Service in the States: October 1942 - June 1944

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Service in the States October ’42 - June ‘44
   Scott Field, Ill
   Seymour-Johnson Field,
       N.C.
   Yale University,
       New Haven CT.

Service in the States June ‘44 – December ‘44
   Yuma Army Air Field,
       Yuma, AZ
   Lake Charles Army Air
       Base, LA
   Hunter Field, Savanah,
       GA

ETO Jan'45 - May '45: 320th Bomber Group
   England
   France: First Tactical
       Air Force
   443^rd Bomber
       Squadron
   Air Medal, DUC
   Photographs

ETO Mahy '45 - Home: 397th Bomber Group
   598th Bomber Squadron
   LT David L. Lobeck
   The crash of
       B26G 44-67868
       "Kwitcher Bitchin'"

Family in Service
(Under Construction)
   Curtis Seiley
   Carl Seiley
   Butch Seiley
   John Seiley
   A. M. Seiley
   Mark Seiley

Dad’s AAF Technician Badge with “Radio Operator” and “Radio Mechanic” qualification bars.  This and the ACTS Trainer badge (below) are worn by Dad and Bill Harmon in the photo to the right. à

Dad at Belleville, Ill.
September 8, 1943.  Saint Louis Post headline reads, “Italy Surrenders”.  Bottom of photo reads “The beginning of the end.”

Scott Field, Illinois
Dad entered active service on 29 October, 1942 at Shreveport, Louisiana.  Letters from his father, A. M. Seiley, indicate he was stationed at Scott Field, Ill, as part of the 368th Tech. School Squadron as early as December 8th of ’42, with the rank of Pvt.  Presumably the time between 29 October and December was occupied by basic training (at Shreveport?).

Scott Field became known as the “Communications University of the Army Air Forces”, producing some 77,000+ graduates by the end of the war who served on thousands of AAF aircraft, including B-17s, B-29s, and of course B-26s.  Dad completed training in Radio Operations and Mechanics, receiving the diploma you see at right from the Army Air Forces Technical School, Scott Field, on 10 April 1943, signed by Wolcott P. Hayes, Brigadier General, Commanding.

What additional training Dad continued with at Scott Field after 10 April “graduation” is unclear, but what is clear is he appeared to be stationed there through September 1943 based on the photographs below which have the noted dates and locations scribed on the back by my father.  The ACTS Instructor badge (see image below left) seems to indicate Dad taught as well.  (Photo at left: “January 18, 1943, Scott Field, Ill.”)
 

Above Left: “Stoffer (left), Bill (right), and I (center), August, 1943, Scott Field”
Above Right: “Dick (left) and I (right) September, 1943, Scott Field, Ill.”
 

“Bill Harmon (right) and I, August, 1943”

Seymour-Johnson Field, North Carolina
By the end of December 1943, letters to my father from his brother Curtis (serving in Italy with the 976th Field Artillery Battalion) are addressed “A/C Robert E. Seiley, SQD. ‘C’ – Sec. 45 A.C.P.T.S, Seymour-Johnson Field, N.C.”  Unless I am mistaken, “A/C” stood for “Army Cadet” and “ACPTS” stood for “Army Cadet Pre-Training School”. 

 According to the Seymour Johnson site: “Seymour Johnson Field was activated on June 12, 1942, as Headquarters, Technical School, Army Air Forces Technical Training Command... Seymour Johnson Field received a third mission in September 1943: to provide basic military training for cadets preparing to become technical officers in the Army Air Corps. The 75th Training Wing was established to conduct the program through its Aviation Cadet Pre-Training School.”  Dad however, does not end up an officer, for whatever reason.  But clearly he was there for additional technical training.

 Dad was at Seymour at least through January 1944, when Curtis references Dad “…sweating out those exams.”  According to his “Enlisted Record and Report of Separation” (Form 55) Dad received a military qualification in January of 1944 known as “MKM P” which I believe refers to a firearm qualification, perhaps for a pistol.  It appears then, that this qualification was perhaps part of the cadet pre-training at Seymour-Johnson Field.

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
By 10 March 1944, a letter to Dad from Curtis is still addressed: “A/C”, but now at “SQDN. S – Div. 27 TS – AAETTC, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.”  At this point Curtis is writing Dad from “…somewhere on the Anzio beach head.”  I’m not sure what “AAETTC” stands for, but it may be a typo for “AAFTTC” for “Army Air Force Technical Training Command”, as Yale University was essentially taken over in 1943-44 for training of AAFTTC service personnel. 

 During this period, according to Yale Alumni Magazine, “The cadets attended classes eight hours a day, six days a week, for periods of 6 to 20 weeks, to qualify as photographic laboratory commanders, communications officers, airplane maintenance engineers, and airplane armament officers… Military programs would soon take over most of the campus, and 20,000 service men and women, including 12,000 aviation cadets, were trained in all.” 

 One interesting note on the Yale period.  Prior to his band’s transfer to Bedford England in June 1944, Major Glenn Miller ran the band of the Technical Training Command at (you guessed it) Yale University.  Apparently Miller had stacked the unit with handpicked top musicians entering the service including Ray McKinley and Mel Powell. 

Uncle Curtis’ letter to Dad dated 10 March ’44 refers to Dad’s experience at Yale (where dad appears to have been struggling) saying, “What the hell, at least you can say you went to Yale and while you were there you had Glenn Miller etc. playing at your meals and dances.”  Comparing Dad’s situation to that of his own on the Anzio beach head, Curtis (photo inset at right) comments “So I’ll be able to say that I visited a famous Italian summer resort.  The music there was furnished by some jerk named Jerry.  His is strictly a novelty style – especially his drums.”

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