Audio

Bill speaks on his marriage

She (Mildred) wanted to marry me before I went (into the service) and I said “no, I don’t know whether I’m coming back.” But the way that it turned out, it was just great.

All the girls that were in Walburg - they always wanted me and I could’ve picked any one that I wanted and I took the the one that I really loved and she loved me just as much and she was a really nice young lady. I was in love with her and she was in love with me.

Mildred and I had a good life. We had a nice family. I can’t complain about anything. We had a good life together and that’s what really counts. I’m so happy that we have all the grandchildren. Everybody is happy. I’m really proud of everyone.

Audio

Bill speaks on his WWII Service

You know I was in the Air Force. We were mechanics, and then there was a guy that wanted me to be with him when the plane came in that was disabled. We had to take all the parts off of it and send it back to the depots(?) where they overhauled it and put in back in the active duty(?). That’s what I did.
When I finished my 7th grade, I went back out on the farm and we worked on the farm. There weren’t any school buses running where I could have gone to high school.

7th grade was as high as I went. High School graduation - I could’ve really gone up in the service; it would have made a difference when I went into the service. I was smarter, though, than those doggone college graduates.

When I was in the service, there was an airplane that came in had a prop problem. There was a guy that, he was a Master Sergeant, he went to prop school and he couldn’t put that doggone thing together and I told him “Well, let me try.” And I put it together and they started up the plane and that thing was just doing just great. I mean, it was perfect. He asked me “Where did you go to prop school?” and I said “I didn’t” but it worked out real good.

Then one time there was one pilot that came in.
We were on detached service in Florida and, uh, when the pilot landed his plane he blew out a tire and blew out the rims. When they took it into service, they took this wheel, all he had was a blown out tire, and they put the tire in there, they put it on the wheel and they aired it up and it blew out the inner tube.