Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day and while I know several members of the current armed services (We Love You Jess! Be Safe!) they are all alive and kickin' so by definition they don't qualify to be memorialized. My grandfather Fleming is probably the closest relative that I know that counts. He fought in World War 2 and his name is on a really neat War Memorial in Richmond, UT. If you are ever in that city you should go find it. Because he is buried in Richmond I wont be able to go to his grave so this is as close as I will get today.
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Your grandfather (William Hartley Fleming) never talked much about the time he spent in the military. But this much is known. He was an expert at using a telegraph key before heading off to WWII. He had this skill from working for the Union Pacific Railroad. Presumably because of this ability, he was eventually assigned to be an aircraft radio operator.
He was enlisted (drafted) in SLC in 1943. Then he was sent to Bozeman, MT in the air force (maybe air corps then). He took classes there, starting as a pilot trainer, but then in gunnery transferring to South Dakota. The whole squadron was changed from pilot training because the quota was filled. He was in South Dakota for about 6 months and then he was transferred to Yuma, AZ presumably for the radio operator training. His eyesight was not good enough to do the gunnery. He was transferred from Yuma to Victorville, CA early in 1945. He and mom got married in June of that year (in Berkeley, CA because that was where Dick and Lorena lived at the time). He was transferred to Reno, they moved there on July 4. He left for service in September of 1945, shipping out of Great Falls, MT. He was not able to get a flight out of Great Falls and ended up taking the train from there to somewhere in the southeast (maybe Atlanta). This resulted in him being two days late for arrival (two days of AWOL). He flew to Egypt (rode a camel there) and then India (Calcutta and Karachi). He was radio operator for planes there and there were more than 100 flights. The flights were moving troops out of India (from the east side to the west side). He flew into China on one occasion.
He returned to the US (landed in NYC) in May of 1946 and flew to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin to be decommissioned and arrived in Helena the 15th of May. So he was stateside during the war, and his active duty (late Sept. 1945-May 1946) was after the fighting was done. I don't know if he had any new friendships as a result of his time in the service. I don't know if he was ever in danger during the flying missions.
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