Categories
- 45th Infantry Division
- Adolf Hitler
- Army
- Army Air Corps
- Bataan
- Battle of the Bulge
- China-Burma-India
- Circle Cinema
- Concentration Camps
- Douglas Aircraft Plant
- Guadalcanal
- Hawaii
- Marines
- Navy
- Normandy Invasion
- OETA
- Oklahoma City Museum of Art
- Oklahoma History Center
- Oklahoma News Report
- Pearl Harbor
- Rosie the Riveter
- Saipan
- South Pacific
- Tarawa
- The Oklahoman
- The War
- Uncategorized
- USS Neches
- USS Oklahoma
- War in Europe
- World War II
Archives
Blogroll
Meta
“We wanted to see how the devil lived”
September 28th
Emmett Steeds entered the National Guard in 1936, served for a year, and got out. He was working for a hardware store and remembers he was eating lunch when he heard that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt had declared war.
I recently visited with Steeds at the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City. He told me, “We had no choice. They jumped on us without provacation, so when they bombed Pearl Harbor there was no question about going into war.”
Steeds’ unit was still in Abilene, Texas, so he went home, told his wife, packed up his things and got on the bus to Fort Barkley, Texas to rejoin his outfit. “Within a few days,” he said, “practically everybody that had gotten out had come back to the unit.”
So began World War II for U.S. Army Platoon Sergeant Emmett Steeds. Steeds spent more than a year in training before sailing out of New York, across the North Atlantic, to North Africa, which was already under American control. After landing at Oran, Steeds and the others in the 45th Division, 179th Infantry headed to Sicily, then Italy, where they landed at Salerno. He received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant from General George S. Patton for his service in the Italian campaign.
The 45th marched across western Europe and Steeds reached the Dachau concentration camp within hours after it had been liberated. He remembers the dead he found there, bodies stacked in boxcars, and finding a lot of people barely alive. It was an experience that haunted him for months.
The 45th continued on to Munich, to become part of the occupation force. The regiment’s headquarters was set up in a rather unlikely place: an apartment where Adolph Hitler had lived. Steeds remembers it was a big house in Munich, and some of the officers from the U.S. Headquarters of the 179th stayed in the building. A famous picture at the 45th Infantry Division Museum shows another Oklahoma soldier from the 45th, Sgt. Arthur E. Peters, reclining on Hitler’s bed, reading a copy of Mein Kampf. The picture made it onto the cover of the May 14, 1945 edition of Life magazine, with the caption, “Get your feet off my bed.”
Steeds stayed in the military after World War II and served in Korea, where he rose to the rank of Captain. The Blair, Oklahoma native worked for the postal service in Oklahoma City for 30 years. He’s long since retired, but at the age of 90, still volunteers at the 45th Infantry Division Museum on weekends.
You can see two of his prized possessions at the museum: a Nazi medallion and personal stationery of Adolph Hitler that Steeds “liberated” from the Fuehrer’s Munich Apartment.
If you have a chance to visit the museum, I encourage you to go - but plan to spend some time. There is a lot to take in, and you might get to visit with Emmett Steeds. If you see him, tell him, “Thanks.”
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(Emmett Steeds was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 29, 2007. To see the story, click on the “Videos” link on this website and go to “OETA’S Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.”)
“We were unbeatable”
September 26th
Anybody who knows Fred Norman will tell you he is a “character.” Quick with a quip, with a warm and easy smile, Fred Norman is someone you will never forget.
I attended Norman High School with his daughter, Nancy, so of course I proudly watched Fred as he presented the weather on KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. Fred would tell it to you straight, with that mischievous grin, and a lot more often than not he was right about the weather. As we all know, that’s saying something in Oklahoma.
But he’s a lot more than Fred Norman, TV meteorologist. Fred Norman is a real hero; he didn’t just play one on TV. Long before he stood in front of the camera, Fred was a navigator on heavy bombers that flew into enemy territory on more than 35 missions during World War II.
It was inevitable that Fred Norman would serve during the war. Norman’s father fought against the Germans in World War I. He had lived in Hawaii for a while, so he was familiar with Pearl Harbor. His grandparents and parents were from England, so he knew about the war of aggression being fought in Europe. He was attracted to flying by reading “Flying Aces” magazine. Only one problem: Fred was born in Canada.
“Well, it did present a little problem,” said Fred. “As you know, we didn’t have the Air Force, we had the Army Air Corps. But, I took all the tests and got selected, and then they called me up and said I couldn’t get into the flying cadet program because I wasn’t a citizen, although my parents were naturalized. Fortunately, they got it all straightened out before I joined the Canadian RAF.”
