WW II hero celebrates 100 years (Part 2)

In a prior column we met Jack Buckner, a local young man who joined the Army Air Corps soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. On February 3, 2023, he celebrated his 100th birthday and received a special Proclamation from the City of Milton. His story continues.

After undergoing rigorous training on the B-17 heavy bomber, Jack was sent to North Africa where he and his crew of ten eventually flew 50 missions against German installations thus hastening the defeat of Rommel’s desert army.

We now continue Jack’s story.

In the early days of the war, the German Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt 109 was arguably the best fighter plane in the world. It was faster, better armed and could dive faster than the British Spitfires and American P-38s and P40s which U.S. bombers counted on for protection.

Bomber crews never knew in advance whether they would have fighter support on missions nor whether the Messerschmitts would suddenly appear and attack the bombers. The B-17 had many advantages, among which was its ability to withstand shrapnel and bullet hits. They were also heavily armed with 13 Browning M-2 50-caliber machine guns, probably the best machine gun ever made. The Warrior was hit numerous times, but always returned home. The crew consisted of pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, engineer, radio operator, ball turret operator, two waist gunners and tail gunner. The entire crew, with one exception, survived the war. The exception was a crew member who was killed while flying on a mission in another plane.

To defend themselves from the German fighters, B-17s flew in various formations. The planes were close together, but not so close that they might collide. This gave the skilled German pilots the ability to fly right into the formations. “Sometimes,” says Jack, “we could see their faces.” Jack was usually the lead bombardier which means he sat in the glass enclosed nose cone of the first bomber in a formation and was thus the most exposed to oncoming enemy fighters. A formation might have as many as 36 bombers.

Here are two entries from Jack’s dairy.

“April 17, 1943 --’Flack Alley’ We really blew up Palermo today but BOY what flack. The sky was black with it. We were hit four times which made seventeen holes. A few fighters but nothing to worry about. We didn’t lose any planes.

“May 14, 1943—A long day today. Civitavecchia, Italy – 50 miles north of Rome. The harbor was sure full of ships. We got 12 large ones, an ammo plant and a fuel dump. No one hurt.” Note: Today Civitavecchia is a cruise ship port.

While desert summers were hot, winters were very cold where the crew was based in Algeria. Crew members often had sore throats and the flu. As spring arrived malaria, dysentery and other diseases were a problem. Jack says that dysentery kept more crews on the ground than all other causes.

In August 1943 the crew moved to Oudna Airfield, about 9 miles south of Tunis, Tunisia. It was used in 1943 as a B-17 bomber base. The abandoned airfield is covered today with agricultural crops.

Jack continued his missions over Italy until he completed his 50th mission on October 1, 1943. On one occasion Jack flew seven missions in six days which was exhausting. He recalls one mission when he looked out the window and saw about 75 German fighters. He knew it was going to be a rough day. On another mission, Jack was leaning over the bomb sight when a small piece of flack (shrapnel from an anti-aircraft burst) came in one side of the plane and exited out the other side, exactly where his head was before bending over to look into the bombsight. He knew the Lord was with him that day.

Jack was awarded the Air Medal ten times with the Oak Leaf Cluster. The Air Medal is awarded for “meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.”

Jack arrived home on Christmas Day

1943. There to greet him were his parents and Florence Cashner the woman he would marry. The couple went to Midland Texas where Jack checked in as an instructor. He married Florence while there. They went to Roswell, New Mexico where B-17 pilots were trained on bombing runs, then on to Victorville, California until the war was over. Jack mustered out of the service in November 1945 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Back in civilian life Jack used the GI Bill to attend GA Tech, then worked as a sales engineer for 24 years with Armco Drainage and Metal Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Armco Steel Corporation. At age 50 he started his own construction company Abuck Inc. Today Abuck Building Systems is owned by son Terry with its main office in Alpharetta. Jack and Florence have raised three children, Terry, Jimmy and Paula and have 8 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

To celebrate Jack’s 100th birthday, his family and neighbors threw a surprise party on February 3. The Mayor of Milton, Peyton Jamison and his wife Megan attended, and his honor read an official proclamation from the city marking Jack’s 100th birthday.

Bob is director emeritus of the Milton Historical Society and a Member of the City of Alpharetta Historic Preservation Commission. You can email him at bobmey@bellsouth.net.