Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:55 | The trip home on the troop ship was no picnic for Alfred DePietro. A typhoon caused flooding where he was bunked and it was an ordeal to get everyone out of there. Still mystified at being recalled for Korea, he nevertheless states that had a hell of a good time in the military.
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He knew more than the civilian flight instructor and he let him know it. Alfred DePietro was shipped out the next day and he says he deserved it, thanks to his big mouth. It was off to Guam as a crew member for a flamboyant B-29 pilot who had a wild streak and a vicious pet monkey.
They were returning from a bombing mission to Okinawa and all of a sudden, there were flames everywhere in the B-29. Alfred DePietro and all the young gunners in the rear lined up at the door, ready to bail out. The pilot told him that, once they jumped, he was going to ditch the plane.
Alfred DePietro has often wondered why he did the things he did in combat. He concludes that, when you're so busy, you don't have time to be scared, you just react. That's what happened when he found himself face to face with a charging Japanese soldier.
He never was told why or how he was recalled to service for the Korean War, but Alfred DePietro crossed the Pacific again to fly out of Okinawa again. He flew in the lead plane, picking out a clean ground signal from enemy jamming. Once, when the bombs didn't drop, he headed into the bomb bay with his trusty screwdriver.
One of the duties of airmen in Korea was to provide close air support to Marines on the ground. They cheered and egged the flyers on to hit even closer. Alfred DePietro recalls those missions and then describes the concept of second sky. It was there he encountered the only enemy fighter plane he ever saw.
