Herb Glover

HERB F GLOVER  Born 11/7/18  Expired  11/13/05           Herb was born 7 Nov 1918 in Vacaville, CA.  He moved to Grand Island&nbs

HERB F GLOVER Born 11/7/18  Expired  11/13/05

Herb was born 7 Nov 1918 in Vacaville, CA.  He moved to Grand Island  in 1933, where he attended High School, graduating in 1936. He attended the University of NE until volunteering for the Army Air Force, along with 9 fellow students, in the summer of 1940.

After a long train ride he entered primary training in Glendale, CA. After primary, he received flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, TX.  Here he ground looped a Stearman, and was put in “Maytag” (washed out) squad, but survived, obtaining his wings at Kelly Field  in the Spring of 1941. He not only survived the Maytag incident, but also the many eager debutantes of San Antonio.

After Kelly Field he was assigned to Clark Field, in the Philippines, where he was on December 7, 1941. After hearing about Pearl Harbor, they had all 15 of their B-17’s (which they had had only a few weeks) in the air, until they were brought down for lunch. This is when the Japs attacked, first with bombers, then Zero’s; all the planes were destroyed. The Zero’s did more damage than the bombers. In the confusion, the PX was abandoned, and personnel picked up many souvenirs, and beer.

After a month without planes his squadron was assigned to Bataan, then 2 weeks later, to Del Monte, on Mindanao. They traveled by boat at night.  About half way there, while trying to hide by an island, at noon a lone Jap plane bombed them, with near misses both fore and aft. Fortunately the ammunition loaded boat was not hit They were afraid the bomber would circle back for another try, but it didn’t. During the attack, they abandoned ship temporarily, but that night they could continue on to Mindanao.

MacArthur, after leaving Corregidor, was at Del Monte for about a week before flying to Darwin. Having no Planes the pilots served more like infantry, guarding roads. Jap air activity was fairly active, but they received only an occasional bomb.  B-25’s were flying missions out of Australia and Pt Moresby, with heavy causalities. One squadron of 12 flew local bombing runs out of Mindanao for a couple of days, and when they left, Herb was able to squeeze in (standing all the way) on their return to Charters Towers AFB, Australia. This was about the end of US Air activity in the Philippines.

From there they flew missions to New Guinea, picking up bomb loads at Port Moresby then flying over the Owen Stanley Mts to the Jap side. Once Herb, in a group of 3, got lost due to faulty navigation, and had to ditch near New Guinea when low on fuel, One pilot was lost, but the rest were led to an English Plantation by natives. The Englishman sent a runner to a mission, and a couple of days later missionaries picked them up in a rickety old boat. On the way back, they also picked up a captured Jap Zero Pilot.

Arriving at Pt Moresby, the Aussies, who had been very badly treated by Japs, wanted to hang the prisoner immediately, but since this was the first Jap the Americans had had a chance to interrogate, they insisted he be kept alive. After a few months with the B-25 Squadron, Herb had a recurrence of Malaria, so was sent by train to a hospital in Brisbane. After release weeks later, he was assigned, with a Col Martin, as personal pilots to Gen Krueger,  Commander of the 6^th Army. His base was originally at Rockhampton, Australia, later Milne Bay, New Guinea, but they flew the General all over Pacific for many months. His early plane was a Twin Beech, later a B-17.

One notable occasion early one morning at Rock Hampton, a fairly small Australian base, Herb was heading for the plane with the General’s luggage, etc. being driven in a jeep by a WAC. They picked up 2 Aussies who wanted a ride to the airfield; on the way they were struck by a train. The Aussies were badly injured, Herb not so bad. In the nearby Aussie Hospital, the Corpsmen stopped at the bed next to Herb where one Aussie was, looked, said “this poor bloke’s gone”; shortly thereafter, looked at the second Aussie-“this poor Bloke’s gone!”. Herb, thinking he would be next, got on the phone to Col Martin, asking him to get Him to a US hospital. Shortly later, Col Martin visited, and finding Herb still with the Aussies, called the US Corpsmen, and told them to come and get Herb immediately, or there would be displinary action by Gen Krueger. Since the General’s baggage was found with the wrecked jeep there was a little concern for a while.

Another memorable incident was one time Gen Krueger was to confer with Gen MacArthur in Melbourne. As per Military Protocol, one aid meets the other aid; Herb met Gen MacArthur’s aid, who took him in to personally meet, shake hands with, and talk to MacArthur. After some time as General Krueger’s pilot, Herb again had a Malaria recurrence, so was sent back to the US, Hamilton Field, CA in the fall of 1943. After recovering, he was with a B-17 Squad at Dalhart AFB, TX, then for B-17 Instructor’s training at Lockbourn Field, Columbus, OH, then back to Dahlart as an instructer.

Dalhart was a pretty dull place so when a chance, in the Spring of 1944, to volunteer for C-47 training came up he applied. Being accepted, he  was sent to Bowman Field, KY. After training,  a squadron of C-47’s flew to India, via Newfoundland, Azores, and Egypt. In SE Asia he was stationed at Sylhet India, and Kumming China, flying C-47 transports around India, China, and over the  Burma hump. Navigation was difficult, and most of the causalities were from Navigational errors, and reluctance of pilots to radio for assistance early enough. Herb said he had no hesitation in asking for help at the first signs of trouble, and survived. After accumulating enough points, he was offered either a promotion or return to the States; he choose the latter, returning to the States in the summer of 1945, after V-E Day. But before V-J Day. Shortly thereafter the war ended. He remained in the active air force reserve for another 14 years, enabling him to continue air force flights to many places during these years.

Pearl Harbor Day December 7, 1941
Normandy Invasion June 6, 1944
VE-Day  May 8, 1945
VJ-Day:  September 2, 1945

Herb expired of 11/12/05, at home.

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