Bombs Bursting in Air
RECOLLECTIONS OF A WORLD WAR II PILOT.
As if it happened yesterday, Ed “Bud” Berthold describes in detail the saga of flying a B-24 bomber in World War II, tells of his regret for not staying close to his 10-man crew and talks about the celebrity who was a beloved part of his bomb group.
His bright blue eyes sparkling, Berthold runs through his flight record from World War II. He glances now and then at the original records dated May through July 1944 and gives the details of dates, mission lengths and specific assignments.
When his time as a pilot in the 445th Bomb Group of the Army Air Corps was complete, he had flown 35 bomber missions, at times dropping bombs through thick clouds and enemy fire.
“Sometimes we’d drop [bombs] through the clouds using instruments and sometimes we could see what we were doing,” Berthold said. “They were flying more frequent missions to build up for D-Day.”
Sparing no detail, Berthold is glad to tell his story of heroism, saying it’s important to keep history alive for today’s kids. The metals he received, including the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying 35 missions, are just a portion of what Berthold has carried with him the past 64 years. His memories of the times when he did not know what the next day would bring will also never leave him—including the time danger was so imminent, the mission had to be aborted.
“We could see explosions way out in front of us,” he said. “Obviously planes were colliding. We were told to take a degree turn to separate [from the other plane] so you didn’t run into each other.”
A KID FROM CHICAGO
Born on the northwest side of Chicago, Berthold talks lovingly of his mother, who raised her three kids alone after her husband’s death.
“My mom did such an excellent job raising me and my two sisters,” he said. “I don’t know how she did it.”
Berthold graduated from Shurz High School in 1937. He was working at Electrolux in Joliet when his life changed.
“Pearl Harbor happened, and that’s the beginning of the story,” he said.
With no desire to join the army, Berthold went to a Chicago recruiting station and signed up with the Army Air Corps (now the Air Force).
He was forced to sell his brand new Chevy, which he bought for $1,000.
After months of waiting, he finally got notice to go to Union Station.
“I had orders to get on the train to go to Santa Ana, California [for pre-flight training],” he said. “If you couldn’t fly the airplane in 10 hours, you were washed out.”
Berthold flew for the first time with just seven training-hours. That was followed by 60 hours of flight training, then basic training. Finally, after a long delay because of mechanical issues and weather problems, he was assigned to the 445th Bomb Group and left for England.
FLYING THE B-24
Berthold discovered his fate for the next mission in the briefing room.
“The longest missions were to Germany,” he said, adding some missions took seven hours. “Whenever it was Germany, you heard everybody moan. That was generally where the most enemy aircraft was.”
On May 15, 1944, Berthold and his crew bombed an enemy launch-site. The mission he said, “was to hit one of those launch sites for those buzz bombers—a V-1 launch site.” Describing buzz bombers as bombs with wings, he said, “They were just trying to target London.”
Although the B-24s he flew were sometimes hit, “it never caused any mechanical problems,’’ Berthold said. “We were lucky.”
As a safeguard, Berthold and the other enlisted pilots had passport-type pictures taken in suits, “so if you were shot down, the underground could help you get out,” he said, showing a copy of the three passport photos of himself as a young pilot.
His crew was on such a streak the men decided to pass up rest and relaxation due to them halfway through their 35 missions.
“We voted as a crew and decided things were going good, so let’s keep flying,” he said. “When we came back we had r-and-r in Miami.”
The crew flew their 35 missions in 80 days. Berthold was discharged September 1, 1945, after three years of service.
LIFE AFTER WAR
After time in instructor’s school in Tennessee and some gunnery training, Berthold returned home. He worked in sales with Pacquin-Pfizer until about 1968 when he began a new venture managing a hair salon in Elgin. He and his wife, Jo, who he has been married to for 60 years, moved moved to Fox River Grove in 1966.
“I moved there temporarily,” he joked, adding it was a forced move after the commission from his sales job was taken away. “Because of the reduction in income I had to leave my house in Inverness. The farther out you came the cheaper the prices got.”
His career managing the Elgin salon in 1968 led to opening two other salons in Lombard and Streamwood, selling the last of the stores just a few years ago to retire.
Even after raising his two children and having a successful career, Berthold will always feel connected to his crew and the work they carried out together during the war.
“My biggest mistake is that after the war we didn’t keep in touch,” he said.
The 8th Air Force Historical Society in Morton Grove gives Berthold and other WWII vets the chance to meet and swap stories every month.
The one member of the 445th he has seen since the war was a celebrity.
“Jimmy Stewart was just leaving the bomb group when I got there,” he said. “He came back twice to our base just to see what was going on.”
Stewart was a squadron commander for the group. On a trip to Colorado years after the war, Berthold saw Stewart at the airport and reintroduced himself. The two ended up sitting next to each other on the plane.
“He really was a great guy,” Berthold said.