Veterans History Project

The Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

After WWII, the Army-Air Forces became the US Air Force. Keeping in mind the bureaucratic process involved, change wasn't really noticeable right away. Among other things, there was quite a surplus of uniforms. The Eisenhower jackets were still in the inventory – and many were issued beyond 1950. When an individual joined the Air Force in 1951, he/she was issued clothing that could have been from WWII or Korea and in time, the service person would be re-issued new stuff.

One of the people who joined during that transition was Hurshel Payne Wade Jr. For family reasons of naming kids, he became simply "Bobby". When he joined the Air Force, and started associating with adults, he shortened it to "Bob".

In January 1952, personal friends of Bob had told him he should pick a branch of the service in which to serve. They knew that his draft notice was sent to him that day. Immediately he went to the Air Force recruiter who was kind enough to get his physical exam done, some paperwork done right away, and if all went well, get this guy on the train for San Antonio, TX. It all worked surprisingly well!

On arriving in the middle of the night, their trainers met the young men and showed these characters where they would be staying and a little information then lights out.

The next morning, the matter hit the fan. Haircuts, marching, barracks life, and a lot of "do this, not that". Uniforms were issued the second day. The shoes didn't fit but they re-checked and got ones that did.

Bob came from West Virginia and Virginia. His father was a known marksman with a rifle. He went to quite a bit of trouble to train this kid in accurate shooting. He also was a hunter whose skills helped the family eat. Practice involved shooting a .22 cal rifle at spent shells that were on a 4x4 sitting vertically. With his father looking on, he got pretty good at it.

The trainers began marching the trainees to the rifle range at about the three week mark. As the practice firing and nomenclature commenced, it became apparent to some that Bob was not new to this subject area. One senior sergeant took Bob aside and talked him into going to see the officer in charge. The officer was impressed with Bob's abilities that he offered Bob a quick advancement three ranks from his level at that time. They wanted him to become a sniper. They even offered him E-5 pay.

Bob declined the offer. He told the officer that "he didn't want to be shooting at anybody and didn't want anybody shooting at him". The conversation ended at that point. When he returned to the Company area, his trainers couldn't believe he turned the deal down.

Bob made it through basic training easily. He was sent on to Keesler Air Force Base near Biloxi, Mississippi. Here he learned the essential elements of radio and radar repair. Part of the way through training, he was sent climbing up a pole supporting an antennae. Somehow, by someone, the power to the pole was turned on rendering Bob's male parts useless for ten years. (Bob ultimately fathered three wonderful kids!)

Toward the end of this training, a senior personnel sergeant approached a select few of the trainees and asked them to volunteer for more training at an obscure base in Texas. If you don't volunteer, you'll go to Korea. The school lasted six months and 100% of those offered the training opted for it.

After training, Bob was assigned to a base near Darmstadt, Germany. To get there, Bob and lots of other men were sent by troop ship. Some of the food on this ship was contaminated. No one was aware of this problem. The men disembarked in Bremerhaven, Germany and then boarded a small train. All the men were stricken with diarrhea. The men were lined up at the restrooms where they sought relief. The train was going over a valued river. The restrooms were locked so no human waste would get in the water. That didn't help the guys very much. This was more than a crappy situation! Finally they got a chance to clean up and move on to the assignments awaiting them.

Bob's work took him to a work station that was surrounded by an antennae field. There were work benches sufficient to do the repairs on radars and some radios. One of Bob's additional duties was to walk a perimeter around the antennae field. On one occasion, he found nine men from enemy forces, trying to dismantle one of the sets. They were using saws and axes. Bob stopped his Jeep and positioned himself behind the engine of the vehicle. He ordered the trespassers to stop, but they began shooting at him. Bob returned fire with his carbine, taking out the group by hitting them with disabling injuries. Bob had made radio contact with his operations base and knew help was on the way.

Bob was to undergo a Court Martial hearing for all this action. He was charged with 45 counts of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, etc. Bob pled guilty to all charges. Bob was assessed a fine of .45 cents. One nickel for each round fired, and a dollar court costs. To satisfy the German government, the record of this action remained in Bob's file. It was removed when he left Germany. Bob's work was repairing radios as well as installing them.

On one of his assignments he was taking pictures of a lightning storm. He was in an aircraft that had fifteen antennae mounted on the top of the plane (a KC-135 frame aircraft). While monitoring a thunderstorm, they caught sight of one lightning bolt that was over 5 billion volts, and 100 million amps. It was actually identified. It blackened the film they were using but left a horizontal line on the oscilloscope.

Bob continued to move to various bases around the world. At times he didn't know where, exactly, he was. The plane would land in Tokyo, for example, and airmen would gather him and his equipment. They would deliver him to a site where he would work until the system was again functional. Much of his work was very much classified. He guarded his security clearance and his tasks vigilantly.

In time, his chain of assignments would land this Master Sergeant at Warren AFB. After twenty-seven plus years service, he decided it was time. He had earned a chestful of medals and ribbons. Many of the awards were prestigious and evidence of a job well done.

Master Sergeant "Bob" Wade, good job! Thank you for your service!