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Training:
Hondo, TX
Lincoln, NE
Salt Lake City
Alexandria, LA
part 3
England
Glatton Air Base
B-17 Bombers
Sept 10, 1944
Uncertainty and Mourning
Memorials
References
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Research
What do
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Other references
to the 457th
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books, articles,
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Clarence (Frank
C.) Seeber
28th Division
103rd FSB
AEF, WWI |
This document follows the war time experience of
Glen E. Seeber, based upon his letters home, and other historical research.
It is presented chronologically.
Text in blue and black refers to information
gleaned primarily (but not exclusively) from family history. Items in blue
boxes, and in green text, are provided for historical context, and have been
research separately. Documents and images within the blue boxes are not part
of Glen's heritage have been acquired through other sources.
Chronology part 1
Before the War
Born March 6, 1924, Glen was the son of Clarence and Anna Seeber of Great
Bend, Kansas. Glen had a sister, and two brothers: Shirley, Harlan, and
Dean, all of which survive to this day (2007)
High School
Diploma
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Senior Picture
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Senior Yearbook1941
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Yearbook 1941
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Yearbook 1941
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Yearbook 1941
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Yearbook 1941
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Yearbook 1941 |
Yearbook 1941
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Commencement |
Commencement |
While in High School,
Glen participated in
Football, Track, and B club. |
College, 1942
Glen enlisted in November 20th, 1942, but was not
immediately called to duty. Early in the war, a man could enlist and
designate the part of the service he wanted to serve in. Glen chose the Army
Air Corps.
Wichita University 1942
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Yearbook 1942
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Yearbook 1942
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In 1942, Glen went to Wichita
University, where is played
on the Freshman football
squad. Among other classes,
he took classes in geology,
a degree his brother Dean
would later earn from
the University of Oklahoma. |
College Geology
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College Geology
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Kansas City - February, 1943
February 2, 1943
 . |
When Glen was "called up" to the Army Air Corp, in
February of 1943,
he made his way to Jefferson Barracks, Mo. by way of Kansas City,
Missouri
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Below is the Soldiers Oath from WWII
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Historical Context -
Aviation
Cadets
"In 1938, the Army Air Corp has 1300 Officers and 18,000 men,
with and additional 2800 officers and 400 men in the Reserve corps"
(Arnold, 1944, pg 39). And yet in 1943, that number had grown to an
astounding 2,373,882
(ibid). General Arnold had been given an impossible job. How do you train
an army of several million men in the space of a few short years.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, Air Cadet training was given a priority as a
major part of defending the United States. The U.S. had been depended
upon the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as protection against enemy's
attack. Germany's attack against Britain (The Battle of Britain) was
a wake up call for the United States (Craven and Cate, 1955).
Part of the renewed defense strategy was the
Aviation Cadet Training Programs - a larger part of an air defense
against enemy air attacks from across the oceans, which were no
longer seen as a "fortress wall" defending the U.S.
In October of 1942 the Army Air Force started a full court
press to fill it's ranks will high quality personnel (Dillon, 2004).
Although the draft was instated for WWII, early in the war a
man could get a deferral by volunteering for one of the branches of
the service (Gawne, 2006). Preference was given to the Air
Corps through, so many signed up. This created a back log of
personnel, so many were not immediately "called up" after
enlistment, as was the case for Glen Seeber. As you will see, below,
this also had a direct hand in the creation of the
Aircrew
College Training program. As the war progressed, a recruits
ability to "select his branch of service" was ended.
Army Air Corps
Training
Air Corps training consisted of sequences of
posting, or schools, in 3 parts (from Craven and Cate, 1955; and
Arnold, 1944):
Part 1:
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Basic Training - approximately 4 weeks
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Aircrew College Training - variable, up to 5 months
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Classification
Part 2:
following classification was specialized
training for Pilots, Navigators, Bombardiers, etc.
