Prairie Girls

Alexis

by Judy

My name is Alexis, and I am ten-years-old. I live in a small town in Southeast Kansas. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. My father works for the railroad. Momma works at the ammunitions plant, and Grandma Miller watches us kids while Momma is at work. It is easy for her because she lives with us. Momma and Daddy believe every American should do all they can to defeat Hitler and the Japanese. 

Tail Gunner in the Pacific

                                                   by Collette  
My dad frequently talked about WWII and his experiences in Europe at the supper table when my sister and I were growing up. As a result, I became very interested in learning about the war, but realized I knew little about the American participation in the Pacific in our war against Japan. For several years we had an older man who worked for us, and he fought in the campaign against the Japanese.

His name was Herman, and he was a tail gunner on planes for the Army Air Corps. Although I don’t recall which planes he flew in, they could have been B-17 or B-24’s because these were capable of diving and allowed the gunner to fire from the tail of the plane. The important thing I remember was that he was never shot down. That is remarkable because he flew on 38 missions. It also shows how good the pilots were who commandeered the aircrafts.