Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
TRANSCRIBER: B. JEANNE RING, RDR - JUNE 7, 2011
MR. DONOFRIO: -- November 15th, 2010, and we are
interviewing Everett --
MR. HOPKINS: Parker.
MR. DONOFRIO: -- Parker Hopkins. _________ And
your date of birth?
MR. HOPKINS: 8/1/23.
MR. DONOFRIO: And the interviewer is Daniel
Donofrio and the camera operation is by Daniel Donofrio as
well. And the organization is the Veterans History Project
in conjunction with Central Connecticut State University.
Now, what war were you in?
MR. HOPKINS: World War II.
MR. DONOFRIO: World War II. And what was your
branch of service?
MR. HOPKINS: What was my what?
MR. DONOFRIO: Branch of service.
MR. HOPKINS: Air Force.
MR. DONOFRIO: Air Force? And what was your rank?
MR. HOPKINS: When I got out it was corporal.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay. And then where did you
serve?
MR. HOPKINS: Where did I serve? Oh, ho, ho. Oh,
ho, ho. That's what I'm going to tell you. I enlisted and
-- I lived in Bethel. I enlisted from there and went to New
Haven with about 20 other guys. From New Haven we caught a
train that took us to Fort Devens, which at that time was a
large infantry camp. From there we were sworn in, we got
our new clothes, a physical exam. And about midnight we
took our AGCTs, which stands for Army General Comprehension
Tests. The next morning we were on a train heading south.
I didn't know it but I was bound for Fort Jackson, at that
time the largest infantry camp in the country.
When I got there I was assigned to the signal corp unit
that was attached to the 100th Infantry Division. I was
sent to radio school and -- to learn code and to learn how
to operate a straight key. By the end of three months, I
could send and receive faster than anybody. So they decided
I had had enough and were going to send me someplace else.
I came in one night and there were two packets on my bed and
a note that said to see the CO. The CO for us was a colonel
and he stood on no rigid code. You could walk into his
office any time and ask him a question.
We -- I came in one night from school and found two
packets on my bed with a note saying see the CO. So I took
them down to the orderly room, knocked on his door, went in
and he said -- he looked at them and he said, you don't have
to -- this one was for OCS, and they are just looking for a
can to file. And he threw it in the waste basket. He said
you want this one, this is ASTP. I didn't know what that
was but he defined it. He said it's Army Specialized
Training Program. So that's where they were sending all the
people with brains. So he said, I'll cut your orders and
you'll leave probably this weekend bound for Boston. You
can go to BU.
I went to BU and got a lot of math, a lot of chemistry,
a lot of physics. We went through one math book in one
month. Finished the program. They sent me to the Air Force
at Greensboro, North Carolina. At that point they were
training us for flight duty.
I stayed there until I finished their course, and then
was sent to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. There I had
nothing to do but wander around, and I did that for over a
month. Because I was very good with a shotgun, they had me
teaching the little bitty aerial gunners to shoot skeet.
And after about six weeks I left there, was sent to Newport
News, Virginia. I didn't know it at the time but that was
the POE. That was the port of embarkation.
After several days we were put on a liberty ship and
started out in the Atlantic. Now, a liberty ship was a
stripped down troop ship. Some of the sleeping quarters had
five bunks high, and some had only three. And I lucked out,
we got one with three. It took us almost three weeks to
cross the Atlantic. Because we crossed in convoy it was
necessary to do it this way in order not to get sunk.
German U boats were everywhere. The thing that kept us safe
were the Navy in their little DEs, destroyer escorts. They
would pop around all through amongst the big ships looking
for submarines. On each deck of the little devils they had
big aft scans (phonetic), and once in a while you would see
a DE with no aft scans, and you knew he had dropped his load
on a submarine.
At the end of our travel across the Atlantic, the unit
split up. We noticed that we were missing certain ships
here and there and we soon got down to just us and our ship.
