Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:24 | To the casual observer, Ubert Terrell was a crew chief on a C-47, but he had a secret second life as a clandestine operative in occupied Nazi territory. It all started when he disarmed an instructor and threw him off the stage at a demonstration. Then they found out he spoke multiple languages. This led to important intelligence gathering missions long before he officially flew into combat.
Keywords : Ubert Terrell North Africa military intelligence Keesler Field classified French language Spanish language Italian language France French underground German
He had some brothers who enlisted after Pearl Harbor, but Ubert Terrell had to be "invited" by the president to join up. He already knew how to handle a rifle because he had to hunt to put meat on the table.
After Ubert Terrell was drafted, he faced the usual barrage of aptitude tests. He did well and was sent to the Air Corps at Keesler Field, where he disarmed an instructor during a demonstration to such a humiliating degree, he was marked for something special. Then began a series of schools like aerial gunnery and aircraft mechanics.
Ubert Terrell was training to be a C-47 crew chief at the Douglas aircraft plant. While there, he also went to radio school and navigation school. He had absorbed enough knowledge about the airplane and it's controls that he was able to avert near disaster while flying with an inexperienced pilot. It was only his second time in an airplane.
The Army Air Corps had shuffled Ubert Terrell from school to school, based on his high aptitude test scores. He wound up as a thoroughly educated C-47 crew chief in the 100th Troop Carrier Squadron. He became good friends with a nucleus of men who were together through the war.
As a crew chief on a C-47, Ubert Terrell and his crew spent a lot of time training with paratroopers stateside before traveling to England to prepare for the big invasion. While there, he saw some of the devastation visited on London.
He would go to a designated place in Nazi occupied France and wait for a French Underground contact. Then, after gathering knowledge on German activities, he would make his way back to England. Ubert Terrell was in mortal danger on these missions and he was detained by German soldiers twice. They messed with the wrong guy.
