Frank Carrozza’s War Stories
Douglas Kenngott and his grandfather spend many afternoons together, they would explore nature, invent things in the garage, and talk about life. Douglas remembers some stories that his grandpa told him about the war. As his son (Carl Carrozza) I have collected these slices of life here.
Onions (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa once told me that the 344th bomb group had just moved to Cormeilles-en-Vexin a captured airfield somewhere in France (Oct 7, 1944). The Americans had just pushed the Germans out a short time before. The airmen were told not to wonder off because there could still be Nazis in the area.
Naturally grandpa and a few other guys decided to explore. They came upon a truffle cave. They were hesitant to enter but decided to explore it anyway. After much walking and many forks in the path, the group came upon “lockers” like what you would find in a high school gym.
They were very scared to open the locker in fear that it was booby-trapped but curiosity won out. In the upper, small, part of the locker was “the most beautiful picturesque onion I have ever seen”. He said “I know an onion doesn’t seem to exciting, but remember I hadn’t seen a real vegetable in a very long time”.
Grandpa and his buddies took the onion back to their barracks where it sat on a shelf for a time. They were all hesitant to eat the onion because they feared it might be poisoned.
Once a month each man got two “real” eggs because they were flight crew who risked their lives with each mission. When they all had received their allotment of eggs they brought them and the perfect onion to the mess chief to cook up. “It was the best tasting onion I had ever had!!!”
Pins In Your Pocket (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
I was told that the bombs loaded on the racks inside the B-26’s bomb bay had “pins, like a cotter pin” preventing them from detonating too soon. During the mission, the pins were to be removed thus arming the bombs.
Grandpa said, “Douglas, listen to me, always keep those pins in your breast pocket… Always”. He was extremely adamant about it.
I think grandpa wanted me to understand the importance of keeping track of small, but important parts. After all we were working on a car or some other project when this came up. When I found out the rest of the story, I came to understand his emphasis.
An excerpt of grandpa’s mission log is as follows;
Mission 47: October 14, 1944
TARGET: BRIDGE BETWEEN MOSELLE & RHINE RIVER
LOCATED: BOUILLY – (ZELL, GERMANY)
BOMB LOAD: 4 – 1000LB.
DAMAGE: NONE
FLAK: NONE
REMARKS: CLOUD LAYER – DIDN’T BOMB. PLANE DOVE AND 2 – 1000LB. BOMBS BROKE LOOSE FROM THE SHACKLES AND LAY ON THE BOMB BAY DOORS!! LANDED O.K. !!!!
Two 1000 lb bombs had broken loose from the chains that secured them in the bomb bay. The bombardier tried to salvo the bombs, but the weight of the bombs kept the bomb bay doors from opening. The armed 1000 lb bombs just rolled from side to side. the crew was terrified. You see, someone had to go on the narrow catwalk in the bomb bay area and put the fuze arming pins back into the bombs to disarm them and make it possible to land the B-26 bomber without a huge explosion.
Well there was some debate as to who would have to go down there. T/Sgt. Carrozza, radio/gunner, had the pins in his pocket. We might assume he armed the bombs to begin with. This is usually the job of the armourer/gunner, maybe that was the bone of contention.
While everyone was arguing Carrozza went ahead and did it….! He had to lower himself from the catwalk to the bomb bay doors and reinsert the pins that were resting in his shirt pocket as was the protocol. He had worried that the bombs might roll and crush his legs or perhaps the weight of him climbing upon the bomb bay doors could have suddenly forced them open. It was a long way down had he could plainly see! He also was manipulating the arming mechanism of some very large bombs.
“I put the damn pins back in.” He then told the still arguing crew that it was done and everyone just went quiet.
The ordeal was not yet over. Once over the airfield in Cormeilles-en-Vexin, they were ordered to circle the field and wait for the rest of the formation to land before coming in themselves. If they landed earlier and blew up, the runway would have been unusable for the rest of the formation to land on. With the emergency vehicles ready it was finally their turn to land “with so little fuel remaining that we were running on fumes.”