We landed at Oran, North Africa. We went into Oran at night
and anchored outside of the harbor. I found out later on
that the French had scuttled a large part of their fleet at
that harbor and it was just barely below the surface. And
so it was hazardous approaching it without a guide. A
guideship did come out and take us into port in pitch black;
it was not safe to do it in the daytime. The turrets were
still bobbing straight from the port.
We were unloaded and put on weapons carriers converted
to troop carriers and taken out to the top of the mountain,
which I found out later was called Goat Hill. At the top of
the mountain the area was perfectly flat and all sand and
two of the edges were deep with cliffs. I was assigned to a
tent that held eight people. There were two lieutenants and
six of us. I became friendly with one of the lieutenants
because he was a horse person and I was a horse person. He
came from Oklahoma and I came from Connecticut, and we
talked the same language.
One night he said I've got guard duty _________ why
don't you come out and sit and talk. So I did. And he was
at the -- where the south section and the west section met
at a little shack that even though it didn't look good was
warmer than our tents. We sat and talked. He told me that
the guard -- it was so dangerous that the guards walk two at
a time, the Arabs would infiltrate the camp and steal
whatever they could and kill whoever they could.
Well, it was -- it wasn't that night, but the next two
or three nights they brought in an Arab. I still can smell
that man. It was awful. He was fat and in what looked like
a bedsheet. They ripped it off and he had a big knife on
his belt. They took the knife away, put the bedsheet on --
back on him, and the lieutenant said, tossing his head, walk
him. After they were gone I said what's walk him. He said
oh, his path goes past us to the end of the cliff. They
wait until he gets into the edge of cliff, jab him in the
*** and over he goes and they don't have to bury him.
I was there on Goat Hill for almost a month. Finally I
had orders to go meet a little English boat. I had no idea
what I was getting into. Again, a weapons carrier took me
down to the harbor and ordered this thing that had eight for
a crew and probably 30 of us on the ship.
We went into the Mediterranean and off the west coast
of Italy to Naples. Naples was still under bombardment. So
we were put in a school basement and I remember sitting on
the floor and how miserable it was, but it was safe. I was
only there several days, then I got orders to meet a convoy
going south. My truck took me to the Butagli (phonetic)
Army Air Base which was just outside of Toronto.
MR. DONOFRIO: And you were at Toronto?
MR. HOPKINS: Pardon?
MR. DONOFRIO: You were at Toronto? That's where
you're saying you went now.
MR. HOPKINS: I meant Toronto. Oh, yeah. Okay.
Butagli Army Air Base?
MR. DONOFRIO: Yep.
MR. HOPKINS: Okay. Later on at Butagli Army Air
Base after a long morning's drive it was right in the instep
of the boot at Italy. I had no idea what I was going to do
there. My provocations merely were only the fact that I
could send and receive faster than anybody. They put me in
the tower and said for now I would have tower duty. There
were four or five Englishmen in the tower who did nothing
but yack and drink tea. They paid very little attention to
the aircraft coming and going. I got disgusted with them.
But I had to say, I will say this for the English that were
in the -- on the field, they were a squadron of fighter
planes, Hurricanes, bow fighters, pit fighters. I wouldn't
even ride in one of them. They were nothing but paper mache
and wood. And they had no starter. When they get an air
attack, the pilot who might be a PFC or a corporal, would
come running out and jump in the plane, his mechanic would
spin the prop and he was gone. There was no warm-up, no
nothing. They didn't even have 50-caliber machine guns,
they had 30. Anyway, I had great respect for those guys.
I was able to get off tower duty after a while because
they needed -- they needed radio operators for flight duty.
They were constantly losing them. While they had plenty of
gunners, you had to have a good radio operator because of
the mountains in Northern Italy. We almost always flew
north, not always but most always.
I remember being _______ in the Air Force, we had one
old aircraft that nobody wanted to fly anymore, it just had
too many missions. In Italy in the unit that I was in they
had to fly 50 missions before they could go home. And this
plane had been through a lot of 50 missions and nobody
wanted to fly it. So they got the bright idea of taking all
the turrets out, which eliminated a lot of weight, and sheet
metal over all the holes and use it as a cargo plane. And
that was my first air duty. I had to ride with them across
the Asiatic to Yugoslavia, because Yugo made the best potato
whiskey in the country. Of any country. And we would load
that thing up full and take it back to Italy.
