Neil Guntrum:
B-24 Waist Gunner
Neil Guntrum was a man of his time. He was born on May 9, 1921. He flew in the
Second World War. He was a waist gunner of a B24 Bomber. Remembering his life for our
future. He helped in the war. By dropping the bombs on the correct targets. One of the
missions was to take out ball bearing plants. He worked in a bottle plant before.
Neil Guntrum worked in a glass factory in Clarion Pennsylvania with his wife. Neil was
working the 11-7 shift when he heard of Pearl Harbor. Neil then enlisted in the Airforce.
He chose the airforce because “He knew he would enjoy flying and to him it sounded
better than being in a foxhole”. Neil then reported to Greensbural, North Carolina
for Cadet training. After Cadet training Neil went to Loretta, Texas to receive
gunnery training. When his gunnery training was finished, Neil went to Tuson, Texas and was assigned his crew. In his crew Neil was given the duty
of waist gunner in a B24 liberator.
During the war Neil Guntrum was in the Army Airforce. He joined the army airforce because he thought he would like to fly. For training He
had to go to 3 camps. First he went to Greensboro North Carolina for cadet training. After that he went to Loretta Texas and Tuson Arizona. He
became the right waist gunner of a B24 Liberator. While in the military he had to be awake by 4:30 for debriefing. While on bombing missions his
and other planes were guarded by P51 mustangs. He remembers they would drop bombs in an order that was called carpet-bombing. He remembers
one time when they were dropping 2000-pound bombs and one got stuck inside the plane. They sent the left waist gunner to free it. When the
gunner was coming back he got stuck in the catwalk. Mr. Guntrum was sent to go get him out. On the way there he ran out of oxygen. He passed
out. On the bombers they called the crew every 3 minutes to see if they’re all right. The waist gunners did not respond. It was the last thing he
remembered. A tail gunner had dragged him back to warm him up and give him oxygen. During Normandy our troops bypassed flak emplacements.
His crew was called in to bomb those also. Each medal that he earned counted as points. You needed to have 35 to be discharged. He was
supposed to go to Japan but they had already surrendered. They sent him home and he was happy the war was over.
Neil Guntrum was in England, where he had originally been positioned, when the war ended. When Neil received word that the war had
ended, he was very happy and relieved. He thought the war was terrible, and never wanted to go through that experience again. He went home as
soon as possible. When he returned home, he said nothing had really changed. He got his job back. His wife had worked in a munitions factory in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So when Neil came back, his wife was living with her mother in Pittsburgh. So Neil and his wife moved back to Clarion
Pennsylvania. He didn’t stay with the military after the war. He worked the age that he would retire and retired.
Neal Guntrum would rather fly then fight on the ground. Was a waste gunner in a B24 during the war. He was stationed is England during the
war. He was discharged because of the amount of medals he got. After the war he went back to work at home. He worked at the same bottling
factory until he retired.
Mr. Neil Guntrum - 2001