After less than six months of training, Norman was on his way to England. He enjoyed the time he spent there, especially the nights at Piccadilly Circus, where young Americans would enjoy the social life and get to know the young women (much to the chagrin of British guys).
Flying at 30,000 feet, he saw a different war than did those on the ground, although he admits the weather in Europe sometimes made work difficult. Not to mention the Nazi flak. The flak hit him once, but the flak jacket he wore saved him. After that, Norman became one of the Army Air Corps’ biggest proponents of flak jackets.
Norman says pilots had to swerve to the target to keep from getting hit, but the B-17 could take it. “We brought one plane home with 400 holes in it,” he said. “No other plane could take that punishment and keep going, but the B-17 did.”
“Air power,” Norman said, “is what won the war. ” Norman added, “He who does not have air power domination is going to lose. We had the power, and we used it. How could it have come out any other way? We were unbeatable.”
After the war ended, Norman returned to the United States and became an instructor. He is especially pleased that he was able to help train the famed black fliers, the Tuskegee Airmen. Norman said, “I was very impressed. They were more disciplined. We were kind of cocky. They were courageous and willing and rearing to go, but the group I taught never got into battle, because the war abruptly ended, and within a week I was on my way home.”
Fred Norman used the G.I. Bill to get his college degree, went to work for the National Weather Bureau and never looked back. After stints as a TV meteorologist in Tampa, Amarillo and Denver, he settled in Oklahoma City.
Norman spent 16 years at KOCO. That’s where I got to know him, for real. By the mid-1980’s I was anchoring and reporting sports at KOCO, and Fred and I worked together on the weekend news, weather and sports team for a couple of years. Now, about twenty years later, it’s been a real honor to tell “the rest of the story” of Fred Norman, the aviator.
(above) Dick Pryor with Fred Norman at his Duncan home. Norman worked with Dick, Gerry Bonds and Ross Dixon at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(Fred Norman was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 26, 2007. To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)
“Everybody was together”
September 25th
When June Buckley says everybody was together - for the troops and against the enemy, she really means it. Like most Americans, she feared the enemy and the consequences for the Allies should the Axis win World War II. The war, for June Buckley, was also personal. Her husband and her brother were involved in the fighting.
Buckley graduated from high school in Abilene, Texas, where she worked at Camp Barkley as a photographer and receptionist. She remembers dancing with servicemen at USO clubs “because they were all so young, and we wanted to do all we could for the servicemen.” Buckley said, “we also played checkers with the soldiers, and sold war bonds. Not only were we entertaining them, but we were having a good time.”
When her husband Andy went overseas, she moved to Oklahoma to be with her parents. She said it was terrible watching your husband leave. “It was terrible,” she said, “because you didn’t know if they were going to come back. Of course you didn’t think of that, but in the back of your mind it was there.”
She worked at the Air Force Base in Ardmore for a short time, but she heard about a new aircraft assembly plant in Oklahoma City that needed workers, so Buckley went to work at the Douglas Aircraft Plant as a riveter.
“The work was easy,” Buckley said. “You just had to know where to rivet and get those wings on the plane.” The Douglas Aircraft Plant produced thousands of C-47’s and provided maintenance on other aircraft during the war.
Buckley worked in Building 3001, which later became a key part of Tinker Air Force Base. The atmosphere in Oklahoma was good. She remembers many women being pen pals who wrote letters to the servicemen to cheer them up. She says it was an atmosphere of helping each other.
“Everyone pulled together because they cared,” Buckley said. “They were all angry that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and killed our servicemen, so they just wanted to take care of the enemy and our servicemen and win the war as quickly as possible, and bring them home.”
(above) June Buckley, who was chosen in 2002 as “Rosie the Riveter” for the Douglas Aircraft Plant.
(below) After the war, June Buckley earned her private pilot’s license. She wanted to be a commercial pilot, but found that women were not being hired for those positions, so she made her career working at Tinker Air Force Base and for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(June Buckley was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 25, 2007. To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)
War in the Pacific
September 24th
“You couldn’t go anywhere without stepping over a dead man.” That’s how Dale Luton of Tulsa remembers the battle at Tarawa (above), which is featured prominently in Ken Burns’ documentary, “The War,” airing tonight on OETA.
