Oral History: Leon Long 18-Sep-14, 20140918.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Genre:

Internet videos.

Nonfiction films.

Physical Description:

online resource (video file 0:51:11) : Sound, Colour

Place of Publication:

18-Sep-14,

Summary:

SMSGT Leon Long was born July 14, 1920 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Leon joined the United States Army Air Force in 1939 and trained as mechanic on B-17 planes. He was assigned as a crew chief with the 5th Air Force, 19th Bombardment Group stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines. He remembers on the morning of December 8, 1941 seeing two large formations of planes approaching Clark Field and like everyone else believed they were Americans mobilizing as the result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He soon realized it was the Japanese and Clark Field was under attack. He jumped into a fox hole and two other airmen jumped in with him. When the attack was over he climbed out and the other two airmen were both dead. Clark Air Force Base was destroyed and he retreated to Brisbane, Australia. When New Guinea was taken, he was transferred there where he remained a crew chief for B-17s based on that island. At the conclusion of the war, he was offered a job with General Dynamics and moved to Fort Worth, Texas.

Notes:

Description based on online resource (viewed on 12 June, 2019).

Archive Reference: OH.3341.