Oral history interview of Silas Simmons Nettles

Cite Reuse Information Need Help? Report Harmful Content
View at Partner Site
Collection:
Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
Title:
Oral history interview of Silas Simmons Nettles
Creator:
Tozzer, Newell Bryant
Nettles, Silas Simmons, 1922-2007
Date of Original:
2004-05-19
Subject:
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Prisoner of war escapes—Germany
Prisoners of war--Germany
Prisoners of war--United States
B-17 bomber
C-124 (Transport plane)
Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1885-1945
James, Daniel, 1920-1978
Qaddafi, Muammar
United States. Army Air Forces. Air Force, 8th
United States. Army Air Forces. Bombardment Group (H), 96th
Stalag Luft III
Douglas C-124 Globemaster (Cargo aircraft)
Location:
France, Île-de-France, Paris, 48.85341, 2.3488
France, Le Havre, 49.4938, 0.10767
Germany, Bavaria, Munich, 48.13743, 11.57549
Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 50.110922, 8.682127
Germany, Schweinfurt, 50.0499945, 10.233302
Libya, Tripoli, 32.88743, 13.18733
United Kingdom, England, Snetterton Heath, 51.8143531, -2.265091
United States, Alabama, Montgomery County, Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, 32.38266, -86.35502
United States, Alabama, Montgomery County, Montgomery, 32.36681, -86.29997
United States, Delaware, Kent County, Dover Air Force Base, 39.12749, -75.47136
United States, Florida, Dorr Field, 33.8475082, -90.7241993
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Lowndes County, Moody A F B, 30.97849, -83.21646
United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Augusta Regional Airport, 33.36986, -81.96428
United States, Louisiana, Bossier Parish, Barksdale Air Force Base, 32.49587, -93.61185
United States, Tennessee, Rutherford County, Smyrna, 35.98284, -86.5186
United States, Washington, Walla Walla County, Walla Walla, 46.06458, -118.34302
Medium:
video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv
Type:
Moving Image
Format:
video/quicktime
Description:
In this interview, Silas Nettles describes his career in the United States Air Force. He describes the circumstances of his enlistment. He details his training and voyage to England. He describes the flight on which he was shot down and his capture, including his harrowing account of bailing out of his aircraft, nicknamed "BobCat." He describes life in prison, including the details of digging the trenches featured in the film "The Great Escape." He recalls the value of correspondence and the Red Cross packages they received. He describes the liberation of the camp by Patton's 3rd Army and his recuperation. He remained in the Air Force Reserves and was recalled at the outbreak of the Korean War. He recalls his missions in Korea and Vietnam and explains his decorations. He describes reunions he has attended and describes his career after retirement from the Air Force.
Silas Nettles was in the Air Force during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
INTERVIEWER: Today is Wednesday the 19th of May 2004 and my name is Newell Brian Toeser [PHONETIC] and we're at the Atlanta History Center, and I am going to interview Colonel Nettles for his memories of 30 years, a long time, 30 years in the Air Corp. Would you give me your name and address – well, just your name, Colonel Nettles, please, because you just moved to Atlanta I understand. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Well, welcome to Atlanta. SILAS NETTLES: Thank you. Silas Simmons Nettles. I just moved 404 Kings Bridge – INTERVIEWER: In Atlanta. That's a retirement community, isn't it? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, that's what it is. INTERVIEWER: I hear it's very nice. SILAS NETTLES: It's real nice. The food is excellent. INTERVIEWER: Well you can't beat that. SILAS NETTLES: No, you can't. INTERVIEWER: Now tell me how you happened to enter the Air Corp. Did you enlist or were you drafted or what? The date is January 1942. SILAS NETTLES: January the 2nd. INTERVIEWER: January the 2nd. SILAS NETTLES: After the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor. INTERVIEWER: '41. SILAS NETTLES: That was '41. I entered in January of '42. They lowered the age limit from 21 to 18 and I was 20 at the time. So I entered as an Aviation Cadet and went through flying school. INTERVIEWER: You entered at age 20? SILAS NETTLES: Age 20, yeah. I was 21 on February the 14th and I was commissioned on February the 16th as a Second Lieutenant, and you had to be 21 to be commissioned. INTERVIEWER: I see. Where were you born? Tell me the date of birth and where you were born. SILAS NETTLES: Okay, 2/14/22. INTERVIEWER: 1922? SILAS NETTLES: 1922 in Montgomery, Alabama. INTERVIEWER: So that's your home? SILAS NETTLES: That was where I was born and raised and went to school. INTERVIEWER: All right, sir. That's a wonderful town. So you enlisted? SILAS NETTLES: Well, I went in as an Aviation Cadet was what they called when we were getting ready to go through flying school. That took a year going through flying school. INTERVIEWER: Where was that? SILAS NETTLES: Well I started at Maxwell Air Force Base. It was Maxwell Field then. And I spent pre-flight at Maxwell, and that was 60 days. And then I went from there to Deorr Field in Arcadia, Florida for primary training. And then I went to Busch Field in Augusta, Georgia for basic training, and then I went to Moody Field in Valdosta, Georgia for advanced training. Then I went to Smyrna, Tennessee for B17 transition training. INTERVIEWER: So all of that was one year or over a year? SILAS NETTLES: Well, it was just about a year. It was just about 12 months for that. And then after that I went to – in Smyrna you've got B17 transition and then we went