“I think it’s very important for the public, our commanders, our leaders, to have pictures, both motion and stills, showing what is going on in a war,” said Ned Hockman, when I visited with him at his home last August.  “It’s making a record, to record the happenings so that the people that are paying the bills or people that are supposed to be winning the war are doing that.  That’s the contribution of combat cameramen in war.”

Hockman was one of a select group of photographers who were responsible for making a record of World War II for the U.S. War Department.  Hockman grew up in Carnegie, Oklahoma and attended Cameron College in Lawton on a football and speech scholarship.  His father had taught him photography, so he got a job as a photographer for the Lawton Morning Press.  After a year at Cameron he received a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, and that’s where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Hockman was drafted the next summer.  He didn’t have the eyesight to become a pilot, but was chosen to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps.  He trained at Ft. Sill in Lawton, Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado before being assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California.  The Adjutant was a young captain named Ronald Reagan.  Hockman trained in California for a year and a half before getting orders to go to his new home for the rest of the war, the China-Burma-India theater.

(above, left)  Ned Hockman, combat cameraman.

“Our assignment was to make combat coverage of all types of action of the Air Corps,” Hockman remembered.  “That included flying equipment over the hump to China and later on to Burma when we pushed the Japanese out of Burma.  Then, we would support the bombing missions.  We would cover the Air Transport Command, the B-25’s and B-24’s.  We did stories on the building of the air field, and stories on the fighters.”

It was a laborious and sometimes dangerous process.  “When I’d go out on a shoot I’d have a parachute on this shoulder, in a box my 35 mm camera, a black case with a speed graphic camera, and I carried a Thompson sub-machine gun.  So, I would waddle with that,” Hockman recalled.  “We’d go out on assignment, with 10 100-foot rolls of film in each case.  You’d take the pictures and when it was all done we’d either give it to someone who was going on the redeye or special plane that was taking film and stuff to Calcutta, or we’d call headquarters and they would pick it up.  It would take another three days or so to get it over to the Pentagon to process the film.”

Hockman says much of the film was bought from the U.S. Government by newsreels, which showed the realities of war to the people back home.  However, Hockman admits many of the shots were staged.  “In combat, you can only shoot the backs of people, you can never see the shots being fired from the front of the gun.  So, you show preparation, and you shoot to your right and shoot to your left as the troops move forward.  And then, you show the aftermath – the dead, the captors, the aftermath.  A lot of the film we shot wasn’t very good, because it’s very difficult.”

Danger was a constant companion for photographers, but Hockman told me there is little time to think about it.  “You just do your job,” he said, “and you don’t really have time to think.  You’re not paying any attention to what’s going on around you, because you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing (to get coverage).  I looked at it as a great adventure.”

After World War II, Hockman returned to Oklahoma and stayed in the Air Force Reserves.  He returned to combat status as a photographer during the Korean War.  Hockman rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Reserves, and retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1981. 

In his long career at the University of Oklahoma, Hockman established the Film Department, shot film of OU football games, produced the ground-breaking Bud Wilkinson Coaches Show, hosted the National Press Photographers Association annual training for almost three decades, and photographed or produced countless other productions, including a feature film, “Stark Fear.”  He was inducted into the National Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Gold Circle in October, 2006.

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Ned Hockman was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 31, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

Harry Furr wanted to be a pilot.  With World War II expanding across the globe, the graduate of Central High School in Oklahoma City tried to join the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Corps.  He was disappointed by the response – his eyesight was not good enough.  He was told only those with 20-20 vision need apply, and Harry Furr could only see that well with glasses.

But, Harry Furr persevered, and in a rather ironic twist, he got his chance to fly thanks to Adolph Hitler.  You see, Hitler created a glider program when the Nazis came to power in 1933, and used engineless aircraft for the German invasion of Belgium in 1940.  Despite heavy casualties suffered by Nazi glider infantry and paratroopers during invasions of Greece and Crete in 1941, gliders had been established as an affordable means of delivering troops and supplies in a war zone.  The United States countered the Nazis by establishing its own glider program, reaching out to volunteer aviators like Harry Furr.

The American glider program relaxed the usual vision requirements.  Harry Furr eagerly applied, and was quickly accepted.  “I was able to get in, and I was very happy about it,” he told me.  “I had no idea what I was going to fly, or when or where, but I would be flying,” Furr proudly said.

Furr enlisted in July of 1942 and began two years of pilot training.  He learned to fly at the old Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City on the corner of May Avenue and Britton Road.  He trained on gliders in Vinita, Oklahoma and Spencer, Iowa and Louisville, Kentucky and Dalhart, Texas before heading to Europe in January, 1944.

The beauty of gliders was their low cost – less than $25,000 – and their ability to fly, quietly and undetected, into enemy territory.  Made of plywood and canvas, American gliders were towed to altitude by a C-47.  Once near the target the gliders cut free from their towing cable and let gravity and the pilot’s skill do the rest.  Furr remembered, “they were clumsy, difficult to land, came down pretty fast.  They were difficult to manage and weren’t a lot of fun to fly.”  Many gliders, quite simply, crashed.  The gliders, and their pilots, were important to the Allied war effort, but they clearly were  expendable.

