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3
Our base was located approximately forty miles north of London near the towns of Hitchen and Royston, both in Hertfordshire County. We were about half way between the cities of Cambridge and Luton, England. Being just forty miles from London did not mean that our off time was spent there. Even though we did get to London on occasion, the majority of our off time was spent in Luton, and sometimes in Cambridge.
Being forty miles north of London, the ground personnel of our base, with few exceptions, did not encounter any enemy action other than repairing flak damage to the B-17 airplanes after the missions were completed and the airplanes returned to our base. Of course, the air crews met severe enemy action on every mission, including enemy fighter planes and anti-aircraft action which produced the flak damage. However, I can remember one instance when a B-25 bomber made an emergency landing at our base with two five-hundred pound bombs attached under its wings. I am not sure what was the nature of the emergency, but as I recall the B-25 was on fire when it landed at our base. The pilot jumped from the airplane while it was still rolling, and when it came to a stop, one of the bombs exploded, and the airplane was a total loss. The other bomb did not explode, and after the fire cooled, the second bomb was exploded by our demolition crews.
Another case I remember was when one of our B-17’s was severely hit by flak during a mission. It did return to our base, but its controls were so damaged that the pilot had a very difficult time trying to line up the airplane with the runway. Many of the station personnel, including me, were on the line watching the procedure.
After about four attempts at landing the aircraft, it was decided to fly it to an airbase in the northern part of England, where the runway was about three times wider than ours, and also longer. The airplane eventually landed safely at that airbase.
I personally came in contact with direct enemy action on two different occasions. The first time involved a Buzz-Bomb, which was sent to England with the intent of having it run out of fuel and drop on London. A Buzz-Bomb was a jet powered contrivance consisting of a five-hundred pound bomb with wings and a jet engine. Fuel was measured so that the bomb would give out of fuel over London and wreak havoc when it dropped onto the city. Apparently, the Germans put too much fuel in the Buzz-Bomb and it overshot its target. Our first knowledge of it coming our way was in the form of an alert over our Public Address system. Many people lined the taxiways to watch as it flew over our base. However, just as it got right over our heads at an altitude of about 100 feet, the engine quit. We all hit the ground and were as prone as possible. But the engine started up again and the bomb went about another mile or two before it hit the ground right in the middle of our bomb storage area, better known as our bomb dump. Fortunately, it landed in a clearing between the various classes of bombs stored there, and none of our bombs were affected.
My second direct encounter with enemy action was while I was visiting London. I was walking in Marble Arch, just across the street from Hyde Park, when a V-2 (or rocket) fell from the sky into Hyde Park. I believe the bomb load of the V-2 was a thousand pound bomb. When it exploded about a thousand feet from me, it knocked me from my feet and I landed on top of a fat woman (of which there were very few in England during the war), but neither one of us was hurt. However, there were casualties in the park, and much chaos.
After the war ended in Europe, they turned the lights back on all over the country. I happened to be in London on that particular day (I think about a week after the war ended) and witnessed the event in Piccadilly Circus. There were thousands of people there, and everyone was in a gay mood. It was quite a sight to see the lights come on at the various businesses there, since the blackout had lasted so long.
My return to the United States, in June 1945, was accomplished by way of the huge ship Queen Elizabeth. We sailed out of Scotland for the United States and it took just three days to cross the Atlantic ocean. After indoctrination at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, I returned home to Savannah, Georgia, for my thirty days of rest and recuperation.
The 398th was scheduled to continue in effect and be shipped to the Pacific area to aide in the war against Japan, which was still going on. Our point of re-organization was Drew Field in Tampa, Florida.
Shortly after reporting to Tampa, President Truman authorized the use of the first Atomic Bomb to end the war. The second Atomic Bomb was necessary to convince the Japanese to surrender.
I was discharged from the military on October 24, 1945, and now being married to my present wife, we returned to Savannah, Georgia, to begin our married lives out of the Air Force.
Before we returned to Savannah, we visited my sisters Gertrude and Margaret who lived in Miami, Florida. After several days with them, we proceeded to our original destination, Savannah.
CHAPTER FOUR
During my thirty days Rest and Recreation period granted to me upon my return to the United States from Europe, an event happened to me that, in effect, was more than just a mere happenstance. It was a monumental occasion for me, and has continued to this day.
While visiting my father in Savannah, I discovered that all of my former friends were still in the service, having yet to be discharged. Having been anything but a ladies man during my high school years, I decided to seek some feminine companionship, so I went out to find the best looking girl in Savannah. It was soon apparent that all the girls I spotted were in pairs, so I asked another soldier, who was alone, if he was looking for a girl. He replied that he was, and so we paired up, and continued our search.
When we reached the corner of Barnard and Broughton Streets, lo and behold, there were two teenage girls waiting for a bus. It was about nine o’clock at night, and we started talking to them. When their bus arrived, we all boarded it. Soon I realized that the other soldier and the girl to whom he was attracted had departed the bus, leaving me alone with the other girl. When we reached her bus stop, we both left the vehicle. There was a drug store nearby, so we decided to have a Coca-Cola. She was a telephone operator and had just left her job when I met her. She told me to dial “ O “ and ask for her, and so I did. I met her again the next night, and then we started to date, but always at night when she completed her work assignment.