MR. DONOFRIO: Good stuff. Okay. Now, on the
mission to Yugoslavia, what was the plane that you were in?
MR. HOPKINS: The plane was an B-24 Liberator.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: Which this plane had too many
missions.
MR. DONOFRIO: So it wasn't functioning as what it
typically would be?
MR. HOPKINS: Nobody wanted to fly it.
MR. DONOFRIO: Nobody --
MR. HOPKINS: It had too many miles on it.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: So they made a troop ship out of it,
if you will.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah. Now, was this typical to do
that, to take a former fighting plane and turn it into a
cargo plane?
MR. HOPKINS: There was nothing typical about
these people. They -- the unit that I was in, it was called
the 449 bomb group.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: And it was all 24s.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: 24s. All Liberators. But they were
taking great pain at the house level bombing over across the
oil fields.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: And they got the name of the flying
horsemen.
MR. DONOFRIO: The flying horsemen?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. And pretty well known. There
are all kinds of monuments around the country here --
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: -- to that group. Helen and I have
been to a lot of reunions and met a lot of the people, you
know, that were in that.
(Break in recording)
Flight duty consisted of whenever they needed a radio
operator I was it --
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: -- because I wasn't attached to a
flight crew. I was basically on the tower, but I could be
taken off at any time and fly.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: I liked it. I made sure I got in
enough flight time in order to get paid. Soon as we had
this empty ship we were equipped to carry a number of troops
to rest camp and we began our regular flight to Rome as soon
as it was liberated, because it had all the facilities for a
great vacation, if you will, and the flight crews and ground
crews too would go there and spend a week. I got to fly in
those missions. I think ___________ on those and they
started giving me battle stars because I had eight battle
stars and I never saw any of them.
Anyway, on one trip to Rome I was the radio operator
sitting up on the flight deck right behind the pilot and
there was no copilot. So when we got to Rome and was
circling the city, the pilot says to me, this is tricky
because we can't use the regular airfield, we've got to use
that - I guess it was a soccer field - over there and it's
got a high fence. So he said, when I tell you you push that
lever and that will drop the wheels. We can't drop the
wheels until we get over the fence. It was an eight-foot
fence. That's how tight it was.
MR. DONOFRIO: So you almost had to take the
position of copilot in this flight?
MR. HOPKINS: No, I did what he told me. He told
me what to do.
On another trip to Rome the pilot was an excellent
pilot but on the ground we called him Shaky because he had
to have a cigarette and a drink to stay calm. But in the
air, he was fantastic.
Well, I was back in the base talking to the guys and
some of them wanted to see Cassino. The Battle of Monte
Cassino was a very famous battle and was a total mess. I
mean, a whole plane was just in devastation. We had done
it. I mean, we bombed the hell out of it. I mean, fighter
planes were strafing it. We left an awful mess. And I told
the pilot, they want to see Cassino. Oh, we'll show them
Cassino. He goes down, we were only ten feet off the ground
and we went up that valley. And I'm sitting there and I'm
looking, there's the ________ up there about 6, 7,000 feet
and we've got to get over. And he's going ____________ and
I guess he knew the aircraft because he knew it was light,
because we made it up over the _________, but not before I
was scared to death.
When the war ended, the English fighter crew left us
and a group of totally black P-51s, which was the lightest
fighter planes going at that time, came in and took over the
field. And I can see them as they would come in, oh, no
higher than I was standing on the top of the aircraft waving
their scarves. They all wore these colorful scarves. But
they were hotshots. They were really good.
At the war's end we crossed the Atlantic in eight days
on a luxury liner. I was told the war ended on the 7th.
8th? Anyway, I was home and I called Helen and we were
married June 4th. I was still not out of the service and
they were bound and possessed they were going to train us on
B-39s, which at that time was the biggest bomber, and ready
us for the South Pacific.
