-- Winter 2005 Edition --

An American Hero Long-time Fair Lawn resident, C. Arthur Ferwerda, shared his story with Fair Lawn News.  In the World War II photo below, a pilot is describing possible mechanical problems to Mr. Ferwerda (center).   My Role I spent 33 months overseas, part in England and part of the time in North Africa. I was a Crew Chief, responsible for maintaining a B-24 four engine bomber. I had three mechanics assigned to me. Crew chiefs were discouraged from flying, except for test flights. That's because there were many combat crews, but fewer crew chiefs. It took longer for a crew chief to learn his trade. There was lots of backups for the combat crew, but not as many backups for crew chief. We worked around the clock. It was a lot of trouble to keep the planes in shape. They took a lot of abuse. Plus, they often came back with bullet holes, flak damage and damage to the air frame. In 1943, I flew from England to Libya to support the invasion of Sicily and Italy. We had to fly over water, because France was controlled by Hitler and Italy by Mussolini. THE TARGETS The Air Force headquarters outside of London would choose the targets. Then we were told the number and types of bombs that we would drop. The planes would take off from the base, up to fifty at a time, one minute apart. The planes would circle near the bases for about 1 1/2 hours in order to reach the right altitude (about 23,000 feet) before they would set off for their targets. They needed to get that high to try to avoid the German guns. When I was based in England, we bombed Germany as well as targets in occupied territory including Holland and France.  The targets we hit the most were ball bearing factories. Destroying those factories could stop the war machine in its tracks. Ball bearings were the most important piece of equipment. They were essential for tanks, aircrafts, and trucks. The U.S. Air Force flew all day missions, while the Royal Air Force flew night missions. The idea was to demoralize the population of Germany. We didn't want the people working in the German plants to get any rest. When we dropped bombs in the occupied countries of Belgium, Holland and France -- if we didn't see a target, we wouldn't bomb it, because we didn't want to hurt civilians. Often times, the planes would return with all their bombs. But, when we bombed in Germany, we were told 'not to bring home any bombs'. Towards the end of 1943, we bombed German towns and cities, anything to demoralize the Germans. As we bombed further and further into Germany, our fuel loads became heavier. There were trees at the end of the runways; the runways weren't long enough for the planes with heavy fuel loads. More than once, the planes would come back with pieces of trees and leaves in the engine. We lost some aircraft on take-off. The Men It was hard when our combat crews flew out. We didn't know if they would come back. Usually the same crew flew an airplane. For hours, we didn't know what had happened. Sometimes, we had to wait even longer because on the way back, the crew would land at a field closer to the coast, because of battle damage. My first plane was shot down and the entire crew of ten men were killed. My second plane was also shot down. Only one of the ten men survived that crash. My third plane survived and even took me back home to the United States. The three aircraft amassed a total of 135 missions without a mechanical failure or a ship aborting. I was on the ground crew. The men who flew in the planes (on combat crew) wanted to do that work. They were gung ho about it. They went through at least eight months of training, together, as a crew. Those men would do anything for each other. Seeing The Devastation Two days after the war ended in Europe (VE Day), we were told that we could fly over Germany. We mapped out a tour and flew about 500 feet over Germany. The devastation was really bad. I remember seeing German soldiers marching as far as the eye could see. They were separated from their units, without food and water. Everybody got a chance to fly over Germany -- the cooks, the maintenance men, the military police. I remember seeing right into the basement of hundreds of houses. (We had dropped incendiary bombs that went through the roofs of houses and burnt the wooden beams and floors). But, we were happy to be going home. By that time, I had served 33 months. Flying Today and Then  Our planes would take off in any weather.  It was a lot more dangerous, compared to flying today. It's unbelievable what planes can do today. I had always flown on the flight deck where I could see the instruments. But, after I came back to the United States, I didn't fly for years. I didn't like anyone else doing the driving, where I couldn't see the instruments.  In 1986, my wife and I did fly to England. When we were landing, I remember it was foggy and I couldn't see the runway. I was concerned. But, with the instruments that planes have today, the pilots today don't need to see the runway. Not Many Veterans Left When I returned home, I became an Engineer. I moved to Fair Lawn in 1952. After my wife passed away in 2002, I moved to a senior facility in New Milford. I'm 85 years old, now. There used to many veterans in Fair Lawn. In 1955, I joined the American Legion and a few years later I joined the Veterans of Foreign War. There's not many of us WW II veterans left. Out of the 350 men from my squadron, there are only two of us left. For more information about Mr. Ferwerda, see http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~jaf/caf.html His e-mail address is caferwerda@hotmail.com