to what they called the phases. You had phase one, two, and three that was where you picked up your combat crew, get your gunnery training, and your formation flying and most of that took place Walla Walla, Washington. INTERVIEWER: That's a long way from Alabama. SILAS NETTLES: A long way from home. So that was basically flying end of it. And then when we got into – we picked up our crew and went overseas, went into England and got the 8th Air Force. INTERVIEWER: By this time it was 1943. SILAS NETTLES: '43. It was. That's right. INTERVIEWER: Because you – SILAS NETTLES: I got shot down on October the 14th. INTERVIEWER: Well, let's go back. Let's go back a little bit. So over after over a years training in all the schools and getting your crew in Walla Walla Washington – SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: -- that you went to England with the 8th Air Force. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. We went over on a boat. They took all our crews over on the boat and we docked in northern England. I really don't know where. I reckon it was Ireland but we docked there and then they put us on a train and took us down to a place called [unintelligible] and it's where you picked up your flying gear and everything that you need for combat. INTERVIEWER: How many of you were there? SILAS NETTLES: Ten. Well, on my crew. INTERVIEWER: On your crew there were ten. And what was your position? SILAS NETTLES: I was an aircraft commander. INTERVIEWER: You were the commander of this 8th Air Force. SILAS NETTLES: That airplane. INTERVIEWER: Oh, that airplane. Did you have a name for the plane? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. It was the Bobcat. INTERVIEWER: The Bobcat. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, we named it after a good friend of mine was named Bob Ayose [PHONETIC] and my girlfriend at the time was named Cathy, so I named it Bobcat. INTERVIEWER: That's good. SILAS NETTLES: [LAUGHTER] Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Were you part of the 92nd bomber group? SILAS NETTLES: 96. INTERVIEWER: Excuse me, 96 bomber group. SILAS NETTLES: Uh-huh. INTERVIEWER: And your plane, the Bobcat, was part of that in the 8th Air Force? SILAS NETTLES: Uh-huh. But the day I got shot down I wasn't in my plane. INTERVIEWER: Really? SILAS NETTLES: No, they sent three crews of us had to go onto the 100th Group, which had been shot up bad three or four days before an they didn't have enough crews to fly the airplane, so they sent three crews of us over to the 100th Group and we took off an flew with them on that flying mission. INTERVIEWER: I see. Over in Schweinfurt Germany? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Let's go back a little bit though. Had you flown several missions already with your plane, with the Bobcat? SILAS NETTLES: I was on my second mission. INTERVIEWER: You were just on your second mission when you were shot down? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So you hadn't been in England very long? SILAS NETTLES: Well, I had been in England about two months. We got there – well, I had been there longer. I got there on August the 20th of '43, and I got shot down in October, so I had been there August, September, and October. INTERVIEWER: A little while. A few months. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, a couple of months. INTERVIEWER: But you had only been on one or two missions on the Bobcat? SILAS NETTLES: I was on my second mission. INTERVIEWER: And so, then you were loaned to these other – SILAS NETTLES: 100th Group. INTERVIEWER: 100th Group. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. They had more airplanes than they had crew so I believe it was three crews, it might have been just two, I'm not for sure, but I believe it was three crews – put us on a truck and took us to the other air base and we got in the airplane. I wasn't in mine the day I got shot down. I was in one of theirs. INTERVIEWER: And were you Captain of the plane you were in? SILAS NETTLES: I was aircraft commander. INTERVIEWER: Commander of the plane you were in. It was a B17? SILAS NETTLES: Yes ma'am. INTERVIEWER: And there were about 10 people in the crew. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And what was your objective? What were you going to doing, going to drop bombs? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Going to bomb – SILAS NETTLES: We were going to bomb the ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt. That was our target. INTERVIEWER: How do you spell Schweinfurt? S-C-H, something like that. SILAS NETTLES: S-C-H, it's in F-U-R-T. INTERVIEWER: Schweinfurt Germany. SILAS NETTLES: Schweinfurt Germany. INTERVIEWER: And so, you were with the 100th Group then? SILAS NETTLES: I flew that mission – I was actually in the 96th, but that day I flew with the 100th Group. INTERVIEWER: And your plane was shot down over Schweinfurt? SILAS NETTLES: Well, no. About, I reckon 10 or 15 minutes after Schweinfurt. I got hit by flack, anti-aircraft, over the target when we were dropping the bomb and it knocked out my number four engine and then once I got behind my formation when I was trying to fill the prop and get caught up and the fighters hit me. The German fighter, what seemed like about eight or ten of them. I really don't know how many it was. INTERVIEWER: A lot. SILAS NETTLES: It was a lot of them. And they shot down my other engine and actually the right wing caught on fire, and that's when I gave the order to bail out, which was about 15, 20 minutes after Schweinfurt. INTERVIEWER: And so, you as the Captain and the group parachuted out? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, parachuted. My parachute – I got into the bombay – it's narrow, there's two big bombs hanging on both sides and you had to go through, it was narrow. Well, after I gave the order to bail out I went into the bombay myself and I had on what they call a chest pack. It's a little parachute right here on your chest. And I couldn't get through the bombay. So the bombay door was closed back so I couldn't see if the crew was out, so I unhooked my parachute and it was hanging down. There were two hooks on it. I unhooked one and let it down and I reached through the bombay to kick the door where I could see if the crew was out and when I did my handle that pulls your parachute out, it got caught somewhere and my parachute came out and was lying on the floor in the bombay. So I reached down and picked it up and wadded it all up in my arms like that and then bailed out. And then I was – when I was falling out I started pulling my parachute out like that and I looked up and it was what we called a streamer, which means it wasn't opening. INTERVIEWER: Uh-oh. SILAS NETTLES: Well, that was the way it normally did. You know, you don't have any parachute practice jump in our parachutes because it's a one time deal. But I looked up and it looked like it was a streamer which you thought it wasn't going to open. And about that time it opened. INTERVIEWER: Thank heaven. SILAS NETTLES: It opened and I was swinging back and forth. I could see down on the ground, I could see the Germans coming where I was going to land. I was about, I think, 14,000 feet when I jumped out. I believe we were about – we went over the target at 18 and I think I was at about 14 when I bailed out. INTERVIEWER: That's quite high up. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it's almost three miles. INTERVIEWER: Well what happened when you landed? SILAS NETTLES: Well, when I landed I landed right in the middle of, I believe it was a wheat field, and I saw a corn field – well, what happened I broke my ankle when I landed. I either broke it when I jumped out, I might have hit it on the bombay door. I'm not sure. Because I didn't know it was broke until I hit the ground. You know, I didn't even know it was hurt. So I could see the Germans running towards where I was going to land and so I landed and I took my parachute off and I saw a corn field about a hundred yards away and I started to run. Well, that's when I found out I couldn't run. My ankles – INTERVIEWER: Broken. SILAS NETTLES: So the Germans came in and there were two or three German men with pitch forks and there was one German lady that spoke English and she had a gun and she said “You are now a prisoner of war. If you try to escape I'll kill you.” And she wasn't kidding now. I don't think. Then that's when they captured – INTERVIEWER: The woman was the one with the gun? SILAS NETTLES: The one with the gun and the one that spoke English. INTERVIEWER: Where were you taken after they captured you? SILAS NETTLES: I was taken in to Schweinfurt, the town we had just bombed, which wasn't too good, and was taken to the police station and they put me in a cell. My crew, we were all together – INTERVIEWER: I wondered what happened to them. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, we all ended up in Schweinfurt. INTERVIEWER: Every one of them came through? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, all – well, the engineer was wounded but not serious, not bad. All of us got out and lived to tell it. But that was – INTERVIEWER: So you were taken – the Germans took you to jail. SILAS NETTLES: To a civilian, you know, just like a city jail. INTERVIEWER: A jail. In Schweinfurt. SILAS NETTLES: And put us in the jail there and kept us there until about two o'clock in the morning. They came in and put us in a German truck. Like a, you know, just a bunk truck with a big canopy over it. And they took us to the interrogation center in Frankfurt, and that's where we stayed while they interrogated us, while the Germans did. INTERVIEWER: What was there interrogation like? SILAS NETTLES: It was like – we had been briefed on what would happen to you if you get shot down. And it followed that they knew that exact thing could happen. They start off by – the first people would come in and they'd tell you they were with the Red Cross and they want your name, your rank, your home address, which all you give is name, rank, and serial number. They'd ask for your home address and you won't tell them. And then they'd ask for your mother's name, your father's name, brother's and sister's if you have them. Then they – INTERVIEWER: Are you supposed to tell them that or not? SILAS NETTLES: No, you're just supposed to tell them name, rank, and serial number. INTERVIEWER: That's all. SILAS NETTLES: That's all that you could tell them. And that's all I told them was name, rank, and serial number. Then they keep you in there and that night we went around to a German jail and it was about three crews, either two or three crews of us that had all been shot down at the same time and they put us all in a German truck and that's when they took us to Frankfurt. And that's where we got – they fed us for the first time the, because we were pretty hungry. INTERVIEWER: I'm sure. SILAS NETTLES: Because we hadn't eaten – INTERVIEWER: Was it decent food? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: It was decent. SILAS NETTLES: The food was good then. It got bad towards the end of the war in the prison camp, but then it was good food. And so, then they – after they get through interrogating you they take you to the prison camp and that's where you meet a lot of old friends. INTERVIEWER: [LAUGTHER] SILAS NETTLES: You thought were dead believe it or not because you saw one of their airplanes blow up and parachutes come open and they counted parachutes. The tail gunner used to count parachutes. So you bumped into some friends that you thought were long gone. INTERVIEWER: That was good. