Rex Wilde

He was born in the fall of 1920 in a small town in Northwestern Iowa. The second son of a 1st generation Iowan whose grandfather emigrated from Germany. He graduated in 1938 with 21 fellow students, who gratefully dedicated their yearbook to their superintendent and 2 of their teachers. He participated in Glee Club, Band, Basketball, Baseball, Kittenball, Football, and Track. Under his name in the yearbook is "A basketball man, a musical man, and last but not least a ladies man". The schools sports name was the " Fonda Flyers".

He left home the fall of 1938 to join his brother in Sacramento California where they both attend the Sacramento Junior College. The tuition at Sacramento would be free. He lived with his brother and they played on the college basketball team together. He graduated from Sacremento Junior College in the summer of 1940, leaving California with an Associate Arts Degree and 2 yearbooks filled with comments and memories. The most impactful comments coming from his older brother stating " I have never known that two brothers could get along as well as we have for these ten short months". His brother enlisted in the Army Air Forces and got married in 1941. Our dad headed back to Iowa to enroll in the University of Iowa fall of 1940.

He met our mom the summer of 1939 they were opposites on a double date. They continued to see each other while he attended the U of I. She made a couple trips to Iowa City and they went to events like the Watermelon festival, dances at the Roof Garden, and Hawkeye football games. Our dad was avid sports fan not only for the game but also the enjoyment and significance of the band at halftime. He had thoughts of being a coach and enjoyed watching "the Athens of America", 60 minute men and Nile Kinnick. He attended U of I when it was felt "every man by virtue of his residence was a member of an intramural team". Thus he was a member of the Quadrangle Basketball team. He graduated as a Hawkeye, with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce, May of 1942. Three days before graduation ceremonies he enlisted in the Army Air Force.

He worked at a gas station in his home town in Iowa and continue to build a relationship with our mom. In October of 1942 he report to San Antonio Texas, from there went to the Independence Army Flying School in Independence, Kansas. He got his wings at Pampa Army Air Field in Texas and married our mom(his sweetheart from Iowa) on 8/26/43. On the first page of his Gig Sheet from Pampa was his "One Way Ticket to HELL which entitles the bearer to a stop over enroute at Japan to enjoy the AAF Stag Party on the Roof Garden at Tokyo" . On the last page was a picture of a weather vane "All Roads Lead to Berlin". He graduated in a group called Aviation Cadets Class of 43H.

He was assigned to the 449th Bomber Group 716 Squadron at Brunning Army Airfield, Brunning, Nebraska 9/24/43. He lived on base and my mom lived in Hebron. He was the copilot with the Moore crew, trained briefly in a B24D then on October 21st got a B24H which the crew named Ramp Tramp. On 11/17/43 his group was the first to leave Brunning and head for Topeka, Kansas. He did not make the rest of the overseas movement with the 449th because he was hospitalized in Topeka for tonsillitis. In one of those rare moments when he talk about his WWII experiences he told me his tonsils were removed by slipping a wire around them and snipping them off.

He was never able to catch up with the 15th Air Force and the 449th group, which ended up in Grottaglie, Italy. The Moore Crew and their B24H plane called Ramp Tramp was shot down over Regensberg, Germany on 2/22/44 with 7 KIA and 4 POW. I know our dad knew his crew got shot down but I am not sure if he ever-new 4 of the crew survived.

During the month of December 1943 my dads brother who was a Major at Briggs Field in El Paso got him transferred to the 486th BG 835 Squadron to report on 1/16/44 to Tucson. I know my dad appreciate the fact that he was able to train with a crew and go overseas with crew vs being a replacement pilot.

We believe he trained with the Simpson crew but flew over with Major Harold Norton, Captain Ed Rex, and Captain Raymond Baguley the first crew arriving at Station 174 on March 19, 1944. He did fly his missions with the Simpson crew. We believe he flew 35 missions, he received the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Campaign Ribbon with 4 bronze stars, Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He never really talked about the medals or his missions. The only thing I recall him saying was he bombed mainly oil fields and fuel dumps. He did state he came back from one mission with over a hundred holes in the plane and that he preferred flying the B17 to the B24. He felt the B24 was like flying a bathtub full of water... as the nose started down, they'd pull hard to get it back up. About when the nose started up, it was like all the water ran into the back of the tub and they would have to fight to push the nose down. A never-ending cycle. We think he flew 12 mission in a B24H and the rest in a B17G.

My mom said he enjoyed conversation with the Navigator Ownie Wuori. We believe he flew his last mission on 10/18/44 and thought he would be heading home. He soon found out he was assigned to fly damaged airplanes back to England from Belgium. We are not sure what unit this was with but he did comment to my mom that it was at times as worrisome as flying a mission wondering if these damaged plane would make it over the Cliffs. He was finally sent home on 3/6/44.

I owe much of the information I was able to but together to Robin Smith and to those who wrote the War Stories of the O & W and to a scrapbook my parents kept. It has helped me to appreciate the sacrifice men make during times of war and understand the silence they share together. I remember when JFK was shot and died and there was a lot of discussion about naming airports, towns and even a state after him. I asked our dad what he thought about that, he said " a lot of good men have died and nothing was name after them in their passing". Our dad went on to do many other great things in his life and as he reflected during his last days "it was a good life". I understand now why he never owned a gun and why he discourage his 4 sons from using a gun. He came from a time when it was the person character not the gun, which wheeled the power. He would comment about the lack of sport in pursuing a defenseless animal and displayed a lack of interest in watching movies or TV. He was an active participant in life not a passive participant. He would rather see a play than a movie, go to a sporting event and not miss the band at half time, and boy could my parents dance. I think of many men of the WW II generation as the 24/7 men, the true "Iron Men". Our dad died in December 29, 1997.

Like many children I doubt I will ever be over the grief of his death, I think of him daily, and miss my ability to talk with him about the big and small things running through my mind. Sometimes I seem paralyzed momentary by the grief and thoughts of him. I know death is part of living as is birth and feel that once no one thinks of us we are then only truly gone. I guess that's why I am writing this story so that those close to me will always know the history of what I came from.

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