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Burt Vardeman

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The B-24 air base was near Foggia in Italy but the base for their fighter escorts was much closer to the front. Radio operator Burt Vardeman describes how they would rendezvous and proceed to the target. It was late in the war and the threat from German fighters was diminishing. (3:42)

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The pilots hated it and so did all the crews. If a mission was scrubbed, they were supposed to land with their bomb load intact. The policy was sometimes different but Burt Vardeman went through a nerve wracking experience when his plane came in with a full load and the nose wheel gave way. (6:53)

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B-24 radio operator Burt Vardeman fondly remembers the Italian locals who lived in the village near his air base. They were kind and helpful and, after the war, his squadron returned the favor. (2:39)

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Burt Vardeman was a B-24 crewman who had a great deal of respect for the soldiers and sailors he felt had a rougher time than he did. He expected to go to the Pacific after VE Day but he got some good news while recuperating in Miami. (4:44)

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Where was this Pearl Harbor? Burt Vardeman was still in high school when the sneak attack occurred and when he graduated in 1943, he became one of the many draftees called up for the fight. (5:31)

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An aptitude for radio put draftee Burt Vardeman on a track to become a crewman in the Army Air Corps. Once he learned radio he had to learn gunnery and then he became part of a B-24 crew. He was the only Southerner but he learned to get along with the Yankees. (4:46)

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Would it be Europe or the Pacific? When Burt Vardeman's crew was sent to Virginia, they knew it would be Europe. They crossed the Atlantic on a Liberty ship and went ashore in Italy. They would be flying their bombing missions from there. (5:27)

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It happened right in front of him. On his very first mission, B-24 radio operator Burt Vardeman saw a plane up ahead in the formation explode from a direct hit by a flak shell. I'm never going to get home, he thought. (5:30)

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They were nearly all high altitude missions but, occasionally, there would be a low level target. Burt Vardeman recalls a mission targeting the Brenner Pass during which the plane was actually the target of flak fired from above. (4:21)

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Burt Vardeman was at his waist gun when one of the fighter escorts flew close enough to see the pilot's face. Was that a black pilot? He really got an eye opening experience when his plane developed engine trouble and had to crash land at what turned out to be the base of the Tuskegee Airmen. (7:17)