So I was sent to Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the
airfield there. And I was right on the edge of the field
and could walk to a horse ranch, and so I did. And I rode
every day and had a big time. And anybody that tells you
that the Indians sneaked up through the grass is lying
because the grass was higher than me on a horse.
From Sioux Falls I went to Smoky Hills Army Air Base in
Salina, Kansas. That was rough duty. Not rough for me but
Salina was a dangerous town. Helen came out and we lived in
town there, and I just went down to the field to check every
morning, made sure I didn't have orders to ship. You --
many of you people that are hearing this will know the movie
that was on TV called The Sheriff of Cochise where it starts
out by opening the door and there's a rifle and a boot.
That was the case of Salina. And I talked with them and I
said, well, just __________. Just __________.
And we lived in town until such time as I got my
discharge. I had 87 points; you needed 80 to get out, so I
had more than enough. So they knew I wasn't going to go
anywhere. But I think it was several months before I was
discharged and came home.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, when Pearl Harbor was attacked
on December 7th, 1941, do you remember where you were at the
time?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. I was in college.
MR. DONOFRIO: You were in college. Now, what
college did you go to again? UConn?
MR. HOPKINS: Started out in UConn.
MR. DONOFRIO: And what were you studying there?
MR. HOPKINS: Forestry.
MR. DONOFRIO: Forestry?
MR. HOPKINS: It was a cow college at that point.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: They had just built one engineering
building and they were so proud of that. Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: So you were a forestry major?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: And then so at that time -- do you
remember when you -- when you enlisted in the service, do
you remember when that was exactly?
MR. HOPKINS: No, I don't.
MR. DONOFRIO: No?
MR. HOPKINS: I came -- I lived in Bethel.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: And I came back to Bethel whenever I
could get a ride --
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: -- on weekends. And I talked to the
draft board and they advised me to wait. But I really
wanted, I really felt that I should enlist.
MR. DONOFRIO: Really?
MR. HOPKINS: I wanted to enlist. And my parents
didn't sway me either way.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay. So it was pretty much up to
you?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. It was up to me.
MR. DONOFRIO: The way you felt?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, at the time you were -- so you
were living up at UConn at the time?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: And as far as family life, you were
still living at home when you weren't up at school?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: The school, they were loaded. I
mean you couldn't get a room on a dorm, or a dorm on campus.
MR. DONOFRIO: Really?
MR. HOPKINS: I lived in a farmhouse three miles
out of campus on Worm Wood Hill. I can see that thing here.
And other than the fact it was awkward being off campus, it
was a good life.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: I had -- I had -- oh, they had all
kinds of affairs, the military ball being the big one in the
fall. And then they had some fall hops.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: Those were the two socials in the
fall before Christmas. And I had a friend that I grew up
with, she and I really weren't boyfriend and girlfriend
except we were boys and girls. I mean, we skied together,
we did everything together. She -- she came up one weekend
and her father brought her up and she stayed over the
weekend at the farmhouse and we --
(Break in recording)
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, during your time in the
service did you ever receive any medals or awards?
MR. HOPKINS: I have eight Battle Stars,
Presidential Citation.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: I'll show you pictures of those.
MR. DONOFRIO: And the Battle Stars, those are
for?
MR. HOPKINS: For battles.
MR. DONOFRIO: For -- okay. So every time you're
in a battle you get a Battle Star?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay. Now, while you were over
there was it difficult to stay in touch with your family or
friends back at home?
MR. HOPKINS: Yes. And in a way it was difficult
because you couldn't say where you were --
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: -- or what you were doing.
MR. DONOFRIO: So while they are -- while they are
at home worrying about you you can't give them information?
MR. HOPKINS: No. You can't give them any solace
at all.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: You -- all they knew was I was in
the Air Force.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: Probably wondering why I didn't have
any more rank than I had.
I didn't mess with _________. VE day I knew an officer
and he plied me with cognac and I went home and beat hell
out of the stovepipe. That's the only time I had to
__________.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, in terms of food, you know,
when you were either at the camp or, you know, out on
service, what types of food did you have usually?
