On Wednesday, December 9th, 1942, a twenty-two year old named Robert C. Traylor signed enlistment papers at his local recruiting office in Indianapolis, Indiana. His Army Aircorps training was on Miami Beach. His take home pay at that time was $ 27.50 per month. He applied for Officer Candidate School (OCS) to become a pilot and was shipped to Iowa. Retention at that school was 45 percent due to the standards required by the engineering classes as well as physical demands.

Primary flight training was taken at Glendale, Arizona and on to Basic Flight School at Merced, California after another 20 percent washout in Arizona.

Flight training during the wartime was all to short and intense. Many men died due to long training flights and little rest. Gunnery and rocket missions were flown at 1 to 200 feet and caused many fatalities. Bombs used were the jelly-gasoline, which sprayed upon impact and causing the greatest amount of destruction. Practice at low altitudes with these bombs were very dangerous.

In 1945, Robert was assigned to the South Pacific Flight Command and soon to be a part of "Operation Downfall" which was a massive combined service invasion of Japan. This would be a three part invasion involving all service members. Effectively, the beginning of an overall ground invasion of Japan by the U.S.

This mission had an 85 percent replacement group to follow, considered to be a suicide mission, Robert took last rights several days before the siege would begin. This was August 3, 1945. However, the Japanese surrendered after the A-bombs dropped and the mission was obsolete.

He returned home in 1945, but maintained his duties in part time service through the National Guard and Civil Service. In 1956 he took a position in training for the National Guard, picking up his Army Commission and rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel over a period of 30 years in service.

This information was taken from Robert C. Traylor's memoirs of service and life written in 1989 - 1990. He died at the age of 79 and is survived by his wife of 53 years, 4 children, 12 grandchildren, and many more great grandchildren.

Robert C Traylor