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Hugo Riva

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After a bombing mission, there was always brandy and a debriefing. Hugo Riva reveals that every B-17 at that point in the war had cameras aboard. That put a stop to gunners inflating their numbers. When new fighters were brought in as escorts, the bomber crews could breathe a little bit easier. (4:29)

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It was a big stink if you accidentally popped your chute on the ground during a pre-flight inspection. Hugo Riva recalls one man who wanted to make sure he didn't have that happen to him again. (2:43)

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The bombing missions could be long and monotonous. Once you got to the target, though, it could be deadly. They flew at high altitude and Hugo Riva describes the measures that had to be taken against the cold. (4:27)

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Hugo Riva did write home to his family and his girlfriend but, like most of the fellows, he would much rather get letters than write letters. When he got home after the war he went into the restaurant business and was quite successful. (6:12)

Ira Bray

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Ira Bray recalls the process of how he repeatedly tried to enlist during World War II but was repeatedly turned down, only to be drafted afterwards. (2:47)

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Ira Bray, while training to be a combat engineer, remembers how a stalled truck saved his life. (1:33)

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During a live-fire training exercise, Ira Bray remembers a phosphorous grenade being accidentally thrown towards him and his fellow trainees instead of a smoke grenade. He quickly tried to protect his fellow troops, leaving himself with painful phosphorous burns on his fingers and elbow. (2:12)

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While training in England, Ira Bray talks about his experiences with German V-1 and V-2 rockets. He remembers being blown across the room by an explosion, helping evacuate patients from a hospital destroyed by a rocket, and losing one of his good friends, Bert Jones, to a V-2 explosion. (2:28)

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While stationed near the border of France and Germany in 1945, Ira Bray describes how he happened upon three German officers, the first Germans his unit had seen, and was able to take them prisoner. (2:02)

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Ira Bray talks about how American Jeep drivers had a habit of driving with their windshields down, which led to a nasty German trick of running piano wire neck-high across roads. The Americans, in turn, devised a means to disable the wire without having to raise their windshields. (1:21)