Navigator training consisted of:
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Preflight School - 10 weeks
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Gunnery School - 6 weeks
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Navigator School - 20 weeks
Part 3: Finally, Air Unit Training/Air
Crew Training
This is the training with the actual crew. It lasted up tp 90 days,
and taught the crewman to work with his new team, and taught the
team to work as a unit with other air crews in formation.
Often there was another yet one last bit of
training - and that was after the air crew reached it's overseas
base. It would the train before being deployed on its first mission.
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Jefferson Barracks, MO - February,
1943
Induction and Indoctrination
Jefferson Barracks is a military post located on the
Mississippi River in the extreme Southern reaches of St. Louis, Missouri.
It has served as a staging area for mustering of US troops since the
civil war. Glen was sent there primarily for induction and medical
examination/immunization. His biggest impression, however, appears to be
of the mud, which he reported to be a foot deep at one time, and two
feet deep on another occasion. It was also quite cold, with a lot of
snow, and at least one blizzard. While there, he contracted a light case of
pneumonia (with a temperature of 105 degrees), causing him to be separated from his new colleagues.
This must not have been unusual, because Jefferson Barracks was also
known as Pneumonia Gulch. (http://www.kasselmission.com/interviews/bean.htm)
In addition to the cold and the mud, other things made an
impression. When Glen arrived, the barracks did not have electric lights - this
just added to the general misery. On the bright side, Glen made several friends,
including Jim Beard. Jim remained a friend all the way through Navigation
training. Another bright point were the packages from home, including
cookies, a new wrist watch, and shoe polish! After a while, other cadets started
to get shipped to College Training Detachments (more below), including some in
Wichita, Kansas State, and Wisconsin.
Double click the images for larger,
readable sizes
 
Feb 4, 1943 |
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Historical Context -
Jefferson Barracks
Although Jefferson barracks had served
as a staging area for troops since the 1860s, it was reopened in
1940 as a replacement training center for the Air Corps. (Craven and
Cate, 1955). It's purpose was to provide basic training and
indoctrination for new recruits. Initially the training was
very superficial, with very little in the way of marksmanship,
survival, and bivouac. These were introduced throughout 1943 and
were fully in place by 1944 (ibid). At the time of the booklet shown below
(circa 1942) there were 11,000 men stationed at Jefferson Barracks,
which ultimately had a capacity of 25,000.
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cover - enhanced image |
Some GI's were also given
this booklet: "Take Your Post!". This was an "informal" booklet
meant to help the new soldier adjust from civilian life to that of a
soldier.
 
Meet "Jeef Barracks" Orientation Booklet
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Eau Claire, Wisconsin - March/April, 1943
301st College Training Detachment (aircrew)
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In 1943, many colleges all over the United States were
inducted into the war effort. Glen took a troop train to Eau Claire Wisconsin, home
of Eau Claire State Teachers College. There he joined
about 300 cadets - quite a large group considering the college itself had an
enrollment of only 500-700!. The college consisted of a single building, and the
Cadets effectively took over the ground floor of the building for classes, and
the barracks was in the gymnasium (later, barracks were built on campus). As a
side note, Glen's was one of the first classes to arrive. Eau Claire had an
agreement with the Government in February of 1943, but no contract until March
31st (Carter and Jenswold, 1976) - even though students had already
arrived...including Glen! His post cards In addition to military training, he attended classes in English,
History, Geography, and Physics. During the time, he was promoted to Corporal of
the training cadre (although still "officially" a private) where he started to
learn some leadership skills. Sometime during this period, he actually started
flying at the airport located about one mile south of the College, and practiced various maneuvers including take-offs and landings. These
flying lessons were given by the Civil Aeronautics Association, which
was tasked with giving cadets basic flight instruction at some of the
universities. He
discovered he loved flying. He also wrote of problems with his knee, and
mentioned a tumor. Often his knee would hurt on long marches. He was afraid that
if he complained, he would be barred from flying or even discharged. It was here
that he also learned of "Gigs", or demerits. These were 'black marks' for doing
something wrong. Too many and you could be thrown out of the program!