MR. HOPKINS: Air Force was lucky in that they --
on a flight -- well, at the base we would get better. But
on the flights we would get what was called K-rations. And
they had various hard biscuits, mostly dried food, a little
piece of chocolate. They weren't bad. I mean, I liked them
all right. The ground forces were getting what they called
C-rations, and they were -- that was -- I don't know, I
hated ___________. It wasn't good.
MR. DONOFRIO: It wasn't good?
MR. HOPKINS: I always made sure I got breakfast
on the field if I didn't have to fly. When you flew, I
mean, you were briefing at five o'clock and you were in the
air at six o'clock so I didn't get to have breakfast. But
whenever I could get breakfast and they had chipped beef,
oh, I loved chip beef on toast. Everybody was giving me a
hard time. They had a very vulgar terminology for it, but I
loved it.
MR. DONOFRIO: Was there ever a time where there
wasn't enough food for everyone in Europe?
MR. HOPKINS: No.
MR. DONOFRIO: No. So you guys always had --
MR. HOPKINS: We always had enough food.
MR. DONOFRIO: And while you were overseas was
there any shows or any entertainment that you went to?
MR. HOPKINS: Yes. And I'll show you pictures of
our outdoor theater.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: I saw Joe Lewis there.
MR. DONOFRIO: Oh, really?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: So was that -- was that something
that everyone looked forward to when shows would come?
MR. HOPKINS: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. We had -- our theater was a
huge screen as big as this wall. It was outdoors and it was
in a hangar that we had bombed so we had nobody to blame but
ourselves. But it was good. Yeah. It didn't have much in
the way of seats. You sat on the ground or they had planks.
They had -- Air Force has oil drums, all kinds of oil drums
and they had small ones like this and they would put planks
across and sit down and use it as seats.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah. Now, did you keep a diary or
any kind of journal while you were over there? No?
MR. HOPKINS: I didn't have time. They worked me.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, in order to keep warm at night
--
MR. HOPKINS: You mean how?
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah. How would you keep warm at
night?
MR. HOPKINS: We had -- they had special engine
oil. When they were through -- the can was about that high
and about that big around. They would fill it with sand and
outside about one ______ was a 50-gallon oil can filled with
gas and it was supposed to be the red gas. __________
worked in the ground vehicles. We had green gas, airplane
gas, higher octane. And it was piped in with a tubing,
plenty of tubing. This is the Air Force, remember. So we
had -- we had it piped in and were careful on the sand
________.
MR. DONOFRIO: So that's how you stayed warm at
night?
MR. HOPKINS: That's how we stayed warm.
MR. DONOFRIO: Wow. Sounds a little bit --
MR. HOPKINS: Problem is this is what they called
a slack tent, it would hold a lot of men, eight men.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: And it would heat that.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, was it dangerous to do?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. Everybody did it.
MR. DONOFRIO: So you just got to do what you got
to do sometimes and --
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, while you were in the service
did anything like funny or unusual happen that you remember
that sticks out to you?
MR. HOPKINS: ___________--
MR. DONOFRIO: Who was this? Bob?
MR. HOPKINS: Raymond.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: We were really excited about
Raymond. He was an individual. He gave me an idea. He
didn't live in a tent. He had the Italians build him a
pleasy (phonetic) rock. Now, a pleasy rock is soft. I call
it sandstone, but it's shaped with -- or shaped to building
blocks. And he had a hut made out of that for him, just for
him. And he would -- it had a big heavy wooden door. He
would open that door, he would sit inside there and he would
have cans hanging out on the plank shooting a .45.
MR. DONOFRIO: And that would just be for fun?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. If everybody walked around
the corner, they would go away.
Anyway, we went to town one day and were coming back
and we had to go under a railroad trestle bridge, and there
were a couple of I-ties sitting there. And Raymond had on,
we all had these nice flying suits. They were -- they were
green and they were -- they had pockets everywhere and
zippers everywhere. They were deluxe cargo pants, if you
will, that you wear boots and weren't sloppy like that.
They fit and they looked nice. He had one of them on.