Smiling Jesus (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa was somewhere in liberated Europe I believe it was France. (The bomb group had heated barracks when stationed at Stansted, England, but then had to live in tents once they advanced to Cormeilles-en-Vexin.) It was very very cold… A bunch of the men tried sleeping in an airplane hanger, in bunk beds. Due to the frigid weather he tucked himself in really tight.
Grandpa said there were these weapons we called “buzz bombs.” These were V-1 missiles. (The V-1 was an early cruise missile and the only production aircraft to use a pulsejet for power.) They were called Buzz Bombs because they made a sound similar to a kazoo as they flew overhead… He said, ” So long as you heard them you were ok…. When they ran out of fuel, they would coming come down silently and explode (1,870 lb explosive.)
That night while laying in bed, the men heard lots of these buzz bombs go overhead with everybody holding their breath because the sound might stop.
Finally, one of these missiles was approaching when suddenly the sound stopped. “Everyone ran like hell to get out of the hanger. But I had tucked myself in so tight I couldn’t get up in time….” “So I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. The irony of it was you can run but you don’t know exactly where it’s coming down you can just as easily run right into it.” “All of a sudden topowww! (grandpa made a hand gesture bringing his fists apart and shaking them) “I felt the force so I opened my eyes and I saw Jesus standing at the foot of my bed with a big toothy smile.” “You look at any painting.” “You’ll never see a picture of Him smiling.” “But he was smiling now!! I saw that and I said to myself, I’m gonna be alright in this war”
The rocket landed in a field behind the hanger. No one was hurt.
Grandpa was never much of a church-goer later in life. It’s interesting to note that the crew had him say the Lord’s Prayer over the intercom at the outset of each mission. I guess it’s true that “there are no atheists in a foxhole.”
Cpl. Santo Endrizzi (Ground Crew) in front of a church in Janicouer, France
SNAFU and the 50 Mission Crush (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa was in basic training. He must have impressed some people and so was considered for officer training school. This called for an interview with the officers in charge. While on bivouac, they took him out of the field and brought him to an office to interview. He said, “Here I am. I haven’t showered in four days. I’m covered in dirt and these other two guys being interviewed are in fresh uniforms.” “Needless to say after I answered the questions, I did not get selected.”
He was send on to the European Theatre and flew 65 missions as a radio/gunner in a B-26 medium bomber. Finishing his tour grandpa was then sent back to headquarters to be mustered out.
At headquarters, the secretary is looking over my record and is completing a checklist. “All of a sudden she is hemming and hawing.” She said, “Mr Carrozza you never qualified in the carbine rifle.” “You see, the day I was being interviewed I missed that test.” Grandpa argued that it doesn’t matter because he is getting out. She said, “Oh no everyone must qualify.” “Take this sheet to the shooting range.”
Mumbling to himself he walked to the range. Being a radio operator required him to wear his earphones over his hat, giving it a distinctive crushed appearance. This effect was the highly desirable “50 Mission Crush.” The flight officers including the pilot, copilot, and navigator also end up with their hat this way.
“As I’m walking up to the rifle range the new recruits saw me with my crushed hat and started saluting with great shows of respect. They must have thought I was an officer”
“The Sergeant in charge of the rifle range walked over asked what was going on I told him the story.” “He asked how many missions I did and patted me on the back.” “He ordered a recruit to hand him his carbine.” “He brought the rifle to his eye fired a bunch of shots.” “He then told the recruit to get the target.” “The recruit ran out and brought it back.” “He told me to bring this back to the desk and you’ll be all set.”
“So, really, I never qualified to shoot the carbine rifle”
Hat belonging to 2nd Lt. Westholm
Paint Factory (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa told me that his 344th bomb squadron (but not his plane) accidently dropped a bomb on a liberated paint factory, killing two men. “Imagine that poor son of a bitch.” “he survives the German occupation and then that,” Ironically musing to himself. So I asked, “Who got in trouble for that. A lot of guys court-martialed?”
His response came with a look of confusion, “Douglas this is war, this sort of thing happens.” “ In trouble? From who?” shaking head, laughing. “Douglas we just saved their ass.” “In trouble.” (Laughing again).