On a final note, it appears that each Cadet had a host family within Eau Claire.
Glen mention dinners and church with his host family. He also praised Eau
Claire, stating that they had adopted the men and given them the "Keys to the
City". A common theme during the WWII era.
This phase ended as Glen was ordered to Santa Ana for
"classification and then on to preflight". On a final note, according
to Carter and Jenswold (1976), and evaluation by the Western Training Command
(Santa Ana) placed the graduates of the 301st CTD in the top 10% of all the
Colleges in the Western Flying Command. A fitting tribute to the men, the
teachers, and the College.
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Historical Context - Aircrew
College Training
Although in 1939 programs were
established in several colleges as part of the Air Cadet
program, relatively few men were in these programs.
Meanwhile, the AAF had, by December, 1942. 93,000 men who had
enlisted for the Army Air Corps who had not been called up (Dillon,
2004). This was upsetting the selective service board, and several
key Congressmen (Craven and Cate, 1955). General Arnold proposed
that they be "called up" and sent to college. In January 1943
the Secretary of War set these plans in motion. By April 1943,
60,000 men were in detachments at over 150 colleges. As Craven and
Cate state on page 563: "The college program, to put it bluntly,
came into existence not so much to meet an educational need as to
hold a backlog of aircrew candidates".
Recruits were taught basic college courses
(math, physics, geography, English) as well as Military regulations,
drill, inspections, custom and courtesies. Interestingly, although
the program did offer flight training via the Civil Aeronautics
Administration, this was actually considered a waste of time by the
AAF, but was required by the War Department! The College program
started shrinking by November of 1943 and was eliminated in July of
1944
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Classification and Preflight
Santa Ana, California - May, 1943-September,
1943
Air Cadet
Squadron 93, Flight C
 
Santa Ana was a air base with no runways, airplane or hangers!
(The
California State Military Museum: Santa Ana Army Air Base) It's
purpose was to determine to what specialty the cadet would qualify. Upon arrival, candidates were subjected to two weeks of exams
(physical and other) and would then be classified as Pilot, Navigator, or
Bombardier. Glen put in for Navigator as his number one choice. His reasoning
was that Navigator's learned to both navigate AND pilot a plane, much better than
learning to only be a pilot. Also, Navigators could also train as Bombardiers,
and could become first Lieutenant faster than Pilots! Finally, he thought that
Navigator would be more useful as a peacetime occupation.
Glens shirt from Santa Ana |
silk handkerchief |
On May 28th he received word that he would be trained as a
Navigator! Glen was ecstatic. Into June and July Glen went through preflight
school, where he studied Navigation,
Chemical Warfare, Aircraft Identification, Math, Gunnery and Naval
Identification. Finally, at then end of July, his class graduated preflight, only to be given bad
news; they would be held at Santa Ana for 4 or more weeks. During that period
Glens squadron performed miscellaneous tasks from construction work, to washing
windows, to working
the communications center. It started to get old, really fast,
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Squadron 93 Graduation party
7 July, 1943, Beverly Hills, California
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It was not all work an no play, however. Glen went into Los Angeles
many times, and frequented several Hollywood hotspots, including the Brown
Derby. The squadron had a party at the Beverly Wilshire, with "girls from
Columbia Pictures Studio". He found time to data a girl named Barry, and a girl
named Carolyn, but end the end, his heart belonged to his Kansas sweetheart,
Joan. He also found time to play on the Softball team.
Although the base had no runways, the skies were full of
military aircraft. Glen say B-17's, B-24's, P-38's, P-47's and many military
blimps. Mock dogfights among the P-38's were common. Glen reported four
different P-38 crashes while he was posted at SAAAB.