Shortly thereafter, I went to Miami to see my two sisters, but while in Miami, I could think of nothing else but the girl I left behind in Savannah. I spent a week in Miami with my sisters, then I returned to Savannah. After several more dates, I asked her to marry me. She said “YES”. Then it was time for me to report to Drew Field in Tampa, so l had to leave her again. I met her on July 7, 1945, and she traveled to Tampa by train during the last week of August, 1945, for the wedding. We were married on September 1, 1945.
At this time, I had never seen her during daylight hours, only having seen her at night. When she arrived in Tampa and stepped down from the train, that was the first time I had ever seen her in the daylight.
This girl was named Inez Steed, a pretty little blonde haired girl just turned eighteen years old, and we knew each other less than two months when we got married. However, apparently it was a good choice for both of us, because as of this day, we lhave been married for sixty-three years. Sixty-three HAPPY years, I should add.
On September 1, 1945,we were married before a minister (Reverend Richard J. Broyles, Pastor of the Hyde Park Methodist Church) at his home in Tampa, and we moved into a furnished apartment located in the Maritime Homes just south of the 22nd Street causeway in Hookers Point. We lived there until my discharge from the military the following month.
Upon my discharge from the Army Air Force in Tampa, Florida, on October 24, 1945, Inez and I caught a bus for Miami, Florida. We visited my two sisters there for a couple of days.
After our brief visit in Miami, we continued our journey to Savannah, Georgia, visiting my father. We also visited Inez’ parents, who lived in Springfield, Georgia, in Effingham County.
Now it was time for me to get a job and settle down. I had always had a secret yen to become a radio announcer, and so I went out to test the market. While Inez remained in Savannah, I took auditions in St. Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida, and in Brunswick, Georgia, but the answer I received in all three of these places was that under federal law, it was necessary for the stations to rehire those persons who were drafted from their jobs at the station. In fact, some stations had two or three people who would return soon to claim their employment, in many cases they would all be vying for the same singular job. The radio station, WMOG in Brunswick, came very close to placing me on their payroll, however, since the aforementioned circumstances applied, they decided it would be futile. Returning to Jacksonville from Brunswick, I managed to obtain employment at the Naval Air Station there. My job was a clerk-typist in the Officer’s Separation Center. That was the site in which naval officers were discharged from the navy.
My job was to compute the amount of money necessary to send the officers from Jacksonville to their home towns, and issue travel vouchers for that amount of money. There was a weekly newspaper in which the news relative to the Air Station was published. I made up crossword puzzles, and they were printed in this newspaper called the “Jax Air News”. This continued for about three months with a new puzzle each week, until the majority of the personnel being discharged had been processed. At that time, my employment was terminated, and again I was without a job.
While I was employed at the Naval Air Station, our first child was born. He arrived on July 22, 1946, just eleven months after our marriage. Being a boy, we named him Robert N. CRONK, Jr., and we called him “Robbie”.
It was just a few weeks after my job ended at the Separation Center that I was employed by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in their regional warehouse. My position was located in the Order Department, where the company owned stores and franchise dealers called in their orders for merchandise, such as tires, major appliances, general auto parts, household items, and small appliances. After just over a year of working in that position, I was made head of the department. One day, one of the franchise dealers approached me with a proposition I found hard to resist. He offered me the manager’s job for their franchise store. I was told that my salary would be the same as that which I was receiving from Firestone, plus two percent of the gross sales. I accepted, and gave Firestone two weeks notice of my resignation. After the two weeks were up, and I left Firestone, I reported for duty at the new location, a Ford new car dealer in Jacksonville (Hal Lynch Motors). When I arrived, I was told that they had decided to close the store, but they would put me to work as a cashier in the new car dealership at the same salary I made at Firestone. Firestone’s policy at that time was that anyone resigning could not be re-hired (if they fired you, they COULD re-hire you).
And so I went to work as a cashier, but not for long. The first week I worked approximately seventy-two hours, and I anticipated a nice pay check, all over forty hours being overtime. However, when I received my check for that week’s work, it was nowhere near the amount that I had figured I would receive. Upon questioning my superior, I was told that the check was correct based on a standard work week of fifty-six hours. This was the first and only job I ever had that I took a reduction in pay when I started to work. I felt as though I had been shanghaied into this job. I immediately made plans to seek other employment.
I heard that the Post Office was looking for Temporary Mail Carriers, and so I applied for that job, having to take a federal examination for the position. However, since the job was of a temporary nature, I was told by the Postmaster to report for duty the next day. When I returned to the auto dealership, I did not “clock-in”, so to speak, but went directly to my superior and told him of my plans. No advance notice. I just quit.
I had not yet heard the results of the examination I took for the job as mail carrier, but I was hired without it. After working for the Post Office for approximately two months, the results of the examination arrived. My score was in the middle nineties, and I was made a permanent employee with all perks pertaining to the job, such as vacation, retirement benefits, etc.
I worked for the Post Office for the next nine years as a Regular Mail Carrier. I had my own route, and serviced it each working day. Once one of my patrons with whom I had become friendly died, and I found out that I had been included in her will The amount was one thousand dollars which, in the early 1950’s, was a considerable amount of money. I used the money to get out of debt and I never was in debt again. Anything I bought (not counting my house or car) was paid for in cash, or I did not buy it. I think that was the reason that my life has been successful (or at least I deem it to be), not to have borrowed money and having to pay a high interest rate to resolve the debt. I am indeed in the debt of my benefactor, Mrs. Clare Gamble (whose husband preceded her in death by just three weeks), and I shall always be grateful to her.
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