I said, “Today they would hang someone for that, you know.”
“It was war!” he said again. “Only thing was that from then on, we had to fly up the English Channel after that instead of cutting over land.”
Pissed Off (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa was ready to go on a mission. He was in full flight gear and they were short on time before take off. Unfortunately, he had to pee.
“I walked over to where the wing meet the body and took a leak”
During the flight someone from the crew saw an unknown liquid on the wing and told the pilot. They were fearful it was hydraulic fluid or fuel.
“So the guy reached out put his finger in it and tasted it.” “ The guy said. “Its just water.”
“I never had the heart to tell the poor guy I peed on the plane” then he laughed to himself.
Fight or Type (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa was somewhere very, very hot. I want to say Florida after basic… I think after Florida he then went to Moultrie Ga.
Grandpa said he was approached about being assigned to a military job in the states because of his experience with clerical and book keeping skills. However the base had some lunatic in charge that would put people into formation at attention for hours while being inspected. It would start at 5 am and go till 11. “People were passing out left and right.” “ I used to keep a wet rag under my hat to keep my head cool.” “After a month of that, I decided I’ll go fight rather then be here with this guy!”
Just Do What You’re Told (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa said that the “big bosses” approached him. They told him that on the next flight he would need to take pictures. He said, “I wasn’t thrilled about it, as if I wasn’t doing enough stuff like operating the radio.” “ But nothing you can do, you just do what you are told” “They showed me how to operate it.” “After the bombs are released you count to 8 then lean over look down the binocular and use your entire body the crank back on the big crank to wind the film.” “Keep doing this till the camera runs out of film.” “It was a big handle, very heavy”
Grandpa said, “So I did what I was told and it went very smoothly.”
“We got back from mission and count the flack and bullet holes as usual.” “ We come to where I was sitting and there was a bunch of flak holes that went through the plane in the position I was standing while working the camera.” “I didn’t even know it!” “No one could figure out how I didn’t get hit.” “ The only thing we could think of was that when I was bent over to wind the film, the shrapnel went right over my back.” “You see, Douglas, “we” don’t always know everything, you don’t need to resist everything someone in charge tells you.” “Sometimes you should just do what you’re told”.
From Frank Carrozza’s mission log:
Mission 20: July 7, 1944
TARGET: RIVER BRIDGE
LOCATED: TOURS
BOMB LOAD: 2 – 2000LB.
DAMAGE: 5 FLAK HOLES IN SHIP
FLAK: INTENSE AND ACCURATE
REMARKS: FLAK NARROWLY ESCAPED HITTING ME BECAUSE OF USING CAMERA! WHEN I LEANED OUT THE WINDOW TO TAKE A PICTURE, FLAK WHIZZED BY MY BACK AND WENT OUT OF THE TOP OF THE SHIP. WHEN I CRANKED THE CAMERA, FLAK BRUSHED MY SHOULDER AND WHIZZED IN FRONT OF ME!!!
In Trouble at Ascension Island (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa said, “You see, Douglas, we flew our planes from here in the states to England in a series of steps.” “We went from Florida to Brazil to Ascension Island in the Atlantic to North Africa and finally to England.” “Along the way across the Atlantic we were told, if you see boats, send in Morse code what you see because they could be German boats.” “So as we are on our way, we were set to land on this little island in the Atlantic, called Ascension Island.” “It had nothing on it but a runway.” “Wouldn’t you know, sure as shit, I look down and I see boats down there.” “I told the pilot (Harold Aikens), because you never did anything without his ok first.”
He said “go ahead send the message.” “So I start sending a message
regarding what I saw.” “Won’t you know some ass on the other end keeps “breaking” my message.” “They keep adding beeps to disrupt it.” “So I keep sending and they keep breaking.” “We did this for 40 minutes until finally I get the entire thing sent out uninterrupted.” “I lean back thinking I’d done my job.”
“We land on this island and like out of a movie a jeep comes flying up with a full bird Colonel in it screaming and hollering “Who sent that &*#@ing message!”
