1st Lt. William Law
Piper Cub liaison pilot in the air section
Headquarters Battery, 324th FA

My Dad In World War Two

The country was contemplating war and in 1941 started the draft.  Bill

was called up, but soon found himself back at home due to his crooked left arm.  He has sustained a major fracture when a boy and after healing it was always a little crooked and caused him a slight loss of the full motion of the elbow.  Since he was also left-handed it was a problem the draft board felt was not acceptable.  But, even as the doctor sent him back home, he told Bill, "We'll see you again, son."  

Sure enough, after Pearl Harbor their decision was changed and Bill was inducted into the Army on March 4, 1942 and reported for duty at Camp Blanding, Florida.  Bill was sent to the Replacement Training Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was called before the Officer's Candidate School board.  During his interview they asked why he had not joined the ROTC at Indiana University.  He replied by saying he had been rejected because of his crooked left arm.  The colonel then asked, Why didn't you try to get a waver?"  Bill answered that at 16, looking forward to all the other activities of his freshmen

year, it had just not seemed all that important. 

The board accepted his honesty, and him, into Officer's Candidate School The next 16 weeks he spent in OCS  at Fort Sill.  He emerged a green 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the Field Artillery division at Camp Cleyborne, Louisiana.  Bill was doing fine until he got on the wrong side of his battalion commander by leading his group the wrong way during a parade before the Brigadier General.  He decided he needed a way out, so, after seeing a notice asking for pilot recruits, he signed up for flight training.
 

He was sent to Denton, Texas where he trained and earned his wings as a liaison pilot.  Later Bill stated he thought he was lucky to be trained as a Paper Cub Pilot instead of flying the "coffin maker" Taylorcrafts.  From Denton he returned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he went through field training for recognizance.  Before he was finished, he could take off and land his little plane just about anywhere.

Bill's next assignment took him to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  Here he met a young girl working in the message office.  She looked a lot like Barbara Stanwick and was from nearby Jefferson City.  After a short courtship, very

common in those times, Bill married Virginia Marie Cox December 24, 1942.

After the holidays, Bill's unit was sent to Louisiana maneuvers. From

working at the base, Virginia knew the commanding officer, Col. Coy, and

was invited to ride down there with his wife.  They found a place to live in

nearby Nacodish, La.  Bill and Virginia were able to get together whenever

leaves were given out, and sometimes when there were no leaves.  Anytime

Col. Coy wanted to see his wife he would get Bill to fly him to Nacodish

for the night.  Sometimes they made the trip without a leave or pass, flying

out in the evening and returning early the next morning.  It seemed like a

good idea until one morning the Louisiana fog rolled in.  Bill managed to land

the plane, but missed the road and ran over some tree stumps.  Col. Coy

ordered a new under carriage for the Cub, and the unauthorized evening

trips ended.
 

Bill's next stop was Camp Campbell, Kentucky, where he waited until he

was assigned as a replacement.  Next he went to Baltimore to await a ship

assignment.  This finally came in the spring of 1944 when he was moved to

Boston and shipped out to England. Bill Law sailed from Boston on a passenger ship that had been converted to a troop carrier.  It was striking that this particular ship sailed alone, not part of a convoy, across the Atlantic during the days right before D-Day.
 

He landed in the home of his ancestors, Greenock, Scotland, but didn’t

have much time to look around.  He boarded a train that night for Bristol,

England.  A one day stopover in Bristol allowed, just enough time to try

out the British pubs.  He said he got so drunk he has no memory of getting

back to the base that night.  But he did get back in time to board a 5 am

train for Portsmouth.  June 16, 1944 he was transported by LST (Landing Ship

Tank) across the English Channel to Omaha Beach.
 

The first day he was temporarily assigned to the 29th Infantry Division

as a replacement.  June 19th, he was permanently assigned to the 324th Field

Artillery Battalion, 83rd Infantry Division.  They had just landed on

Omaha Beach and were to move in to replace the battle weary 101st  Airborne

division that landed on D -Day.  His first landing strip was one the

gliders of the 101st had used during that long night before the dawn of D Day.

Gliders and pieces of gliders were still scattered on the field and in

trees.  He was soon moved to a landing strip just south of Carentan and

operated from there through what he called the most hellish days of the

war.

From July 5 to July 25 the 83rd lost 10,000 of 15,000 men killed, wounded

or missing.  Some infantry positions went through 4 and 5 men in a row.

Bill moved in to replace Lieutenant Hoffer who stayed with the unit as an

observer.  Each artillery unit was supposed to have two Piper Cub pilots.

