The Lobo Tank Busters
By: Stan Jordan
We are going down to the area of Duren Germany, one of their better middle size cities. This city has been bombed time and time again and is pretty much destroyed. But it is still a big, busy railroad yard.
This place is well guarded by automatic anti–aircraft weapons. We could see the fire and smoke from the weapons. I realized that this is no placed to hang around.
I flew the whole length of that train from end to engine with my machine guns raking everything on the train. I fired two rockets at the engine because I knew we would not be able to make another pass. The first rocket hit the coal tender and it separated from the engine and skidded over on its side. My other rocket hit the rear of the engine and it just blew it apart and then the boiler exploded. Oh, what a good job on that engine!
I flew on about 10 miles out of town and ended up at about 1000 feet altitude. The other boys picked out another train and had about the same luck I did. We discussed the whole situation and knew we could not make another pass on that railroad yard, we knew the anti-aircraft outfits would be waiting for us.
Someone said over the radio, “Over on the right it looks like an old airbase.” Then I returned and said, “I believe you’re right. Let’s go in all four abreast and drop back to 250 mph.” We done just that, and I saw a DORNIER, two engine bomber, sitting on the right side of the runway. I touched off a rocket and it hit that bomber on the wing, up close to the fuselage. It must have been full of fuel because it burst into fire. That plane was engulfed in flames almost at once.
Lt. Barnes said he caught a JU52, that is a stuka dive bomber, in his sights and when he left, that plane had exploded and was burning on the ground.
We had been in the area long enough so we turned back, heading toward home to our air base at Anthony, France. We stayed right down on the ground and pushed the throttle all the way forward. We have had a lot of luck today, so don’t push it any farther. We will come back another day.
See ya!
More On The Snowy Owl
By: Stan Jordan
A few days ago I got a call from Mickey Hertle Dunakin. That day my cell phone wasn’t working very well, but it was an interesting and informing call on the snowy owl. Mickey is a long time member of a couple of Ohio’s bird watching and conservation groups.
We talked at length about the snowy owl here in the Paulding County area. She tells me the snowy owl is native to northern Michigan, but they will migrate this far south searching for food. They nest on the ground, but not here in Paulding County.
I have read in some of my books that the snowy owl needs to eat 14 lemmings a day to maintain its strength. A lemming is quite a bit like our common mouse. She figures the winters get bad in their homeland and this area in Paulding County suits their life style and has enough mice to fill in for the lemmings.
The snowy owl will roam far and wide to find food and Mickey says the owls are here from about November to the first of April. Then they go back and nest in their favorite area.
My wife, Pauline, and I always thought that the same two pair of robins always came back to the farm year after year and nested in the same tree. Maybe the snowy owl does that also.
Mickey says the snowy owl is often seen over in the Gar Creek area and around Edgerton, Indiana area around the state line road, but they are only here in winter.
I know that Mickey only lives a short distance from the Maumee River and I asked her if she sees the eagles and she was quick to tell me that they see them often. The adults and the young, sometimes two or three that haven’t gotten their white head yet. She explained that is almost common place to see them, but it always exciting.
Mickey, it sure was nice talking to you, please call again.
See ya!
Me And The Cell Phone
By: Stan Jordan
If there are 270 million people in the United States, I think there are 270 million cell phones, also. It seems that everyone has their own cell phone, darn near anyhow.
When I was growing up, we didn’t even have a home phone. Grandma had one and if need be, we used it. I’m thinking it was $2.50 a month. The minimum light bill at that time was fifty cents and we didn’t leave the light on any longer than we had to.
Now, there are advantages to having a cell phone, and probably each person’s lifestyle sees it differently. In my case, I carry it at all times, it is my emergency button. Over the years I have fallen down a few times and I can’t get up by myself, so I call my son for help. I have even called the EMS a couple of times using the cell phone. I try to never be without it. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
I stop and think back how we got along without a cell phone for 80 years. Now, we wonder how we did it, but we did. After Pauline and I were married, we always had a phone and for a while even a CB radio.
Many families now all have their own phones. Mom and dad both work so they each have a phone. Each of the children have their own, because a teenage girl is not going to share her phone with her younger brother. In fact, I heard of a teenage girl who used the spot in her ear where she had it pierced for an earring put in a little U type hook and she hung her phone on her ear all the time. She didn’t have to stop talking and handle her phone.
Some people walk down the street talking on their phone. Some people talk on the phone while driving down the highway, a dangerous habit. Some people have the new smart phone, and they do away with some good family type discussions, because something comes up about the past and these folks just dial it up, the facts and figures on their phone. Suddenly they have done away with the old time cracker barrel discussions.
An old timer can’t win an argument anymore, a young boy can’t hide from his mom, a man can’t hide from his wife, but on the other hand if he forgets the grocery list he can call home from the store in an instant and doesn’t have to run back home.
Yes they have their advantages and disadvantages.
See ya!