Luton joined the Marines late in 1941. He had planned on enlisting in the Navy, but his mother did not want him to be on the ocean, so he became a Marine. Luton was one week away from completing his 7 weeks of training in San Diego when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Luton never got that seventh week of training. He did not know much about Pearl Harbor before the attack, but he knew war was coming. By the third week of January, 1942 he was on a luxury liner, headed for Pacific with the 1st Marine Brigade. He was 17 years old.
Luton drove trucks and hauled gasoline in Samoa, where he sustained burns when, because of a mislabeled can, he poured gasoline on the sand (instead of kerosene) and hot metal underneath ignited the gasoline, causing a flash fire. He returned to his unit after 21 days in the hospital, and wound up on the front line at Guadalcanal. The conditions there were awful.
“Well, there’s mosquitoes that could lift a mosquito net off of you, and when you woke up your entire arm was a welt, so I had malaria,” said Luton. “We were glad when the Army relieved us, because they had stacks of food and supplies. Before then we were eating Japanese rice, C-rations, and didn’t have much of anything.”
On the atoll of Tarawa, Luton saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. “Tarawa was a 72-hour battle,” he said. “Where the airstrip was, there was high places on this atoll, and it was two miles long and 800 yards wide, at the widest place. It was a 72-hour battle, and when we got back on board ship there were 1,026 Marines killed and 3,000 wounded, and we had killed over 3,000 Japanese. It was over the equivalent of one square mile, and there was that many people killed. ”
Luton was an ambulance driver in Saipan, where he was captured in a photograph that is featured prominently in the promotion of ”The War.” Normally, Luton carried the living to the hospital, but in that picture from 1944, he is the Marine in the foreground, carrying a dead American soldier to the cemetery. 
Luton’s daughter, Linda Luton Jackson, saw ”The War” promo and told us about the picture that also resides in her father’s scrapbook and in a frame on a shelf in her parent’s apartment in Tulsa. We have now learned that Ken Burns hopes to meet with Mr. Luton, to discuss the circumstances surrounding that now well-known photograph.
Dale Luton married Betty Ritter after he returned home to Tulsa from the south Pacific. They celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary on September 23, 2007. 
(above) Betty and Dale Luton in 1944. (below) Betty and Dale Luton today.
Dale Luton’s story is the second of our Oklahoma World War II Stories, airing Monday, September 24th at 6:30 p.m. on the Oklahoma News Report.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(Dale Luton was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 24, 2007. To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)
Ken Burns and Guests Join Gerry Bonds on OKC Metro
September 22ndThis has been an exciting week at OETA as we prepare for the much-anticipated debut of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The War”, premiering on OETA this Sunday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m. We appreciate your interest and involvement, Oklahoma!
Tune-in to OKC Metro on OETA today, Saturday, September 22, at 5:30 p.m., and join host Gerry Bonds as she dedicates this special episode to this monumental World War II project. (If you miss the program today, be on the lookout for encore presentations on OETA’s digital channel OETA Okla.)
You will see documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and PBS President Paula Kerger when they stopped by the OKC Metro set to share some of his thoughts about working on this epic story of a cataclysmic, world-wide war.
Gerry also welcomes Harley Richardson, a veteran of World War II who saw action in Europe with the 103rd Infantry “Cactus” Division. Mr. Richardson shares some of his poignant memories of fighting in what has become known as “The Second Battle of the Bulge”, and he will tell about a special monument that has been erected to honor that battle, made out of Oklahoma granite.
And finally, Gerry will interview OETA staffers Lori Holliday and Ashley Barcum as they discuss the statewide effort to collect and archive the stories of our Oklahoma veterans. We hope that you will share YOUR WWII story with OETA. You can learn more about how to do so right here on this web site by clicking on the “Share a Story” button.
We at OETA greatly appreciate the outpouring of support this special World War II project has received across the state. Thank you, enjoy a wonderful weekend, and remember to tune-in to OETA on Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. for The War.
“It was a long war”
September 21st
Growing up in Idabel, Zee Howell thought it would be fun to be in the Navy. It might have been the book, Treasure Island, or the fact he had an uncle who was a Navy guy that inspired him, but mostly he wanted to help his mother and four sisters. Jobs for high schoolers were nil, so he decided to enlist in the Navy in 1940 and get positioned, rather than wait to be drafted. He also wanted to see the world.
That, he did. Howell went through training in San Diego, then was off aboard the tanker ship USS Neches to haul oil to places like Panama, Alaska and Hawaii. Howell figured the U.S. would get drawn into war, but he really wasn’t expecting the kind of sneak attack the Japanese launched at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Howell admitted the United States had to go to war after that attack - there wasn’t any time to think about it. He viewed the Japanese as the enemy, obviously, but didn’t have ill feelings toward the Japanese people, they were just “the enemy.” He saw the war from beginning to end, and later served in Korea. As a sailor, he went all over the South Pacific, and was comforted by the knowledge that land was always just 2 miles away. “Unfortunately,” he said, “that land was two miles straight down.”