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, that was real good. INTERVIEWER: By this time it was what? 1943, February? SILAS NETTLES: No, this was October. INTERVIEWER: This was October of '43. SILAS NETTLES: October the 14th. INTERVIEWER: October the 14th of '43 was when you were shot. SILAS NETTLES: That was when I was shot down. INTERVIEWER: Okay. So it's October still when you get to the prison camp? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it's still the last of October. INTERVIEWER: Last of October of '43. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And where was the prison camp that they took you to? SILAS NETTLES: It was 60 kilometers straight south of Berlin. If you go straight south of Berlin, 60 clicks, you get to a place call Saigon spelled the same way Saigon was spelled in Vietnam, and that was a little town of about I think five or six thousand people. It was just a little small German town. INTERVIEWER: And this was a big prison camp for officers or – SILAS NETTLES: This was for officers, fliers. INTERVIEWER: Fliers. This was specifically officers. SILAS NETTLES: Pilots and officer crew members. It was all for officers. INTERVIEWER: That's what I – SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And did it have a name like Stalag or Oflag? SILAS NETTLES: Stalag Luft three. INTERVIEWER: Stalag Luft three was the name of this prison camp. Sixty kilometers south of Berlin. SILAS NETTLES: That's right. INTERVIEWER: And how long were you there? SILAS NETTLES: Nineteen months. INTERVIEWER: Nearly two years. SILAS NETTLES: Almost two years. INTERVIEWER: That's a long time, Colonel Nettles. SILAS NETTLES: Yes. You know, they moved us out of there in January the 2nd of '45 and moved us down to Munich and that's where we were liberated. Patton came in and got us there. But that's where we were liberated. Patton's Third Army came in. At that time we were in a camp with the British, Russians were all in one camp together. INTERVIEWER: About how long were you there? SILAS NETTLES: About sixty days, maybe a little longer, 70 days. INTERVIEWER: Before Patton liberated you. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. We could hear them coming, I mean, for three or four nights before we got liberated we could hear the bombs and the cannons and the [unintelligible] arms fire and all. We could hear that come in. One thing sort of funny was Patton came in the camp and had three jeeps and one was in front, one in the back, and Patton was in the middle, and you know, he was sort of a big heavy guy and he came in the camp right after we were liberated. He was right up in the front. And he got up on the back of the jeep to talk to us when he started to – he had a high pitched voice. He didn't sound like a big or hard General, but it was real funny. He told us that he would have food there for us within the next couple of hours and he did. They came in some GI trucks full of food, and we were hungry. We were good and hungry. INTERVIEWER: The rations had gotten short, very short. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, real short. Yeah. And the thing about it is we thought -- we were hungry, we were real hungry but we couldn't eat much. We were used to that brown bread and they brought white bread. White bread tasted like angel food cake to us because all we had had was that German brown bread. But he got food into us within about, I'd say three hours he had trucks coming in full of food boxes that we all – INTERVIEWER: Bless General Patton. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, that's right. INTERVIEWER: Did you lose a lot of weight? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. Well, I went – when I got in the Air Force I weighed 178 pounds. When I got out of the prison camp I weighed 118, so I had lost about 60 pounds. INTERVIEWER: Skin and bones. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. I got some pictures of it but I didn't bring them. I don't know where they are if you want to know the truth. INTERVIEWER: Well, you've just moved. I hope you'll find them some day. SILAS NETTLES: Well, I'll find them. INTERVIEWER: Did anything ever happen about your ankle. Did they ever set your ankle or did you get any medical attention? SILAS NETTLES: No, I had to have it – all they did in Germany was strap it up. And when I got back I had to have it re-broke and reset and they had a big cast on it for – oh, I think about six or eight weeks where they had to re-break it and set it. And now it works like a jewel. INTERVIEWER: Wonderful. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. That's good. INTERVIEWER: But the Germans gave you no medical attention really? SILAS NETTLES: Not much of that, no. You know, they couldn't take care of their own people much less trying to take care of us. Their medical supplies were short. INTERVIEWER: About how many of you were in the prison camp where you spent so long 60 miles south of Berlin? SILAS NETTLES: In my camp – I was in Stalag Luft three. Now there were one, two, three, four, five compounds with about 2,000 each in each compound. I was in the south compound. And that's where The Great Escape, you know, the – INTERVIEWER: Yes. SILAS NETTLES: -- movie the Great Escape – INTERVIEWER: Yes. SILAS NETTLES: I worked in that tunnel. INTERVIEWER: You did? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, I sure did. INTERVIEWER: That was used for the Great Escape. SILAS NETTLES: Used for the Great Escape, yeah. INTERVIEWER: And this was Stalag Luft Three? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Well, tell us about that. SILAS NETTLES: Well it was – if you had claustrophobia you couldn't do it because you – the tunnel was about three feet wide and maybe two feet high and believe it or not we had carts that could go around and carry the dirt back, and then we would take the dirt and we'd sew it in our pants. The Germans let us walk around the border of the prison camp, not outside but inside. And we put things in our pants and we ran a string up and we took the pocket out of your pant and we had it hemmed down in the bottom with little slits about that long all the way around and you'd walk around the camp and pull that string and the sand would fall out. That's the way we got rid of the sand. But let me tell you, I don't know why the Germans – we raised the walk path where we walked around the camp – we raised it up about two feet. And it was a different color sand. It was sort of reddish where the other was brown on top but the Germans never did anything about it. They couldn't find the tunnel. INTERVIEWER: Do you think they noticed this different color of the dirt? SILAS NETTLES: Oh yeah. They just couldn't find the tunnel. They couldn't find it. See, we put it out about, I can't remember exactly, I want to say about 200 feet outside the [unintelligible] – that's the way we broke it open so it would be far enough you couldn't get shot or the Germans wouldn't see you when you got out. And that's where we broke straight up and broke it out. But I worked on that tunnel. INTERVIEWER: Digging? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. And if you had claustrophobia you couldn't get in there. INTERVIEWER: Because it was so small? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it was small. INTERVIEWER: I saw the movie but it's been years ago. I can't remember. Did it work? It worked if people -- some of you got out. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, we got – we put – you know, I can't remember exactly now. I'd say about we put about 26 or 27 people out. Now the Germans captured I believe it was about 18 of them in Munich and shot them. The Gestapo caught them and they shot 18 of them. The others got back to the prison camp and were put in solitary confinement for a couple weeks, ten days, something like that, and then they came back in the camp. INTERVIEWER: They were brought back to the camp? SILAS NETTLES: Uh-huh. The Germans brought them back. INTERVIEWER: But 18 were shot? SILAS NETTLES: Eighteen were shot by the Gestapo in Munich. And I believe it was about 18, you know, it's been a long time. INTERVIEWER: I know. I know. After that you stopped digging? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. Well, we did. We didn't break any more out because you know in the middle of Germany trying to travel – the only way you could travel was at night and you couldn't get on a train or – you just had to walk. And you know, the only way you could walk was at night, you know, where they wouldn't recognize you. So the day time you'd get in a ditch and try to rest and sleep. You couldn't sleep because it was cold. INTERVIEWER: Did they punish those people – the whole camp in any other way, like cutting off rations or cutting back rations? Did they do anything like that to punish you? SILAS NETTLES: No, they never cut rations off. They punished the ones that escaped. Like they would put in solitary for, you know, eight to ten days, something like that, nothing bad. The Germans, they lived pretty close to the Geneva Convention. You know, they couldn't feed their own people much less us, so it got pretty bad the last month or six weeks of the war. INTERVIEWER: Did you receive Red Cross food parcels? SILAS NETTLES: Yes ma'am. INTERVIEWER: They were a help I know. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, they saved our life, especially towards the end. They brought them in from Switzerland in GI trucks and that's what we lived off of, you know, right to the end of the war because the Germans couldn't feed us at all and we got pretty hungry there. INTERVIEWER: So you attribute your life to the Red Cross food parcels? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. They were good. INTERVIEWER: So you were liberated by General Patton? SILAS NETTLES: That's right. INTERVIEWER: And where were you taken after that? SILAS NETTLES: We went to – INTERVIEWER: And were you still with your crew? SILAS NETTLES: No, we were separated. INTERVIEWER: Oh, because you were with the officers. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, that's right. What was I fixin' to say? INTERVIEWER: Where you were taken after you were liberated. SILAS NETTLES: Okay. We were taken Le Havre France where we were – I didn't know it at the time, you told them how much you weighed when you got shot down, which like I said, I weighted about 175, but I weighed about 120, 118 or something now. They didn't tell you this but you had to gain a certain percentage of your weight before they'd let you get on a boat to come home. Well I didn't know that, but this friend of mine that was in Patton's Army knew I was in a prison camp. He had gotten letters from home. He came in a jeep and got me and took me to Paris. Well, in Paris the police had gone through the best section of Paris and moved the French people out and taken them over. Well, we had a wine cellar and we had good food. Well, I gained I reckon a good bit of weight sitting there – waiting there for a couple of weeks and eating good and drinking good wine. [LAUGHTER] INTERVIEWER: That helps. SILAS NETTLES: So when I got to Le Havre France where we get on the boat then I had to gain a certain percentage of the weight – well, I had already gained, which you gain real quick. You'll gain a good bit real fast and then it gets slow. Well, I sat there and people would come in and sign up and go out on the boat and I'm still there. Finally I went in and talked to some Major, I don't know who he was, I told him I said “people come in and out”, and he looked at my record and he said “well, you got to gain some more weight.” I said “Well, how much do I have to gain?” He said “You got to gain a certain percentage.” And I said “Well, I gained that a long time ago.” I said “I spent five or six days in Paris eating.” So with that, I got on the boat the next day and came home. INTERVIEWER: Had your family heard from you when you were in prison? