WWII Veterans Weigh In on Current World Issues
Captain Alfred Koval, a WWII veteran, says, "I bombed Germany 50 times instead of 25 like most people did."
Koval was a B-17 bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps during WWII, before the United States Air Force we know today existed. Once the Air Force established its independence in 1947, Koval remembers being moved up the ranks. Koval also says, "We had all kinds of wings and stuff and the Air Force now called us all lieutenants and captains and all."
A lot more than ranks has changed in the U.S. military since WWII. Tommy Esposito of the Third Army under General Patton says warfare is completely different now. Esposito says, "You don’t know who you could be shooting at, or who is going to be shooting at you, and that’s what back in, one thing we did know that, you saw a uniform, you know that was your enemy and you treated him as such, and he treated you as such."
Esposito says he admires the bravery of the men and women today who are facing great challenges with new explosive devices and ambush attacks. Esposito also says, "The men today have got to be great heroes to do that, to go face somebody, to put a uniform on and say go out there and protect that certain ground when you don’t know who you’re protecting it against."
Francis G. Ward followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the Navy at 15 years old. He says if he had to pinpoint one difference between the military then and now, he’d have to say: air conditioning. Ward says, "I spent 17 years at sea and 15 years in Asia, and all that time, we had no air conditioning. The weather, when it was hot, our shirts were always soaking wet, even five minutes after we took a shower, we’d be soaking wet again."
Ward was also the bugle master on his ship during WWII, and can also carry a tune.
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