Service in the States.  June 1944 - December 1944

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Service in the States October ’42 - June ‘44
   Scott Field, Ill
   Seymour-Johnson Field, 
       N.C.
   Yale University,
       New Haven CT.

Service in the States June ‘44 – December ‘44
   Yuma Army Air Field,
       Yuma, AZ
   Lake Charles Army Air
       Base, LA
   Hunter Field, Savanah,
       GA

ETO Jan'45 - May '45: 320th Bomber Group
   England
   France: First Tactical
       Air Force
   443^rd Bomber
       Squadron
   Air Medal, DUC
   Photographs

ETO June '45 - Home: 397th Bomber Group
   598th Bomber Squadron
   LT David L. Lobeck
   The crash of
       B26G 44-67868
       "Kwitcher Bitchin'"

Family in Service
(Under Construction)
   Curtis Seiley
   Carl Seiley
   Butch Seiley
   John Seiley
   A. M. Seiley
   Mark Seiley

Dad at Hunter Field, GA
circa December 1944

The picture at right à includes the following information noted on the rear:

“Crew 4, Flight Section 1, 336^th Bomb. Gp. R.T.U. (Med. Bomb.) Lake Charles Army Air Base.”   

See text immediately below photo for crew information.

Yuma Army Air Field, Yuma, AZ
On 15 June 1944 Dad was issued a “Government Request for Transportation”, issued by the War Department, Transportation Corps, providing for Dad’s transportation from New Haven/New York to Yuma, Arizona.  The authorization was provided by “SO 45/15 Hq 3510^th AAF BU (TS), Yale University” for “PFC Robert E. Seiley.”  Yuma Army Air Field’s function was in providing aerial gunnery training for would be air crews.  Given his gunnery diploma date (see below) and assuming the course duration was six weeks (that’s what I understand) it is probable Dad arrived at Yuma in late June.  (Y-A-A-F patch image above courtesy and permission of Brian French, webmaster of Squadron Patches of WWII website.  Please do not copy without his permission)
 

A. M. Seiley’s letter to Dad dated 5 August 1944 is addressed to “Pfc. Robert E. Seiley, 3036 A.A.F. BU, Sec. H6, Cl. 44-33, Box 44, Yuma, Arizona.”  Yuma was an aerial gunnery school for radio operators.  Interestingly, Carrol F. Dillon  notes that due to a surplus of cadets and pilots, beginning in 1943 cadets were being purposely washed out and sent to tech and then gunnery schools.  It is not clear if this impacted Dad’s course of training, but the “A/C” designation used on letters to Dad previously changes to “Pfc” on the 5 August letter as well as the above-referenced transportation document, and Dad’s Flexible Gunnery School diploma refers to him as “CPL Robert E. Seiley” for the first time, at least based on the documents we have at present.  My current thinking is that either Dad failed to score sufficiently on the requisite examinations at Yale.  This is more likely given Curtis' comments to Dad regarding his AC training challenges.  At any rate, he was sent to Yuma, and the diploma (at right), dated 12 August 1944, was given at Yuma Army Air Field, signed by “Eugene Muttersback, 1^ST LT., AC, SCH. SEC. FOR THE COMMANDING OFFICER.”  Dad is now trained as both a radioman and a gunner.

Lake Charles Army Air Base, LA
Having graduated from gunnery school, dad was now ready for an assignment as a radio-gunner on an air crew.  Combat training for this took place at Lake Charles Army Air Base in dad’s home state of Louisiana.  Given the gunnery school completion date, dad could have arrived at Lake Charles sometime in late August 1944 or perhaps September.  Certainly by October 1944 Uncle Curtis’ letters (now being written from “somewhere in France”) are going to “CPL Robert E. Seiley, Sec. 5 RTU (MB) LCAAF, Lake Charles,” and refer to dad’s indication in a recently received letter about the possibility of being “shipped out in the near future.”  While at Lake Charles, it appears dad made at least one trip home, as Curtis indicates, “I gathered you staged quite some “cork-smelling” affairs while home.”

“RTU” stood for Replacement Training Unit.  As the name indicates, these units existed to produce replacement crews for combat.  The other B-26 RTU was at Barksdale AAF.  Having been trained in their respective disciplines, air crews would now learn the airplane systems and combat duties working as a coordinated team on the bomber, including formation flying, intercom systems, and practice bombings.  See 391stbombgroup.com for a good description of the RTU’s function. 

The picture you see below, signed by each crew member, is labeled “332 BU 26 Nov 44-2”:

Crew members, left to right:
Lt. David Lobeck – Pilot (Fla.)
Lt. Joe E. Andrews – Co-Pilot (Ohio)
F/O Edwin L. Klodzinski – Bombardier-Navigator (Chicago)
CPL. Vernon E. Ewers – Engineer-Gunner (Illinois)
CPL. Robert E. Seiley – Radioman-Gunner (Louisiana)
CPL. William L. Perkinson – Armorer- Gunner (Tennessee)
 

Hunter Field, Savanah, Georgia
Dad’s States-side pre-ETO experience culminates at Hunter Field, Savanah, GA.  His form 55 (separation report) indicates that his departure for Europe was 8 January, 1945.  Exactly how much of the time between the Lake Charles photo date (26 November ’44) and the 8 January ’45 departure date are spent at Hunter Field is not clear, but the fact that Dad went via Hunter Field is established by two things.  First, B-26 crews from both Barksdale and Lake Charles did go to Hunter prior to shipping over seas, where they were assigned planes and provided briefings on the flight overseas.  Secondly, a photo in Dad’s scrapbook places him there (see below) with other “group” members.   (Dad is third from the right, second row).

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