The Lobo Tank Busters
By: Stan Jordan
We downed three of those German radar towers east of Marsella in southern France. Then we flew on over to the Rome, Italy area and landed at the Spaghetti Air Base.
We were all pretty tired, so after supper, we sat around and talked awhile and then went to bed. We had some new type of food for supper called pizza pie and lasagna. We helped some crewmen refuel the planes and replenish our ammunition supply. Our rockets were here alright, but these men had never loaded any before, so we helped them and got the job done as we were not going to fly today anyhow.
One of the boys’ planes got a hit from a piece of tower shrapnel. It lodged inside of the fuselage, about half way back between the cock pit and the rudder, it lodged up against a stringer. He was very fortunate it didn’t tear up his wiring or hydraulic system.
Later on in the afternoon, we caught an army bus into Rome and visited some of the old area of the early Roman Empire.
We left the Spaghetti Air Base and climbed up to about 9000 feet and turned west headed for the southeast of southern France. For the last 50 miles, we dropped down to fly about 50 feet altitude and came right in, in a straight line. They were not expecting any planes coming in off the sea so the anti-air craft fire was sort of low at first.
We went up to about 500 feet altitude to be high enough to miss all the guy wires. We found three radar towers still standing and I put a rocket into the one leg of the right hand tower. It blew the leg apart but the tower was still standing with the aide of the guy wire.
Lt. Barnes was a little to my rear and put a rocket into the other leg and it was now leaning at a 45 degree list.
We went on over the land and rendezvoused at about 1000 feet. The other two pilots had about the same luck. All the towers were on about a 45 degree list. We dropped our speed a little and went back at them on a four plane front.
They were ready for us this time, and the anti-air craft fire was terrific. No time to worry about that, we had to get those towers down to the ground.
We knocked those towers all the way to the ground and even had a couple of rockets left and used those up on the communication shack. We climbed up to about 9000 feet and went to the north at about 300 mph and landed at Anthony Air Base in time for supper. We had an important mission and we got it done.
See Ya!
In Memoriam of Pauline Powell Jordan
By: Stan Jordan
This November 18, 2015, my fine wife, Pauline Powell Jordan, has been gone 4 years now. The tears will not let me write my feelings, so I will use a few lines from a song that was a hit back in the 1970’s by Marvin Rainwater, a hill and country singer. “I’m gonna find me a bluebird, have him sing me a song, cause I’m so lonesome since you are gone. Gonna chase me a rainbow, all over the blue cause I’m so lonesome without you.”
That time worn phase, “Gone but not forgotten” is certainly true here. The number eleven showed up a number of times in her life. She was born the eleventh month, the eleventh day, and the eleventh hour in 1925. After nearly 68 years of married life, she passed away the 18th day of the eleventh month of 2011.
See Ya!
Ronald Savage and Paulding County History
By: Stan Jordan
Ronnie was born in 1916 in Paulding County to Harry and Georgia and graduated from Antwerp High School in 1933. He passed away down in Saint Mary’s, Ohio on November 7, 2015 at the age of 99, but let me tell you a little about Ronnie, as I knew him well.
Back in 1939 and 1940 the war was going on over in Europe and things didn’t look good at all. Here in Paulding County, a lot of the young fellows belonged to the Ohio National Guard called the Company A, 148 Infantry Regiment.
Well, the government activated the Ohio 37th Division in 1940 and “A” Company was called also. Most of the boys were from Paulding County but also a few from Hicksville and Defiance. The boys were in the army a year before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
The boys trained in Camp Shelby, Mississippi and after the war started, they were sent to the south Pacific to the Fiji Islands. They saw combat at Guadal Canal, Henderson Field, the Solomon Islands, Leyte Gulf and in the Philippines and Manila.
Besides fighting the Japanese, they had to fight the jungle, the heat, the rain, the snakes, the insects and the mud.
To the best of my knowledge, Ronnie Savage left with the “A” Company and I think he was the only fellow still alive that left with “A” Company back in 1940. He was 99 years old. He married Wilma Miller in 1947 after he came back from the war. They had 4 children, 17 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren. His hobbies were playing cards, the American Legion Post 223, his dog SNO–B. He was also very good at working cross word puzzles.
Yes, indeed, that was the passing of an era.
See Ya!
The Stop Lines In Antwerp
By: Stan Jordan
I have growled to myself for a long time about the position of stop lines at the corner of East Canal and Erie Street. If you stay at the white line, in either direction of State Route 49, you cannot see around the corner. If you don’t stop before the line, you can get a ticket because you are wrong. The white line at the corner, while east bound is a delicate situation. If you go past the white line a little to see around the corner to the right, then maybe a big 18 wheeler coming from the right making a left onto Canal Street, might have to take off your bumper.
You see, that is a no win situation. You have to stop at the white line, not on it or past it. Common sense should prevail here.
The State Patrolman stopped this lady for that reason. She said “I did stop” “Yes, you did, but you went by the white line” He was very cordial about it, but also said it’s the law. Our young trooper was very friendly, he didn’t jerk the lady out of the car, and throw her on the ground on her belly then jump on her back and slap the handcuffs on her. No, he didn’t do that, he did something worse. He gave her a ticket and it cost her $130. That is more than a days pay. I think that trooper was wrong and went too far. She did stop, but she went across the white line, just like everyone else does. That is being a good driver. I think common sense should be used here.
Now, the scene changes to the corner of Main and River Street. There are four white lines at that intersection, and 3 of them are too close. If a big truck is coming from the east, west, or north and making a right turn, the car sitting at the white line has to back up. That would not be if the white line was about 10 feet to the rear of its present position. To me, just because the state put those lines there, does not mean they are in the right position.
It is not always possible for that first car to back up. Sometimes the line is too long and sometimes the person there is not with it and you can’t back up.
If you go west on Canal Street, one block from the ambush, where state route 49 turns right, an 18 wheeler has to swing to his left, over the yellow line and continue west, till almost the west side curb on Main Street, crossing a double yellow line, before he can negotiate that corner and follow state route 49.
Now, people traveling south on Main Street who see that big truck in their lane will slow up and pull over to their right and let that trucker straighten out his rig over on the correct side of the road.
Now, this is common sense driving, because if that policeman would follow the letter of the law here, he would have to arrest that truck driver for crossing the yellow line, each and every time a truck turns that corner.
You state patrol troopers do a fine, proper job out on the highway. Our own police people do a fine job here in town, they understand all the circumstances. Sometimes common sense over rules the letter of the law.
One time, back in 1775, I met Ben Franklin in Philadelphia and he said, “Stan, the sun will set tonight and thank goodness it will rise again in the morning. A new day is born at dawn.”
See Ya!