The 324th now had Bill, now a first lieutenant, and a Staff Sergeant

Pokalla.  Piper Cub pilots generally flew 1500 feet up and 1500 yards

back from the known enemy forward elements observing enemy movements,

artillery fire, and strongholds and directing our artillery bombardment.  Citizen

Soldier says “ When the Cubs appeared, all German mortar and artillery

firing stopped.  As Sergeant Sampson described it,’ They didn’t dare give

their positions away, knowing if they fired our pilot would call in and

artillery would be coming in on them, pin-point.  The results could be

devastating’  Sgt. Gunter Behr was a radioman with a German artillery

battery.  Because of the spotter planes, two of the guns were blown apart

within minutes of the first time the battery shot at Americans. 

From then on, Behr related, ‘As soon as we fired our guns, we had to run again, and look for a good place to hide.  We were hunted.  Always afraid.  If you

could not run, it was over .  Like eagles and rabbits.’”
 

Early in July Bill had flown a few missions and he assigned Sergeant

Pokella to fly his first combat mission with Lt. Hoffer.  This was the first time

Bill had directly ordered another man into action.  The landing strip was

really just a field surrounded by hedgerows.  The engineers had blown a

hole in the hedgerow at each end of the field to allow them to take off and

land. As Sergeant Pokella took off that day the plane drifted a little, hit the

hedgerow, nose dived and crashed on the field.  Lt. Hoffer was in the

back seat and able to get out unhurt.  Sergeant Pokella was pinned in the

front seat by the gas tank.  They could not get him out and the gas tank

exploded into flames.  Fully conscious and uninjured he burned to death right

there in front of them.
 

For the next three months Bill had to fly all the missions for the 324th.

It was double duty, but there was no replacement for Pokella.  He racked

up a lot of flying time and was awarded the first Air Medal in the 83rd by

Brigadier General Robert Montague, the 83rd Division Artillery Commander.

The Battalion commander went up with Bill every time their position

changed.
 

He was subject to airsickness and made regular use of his helmet.
 

Bill was part of the 1st Army’s attack on St. Lo.  As he flew artillery

air observation in preparation for that attack B17's and B24’s were bombing

the town.  The bombardment was so thorough he could see only the dust rising

as bombs exploded.  None of the town was visible.  When ground troops

entered the center of town it was hard to tell even where roads and sidewalks had

been.  Still it took a lot of hard fighting before St. Lo was secure in

Allied hands.

Beginning July 25 he flew observation as the Allies began Operation Cobra

to break out of the hated hedgerow country.  The Cubs would look for any

anti-aircraft fire used against our bombers and radio the position to our

gunners.  A medic was quoted as saying, “The funniest thing I ever saw

was those Piper Cubs.  They were spotting for the artillery so the 88s

couldn’t hit our bombers.  Little bitsy Piper Cub protecting these great big S. O.

B.s way up there with the bombs.”  Breakout was accomplished and they

moved on to Avarances.
 

At this point the whole 83rd Division was transferred from the First Army

to the Third Army under General Patton.  The first of August two regiments

of infantry and 3 battalions of field artillery, including the 324th, were

assigned to capture St. Malo and the surrounding area.  They were

successful and for the first time received the “hero treatment” from the liberated citizens of the town.  The people greeted them with cheers, hugs, kisses, and wine.
 

The next assignment was to clean up the Germans in the Loire River area

southeast of Paris.  As part of this assignment they liberated the town

of Angers.  Again they were thanked by grateful residents and introduced to

Contreau, a liquer produced in Angers.  It is sweet but powerful stuff.

Bill says he lost all memory of his first tasting session.

>From there they moved on to Tours and continued to follow the river up to

Orleans.  In that vicinity the division captured a whole army of Germans,

20,000 men,  coming up from south France .  They surrendered without

combat at Beaugency Bridge on September 16th.

Next was Luxumburg.  This meant a 300-mile trek across France that Bill

made three times as he still had two planes to move.  Their airfield was set

up south of Ectenach.  Here Bill got a replacement for Sgt. Pokella, Lt.

Hamrichaus. Unfortunately, he went on sick call and was transferred to a

hospital in a few days.
 

Once again Bill was flying double duty and two planes.  Every time they

moved he had to go back and get the second plane after moving the first.

As long as the weather permitted they kept the Piper Cubs up as much as

possible.  Any time the German artillery fired the forward observers

could see the flashes and report their position to American artillery.  Because

of this the Germans adopted the policy of not firing their artillery when

the Cubs were flying.  They also kept enemy movement to a minimum. The only

thing that kept them down was bad weather.
 

While they were in Luxumburg all officers got a monthly ration of

whiskey. Drinking with the enlisted men was forbidden, but one night Bill and the sergeant who was his plane mechanic were sampling it together. The

sergeant got quite drunk and called the battalion commander.  A few days later

the battalion commander had a little talk with Bill saying how sure he was

that Bill would not be sharing his whiskey with the sergeant.
 