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. I wasn't married at the time and you got these POW letters and you could write two a month. You could write two a month. They were all blacked out when my mother got them. INTERVIEWER: Censored? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, they had been censored so you couldn't really tell much about them. But I still got those letters somewhere. I don't know where. INTERVIEWER: They'll turn up. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, they'll turn up somewhere. INTERVIEWER: But your mother received letters from you. Did you receive letters from her? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. I got quite a few letters we got in. The mail came in spurts. We'd go for two or three months and not get any and then one day we'd get a stack like that that could take you a week to read. You'd read them over and over. INTERVIEWER: Of course. SILAS NETTLES: And you kept pictures from home, you know, they'd send pictures in. INTERVIEWER: That kept you going. SILAS NETTLES: That kept you going. That's right. INTERVIEWER: So you got home in 1945, in what about August or something of '45? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, August the 20th. INTERVIEWER: August of '45. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And what after that? Where did you go after you got home to Alabama? I mean what after your home coming? SILAS NETTLES: Well I went to Montgomery and they gave us – we had 90 days what they called R&R, rest and recuperation. It didn't count as leave. It was just R&R. And then I – on the first of September I got married. I married my high school sweetheart. INTERVIEWER: Is this Cat? SILAS NETTLES: Pardon? INTERVIEWER: You said your plane was named the Bobcat. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So this was Cat? SILAS NETTLES: Yep, I married her. INTERVIEWER: You married your high school sweetheart? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. And let me see – INTERVIEWER: That was the first of September of '45? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, that was the first of September '45. And let me see, what did we do then? Let me see, I forgot. INTERVIEWER: You went to Montgomery and then you had R&R and you got married. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And you decided to stay in the Air Force? SILAS NETTLES: Well let me put it this way. I got out of the Air Force but I stayed in the reserve because we got $144 every quarter for being in the reserve and we needed the money. So I stayed in the reserve but then when Korea broke out that's when I got recalled and came back in the service and spent the rest of my career in the service. INTERVIEWER: You were recalled at about 50 – SILAS NETTLES: 1951. INTERVIEWER: '51 you were recalled full time service. SILAS NETTLES: Full time. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And sent to Korea right away? SILAS NETTLES: No, I was Maxwell, which is Maxwell Field, in Alabama. Montgomery. I stayed there for almost two years and then I was sent to Tripoli, North Africa, and I spent three years there. And then I came home from Tripoli and I was sent to Dover, Delaware, and I spent six years there, and then I went to Barksdale in Shreveport, and I spent three years there. And then I reckon I went back to Dover. That's what I did, back to Dover, and that's where I retired. Well, I actually retired in Shreveport, but I spent three more years in Dover, Delaware. INTERVIEWER: But I want to hear about these metals, these awards. I see that you had been Distinguished Flying Cross. SILAS NETTLES: Yes ma'am. INTERVIEWER: The Air Metal. SILAS NETTLES: Yes ma'am. INTERVIEWER: Five Oak Leaf Clusters as well as a Purple Heart. Tell me when you were awarded those and for what. SILAS NETTLES: Well the Purple Heart was when I bailed out and broke my ankle. That was the Purple Heart. The DFC was -- everybody that was on that second Schweinfurt mission, the one with all [unintelligible] airplanes got the DFC, so that's how I got the DFC. And the Air Metal, you got that because any time the commander would decided whether or not the mission was hard enough to deserve and air metal, like if it was a short mission right across the channel, drop your bombs and back you didn't get an air metal. But if it was like going into Germany you got a cluster for your air metal. So that's how you go those. INTERVIEWER: So the DFC was for Schweinfurt? SILAS NETTLES: Yes. Everybody that was on that mission. INTERVIEWER: Eighty planes. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Colonel Nettles, do you still keep up with some of your old buddies? SILAS NETTLES: Oh yeah. We have a reunion. I have a reunion. It's called the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association. And we have a reunion every year. In fact, this year it's going to be in Schweinfurt. We're going back to Schweinfurt. INTERVIEWER: Good. SILAS NETTLES: The Germans – see, they come to the anti aircraft people that shot out us. We're real friendly with them, and so they're having us all over into Schweinfurt on October the 14th of this year. INTERVIEWER: Are you going? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, I'm going. INTERVIEWER: I'm so glad. SILAS NETTLES: I'm taking my son. INTERVIEWER: Good. SILAS NETTLES: He and I are going. INTERVIEWER: Good. SILAS NETTLES: I look forward to that. INTERVIEWER: How long have you been including the Germans or have they been in on these reunions? That's amazing to think they're in on it now, that the enemies are in on it. SILAS NETTLES: They've been on since the first one I went to. They had two or three before I went. But the first I went to the German people were there. In fact, the mayor of Schweinfurt she sponsors the whole thing. They feed us and they do everything when we go to Schweinfurt. INTERVIEWER: That's remarkable. Don't you think that's remarkable that the enemies are now friends? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. And they have a bus that takes us every where and they have a big band, the mayor speaks, and we have some of the anti aircraft fighters that are there. It's really interesting, real interesting. INTERVIEWER: That's remarkable. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it is. INTERVIEWER: And a lot of your friends go? SILAS NETTLES: Yep, a lot of them. The last one we had about a hundred – I think about 116, 117, and that's a good many. INTERVIEWER: Yes, it is. SILAS NETTLES: Because it's been, you know, sixty years ago. INTERVIEWER: That's right. This is the 60th anniversary of D-Day. SILAS NETTLES: That's right. INTERVIEWER: This was before that. SILAS NETTLES: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Well, let's go back. You didn't actually go to Korea? SILAS NETTLES: I flew in and out of Korea. I was a pilot. INTERVIEWER: You were a pilot? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Captain. SILAS NETTLES: Military [unintelligible] command, and I took cargo in and troops in and out, but I was never stationed in Vietnam or Korea, either one. INTERVIEWER: Right. SILAS NETTLES: But I went in and out of both of them. INTERVIEWER: Both places. And you were flying cargo? SILAS NETTLES: Uh-huh, and troops. Cargo and troops. I was flying 124s. That was that big thing that the clam shell – the doors opened up like that, a big clam shell. INTERVIEWER: Were you the Captain? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, I was the Aircraft Commander. INTERVIEWER: Commander. And how many missions would you say you flew into Korea? SILAS NETTLES: Oh, I don't know. I don't have any idea. INTERVIEWER: A lot. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it was quite a few. I don't really know how many times. Sometimes we'd go in and out twice in one day. We'd fly from Japan into Korea and then back to Japan and then back again. We'd take two trips a day, especially in the summer when the days were longer. INTERVIEWER: So that was for several years? SILAS NETTLES: That was for a couple of years. INTERVIEWER: And then came Vietnam. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And tell us about that. SILAS NETTLES: Well I was actually never stationed in Vietnam. Like I said, I flew in and out like I did in Korea. See being in MAC, Military Airlift Command, you know, we flew troops and cargo in and out, so I was not stationed in Korea or in Vietnam, but I went and out. INTERVIEWER: Flying big planes. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, C-124s. INTERVIEWER: C-124s with – SILAS NETTLES: Troops and cargo. INTERVIEWER: And you would land those? SILAS NETTLES: Yep. We carried – a 124 could carry two gasoline trucks like you see filling up airplanes, you know, the gasoline trucks. We could carry two of those in one 124. INTERVIEWER: That's big. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. It was a big airplane. INTERVIEWER: I had no idea it was that big. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. They called it Old Shaky. INTERVIEWER: [LAUGHTER] SILAS NETTLES: Because when you would take off you would bump down the runway and then after you took off and the gear came up instead of bumping up it shook like this so they called it Old Shaky. INTERVIEWER: Old Shaky. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: 124. SILAS NETTLES: 124. INTERVIEWER: It must have been big. SILAS NETTLES: It was a big airplane. INTERVIEWER: And you were the Captain. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, I was the Aircraft Commander. INTERVIEWER: Commander. What a career. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it was pretty good. Pretty good. INTERVIEWER: You have you say three children? SILAS NETTLES: Five. INTERVIEWER: Five children, three daughters. SILAS NETTLES: Four daughters and one boy. INTERVIEWER: And lots of them live around Atlanta. [END SIDE A] [BEGINNING SIDE B] SILAS NETTLES: Three daughters who live in Atlanta and one boy lives in Montgomery and one daughter lives in Shreveport. INTERVIEWER: I see. Is your wife still – SILAS NETTLES: No, she died – it's been about a little over a year ago. INTERVIEWER: Oh, I'm sorry. You retired. Is it 1970 when you retired? SILAS NETTLES: From the Air Force, yeah. INTERVIEWER: As a Colonel. SILAS NETTLES: Yes ma'am. INTERVIEWER: Did you double dip or do anything after that? SILAS NETTLES: Oh yeah. I went to work for Times Mirror Corporation. It was a publishing company – they had a publishing company in Montgomery. They published cook books, and I went to work for them and worked eight years for them. And I retired from there I believe it was 1978. I think that was it. INTERVIEWER: Well you certainly had a distinguished and amazing Air Force career, Colonel Nettles. I think you may be probably the only person we've interviewed out of a 170 veterans who served in all, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. SILAS