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Armaments Officer Supervisor |
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| SGT Russell E. Donaldson | Armament/Chem Warfare | CPL Donald R. Curtin | Armament/Chem Warfare |
| SGT Michael J. Abboud | Armament | CPL Ray McCauley | Armament |
| S/SGT Wayne O. Redman | Armament | CPL James Applin | Armament |
| CPL Francis Baker | Armament | CPL Fredrick Bodensiek | Armament |
| CPL Raymond Cantrell | Armament | PVT 1C Joseph Salvo | Armament |
| CPL Roy Ewing Jr. | Armament | CPL Ralph C. Gage | Armament |
| CPL Thadieus Jagielo | Armament | CPL Robert Pangburn | Armament |
| PVT 1C William J. Lucarreli | Armament | S/SGT Matthew Vacante | Computing Sights/Turret Spec. |
| Donald R. Curtin and Russell Donaldson
were chosen for Chemical Warfare, and they were the only two men in
their Squadron 834 for this task. They both attended school for
Chemical Warfare in a small place outside Salt Lake, Utah. This was
only one job assignment, and one in which they did not have to put
their knowledge into action because the Germans did not use Chemical
Warfare, so we did not either. Armament loaded, unloaded, and loaded
1000 LB bombs, 500 LB bombs, 250 LB bombs, and Antipersonnel bombs.
The antipersonnel bombs we very dangerous, one slip and death was
sure to follow, very delicate bombs. They were not meant to handled
by anyone, but they had to be in order to be loaded or unloaded from
the planes. He only knew of one incident regarding someone dropping
one of these during handling, and they were killed along with those
in the immediate area. Armament duties included the loading and
unloading of bombs, the bomb racks, bomb bay doors, toggle switches
that release the bombs (one switch Salvo = dropped all bombs at
once, the other, Individual switch released the bombs one at the
time). They also were responsible for the 50 caliber guns. The
Gunners took care of the cleaning and such of them, but when they
needed repairs, parts or technical work Armament was responsible for
responding. According to Don Curtin there were very few times that
they ever had to work on guns, because the Gunners took very good
care of them, and they seldom had things go wrong with them. The
armaments section was also responsible for maintaining the
bombsights.
CPL Vacante was declared to be disabled in 1984. Doctors determined that his exposure to chemicals and organic solvents in a confined space while working in gun turrets. CPL Vacante was also involved in the Sulfa Drug Prophylaxis treatment conducted by the 486th, which was later determined to be responsible for brain damage and deaths among some participants. Don Curtin return to the ZOI aboard a Kaiser Liberty ship, while the rest of his section returned aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Section information via Kelly Curtin Clark, daughter of Donald Clark. |
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