_________ So Raymond sold them to him for 25 bucks and
walked back to the base naked.
MR. DONOFRIO: So he was a character?
MR. HOPKINS: Oh, yeah. But he was a great air
specialist so you couldn't touch him. He knew about the
radio compass and he knew about all the radar on the
aircraft. I mean, really knows.
He had hatred for one of the officers, ground officers.
So he would arrange, oh, at least once a month to shut down
all the power in the officers' huts. No lights, no nothing.
No generators. And they knew it was him but they couldn't
prove it. It was very funny.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, what did you think of your
fellow officers and soldiers?
MR. HOPKINS: I had a good relationship with all
of them.
MR. DONOFRIO: With all of them?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. Particularly a major. They
always saw to it that I would get enough flight in to get
flight pay every month, things like that, you know.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: You know, I had a good relationship.
I had no problem because they had to have -- they had to
have a radio operator.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: No matter what else they are missing
they've got to have a radio operator. So I was treated
well.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, how many guys went in
typically that you were with, how many of them had the same
experience as you with the radio operation, or were you the
only one?
MR. HOPKINS: I was the only one in that squadron.
Yeah.
(Break in recording)
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: The plane was coming ________ I had
to let everybody on. They knew they were going to die in 20
seconds. That's hard.
MR. DONOFRIO: So who was this man that you were
just discussing?
MR. HOPKINS: I don't want to define him because
some of his family may be around.
MR. DONOFRIO: Oh, okay.
MR. HOPKINS: Okay.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, was there anybody in the
service that you met in the service that after the service
you were still friends with and kept in contact with?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. Like Raymond. The guy that
shot cans out of his front door.
MR. DONOFRIO: So who were some other people? Who
were some of your friends that you remember from your time
in the service?
MR. HOPKINS: Okay. Next to me here was Ira
Wilson. Ira was from North Carolina. He was a master
mechanic as far as radio and any communication piece of
equipment was concerned. He could fix anything. But
because he was a mechanic in civilian life, he also could
fix our putt-putt. Now, a putt-putt was a small generator.
I say small, it was small enough for two people to carry.
And it was used to light different areas and used to run the
ground communications. And he was good at fixing that.
The one next to Howard here was a code specialist. I
swear he could break any code. McDonald on the end here,
McDonald was a staff sergeant. He was in charge of the
ordinary radios. Now, when I say ordinary, I mean the kind
of -- the ones that were on the ships, on the planes. They
were -- in addition to the radio compass there was a marker
beacon was on the bottom of the aircraft. And when friendly
installations would send up a signal that marker beacon
better go off or you would be shot out of the sky. So that
was very important. He was in charge of that and he was in
charge of what we call -- there were two other radios on the
-- on the aircraft. There was one up overhead, which I
usually got stuck to fix. It was a command set and was only
operative very short distances and was designed that way
because pilots wanted to talk to one another in formation,
but they didn't want the messages to be carried into the
enemy receivers.
The one down here by the fellow's leg was called a VHF,
very high frequency set. And it was necessary in order to
get -- even though you're up 10, 15, 20,000 feet, it's hard
to get a signal over the mountains of Northern Italy. And
so you would need this powerful set. It was ingenious for
its time because it was push button. And lots of times I
would operate it when we were in the air to -- well, check
it out. It had four bands and you push one button and call
another ship. And the guy would come on. They had their
own -- I was G-George. They had -- the guy I always called
was P-Peter. And I would say P-Peter, G-George, do you read
me? And he would say R5S5, which means radio is clear and
the signal strength is strong. And then I would say repeat,
and we would go through the four channels before anybody
could get on and so we weren't caught.
John Byer was 36 years old and he was -- anybody 36 or
older was -- who had been drafted was sent home. He was
one. O'Toole, John O'Toole was another one. He was sent
home. This guy up here was not well liked. He was a
stinker. He really was. And -- later on he was sent to the
infantry. They hated him.
That's all I can remember about.
MR. DONOFRIO: The day your service ended do you
remember that day?
MR. HOPKINS: Pardon me?