“I was at Pearl Harbor when it started and I was in the Phillipines when it ended, so it was very educational,” Howell said. “I learned a lot.”
Howell now lives southwest of Norman. He’s retired, but at the age of 85 is quite active. He’s a big Sooner sports fan, and a frequent participant in the public discourse of his hometown. He hopes future generations and leaders will learn from the experiences of his generation.
“Our generation was pretty tough,” Howell said. “Whatever happened, you just took it, did the best you could, and survived…and went on. That generation that grew up then, they just learned to do and make do and do without. We worked hard. We learned to do a lot of things, of necessity, we had to. Tom Brokaw may have left that out. We didn’t do it particularly by choice, but because we had to do it, and we’re better for it, too. We can withstand hardships better than anybody else. We know about it, we understand it, we’ve seen it, we’ve had it, and we just need to pass some of that along to our kids.”
(above) Zee Howell points out his position in a picture of the survivors of the USS Neches, taken the morning the ship was sunk by Japanese torpedoes. Howell and his shipmates waited in their life rafts for several hours before they were rescued by the USS Jarvis.
(below) Howell and other survivors of the USS Neches at a reunion in San Diego in 1996.
Zee Howell’s story is the first of our Oklahoma World War II Stories, airing on OETA’s Oklahoma News Report preceding each episode of “The War.”
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(Zee Howell was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 21, 2007. To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)
Rave Reviews for “The War”
September 20th
“A riveting experience.” “Outstanding.” “Well-done.” “Strong.” “The war as I remembered it.” “I can’t wait to see the entire documentary.”
Those were some of the comments heard Wednesday night at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art after the screening of an hour-long preview of the Ken Burns documentary, “The War.”
Several veterans were in attendance to watch excerpts from the 7-part, 15-hour television event that begins on OETA Sunday night at 7:00. Following the screening Dr. Robert Griswold, Chair of the History Department at the University of Oklahoma, WWII Veteran Paul Wilson of the 17th Airborne Division and Roger Harris, oral historian at the Oklahoma History Center, answered questions about the film, the war, and its impact.
Wilson emphasized the sense of duty that Americans felt during the war, and how young men everywhere wanted to get involved to serve the country and their families. He, like so many soldiers who fought in the bleak winter conditions during the Battle of the Bulge, suffered from the effects of the bitterly cold temperatures. “Medics,” Wilson said, “were the real heroes of the war. And, I wouldn’t be here today without help from the man above.”
Harris said many veterans are now coming forward to talk about their experiences, ending years of trauma-induced silence. Griswold said such stories are important to help future generations understand the scope and gravity of the war. He teaches about World War II at the University of Oklahoma. Griswold is hopeful that programs such as “The War” will help students of today better appreciate the sacrifices involved in World War II and its impact on history.
SEEN and HEARD: Among those at the event on Wednesday night were OETA Station Manager Bill Thrash, Scott Horton and Paige Lessly of NewsOK (Scott designed the fabulous Oklahoma World War II Stories website), and World War II veteran Zee Howell, who will be featured on Friday night in the Oklahoma News Report. For more on the event, be sure to read the September 20th front page story in The Oklahoman.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(above) Moderator Dick Pryor with Don Wright of Oklahoma City, a veteran of Guadalcanal who attended the screening event at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
(below) Panel member Paul Wilson, a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division, visits with members of the audience about his experiences in World War II following the screening event at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
(below) A crowd of more than 235 people watched the pre-screening of The War and the panel discussion at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Our thanks to Film Curator Brian Hearn and our friends at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for their support of “The War”!
(below) Dr. Robert Griswold discusses the impact of World War II. Oral Historian Roger Harris of the Oklahoma History Center is on his right.
Tulsans Pack Circle Cinema for “The War” Preview Screening
September 19th
A standing room crowd watched the first hour-long preview of Ken Burns’ important, new documentary, “The War,” Tuesday at the Circle Cinema Theatre in Tulsa. Several veterans attended the pre-screening event and they seemed to appreciate the approach used by Burns to tell the story of the “greatest generation” at home and in the theaters of war. The film presents the horrors and heartbreak of war in the riveting and personal style that has made Burns America’s most prominent producer of historical documentaries.
