Senior Center Veterans Group Shares War Stories, Friendship (VIDEO)

It’s often said of the “Greatest Generation,” the group of Americans who sacrificed so much to protect freedom in World War II, that they served in silence and didn’t talk about what they went through.  But for a group of seniors from the South Brunswick Senior Center’s veterans group, meeting up to share stories and experiences from their time in the war has become a source of kinship and togetherness.

“The men really enjoy being able to reminisce about their time in the military and the camaraderie that they walk away with is priceless,” said organizer Caryl Greenburg, of the Office on Aging.  “By coming to this group, it helps to reinforce how these men define themselves, how they see themselves, and most importantly reinforces for them the invaluable contributions that they made to our country.”

Last week the group met at the Kendall Park home of Don Stern, a decorated World War II bombardier who flew 32 missions in Europe during the war.  Stern, 88, shared with the group his large collection of photos and memorabilia, which included a real bomber site mechanism like the kind he used on the B-17 Flying Fortress that he served on in the war.

“I was the most fortunate member of the crew because I spent most of the flight focused on my bomb site and finding the target,” Stern said.  “I didn’t have time to think about what was going on outside the plane flying through flak.  I was only worried about not goofing up.”

Stern, who grew up in Bayside, N.Y., enlisted in the Armed Forces in 1942 when he was 19-years-old and was attending Queens College at the time.

“The draft age was 19 and anyone who had a year in college could be accepted into aviation,” he said.  “So I could either wait and be drafted as a private into the infantry or enlist into the Air Force.  I chose avaiation.”

Stern spent the next year and a half in training as he prepared for the trials that lay ahead.  He said one of the most common misconceptions generated by movies about the war were the ages of the men who were fighting.  Stern said the oldest member of his flight crew was 22-years-old, the same age Stern was when he flew his final mission in April, 1945. 

Yet even though they were all so young, there was still a high level of professionalism that existed in the men of the 483rd Bombardment Group.

“You’re with a bunch of guys who are just like you,” Stern said.  “If you goofed off you would’ve been sent to the regular Army, so we all had to keep pushing each other.”

For many of the men, the war represented the first time they had flown on an airplane. 

“I kept a diary and I always traveled with a pencil in my pocket, because at 30,000 feet the gas expands and having a pen on you meant it would pop and you’d come home with an ink blotch in your pocket,” he said.  “I did that once, never again.  The air pressure also meant a lot of us had to pass gas, but we were wearing oxygen masks so no one noticed.”

Despite their youth, the men would quickly overcome their inexperience.

“That was one of the most amazing things about the war,” Stern said.  “It was a wonder how our country trained and mobilized.”

After training was completed, Stern spent 27 days on a ship traveling to Naples, Italy.  Soon thereafter, Stern and his crew began an exhaustive schedule, which included bombing runs for five consecutive days during some periods in targets that included Berlin, Germany and the Balkans. 

Veterans group member Arlene Urhoff, a Monmouth Junction resident whose deceased husband flew a B-24 during the war, said the youth of the men helped keep them from thinking about their own mortality in the face of death.

“You have to understand that these were very young guys,” she said.  “They all thought that nothing was going to happen to them.”

Stern referred to himself as one of the lucky ones, as the losses in his group were heavy and very few survived to reach the requisite number of 35 flights to be sent home.

“One of the first things they did when we returned from a mission was offer us a shot of straight whiskey to calm you down,” he said.  “A lot of the guys were underage.  But we had just come back from seeing planes shot down and facing heavy losses.  It was really depressing.  After we were debriefed we would walk outside and see one of the Red Cross girls, smiling, and passing out coffee and donuts.  She was so upbeat that for a few minutes there we would forget about our depression.”

Stern recounted a story for the veterans group about a friend of his who was shot down behind German lines over Hungary during the war.  Stern’s friend found refuge with a Hungarian family who fed him and aided his escape from the Nazi controlled territory. 

To show his gratitude, Stern’s friend left the Hungarian family his parachute.  Years later, the family sent Stern's friend a photo of their daughter in her wedding dress, which was made out of the parachute left behind as a small token of thanks.  The photo joins many others in Stern’s extensive collection of memories from the era.  He was also honored with a medal by Greece for assisting in the liberation of the country.

“How I got through the war I just don’t know,” Stern said.  “Towards the end I wanted to fly as many missions as possible.  We knew the war in Germany was going to end before it would in Japan.  If we didn’t fly enough missions we would’ve been sent to Japan, and none of us wanted that.”

Stern was finally sent home from the war in the spring of 1945 with 32 missions, short of the 35 he needed, but enough to be considered a full tour of duty.

“I didn’t return home with (post traumatic stress disorder) or anything, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,” he said.

Stern would eventually find his calling as an architect.  Through sharing his memories and collections of memorabilia with the group from the South Brunswick Senior Center, Stern said it helps to keep the conversation going by exchanging stories.

 “After the war I used to go to reunions for the 483rd every year,” he said.  “There used to be about 350 people who would show up to the reunion.  Now I think there’s about 30 of us.  There’s not that many of us left.  It’s just not the same anymore.”