'Live everyday as if it may be your last:' WWII Eighth Air Force veterans share experiences
On October 8, 1943 John "Lucky" Luckadoo was on his 22nd mission with the 100th bombardment group, or the Bloody Hundredth, in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. Usually, on the later missions of a combat tour you think you're on the downhill side of going home, he said, but on that day, he really didn't think he was going to make it back.
"We were being aggressively attacked in a way we had never seen before," Luckadoo said. "I looked around, and of the 18 airplanes that entered the bomb run, six were still airborne. We lost 12 aircrafts just like that, shot out of the formation."
Luckadoo and the people in the remaining six aircrafts made it back, but Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Military. For the week leading up to it, the Mighty Eighth Airforce in Pooler held events to honor the 26,000 members of the Eighth Air Force who lost their lives during WWII.
Sunday afternoon they hosted a Q&A panel with four WWII veterans: Kenneth Beckman, a navigator with the 305th Bomb Group; Robert Buckler, a tail gunner with the 388th Bomb Group; Bruce Cook, a waist/ball gunner and toggler with the 379th Bomb Group, and the youngest of the four at 98; and Luckadoo, a pilot with the 100th Bomb Group, which the Apple TV + Series Masters of the Air is based on.
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"The series did a truly remarkable job of trying to convey to you, the viewer, somewhat of what it was like to fly a non-pressurized airplane, freezing to death at -50 degrees and -60 degrees below zero for hours on end, and how that so seriously impacted our ability to function," Luckadoo said. "The series is an epic. I think the series stands on its own merits."
The panelists talked about a range of topics - like where they were on D-Day, the invasion of Normandy by Allied troops in WWII. Buckler, for example, was in Sweden after bombing an aircraft factory in Poland.
"We couldn't make it back to England, so we stayed with the Swedes, and they treated us like we were one of their relatives," Buckler said. "We went back to the United States, and we thought we were going to finish our last two missions, but they told us that we broke International law by taking refuge in a neutral country in time of war before the war was over."
Buckler and the rest of his group were sworn to secrecy to protect the Swedish and stayed on that base until the end of the war, unable to do anything.
"Everywhere I go I try and stop somewhere and learn some World War II history, and I found this museum," said Ryan Nicholson, who recently moved to Georgia. "To hear World War II veterans be alive and to tell these stories, that's not on a recording, it's something you have to take advantage of. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I'm here to pay my respects."
The panel wrapped up with the moderator asking each of the panelists the advice they would give to younger generations after their 100 years of living.
"I'm frequently asked to speak to school children about my experience," Luckadoo said. "And I try to leave them with the feeling that war is folly. It's futile. We learn nothing from it, and we never learn from it. But my advice from 102-year-old me to you, is to live everyday as if it may be your last."
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: WWII Eighth Air Force Veterans share experiences, give advice
