World War II veteran speaks at 8 AF Museum

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Megan M. Tracy
  • 2d Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Recently, the Eighth Air Force museum invited a World War II veteran and Prisoner of War to share his military experiences with the Barksdale community.
Claude McCrocklin, a flight officer during the war, caught the audience's attention with his sense of humor as he stepped up to the podium.

"When we were training in New Mexico, there was a 100-pound practice bomb lined up beside the runway and I, as the bombardier, had to see it put on the plane before we took off," he said. "So, I went over, reached down and picked up the bomb and there was a rattlesnake right under it. When I picked it up, the guy behind me screamed and I dropped the bomb back on the rattle snake. There were more rattle snakes in New Mexico than anywhere I have ever seen. It was a hazard before I even got to war."

According to his book, "Combat and Capture," co-authored by his nephew Mark Armstrong, Claude McCrocklin joined the Army Air Corps at the outset of World War II, and was trained as a bombardier serving with the 15th Army Air Force in Italy.

On April 2, 1944, after a number of missions, his plane was shot down over Steyr, Austria. For the rest of the war, Flight Officer McCrocklin would be a Prisoner of War with six other members of his crew -- two who evaded enemy combatants and two who were killed in action.

In the spring of 1945, Mr. McCrocklin was liberated by the Russian Army. After being with them for a short amount of time, he was transferred to a prisoner of war assembly center in France. He finally returned home to the United States in September of 1945.

"I am honored to have had the opportunity to talk about World War II," he said. "I want everyone to understand one thing; my generation who fought World War II is dying at 1,500 a day. Pretty soon there's not going to be anyone left to talk about his experiences during World War II. So when you look at this old man stumbling around in the hall, think about what we did."

"Our generation, and I say this proudly, and Tom Brokaw put it into words, was the greatest generation and we saved the world," he continued. "To me, World War II is as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday."

Master Sgt. Keith Baron, Eighth Air Force Museum superintendent of restoration and maintenance, attended the event and says that hearing Mr. McCrocklin's story really adds a new level of understanding to the history of the Air Force.

"The presentation was outstanding," he said. "The new Airmen need to fully understand Air Force history in order to realize the importance of what they are doing today. This is not merely a job; there is a real purpose behind what we do.

"Additionally, we all know that as new history text books are being printed for schools, less and less space is given to historical accounts of World War II," he continued. "So, these personal presentations become even more important than ever, especially since we are losing so many World War II veterans every day. The personal stories will soon disappear altogether, so we need to record them now in order to ensure that they will be here and can be told in the future."

Mr. McCrocklin's presentation was the first of many to come for the Eighth Air Force Museum, as it's scheduled to host several guest speakers on topics such as World War II, Vietnam, the Cold War era and several other historical points in military history, as well as crew members and maintenance personnel from specific aircraft. For more information on upcoming events, please contact the museum at 456-2840.