupation duty in Taegu, Korea. I returned home
to her in July, 1946. We celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary May 15,
2001. Then Dec. 30, 2001 my Micky went to be with our Lord. Our
daughters and son-in-law are Toni Ann Morneweck, Terry & Jack Ellis, and
grandson Tim 16. We all live in same neighborhood in Novi. Micky's
sister Blanche Rosendale, now lives in St. Clair. NOTE: BLANCHE DIED
Aug. 21, 2005.
WW2 Marriages:
A short “I do” and
off to war
WW 2 marriages did not have tuxedos and long
gowns but did have ever lasting love. As a cadet we finished our tour
at Gettysburg College and was given one week furlough Friday May
12,1944. From "Old Dorm" I called my fiancée and asked if she would
marry me. She said yes, I jumped on a bus to Harrisburg, bought a new
cadet hat, jumped on train for Detroit. On the train the porter looked
at me, with wings on my shoulder, wings on my new cap, and humming our
song "You'll never know how much I miss you". The porter said "Sir we
have a better seat in the car ahead of us." I arrived home Saturday
morning and found out we needed some papers filled out but offices were
closed. Luck was with me, my future father-in-law had friends downtown,
so everything was copasetic. We were married Monday May 15,1944 at 7 PM.
We went downtown to the Hotel Fort Shelby. Shortly after arriving there
my wife's sister and our best man came with White Castle Hamburgers. We
spent the rest of the week on cloud nine floating around visiting
friends. Sunday May 20, 1944 I left my love (boy, is this hard to write)
and did not see her for two years while I went to Philippine Islands and
Taegu, Korea. My wife is with our Lord now, looking down here and I can
still hear her saying "Roy you are going to make yourself sick". Name
Roy is another story, my middle name is LeRoy.
May 20 I was back to Gettysburg College and we were shipped out to
Maxwell Field, Alabama for Pre-flight. After pre-flight we went to Avon
Park, Florida where we started flying the open cockpit Bi-wing PT-17
Steerman. Then to Lakeland Florida with same type of plane. Then to
Cochran Field at Macon, Georgia flying the AT-6 Texan. January 1945 I
was given check flight by a Captain and one by a Major. (I had my
pilot’s license before joining the Air Corps.) The Major said I did OK
but they had too many pilots and I was put in the Army Infantry. I went
to Gainesville, Texas for infantry training. Finished training and went
to New Jersey and then by train to Pittsburg, California and shipped out
June 1, 1945 for the Philippine Islands.
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