MR. DONOFRIO: The day your service ended do you
recall that day?
MR. HOPKINS: Yes. That's the day I beat up the
stovepipe.
MR. DONOFRIO: And then when you first arrived
back in the United States you discussed that you actually
had to go back to some kind of training or camp?
MR. HOPKINS: We crossed -- I crossed the Atlantic
in eight days on a luxury liner coming back. I was home
nine days after the war was over.
MR. DONOFRIO: Wow.
MR. HOPKINS: And I called up Helen and we got
married. That was pretty good.
MR. DONOFRIO: Seems so. And --
MR. HOPKINS: Been good for 65 years. Not bad.
MR. DONOFRIO: No. Definitely good. Now, when
you first returned what were your days like when you first
returned?
MR. HOPKINS: When I first returned I came into
Westover Field in Massachusetts. About all I did was sign
in and get my pass, as it were, to go home. And I was home
until we were married and it was __________. I had a big
old Oldsmobile that would slurp up a gallon going up the
driveway and so we didn't go far on our honeymoon. But I
had to report to Sioux Falls Army Air Base in South Dakota.
I was there for 30 days. I was not rested and I was not
recuperated but it was the end of 30 days. And I -- all I
had to do there was just -- oh, we would go out to the line,
the line is -- means that's where the planes are kept, and
give lessons on the radio equipment, I would. Because the
B-39s were what was being used in the South Pacific, and
supposedly we were training on -- we knew we were being
accepted, some of the sets were different, we just had to
learn how to operate them. I rode horseback every day, as I
said before. The grass out there was as high as me on a
horse. And the Indians didn't have to sneak.
When I left Sioux Falls I went to Salina, Kansas, Smoky
Hill Army Air Base and that was the first time that I really
didn't have to live on the base. And so I got an apartment
in town and Helen came out and I just had to check in every
day to be sure I didn't have any orders.
She's reminding me that the air base there had a big
sign over the mess tent, it wasn't a tent, it was a hall,
that said never have so many waited so long for so little.
That was good.
They had -- I forget who __________ the figure, but
they had a cartoon figure throughout the European Theater
called Kilroy and he had a big nose and big ears and he was
looking over a fence in all of the drawings. And he was
everywhere. He was in the latrines, he was in the mess
halls, he was inside the airplanes. He was everywhere. It
was a part of the lighter side of life in the Air Force.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: That's it.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now did you work or go back to
school on returning?
MR. HOPKINS: I went to work because I loved
photography.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: And I did that. Even though I
enlisted in the signal corp I never got it because they
discovered -- believe it or not they discover your ability
with code by giving -- by having you listen to music and
asking you questions as you listen to the music. And that
was done in Fort Devens. And they determined all that
before I left Devens. And so I never got my photography.
So when I got out of the service, I went to work for a
man and got photography and I learned a lot from him, but
then I went back to school. I took crash courses at RIT in
Syracuse and studied under really fine masters and developed
quite a portrait business. I had a -- when my partner died
I could go in the studio camera shop in Milford where
_______ is now. Are you familiar with that?
MR. DONOFRIO: A little bit. Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: Right on the corner there.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay.
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. And also one in Middle Town.
And I liked it. I liked every part of it. Now I've been
teaching at the senior center here for -- well, this is the
sixth year and we have a good group. I have 22 people and
they're just like family.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: And that's a weekly class?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay. Now, did you join any
veterans' organizations or --
MR. HOPKINS: I belong to the VFW in New Milford.
MR. DONOFRIO: The VFW in New Milford?
MR. HOPKINS: Yeah.
MR. DONOFRIO: Okay. And what -- and is it
typically World War II veterans that are there or is it --
MR. HOPKINS: Oh, they are everything.
MR. DONOFRIO: Everything now?
MR. HOPKINS: But my friend, neighbor was the
commander at the time I joined, and I -- I'm a life member.
I have a life membership.
MR. DONOFRIO: Is there any benefits of that?
MR. HOPKINS: Not really.
MR. DONOFRIO: No discounts or anything?
