Geneseo Voices: WORLD WAR II
PHOTO BY KRIS DREESSEN
Robert T. McDonald ’50 holds the flag that a Japanese pilot gave him during his service in Tokyo.
Robert T. McDonald ’50 Sergeant, 14th Army Air Corps Flying Tigers, 1943-1946 trained as a tail gunner on a B24 heavy bomber. Our regular routine was to bomb at 30,000 feet. We had to wear oxygen masks and cold-weather gear at those altitudes. In 1944, we got word to train for a special mission and new type of fly-
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ing in the jungle. The Japanese invaded northern China and we were going to bomb intelligence and smaller targets, from as close as 500 feet. The idea was right but the plane wasn’t maneuverable enough. In August 1945, we were sent to Okinawa to help with the impending invasion of Tokyo, but the war ended so we didn’t have to do it. Before America dropped the atom bombs, my squadron dropped leaflets, telling the Japanese that we had some new apparatus that we were going to use and we advised them to surrender. Just after the bombings, I flew an observation mission over Nagasaki. It was just wiped off the earth. It was the eeriest thing I’ve ever seen. After the war, Army Air Force personnel took over Japanese airports. I was in charge of a motor pool in Tokyo. The Japanese realized they had lost the war and part of their job was to cooperate, and they did. One Japanese soldier who cleaned our barracks had been a lieutenant pilot; every
pilot carried a Japanese flag with them. When I got my orders to ship out, he asked if I’d be interested in taking his flag as a gift because he appreciated the way my friends and I took care of him. He gave me a feeling that he felt it was too bad the war ever happened. I thought it was a natural thing to accept it. I have kept the flag. I had two brothers. We were all Army Air Force sergeants. I trained with my older brother, William, in Colorado. He was a junior at SUNY Geneseo when he enlisted. He was shot down in Austria about two weeks before the war ended. He was a nosegunner; that’s where his ship was hit. He, the co-pilot and the navigator went down. The others bailed out and lived. That was pretty hard for me. I was home on furlough when we got the telegram that he was missing in action. The American Red Cross didn’t want families to lose more than one member, so maybe I would not have had to go to China on those missions. But I went. I didn’t want to let my crew down. My parents still had great hopes that my brother would be found, but it never happened. For five years, we had to sweat it out before they finally found his remains in Austria. We were given his dog tags. He was 22. Residents in the small town of Annaberg had buried William and his crew in a common grave outside of a church. They took care of him. His remains are now buried in Arlington National Cemetery. One of my desires is to go to Annaberg before I get too much older. This is the most I’ve ever talked about my experiences in World War II. It’s hard to explain experiences to someone who wasn’t there. And, the real heroes are the ones who didn’t come back. The reason I am sharing now is that two years ago, I went on an Honor Flight to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., with other veterans. Some guys needed escorts. Many of those escorts were young, and lots of young students greeted us at the airport gates. I had never seen so many young people involved in a veteran activity. That got me thinking. I already told some of the veterans who have talked in schools that I will go with them next year. I think the young people deserve to know what we went through.