Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
2:49 | He wasn't there yet, but aviation cadet Jack Holmes knew what the situation was in Italy, where American B-24's were trying to knock out the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. They had to run a gauntlet of German fighters and flak. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
Keywords : Jack Holmes Italy Ploiesti Romania fighter flak slave labor Oil Fields Ploesti
Jack Holmes was a teenage usher in a movie theater when the movie was stopped and the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor was made. His friends began to be drafted into the Army but he had a different plan. He wrote a letter explaining his desire to be in the Air Corps and it actually worked.(This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
He was hampered as an aviation cadet because he had no physics in high school, but Jack Holmes was lucky to be assigned to the College Training Detachment, where he became a good student. It wasn't long before he got to take his solo flight. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
He was at flight school when his bride came to meet him and get married. There was just one problem, Jack Holmes needed a weekend pass. Once that was behind him, he started noticing that the classes were getting much smaller. It was washout time. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
He had washed out of flight school, but as a crewman on a B-24, Jack Holmes operated out of Italy. His base was in a well to do area, but the people had very little food, so he and his buddies did what they could to help. He flew with a special squadron supporting the OSS and supplying partisans fighting in the mountains. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
When flyers operating out of Italy were shot down and managed to make it to safety in Czechoslovakia, the men of Jack Holmes B-24 squadron were often their unknown rescuers. The squadron supported the OSS and would drop an agent in to make contact. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
A nineteen year old doesn't think of such things, but Jack Holmes at nineteen was based in Italy very near the leaning tower of Pisa. He now regrets never having seen it. He does remember a very jolly fellow flier there who followed an unusual path later in life. (This interview made possible with the support of SFC DALEY C. RUSSELL SR. USA (RET).)
