Vance L. Crouse is a retired Colonel in the United States Air Force. Born in Henderson, Tennessee in 1921, he was home-schooled, then attended a rural public school, and a junior college, Freede Hardeman College, during the Great Depression. His father worked as a carpenter as well as an auto mechanic and his mother was a teacher. His sister, following their mother’s footsteps, pursued a career as a school teacher. A chance to see Charles A. Lindbergh in Louisville, Kentucky, sparked a lifelong interest in airplanes. Crouse describes the experience, “We went up to visit my uncle in Louisville, Kentucky, and Charles A. Lindbergh came and landed there…he recently completed his transatlantic flight, and we got to see him and his Spirit of St. Louis airplane. And that made a lasting impression on me.” In 1932 after the passing of his mother, he and his father moved to Memphis, while his sister taught in rural schools across the country. It was during a Sunday afternoon visit to his three uncles on December 7, 1941 that Crouse heard a radio report of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after his 21st birthday in 1942. Denied the opportunity for pilot-training due to his poor vision, Crouse was sent to Officer Candidate School at Yale University for basic and technical training. He was transferred to Greenville, South Carolina for the Replacement Training Unit then to Key Field in Meridian, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. Crouse was stationed in Gushkara, in the Assam Valley, India, as part of a reconnaissance squadron. He was pulled out of his medical training and sent to Korea to serve as a doctor at Taegu and Seoul. Crouse was stationed in occupied Germany from 1960-1963.
James Young was born in Winnsboro, South Carolina in 1921. Young volunteered for the Army Reserves in 1942. After completing basic training in Miami Beach, Florida, he went to Shepherd Field, Texas for munitions training. He was sent to Las Vegas, Nevada, for gunnery school, then Dalhart, Texas, for combat crew training. At gunnery school, Young recalled firing at a target pulled by an airplane: “Each person had a different color of shells, and he could count his hits by whether they were yellow, black, green.” Stationed in Polebrook, England, Young served as a Technical Sergeant, tail gunner in the 8th Air Force, 351st Bomb Group Heavy, 509th Bomb Squadron from the March 6, 1944 to May 2, 1945. He flew 28 missions, the first of which was into Poland on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1944. He later flew missions over Poland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium. In this interview, he recalls details of several of his missions and discusses the annual reunions he attends with the men with whom he served.
Carl Roberts was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1929. His father and mother worked in a cotton mill. He was one of seven boys and had one sister. Roberts enlisted in the Navy when he was 17-years old and attended basic training in Maryland. He was assigned to the USS Leyte aircraft carrier as a Seaman First Class in the Pacific at the end of the Second World War. He later joined the Army and was stationed in Seoul during the Korean War where he worked in the motor pool, acquiring mechanical skills and learning to drive various vehicles. He received the Victory Medal for service in World War II, the Good Conduct Medal for service in the Korean War, and the Honorable Service button. After leaving the service, he was a sheet metal worker at Beverage Air in Spartanburg. In the 1960’s, Roberts moved to Charleston to work as an automatic transmission mechanic and to begin a family. He married and had three children.
Edward Dear was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and his mother worked for John Wanamaker Department Store. He graduated from Frankfort High before attending Temple University, where he played football with actor Bill Cosby. He was drafted into the Marine Corps and continued to played football on the team at Quantico. He attended Officer Candidate School, the Basic School, and the Military Occupational Specialty School for engineering. While stationed at Camp Pendleton, he was ordered to the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Division and sent to the Philippines. He made two landings in Vietnam, first at the Da Nang airbase in an area known as Dodge City. After transferring to the 3rd Marine Division, he was sent to the demilitarized zone at Dang Ha. He describes the personal impact of his experiences as an officer and alludes to the evolution of the media’s war coverage. His leadership style focused on being honest and fair with his men, which carried over into his civilian life as a swimming and football coach. He continues to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball every year and brings students from the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) to have “the Old Corps meet the New Corps.”