Finally, word came of his next assignment, gunnery school in Las Vegas.
| Preflight training consisted of 10
weeks of training, including "48 hours of code; 28 hours of
mathematics; 24 hours of maps and charts; 30 hours of aircraft
recognition, 12 hours of principles of flight, 20 hours of
aero-physics; 9 hours of altitude equipment" (Arnold, 1944) |
Santa Ana Aviation Cadet |
War Dept Santa Ana
June 3, 1943 |
Letter Santa Ana June 13
pg 1 |
Letter Santa Ana June 13
pg 2 |
Letter Santa Ana June 13
pg 3 |
Letter Santa Ana Aug 28
pg 1 |
Letter Santa Ana Aug 28
pg 2 |
Letter Santa Ana Aug 28
pg 3 |
Letter Santa Ana Aug 28
pg 4 |
Santa Ana August 1943
mini-Golf |
Santa Ana August 1943
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Santa Ana August 1943
with Bradford Shepard
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Santa Ana August 1943
with Bradford Shepard |
Letter Santa Ana Sept 6
pg 1 |
Letter Santa Ana Sept 6
pg 2 |
Letter Santa Ana Sept 6
pg 3 |
Letter Santa Ana Sept 6
pg 4 |
Life Insurance June 1943
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Newspaper
Santa Ana Aug 1943
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PostcardSantaAna2Aug1943front.jpg
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PostcardSantaAna2Aug1943back.jpg
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Historical Context - Army Air Bases
and Santa Ana Air base
Just as General Arnold needed was
tasked with growing the number of personnel in the Army Air
Force, the number of airbases grew as well. In 1939 there
were just 17 airbases. By the end of the war, there were 783
airfields and training bases which graduated over224,000 pilots,
46,000 navigators, and 280,000 gunners (Thole, 2003).
airfields and bases 1939
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airfields and bases 1943
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Santa Ana Army Air Base
One such air base was Santa Ana Army
Air Base (SAAAB). The base officially opened March 8, 1942,
although cadets started arriving in February (Edrick, 1988) and
the Classification Center officially opened in June of 1942
(Craven and Cate, 1955). SAAAB graduated 23,479 cadets in 1942,
and in 1943 it graduated 57,895 (Edrik, 1988). |
Santa Ana gate |
Cadets
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Mess Hall |
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SAAAB - From the 1943 Yearbook
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Blimp, as seen near
Santa Ana Air base
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Souvenir Book Cover
Santa Ana
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Flexible Gunnery School
Las Vegas, Nevada - September,
1943-October, 1943
Student Squadron No. 8, Class 43-44
A.A.F.
Flexible Gunnery School
 
from Glen's letterhead
Glen's next assignment was Las Vegas Flexible Gunnery School. Flexible
gunnery referred to moveable, as opposed to fixed, guns on the aircraft used to
defend against enemy fighters (Arnold, 1944). Flexible Gunnery School
established to teach aerial gunnery to aircrew members. Glen arrived mid-September and was immediately struck by the
tremendous heat. He was also unimpressed by the scenery. In his words
"All you
can see is desert sand and mountains, mile upon mile". This was offset by his joy at the abundance of military aircraft:
B-17, AT-6, B-34, B-26, P47 and the new F6F Hellcat.
Glen seemed especially impressed by the B-17. Glen slowly adjusted to the heat,
and even carved out an area he dubbed "Seeber's Sahara".
During gunnery training recruits
went from BB guns, to shooting skeet on the ground, to shooting skeet from
moving trucks, machine guns on the ground, to machine
guns in the air. At one point Glen hit 50 of 75 clay pigeons from a moving
truck, a very good score. He commented that rabbit hunting back home should NOT
be a problem any more. About 2/3 of the way through the training, Glen
moved from the ground to the air phase (actually shooting from a moving plane).
At this point the trainees moved to another camp called Indian Springs. Glen
trained in an AT-6 at this point. During one mission he scored 44 out of 200,
high score for the group. Perhaps it was the yellow ammunition, which he hoped
would bring him good luck (different recruits had ammunition with different
colored paint - that way the hits could be scored). Near the end of
training, Glen returned to the main base, where he trained on B-17's - he was
very impressed.
