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Recording, Audio

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/af8836b0-266d-4bdf-90f1-499153112971
Collection
Oral History Collection
Object ID
OH0031
Date Range
2004/07/30
have the respect of the men, that’s all you need. If you have the respect of anybody you know, you’re never one of the boys, you never try to be. L a n c a s t e r H i s t o r y �Bev: So you went out hunting for deer ? Jessie: Yes! Small game. Bev: So the war ended, you got married. How many kids do
More detail
  1 document  
Collection
Oral History Collection
Description
World War II veteran and F&M College alumni, Dr. Howard Eckhart
Date Range
2004/07/30
Date of Interview
2004-07-12
Creator
Eckhart, Howard, 1925-2014, interviewee
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
People
Eckhart, Howard
Interviewer
Newton, Beverly
Narrator
Eckhart, Howard, 1925-2014
Subcategory
Need to Classify
Subjects
Oral history
Search Terms
Oral histories
Place of Interview
LCHS
Object Name
Recording, Audio
Media
Videotape
Length of Interview
00:31:24
Language
English
Condition
Fair
Object ID
OH0031
Notes
Contact ID Mark Subject
31 00:00:11 Intro of Jesse and Howard Eckhart
31 00:00:22 Jesse was civilian flight instructor (WW II)
31 00:00:33 Jesse's father started first airport in Lancaster
31 00:00:54 First airports were grass fields
31 00:01:07 Jesse's father taught her to fly.
31 00:01:13 Jesse soloed on 16th birthday in 1940
31 00:01:25 She soloed and instructed in single engine aircraft
31 00:01:36 Older sister Helen invited to join WAFS
31 00:01:50 Helen was not interested
31 00:01:51 Jesse invited to be flight instructor at WAF school
31 00:02:09 Jesse stayed home and became a flight instructor
31 00:02:18 Jesse quit college (Penn State) after war started
31 00:02:35 Jesse worked for father in Navy instruction program
31 00:03:02 Training for pilots not unique to Lancaster.
31 00:03:12 Aircraft used: examples N3N, Stearman
31 00:03:23 Training equivalent to private pilots license
31 00:03:34 Restriction on travel. Trainees could not do cross country flights
31 00:03:58 Navy training had five students in a class (all male).
31 00:04:15 Each class lasted five months.
31 00:04:39 Howard joined navy at age 17
31 00:04:46 Had been at F & M the year before.
31 00:04:53 Volunteered for the draft board. Enlistments closed.
31 00:05:06 Went to boot camp in New York state.
31 00:05:24 Went to Treasure Island California
31 00:05:39 Volunteered for submarine duty
31 00:05:43 Went to New London, Connecticut for submarine school.
31 00:06:00 Captain Bill Hazard and Howard were first two people assigned to SS324
31 00:06:06 Went to sea for two week shakedown cruise.
31 00:06:11 Went along eastern coast of U.S. Sub ahead of them was sunk by by Air Force B-25.
31 00:06:22 Proceeded then at night on the surface.
31 00:06:30 Went through Panama Canal to Hawaii then to Subic Bay Phillipines
31 00:06:49 Christmas Day 1944 sub sank first Japanese ship
31 00:06:55 Navy had broken Japanese radio code
31 00:08:40 Had rooms in town. All expenses paid for three weeks.
31 00:08:52 Has pictures of his navy days.
31 00:09:22 Sank ships in bay at capital of Java.
31 00:07:01 Intercepted and sank Japanese troop transport
31 00:07:27 Destroyers depth charged Howard's sub for ten hours.
31 00:07:38 Captain Hazard put a CO2 bottle in a torpedo tube and launched it.
31 00:07:46 Japs followed trail of CO2 bottle and Hazard backed away losing Jap ships
31 00:07:54 Lombk Straits.
31 00:08:27 Had liberty in Australia
31 00:08:34 Received their back pay, and had food not available on sub
31 00:09:37 Smokey Roberts (from Lancaster) took Howard to sinking of SS324 in the 1980s.
31 00:10:07 Howard went to Baltimore. Had to show demolition crew where to place charges.
31 00:10:22 Maryland Department of Fish and Game wanted sub to create reef.
31 00:10:50 Twenty six former crew went on party boat to watch sinking nine miles off coast of Maryland (Ocean City).
31 00:10:58 Howard has a tape of sinking.