MR. HOPKINS: No.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, did your experience in World
War II, did that influence your thoughts about the military
or any -- about war in general?
MR. HOPKINS: I learned it's pretty much like
politics, like some politics. People in command can pretty
much get done what they want done, and to my mind it was not
always the best way. But for instance, this is the for
instance, ASTP, the Army Specialized Training Program that I
was in, they were supposed to be all the brains of the
country, and they were sent back to school to save those
brains. Well, the war got so that after a while they
discontinued the whole project and everybody went back in
the service. They sent me to the Air Force. I don't know
where they sent the other people. Lots of times like
civilian life it doesn't make any sense.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: You come along and have to
straighten everything out.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, did you have -- now, you were
discussing reunions earlier. You went to some reunions?
MR. HOPKINS: Did I what?
MR. DONOFRIO: Go to some reunions?
MR. HOPKINS: Oh, yeah. I went to a lot of
reunions.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, were they primarily people
that you were in the service with directly or were they just
various different --
MR. HOPKINS: Well, both.
MR. DONOFRIO: Both?
MR. HOPKINS: This guy that put the clothes on
____________ I knew him. We spent a lot of valuable time
with him and his wife.
I wanted to show these pictures and he comes around and
says, I did that. Fantastic artist.
MR. DONOFRIO: Very.
MR. HOPKINS: As I said, he worked -- he worked
for NORAD the rest of his life in Colorado. He said he went
-- got out of the Air Force and went into a cave. NORAD is
on the side of a mountain.
(Break in recording)
Was it Dallas, Texas?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Houston.
MR. HOPKINS: Houston. And I was amazed that they
had huge oil drums bigger than this house in the middle of
the city. We went to -- they put up a monument to us there.
We went to -- shut it off a second.
(Break in recording)
I believe that was _______ Patterson. I'm trying
-- A _____ bomber. They're huge. And they don't even look
like an airplane. There's sheets of metal going every which
way. I guess it's metal. Maybe it's plastic. But they're
tremendous. I mean, he gets in and out of it with a ladder
and he got out and _______ came over and shook hands with us
and he said _____________. Everything was perfect on the
plane.
MR. DONOFRIO: Really.
MR. HOPKINS: And he had just come in from the
West Coast.
MR. DONOFRIO: Now, at the reunions, like, what
would -- what would typically go on at the reunions?
MR. HOPKINS: They would have a general meeting,
not a formal meeting but where everybody could socialize --
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: -- and meet old friends. And they
would have a regular program laid out for every day that was
on. A reunion is usually five days and they had something
going every day. A general was always in charge, and still
is at the reunions. But we did not go, we couldn't go to
the one in Washington D.C. They had a big one there. But
they always had a big band at the end and elected officers
for the forthcoming year. And usually meet every other year
once -- once in Mississippi and once in ________ so it's
easier on the guys because we're getting old.
MR. DONOFRIO: Oh, yeah. Now, is there anything
else you would like to add to the interview that you would
want myself to know or -- and everyone in general?
MR. HOPKINS: I think _____ said to me get into
the flag corp, son. I think that was -- I think it's a
great organization full of great people. If you read any
history you're going to read about the ______ level bombings
of ______ oilfields, things that we did.
Got the presidential citation. I was fortunate. All
the way through I was fortunate.
Crossing the Atlantic to go to Oran in North Africa was
probably the second scariest thing I did. The scariest
thing I did was watching that aircraft go down. But the
attitude of the people was just great. They all knew it
might be their last ride and might not see each other again.
I think from my hometown one crew had a tailgunner that was
a casualty. He was younger than I was. When he got off the
ground he just -- he was a chain smoker. He said -- you'd
see him there in the tail, sitting there in the tail and you
don't see any of your buddies. You're out there all alone
and anything that happens is going to be trouble. The guns
-- the guns only rotate just so far each way and it's not
that you can't get out, but getting in and out of that seat
is very awkward.
MR. DONOFRIO: Yeah.
MR. HOPKINS: He got out of the service and drank
himself to death.
MR. DONOFRIO: Let's stop a minute.
(End of recording)