"Several weeks later I was sent to Kindley Field, Bermuda, where I spent the rest of the war maintaining radio equipment for transatlantic transport planes shuttling supplies and men to Europe and bringing wounded from Europe to hospitals in the USA."
Dick in Bermuda in 1944
It was a pleasant assignment. I received several promotions and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant.
I saw many notables in Bermuda, including Eisenhower, Admiral King and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt had a C-54 transport with an elevator in the belly of the plane to lift him in, because he was disabled with polio as a young man.
Dick's photo's of General Eisenhower about to board his plane, the "Sunflower II"
The Sunflower II was a U.S. Army-C-54E with AAF SER.NO. 44-9146. Withdrawn from use
and stored on Jul 11, 1972 at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ.
Bought by Dross Metals, Inc Nov 6, 1975 and broken up.
As shown above, he had a permit to shoot.
Dick standing 2nd row underneath port side nose landinggear door. On the back he mentions 2 names; Stanley Pajak and Eddie Simon. No indication as to who they are.
The Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster serial number 42-72607, shown above, was part of the 1389th AAF Base Unit (Foreign Transport Station), organized at Kindley Fld under the North Atlantic Division, Air Transport Command (later the Atlantic Division, ATC) on 1 Aug 1944 to replace Station 17, North Atlantic Wing, ATC.
When the war ended I flew home on New Years Eve and was home a few days, then reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey for discharge.
Dick's WWII Honorable Discharge papers
It was a fascinating encampment with soldiers from all branches of the Army being readied for release into civilian life. There were ski-troops, paratroopers, hardened battle veterans from Europe and Asia and the Pacific, all yearning to go home. Many had never been home since induction and were really impatient.