31 00:11:12 Crew of sub cried when it sank
31 00:11:27 Howard was a oral surgeon for 38 years
31 00:11:39 Howard and Jesse's son has his practice now.
31 00:11:56 Jesse's father supported her in her flying
31 00:12:12 Jesse and her sisters all had to learn to fly before learning to drive a car.
31 00:12:29 Jesse's dad taught her how to hunt and do other things.
31 00:12:55 Jesse went hunting for deer and small game.
31 00:13:08 Howard and Jesse have three sons.
31 00:13:29 Jesse did fly cross country (ferrying airplanes).
31 00:14:17 Jesse flew whenever there was a free plane at the airport.
31 00:14:32 Flew out to Kansas by herself.
31 00:14:40 Had to come back on train.
31 00:15:00 Sister Helen was also a flight instructor.
31 00:15:25 Youngest sister Carolyn did learn to fly.
31 00:15:50 Stayed in contact. Got mail and pay when sub was in port.
31 00:16:04 Home port was Perth, Australia.
31 00:16:26 Sea captain had brought rabbits to Australia years before.
31 00:16:29 Rabbits had no natural enemies in Australia.
31 00:16:39 Rabbit population so bad that farmers had to bury fences in ground to keep them from crops.
31 00:16:46 Farmers asked sailors to come and shoot rabbits to cut population
31 00:16:50 Sailors used .30 caliber semi-automatic rifle
31 00:16:56 Howard shot sixty rabbits in one day.
31 00:17:00 Did not eat rabbits. Just left them lay.
31 00:17:34 Left service and came back to F & M. Had G.I. Bill
31 00:18:13 Howard was in the reserves.
31 00:18:24 Howard would go to Philadephia Navy Yard once a month.
31 00:18:45 Received orders to go to New London, CT - active duty.
31 00:18:52 Howard applied for a commission. He had been a Chief Petty Officer.
31 00:18:58 Commission approved.
31 00:19:16 Went into Dental Corp
31 00:19:33 Belong to the VFW in Millersville.
31 00:19:41 Did belong to Ephrata American Legion.
31 00:19:48 Has contact with Submarine Veterans of WWII
31 00:20:15 Howard has tapes of days in navy
31 00:20:26 Photographs available to make copies.
31 00:20:41 Jesse also has photos of airport, planes, people.
31 00:20:51 Jesse talks about their sons.
31 00:20:59 Her sons can fly. Taught by Jesse's dad.
31 00:21:06 Michael, oral surgeon in Lancaster, Howie is in insurance, David is in investments around Pottstown.
31 00:21:23 All her sons have their private pilots license. Howard also has a ATP (air transport pilot) license.
31 00:21:38 Howard had flown for Eastern until they went broke.
31 00:21:46 Howard and Jesse have three main ratings.
31 00:21:59 They have had a progression of planes.
31 00:22:19 Did not have a plane for some time. Could not afford $15 hangar fee.
31 00:22:24 Flew brother in laws Tri-Pacer.
31 00:22:38 Had a four seat Comanche.
31 00:23:04 Got a six seat Aztec.
31 00:23:13 Aztec is fully instrumented, with GPS.
31 00:23:34 "Jesse flew with her father in ""tail-draggers""."
31 00:24:16 Jesse reluctantly got rid of Luscombe.
31 00:24:24 Luscombe only had room for a couple of hankerchiefs in baggage compartment.
31 00:24:33 Observation towers during WWII
31 00:25:31 "Closed area of east coast ""Violet Defense area""."
31 00:26:17 Closed area came in about 100 miles from coast.
31 00:26:32 Towers were manned by trained observers. Observers attended a class in aircraft identification.
31 00:26:59 Jesse did see these observers at the airport. They had their own uniforms
31 00:27:24 Jesse's english teacher was one of the observers.
31 00:27:31 He was later principal of McCaskey High School.
31 00:28:04 About ten to twelve instructors at airport.
31 00:28:14 About 25 at Carlisle.
31 00:28:24 Training program ended about three months before end of war.
31 00:28:53 Instructor input into trainees log book affected where they were assigned.
31 00:29:19 What is NMI? No Middle Initial
31 00:29:49 Howard was fortunate to get into subs. Only a few taken. Paid well. Close knit group.
31 00:30:16 Four cooks on sub. Howard got shift that coinsided with baker finishing.
31 00:30:56 Modern subs like plush Pullman car
31 00:31:09 closing.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
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