“I said me sir.”
The Colonel yelled, “I’m gonna have your ass court-martialed.” “If those are our ships you radioed about, I’ll have your ass.” “You sent that God damn message without encoding it!”
“Mind you Douglas this is the first time I ever did it in real life (send a radio message to base)” “He was right I messed up, I was anxious to get the message out.”
Then grandpa didn’t continue.
So after a few minutes I said, “So what happened?”
“What happened with what?” he said.
“The guy in the jeep?”
“Oh we fuelled up and got out of there real quick, never heard from that son of a bitch again.” “I never found out if the boats I saw were German boats.”
This story and more as per pilot Harold Aikens: http://shopwornangel.imaginarynumber.net/memoirs-lt-harold-v-aikens-dads-1st-co-pilot/
Victory on Southern State Parkway (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa said, “Douglas the world used to be closer.” “Everyone was on the same team during the war.”
“One time I was in a car with your grandma.” “We were on the Belt Parkway.”
“Grandma’s brother-in-law was driving.” “I think he was a sailor.” “All four of us are in the car, grandma and I were in the back.
“All of a sudden the traffic came to a stop.” “Just then, on the radio, we hear that the war in Europe was over.” “We won!” “Still had the Japanese to deal with but that was just a matter of time.” “Everyone got out of their cars and were hugging and kissing and crying.” “People were shaking hands.” “
Now there are guys fighting overseas and people don’t even think of them,”
he said with disgust.
Grandma chimed in and said, “Everything back then was for the war effort. “ “Everything!” “We had no meat, fuel, nothing.” “We had to sew our silk stockings because you couldn’t buy new ones!” “You know, no one complained about it.” “We were fighting a war.” “All we had was one pot to cook everything.”
Grandpa continued, “Another thing you see all these young able bodied men walking around mid-day.” “No one works, everyone is on disability!”
I said grandpa “I’m off mid day, maybe they just have different shifts…”
Grandpa laughed hard, “You think they’re all cops like you Douglas?” “People don’t work they just manicure there lawns.”
Grandma added, “If you saw a young man walking around during the war at mid-day that wasn’t a mailman you’d whisper about them.” “What do you think is wrong with him.” “If you weren’t in the service, you must have some kind of disability.”
Walled City Marrakesh (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
“While transporting to the ETO by the Southern Route one stop was in North Africa.” “I believe it was Marrakech.” “There was a walled city that looked like it was from the King Kong movie.” “We were all warned not to go in to that town.”
“First chance we got we went into that town.” “We found bazaars with people selling all types of stuff.” “Everything was very exotic.” *Editors note: Someone in the 344th bomb group acquired a monkey and brought it with him to the base in Stansted England.
“After awhile it started to get dark.” “A horn went off and the massive gate began to close.” “We thought we were stuck, but across a massive field was another gate not yet closed.” “We began to cross the field when a “gook” leaped out and started yelling at us. He was swinging a large curved sword.”
As it turns out, both uses were prevalent during WWII as per an article by David Roediger.
Grandpa continued, “Any way this guy is chasing us yelling in Arabic.” “We got to the gate just in time, and were prepared to shoot him, if need be.” “It turned out the field we were cutting through was a cemetery and they felt we were desecrating it.”
“Around the same time as this incident, we came upon Italian soldiers the North Africans had captured and kept in pens. “The Italians Americans captured were treated well and were employed as cooks, tailors, and cobblers.” Grandpa walked up to the POW in the cell and began to speak to him in Italian (Grandpa’s first language), while giving him some bread. The North African guard gave grandpa a dirty look, “He wouldn’t dare say a thing to me, being an American and all”
The Italian said, “I had the misfortune of being captured by the North Africans instead of the Americans.
As mentioned before, many of the Italian prisoners were craftsman. Grandpa gave one of the prisoners a tiny picture of grandma and for payment of a few T-Shirts made a ring for him with grandma’s picture as the ‘stone.’