Gliders were usually cut free at around 5,000 feet, leaving the pilots little time to seek a landing spot.  Pilots were not briefed in advance about where to land, or what they might encounter.  Without an engine, lights, parachutes, radio communication or armaments, the gliders had one chance to land, in the dark.   Once on the ground, the pilots used the glider’s brakes or skidded into something to stop and unloaded its cargo of men and supplies.  The men aboard, and the pilots, then turned-infantry soldier, forced to fend for themselves behind enemy lines.

The first major American glider mission came during Operation Husky, the more than a month-long battle for Sicily in 1943.  Harry Furr saw his first combat action in an even bigger invasion:  Operation Overlord, at Normandy, on D-Day.

Early in the evening of June 6, 1944, Harry Furr flew a heavy British Horsa across the English Channel to Utah Beach.  With 15 men, a Jeep, trailer, medical supplies and co-pilot on-board, Furr’s glider was cut loose at 500 feet.  The Horsa brushed the tops of trees as it made its landing in a field.  “I smashed the whole front end of that glider out, landing,” Furr said, “but no one was hurt, we got down safe, got the load out OK and we made it out OK.  We had to go through maching gun nests to get out of the field.  The Germans were throwing in mortars on this field, so it was very intense until we got out of that field.”

Harry Furr flew two more missions in the glider program – Operation Market Garden (Holland) and Operation Varsity (Rhine River Crossing).  Market Garden was the single largest glider operation of the war; Varsity was the deadliest, with more than 70 paradrop and gliding towing planes shot down.  Seventy glider pilots were killed during Varsity, and another 114 were wounded or injured, but Harry Furr escaped unscathed.  “The Germans were expecting us, the enemy fire was horrific at Varsity,” Furr recalled.

(above)  Harry Furr, center, and friends pose in front of a captured Nazi flag.

Late in the war, Furr returned to the United States to train for the impending invasion of Japan, when the war came to an abrupt, and welcome, end.  Furr was not looking forward to invading Japan, but he wishes the war had ended in a different way than it did.  He has reservations about the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  “Truman had a chance to take some of those officials out to an atoll in the Pacific and show them what we had, and see whether they wanted to continue,” Furr said.  “But he didn’t do that.  They could have dropped the bomb out in the Pacific and showed them what a horrific bomb it was and maybe the war would have ended then.  I’m not proud of our doing that.  We destroyed hundreds of thousands of people, which we might not have had to do, but that was the way to end it, so that’s what we did.”

Harry Furr thinks World War II was necessary because “we were tired of what the Germans were doing to the world – they did a lot of things they should not have done.”  But, his experience in World War II leads Furr to provide sobering advice to future generations contemplating war.  ”Think very carefully about what you are about to do, resolve every available issue before you go to war,” he warned.  “Try everything before you pull the trigger.  Something might just work.”

(above)  Harry Furr with Dick Pryor at Furr’s Oklahoma City home on August 14, 2007.

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Harry Furr was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 17, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.”)

By late 1944, the end was nearing for the Nazi army.  The best Luftwaffe pilots were mostly gone; men and equipment were diminishing as Hitler and the Axis fought on the eastern and western fronts.  The Battle of the Bulge, in the winter of 1944-45, was the turning point in Europe.

During those final months, Stanley F.H. Newman was a fighter pilot, patrolling the skies over western Europe.  By the time he finished his sophomore year at the University of Illniois, the Army Air Corps dropped its requirement of two years of college, so Newman signed up in November, 1942.  After two years of intensive training, he was off to Europe.

Newman flew the P-51 Mustang, doing reconnaisance, visual intelligence, flying support for bombers like the P-47’s and leading them to their targets.  Newman flew 57 missions in Europe, sometimes two in one day, piloting a plane he said was truly “a wild horse.”  Newman said, “you had to treat it with respect.”

Newman’s plane was equipped with a camera, yet the pilot could not see very well.  “The P-51 had these long noses,” Newman said, “and in landing or taking off, when you taxied, it was hard to see out.  In the air, you couldn’t see under anything.  You did have that blind spot directly underneath the wing and, of course, behind you.  That’s why we always flew in pairs…each to protect the others.”

Newman and other pilots were prohibited by the rules of engagement from shooting on German planes except in self-defense.  So, the American saying was, “to go out and get attacked,” he said.  “We wanted to get attacked, so we could shoot back.”

On the final day of the war in Europe, Newman forced down two German planes and fired on another one, forcing it into a crash landing.  His actions achieved great notoriety, including front page treatment in the Chicago newspapers.  He was grateful for the press coverage, because that is how his parents learned he was still alive.  It was not until many years later that Newman learned that two more German planes were shot down around sundown that same day.

Newman’s flying career was far from over.  He received his degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois, but returned to the skies as a fighter pilot during the Korean War.  He flew more than 100 missions.  Newman also flew cargo missions into Southeast Asia during the war in Vietnam.  Stanley Newman worked for NASA and rose to Major General in the Oklahoma Air National Guard.  He was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 2003.   

Newman admits the war had a generally positive impact on him.  “I grew up a lot,” he told me.  “I went in as a 19-year old student and came out as a 22-year old.  After the war I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  The G.I. Bill enabled us to build our first home.  I was always patriotic, from cub scouts on up, but the war made you even more appreciative of what we have in this country.  I’ve gotten to see my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and that’s more than my friends got to do,” he said.

(above)  Major General Stanley F.H. Newman looks over his scrapbook from World War II. 

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Stanley F.H. Newman was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 1, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’S Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

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.)

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.)

“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.

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.

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)

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