Early in December the 324th got another Piper Cub pilot from Division

Artillery, a Lt. Boscof.  By this time Bill had flown enough combat

missions to receive an Air Medal and two bronze oak leaf clusters.  Each oak leaf cluster is the same as another Air Medal.  They each represent 35 combat

missions.  By the time he went home Bill wound up with six and a silver

Oak Leaf Cluster.
 

Soon after this the 83rd traded places with the 23rd who had been in

heavy fighting in the Hertgen Forest.  They moved to just south of Duren and

stayed until just after Christmas Day.  The day after Christmas they were

asked to draw back to relieve the troops caught in the Battle of the

Bulge.
 

The Germans had surged forward right where the 83rd had been.  If they

had not exchanged positions with the 23rd they would have been caught just

south

of the center of the bulge.  As it was they fell back to Liage and then

fought south until Bastone was relieved. After the Battle of the Bulge and relief of Bastone the 83rd was given one week of rest and recuperation at Maastricht, Holland. They were transferred  from Patton’s Third Army to be part of the 21st British Army group.  As such they crossed the Rhine sometime in March at Wesel with Prime Minister Winston Churchill watching.  Bill commented that anything the British did was well planned and they sought to keep casualties to a minimum. 
They spent three weeks planning the crossing and the accomplished it according to plan.  Here they had to build a pontoon

bridge.

The Rhine had already been crossed at Remagen where there was a bridge.

After crossing the Rhine at Wesel they were part of the attack group that

went through north of the Rour.  The Rour area of Germany was a tremendous

industrial area.  They went west across the north edge of this area and

left this big industrial area in German hands and pushed on to Calbe.  It took

only two weeks to make this rat race across Germany to a point within 50

miles of Berlin.  All units moved forward so fast they used the

observation pilots to keep track of where the front was and accurately report it to headquarters.  In fact this was really their only job during this time.
 

The 83rd Division Commander was so impressed with the job they did he

recommended that the next leave home go to a Cub pilot.  Due to all that

time of flying double duty Bill had more hours and missions than any of

the other pilots.  He was granted a 45 day leave May 4 from Calbe, Germany,

less than 50 miles from Berlin.
 

Crossing Germany the Germans' defeat seemed sure, yet they fought

savagely and senselessly.  Bill and his unit were caught in a situation like this,

capturing little boys.  Two of the boys would not surrender or stop

shooting and they had to shoot them.
 

Just before he was about to leave his unit in May, 1945, hear the town of

Bad Lippspringe, by the Elbe River, Bill ran into a little trouble. Interestingly enough, the family only got this story from another source when a cousin saw it written up in "The Thunderbolt" and sent it to his Uncle Jimmie.  Bill did not know this cousin was even in the 83rd until after he got back home.  It seems a German ME 109 flew over the  324th airfield just after Bill had taken off.  When the German spotted the Cub he started shooting.  Bill made a sharp dive toward a 324th FA anti aircraft gun position.  Bill's wing was damaged before the American gunners took are of that fighter.  Bill landed his plane and put in a requisition for a new wing. 

As the story was reported in the 83rd's newspaper, "The Thunderbolt,"

Bill's comment was, "I didn't see the ME 109, I heard his guns behind me

and dove for the AA position.  Those fellows did a swell job; they picked

that Jerry off with two shots." Between the time the leave was granted and when he left a reporter wanted to be taken up to see the Russians, who they were rapidly joining up with.
 

Bill was not required to do that job and said, “No way!”  He had survived

a bitter war across France, Belgium, Luxumburg, and Germany and was looking

at going home.  He wasn’t about to get shot down taking some reporter up to

sight see.  The leave came through and he was sent to Laharve, France to

catch the next boat home.  He was sitting on the ship in La Harve

awaiting departure when the Germans surrendered.
 

Upon arriving in the States he was given 37 days of leave with Virginia.

The first part of the leave was spent with the family at St. Petersburg.

Then they went to Miami for Army R & R.  They teamed up with 4 or 5

officers and one priest that had been with Bill on the boat from France.  Virginia

has said that that “rest and recuperation” almost killed them.  There

were constant parties and lots of drinking, not much rest. At the end of that leave Bill was to be reassigned and shipped out to the Pacific.  He has always given President Truman credit for saving his life by dropping the atom bombs and ending the war.  He had survived one war and didn’t think there would be much chance of surviving two.  He was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma preparing to be shipped out to Japan n V J Day in August.
 

After V J Day the Army wanted to make him an instructor pilot.  He wasn’t

too crazy about the idea of daily sitting in the observer’s seat while

someone else was flying the plane.  He was discharged from Fort Sill,

Oklahoma in October and transferred to inactive reserve status.  He and

Virginia returned to Spencer, Indiana.  I have heard him say he has some

regrets about getting out of the service.  He liked the order and

camaraderie of the military life.  But, there were other adventures in

store for the Law family.