NETTLES: I'm the only one that had 30 years in the Air Force other than [unintelligible] – INTERVIEWER: I guess so. SILAS NETTLES: That must be it. INTERVIEWER: What do you remember most about those years? SILAS NETTLES: Well, I tell you it was a good time. I mean, I had a ball. My wife and I lived in Tripoli North Africa, we lived in Germany – INTERVIEWER: She was with you in Tripoli? SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh good. SILAS NETTLES: We lived there three years. And that was delightful. I had an Arab house boy that took care of me. She had an Italian maid that did all the cooking and made noodles like you know – like on the dining room table she would pop the noodles and then had a big pair of scissors that you cut them up and cook them. Oh, it was good eating. Tripoli was nice. It was real nice. I lived right next door to the Kadafi. He lived right next door to me. INTERVIEWER: Momar Kadafi. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. And that was before he had taken over. He was just the Captain in the Libyan Army when he lived next door to me. But he had a lot of pull because there would always be two or three Mercedes sitting out in front of his house and there would always be two or three guards walking the street out front and out behind his house. But that was before he had taken over as the head of Tripoli. But I used to talk to him. He spoke English, but people did know that and he'd never speak it on the air on radio. INTERVIEWER: How did you find out that Momar Kadafi spoke English? SILAS NETTLES: He'd talk to me. I'd walk up and down the street with him. He'd walk up and down the street and we'd stand there and talk to each other. His English was broken. I mean you had to sort of understand him because he didn't speak real good English but he could speak it. INTERVIEWER: So you enjoy Tripoli? SILAS NETTLES: Oh, it was nice, real nice. But they kicked us out. INTERVIEWER: [LAUGHTER] SILAS NETTLES: My wife and I had already gone home and I came back over when Kadafi kicked us out and I helped aerovac all the troops and what cargo that we could get out of there. I tell you what we did do is sort of funny. We were getting ready to go, we had gotten everybody out and we were getting ready to leave and it was Chappy James -- you probably don't know who he is. He was a black General in the Army Air Corp., and he and I were left there together and before we left we looked over there in the corner and there were about 20 bags of cement and so we got our troops – we had about 40 or 50 men there with us and we got them and we dumped all that cement in the sewer in their water. So when we left Tripoli was ruined. We had messed up all the sewers and all their water. So we told them good-bye. [LAUGTHER] And we were gone. INTERVIEWER: Got out of there. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. We were out. INTERVIEWER: And then after that you came back to the United States. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, I came to Dover, Delaware. INTERVIEWER: And was that where you were when you retired in '70? SILAS NETTLES: No, I retired – I actually retired in Maxwell – INTERVIEWER: Your home base so to speak. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. What happened my daddy had terminal cancer and so they sent me to Maxwell [unintelligible] change of duty station, so I was actually stationed in Maxwell when I retired. That's where I retired. INTERVIEWER: What memories. What memories. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And I'm so glad you're going back to Schweinfurt. SILAS NETTLES: Yep, I'm going to go back. INTERVIEWER: Is it October? SILAS NETTLES: October the 14th. INTERVIEWER: All right. SILAS NETTLES: Well we're actually leaving the 12th and coming back on the 20th, so it will be a nice trip. INTERVIEWER: Good. With your son? SILAS NETTLES: Yep. INTERVIEWER: It will mean a lot. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, he's looking forward to it. INTERVIEWER: You'll have him with you. SILAS NETTLES: Yeah, it will be nice. Like I say, I got four girls and one boy. INTERVIEWER: Well, of all the war time memories which are the ones that you think about the most? SILAS NETTLES: War time? INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh. SILAS NETTLES: I reckon it's that prison camp. I think that's about it. INTERVIEWER: Nearly two years in prison. SILAS NETTLES: I think more about that than I think of any other part. The rest of it was sort of easy. INTERVIEWER: Those memories are the ones that – SILAS NETTLES: They stick with you. INTERVIEWER: And you'll be glad to be with those buddies. SILAS NETTLES: Oh yeah, we'll have a good time. INTERVIEWER: Well, I'm amazed to hear about the Great Escape. Your whole career is just distinguished. SILAS NETTLES: It was nice. INTERVIEWER: Well we appreciate it so much. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me, tell us before –? SILAS NETTLES: I can't think of anything, no. INTERVIEWER: Is there anything that your buddy here knows that we should know about. MS: I don't think so. INTERVIEWER: Well 30 years of distinguished career. We are very, very grateful to you for coming in to talk with us. Thank you so much. SILAS NETTLES: Well, I'm glad to do it. INTERVIEWER: Enjoyed talking to you. SILAS NETTLES: I enjoyed it myself. INTERVIEWER: Thank you so much. SILAS NETTLES: All right. [END INTERVIEW] [KS]
Metadata URL:
http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/272
Additional Rights Information:
This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
Extent:
56:57
Original Collection:
Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center
Holding Institution:
Atlanta History Center
Rights:
In Copyright