Pride and Prejudice (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
“Don’t trust those Germans they’re going to try it again”
“I don’t know, grandpa, they seem fine now, I don’t think they’re a problem”
“They tried it twice why not a third?”
“Aren’t the Japanese are more likely to become an enemy again?”
“We bombed the piss out of them, they came around after that, but I thank God I wasn’t in the Pacific, the Japanese were true animals, far worse than the Germans.”
“The Germans fought hard but did it for their country.” “The Japanese fought for an emperor-god.” “Very bad.”
Aluminum Cutlery (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
There were oversized pieces of aluminum cutlery in grandma’s cupboard. Grandpa sent them home during the war. Aluminum, during WWII was even more important than copper. It was used in aviation, military mess kits, Nazi SS belt buckles, and everything in between. How would grandpa get a set of twelve large flatware pieces? I remember seeing them and asked him about the spoons and forks. He told me, “I got these for your mother.” [He meant grandmother] “She didn’t like them.” “She said they were too big.” “I got them from the liberated French, when I dealt with them.” “I traded for all kinds of things.” “I thought your grandma would like them.” “I could only get a few at a time.” “I had to trade a Frenchman for them little by little.” “I mailed them home to her.” “This way she got them in case I didn’t make it.”
Blood Poisoning (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa told me that, “At one point I had a blister on my hand, between the thumb and index finger.” “I decided to lance it myself.” “ Well a few days later a red vein went up my arm to my arm pit and a big red ball was there.” “I had an extremely high temperature too.”
“Because of this I had to miss two flights. They wanted me to sit out longer but I wanted to fly so I would finish my 65 missions at the same time as the rest of the guys on my crew.” “The day I went back I was very dizzy and throwing up.” “Some of the other guys covered for me and let me take it easy up there.”
“In order to get back on track with my buddies, I flew extra missions with other crews.” “On both of those flights we had some sort of issue (one time making an emergency landing).” [*Make-up Missions June 20, 1944 & Dec 27, 1944]
Grandpa said, “ It was considered bad luck to fly with a different crew.” “It seemed that often, that was when something bad would happen.”
*Mission 13: June 20, 1944
TARGET: *”NO BALL”LOCATED: HAZEBROUCK, BELGIUMBOMB LOAD: 16 – 250LB.DAMAGE: FLAK HOLE IN SHIPFLAK: MODERATE AND ACCURATE
ESCORT: P47REMARKS: FLEW WITH CAPTAIN BRADY AND CREW AS WAIST GUNNER ON CARPET SHIP USED WINDOW!*”NO BALL”: CHUTES FROM WHICH P-PLANES ARE CATAPAULTED
*Mission 60: December 27, 1944
TARGET: RAILROAD BRIDGELOCATED: AHRWEILER, GERMANYBOMB LOAD: 4 – 1000LB.DAMAGE: NONEFLAK: NONEESCORT: SPITFIRES
REMARKS: LANDED AT COULOMMIERS – COULDN’T LAND BECAUSE 2 SHIPS BLEW OUT TIRES! IT WON’T BE LONG NOW, ON HOME STRETCH! I FLEW WITH CAPT. DAVIES AND CREW IN ORDER TO CATCH UP TO TOM! (Carl’s note: *43-34424 y5-w Wild Willie Y5-W 1st Lt. R J Shepherd, Jerald M Davies (later killed)
Hush Hush (as retold by grandson, Douglas Kenngott)
Grandpa told me, “When I came home from “over seas”, the war was still going on.” He told me, “I was taking the subway home to Brooklyn, while in uniform, carrying my duffle bag, and no one would say two words to me.” “They would read the paper, look up at me, and then quickly look back down.” “They were reading about the war you see.” “I got off the subway and started walking.” “I felt out of place because no one acknowledged me.” “Finally, near home, I ran into my neighbor.” “He hurried over, shook my hand and grabbed my bag.” “He insisted in carrying it for me.” “I was happy to talk to someone.” “I told him that people would not make eye contact.”
The neighbor said, “Everyone is told that if you see someone in uniform, you should leave them alone… ‘loose lips sink ships’ and all.” “Everything on-going was hush hush.”