Following the screening, OETA’s Dick Pryor moderated a panel discussion with WWII veteran Kenneth Renberg, a German who trained American troops and fought with the 45th Infantry Division; Dr. Brad Agnew, Professor of History at Northeastern State University and an expert on military history; and Eva Unterman, a survivor of the holocaust who spent most of the war in Nazi concentration camps. OETA’s Lori Holliday showed the dynamic, new Oklahoma World War II Stories website (including this blog) and encouraged everyone attending to participate in the story collection project using the website’s “Share a Story” module. To-date, more than 700 people have shared a story - an overwhelming response!
Special thanks to Clark Wiens and Amberla Tepe of the Circle Cinema Theatre for hosting such a great event to begin the march toward “The War.” Ken Burns’ 15-hour epic, “The War,” debuts Sunday night at 7:00 on OETA.
(above) Several veterans attended the screening of “The War” at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa. (below) War memorabilia decorated the Circle Cinema. 
(above) Holocaust survivor Eva Unterman of Tulsa, one of the panel members at the Circle Cinema screening, with Moderator Dick Pryor.
Recording History
September 12th
What should future generations know about war and what your generation did in World War II? That’s a question photojournalist Boots Kennedye and I have asked each of our veterans in interviews for the Oklahoma World War II Stories series. The answers have varied, but a common thread is clear - they saw America attacked and the world threatened, and did what had to be done.
Interviewing these everyday heroes has been an enriching experience for Boots and me. Meeting them, and producing their stories, is a real privilege. Some WWII veterans have a difficult time discussing their experiences of more than half a century ago, but the ones we talked to were eager to give their thoughts about war, World War II, and their participation in it. To be sure, it was a defining time in the history of our nation, and for many veterans, it was a defining moment in their lives.
Each interview lasted more than an hour. In that amount of time you can learn a lot about someone and make a personal connection. They are grandparents and great-grandparents now, yet for most the images and details are as fresh as they were more than 60 years ago. Looking into their eyes was like looking into a window to the past - to a time that seems so far away, yet is still important and relevant. We were struck by their sincerity, willingness to share (and sacrifice), and their perspective on our world. As much as anything, I think they want the lessons they learned to endure for the benefit of future generations.
Our pieces will run less than five minutes, but we are providing the entire interviews to the Oklahoma Historical Society, for archiving at the Oklahoma History Center. Some of the interviews may also wind up at the Library of Congress. We are grateful to have the chance to honor our veterans this way - it’s the least we can do for what they have done for the rest of us.
I encourage you to watch our Oklahoma World War II stories on the Oklahoma News Report beginning on Friday, September 21st at 6:30 p.m. I also encourage you to get involved in our story collection project and see for yourself how meaningful a discussion with a veteran can be. Each one has a story; each one should be remembered.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(above: Dick Pryor with Ned Hockman, Lt. Colonel, Air Force Reserves)
(below: Boots Kennedye with Sergeant Alexander Mathews)
Oklahoma Veterans Tell About WWII
September 12th
Beginning on Friday, September 21st, be sure to watch OETA’s Oklahoma News Report as we begin a 14-part series - Oklahoma World War II Stories. This is one of the most ambitious efforts ever for OETA News - an effort worthy of its inspiration, Ken Burns’ documentary, The War.
Although he admits he got started about ten years too late, America’s pre-eminent documentary filmmaker decided he needed to tell the story of World War II, much as he had done in his ground-breaking documentary, The Civil War. OETA, The Oklahoman, the Oklahoma History Center, the 45th Infantry Division Museum, and our other partners recognized the importance of the project and launched a statewide story collection project, inviting participation from members of the public. We also decided that OETA should produce a series of first-hand accounts for distribution over-the-air and on-line.
Our “War Team” started spreading the word about our story collection project. We made phone calls, sent e-mails, networked with friends, and used on-air and on-line promotion to collect the names of veterans and volunteers willing to tell their stories. Photojournalist Charles “Boots” Kennedye and I hit the road on August 3rd, taping interviews with veterans in High Definition. We’ve also been furiously gathering video, music and still photos to bring the stories to life.
We completed our first round of fifteen interviews on August 24th and began logging tape, researching and writing. Charles is currently in the editing phase - working his magic in our new state-of-the-art High Definition edit suite. I’ll tell you more about our travels, the people we’ve met and the production process later. But right now, I’ve go to get back to viewing videotape.
Be sure to mark your calendar for September 21st, when the first of our Oklahoma World War II stories airs statewide at 6:30 p.m. on the Oklahoma News Report.
Until next time, Dick Pryor