An interesting note. The stereotype of stripping and
reassembling the 50 caliber machine gun during training was true, as noted in
one of Glen's letters:
"We has a test yesterday on the cal .50 machine gin where
we has to detail strip it and put it back together blindfolded. There are about
75 parts. You can see it was not easy."
Upon Graduation at the very beginning of November, Glen was
awarded his Aerial Gunner Wings.
Postcard Las Vegas front
Sept 3,1943 |
Postcard Las Vegas rear
Sept 3,
1943 |
Postcard Las Vegas front
Sept 3, 1943 |
Postcard Las Vegas rear
Sept 3,
1943 |
Las Vegas Gunnery Logo |
Las Vegas Gunnery Logo 2 |
Letter Las Vegas
Sept 22 pg 1 |
Letter Las Vegas
Sept 22 pg 2 |
Letter Las Vegas
Sept 22 pg 3 |
Letter Las Vegas
Sept 22 pg 4 |
Letter 1 Las Vegas
Sept 26 pg 1 |
Letter1 Las Vegas
Sept 26b pg 2 |
Letter2 Las Vegas
Sept 26 pg 1 |
Letter 2 Las Vegas
Sept 26 pg 2 |
Letter 2 Las Vegas
Sept 26 pg 3 |
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Postcard Las Vegas front
Oct,
1943 |
Postcard Las Vegas rear
Oct, 1943 |
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Postcard Las Vegas 3 Oct 1943 |
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Historical Context -
Las Vegas Flexible Gunnery School
What is Aerial Gunnery? - From the Las Vegas Army Air
Field Year Book, 1943:
At the
beginning of the war, the US had no training facilities for
aerial gunnery. So in the summer of 1941, a group of officers
was sent to England to learn how to set up such a school (Craven
and Cate, 1955). Meanwhile the Army picked a site at
the old airport north of Las Vegas, and established the Las Vegas Army Air Corps
Gunnery School.
The mission of the new school, (located on
the new Las Vegas Army Air Field), was defined as “training of
aerial gunners to the degree of proficiency that will qualify
them for combat duty."
Fact
Sheet: Ellis AFB) At the height of World
War II, 600 gunnery students and 215 co-pilots graduated from LVAAF every five weeks.
In fact, in 1943, the school graduated 9117 gunners (Craven and
Cate, 1955, pg 472) The school closed in 1949, and was reopened
as the Nellis Air Force base in 1950.
Gunnery Training
Training
started initially Skeet shooting (with a shotgun). This taught a
student how to "lead" a target. Students also were taught
marksmanship with .22 caliber rifles and BB guns. Things got
tougher having the student stand on the back of a moving truck,
and then shoo skeet at a target flying from either direction.
The student them graduated to the ground turret, with machine
guns mounted in a turret shooting (often) at towed flags.
Finally, in the air the student would shoot at towed targets.
First in simple maneuvers, then in more complex maneuvers.
True to the classic WWII movies, students REALLY DID have to be
able to strip and reassemble the .50 caliber machine guns
blindfolded! (Craven and Cate, 1955, pg 591) AND Glen Seeber's
letters - see above.
I recommend the film
The Rear Gunner, WWII: Air War, Volume I,
National Archives, Topics Entertainment, Renton, WA,
2006. It a bit "campy", but it does a great job demonstrating
the training of an aerial gunner.
Jam Handy was a series of
projection based tools used to teach aircraft identification
Smoking was a common pastime, so
matchbooks were common, including the horned toad mascot
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Furlough - November 3-November 13,
1943
Glen graduated from gunnery school, and was granted leave in
early November. He took leave back with family in Kansas.
Next Stage....Navigation Training.....
or, as part of Glen's Training, he ended up
all over the continental US.
Just click on the base you want to jump to....
B-17 B17 tail gunner mighty 8th
eigth air force army air corp base glen glenn seeber hondo Las vegas Eau
Claire Jefferson Barracks flexible gunnery santa ana eau claire
alexandria salt lake army air base salt lake |
