Interviewee: Colonel Bill Ravey
Interviewer: Jeffrey Johnson
Date of Interview: November, 2000
How old were you when you joined the service? I was about 20 years old.
What wars did you fight in? I fought in World War II and the Vietnam War.
What countries were you in? I flew in China, Burma and India
What do you want people to remember about World War II? I think it was a demonstration of good over evil. We stopped two evil nations during the war from hurting other people. I fought against the Japanese while the Germans were fighting against our same allies, the United States in Europe. Both the Japanese and the Germans had invaded other countries to invade them and occupy them. We went over to stop them along with our allies the French and the English.
Were you injured? Yes, How were you injured? I was a fighter pilot flying down in Burma. A ground fire hit me and it stopped my engine. I had to land the airplane and I got hurt when I landed the plane because it crashed.
What vehicle did you use the most? I did not use a vehicle very much. Most of the time I flew a P51Fighter Aircraft, and I did not fight on the ground. I flew in the air. When I was on the ground, however, I did drive a jeep. I drove the jeep in World War II when we were on ground and back in our home station in India.
Who was your commander? Colonel Phil Concron was my commander. He was a well-known individual during World War II. The name of our organization was the First Air-Commandoes. We had fighter airplanes; bombers, gliders, and some light airplanes. The light airplanes were like the small airplanes you see at airports today where one individual flies it. These aircraft had a place in the back end to put the wounded. In fact, when I got hurt and the airplane went down; they came and got me in an L5 or a light airplane. They lew me back to a hospital in India.
Name the people who were in your group. There were a number of people in my group. Phil Concron was one, and I cannot remember all of them. I guess Phil Concron was the most notable one. In fact, at one time during World War II, , people do not remember, but there was a Phil Concron in a comic strip concerning our organization. This was because the artist and Phil Concron knew each other.
What did you do? We fought with the British, and we supported
the British army outfit that was trying to stop the Japanese from going
up through Burma to invade India from the northern part of Burma.
We would go in with our airplane and shoot the Japanese on the ground.
Then we would drop the English army fighters, called Commandoes, behind
the Japanese lines. The Commandoes would cut the tracks of the railroads
so the Japanese could not get supplies. When the Japanese came down
to try to find them, they would hide off in the woods or we would pick
them up in airplanes and fly them out of Burma back into India. We
kept doing this, going back and forth, back and forth. This kept
the Japanese from going north in Burma and invading India from the north.
How long did you fight? I did not fight real long in that War. I fought for about six months.
How many people did you shoot down? I did not shoot anybody down. Most of our fighting was strafing, that is shooting trucks and things on the ground.
What kind of artillery did you use? The British Army had what they called “moters.” They were short little things that shoot a bullet or a projectile that goes up and then back down. We did not have many trucks. People fought mainly on the ground, and they fought with things they could carry with them. They did not have big roads in Burma. Burma was densely populated with forests. There was no way we could get big cannons in.
What part of the military were you in? I was in the Army air force. Since that, time the air force has separated from the army. Today the air force is a separate service from the army. During World War II, the air force was part of the army. We only had the army and the navy at that time.
What kind of food did you eat? We ate almost anything we could get. We had mostly rations, which were foods that were put in boxes or cans in the United States before being shipped over to us. . The food that was canned had to be food that would not spoil if it was not refrigerated or stored for a long time. We did not get any fresh food when we were fighting time. When we were in China, because of the supply lines, we did not get any food for a while. We bought chickens and eggs from the local people and paid them money. We went for about six weeks eating mostly eggs and chickens. Finally, shipments of foods came in that were in cans or boxes. We ate a lot of Spam, canned meat.
Do you have any pictures? Not with me – but I could send a picture of me with the aircraft I flew.
Did you ever get into China during World War II? We did get into China. I saw the Great Wall of China from an airplane. It is big and long. In fact, they say it is the only thing you can see that is manmade from the moon.
What happened when World War II ended? The war ended, we
went through China and back into India. We then got on big ships
in Calcutta, India. We sailed around India, up through the Suez Canal
in Egypt, on to the Mediterranean Sea, then to New York by the Statute
of Liberty and on in to New Jersey where we landed. I then came home
by train from New Jersey to Texas, where I was living at the time.
Thee war was over! After the war, they asked me to stay. I
said yes. I was given a promotion. I stayed in the service almost
32 years.
You said you also fought in the Vietnam War. What did you do in the Vietnam War? During the Vietnam War, I went to the Philippines, which is only three to four hours’ flight to Vietnam. I was no longer flying fighter airplane. I was flying C130 airplanes, which have four engines; and turbo prop planes, which are big cargo airplanes used to drop troops out of or to carry lots of cargo in. I was stationed in the Philippines. During this time every two months, I would fly over to Vietnam and fly supplies and people all through Vietnam. Sometimes we landed on roads or even fields, which they cleared with troops or supplies.
How did you know where the people were in Vietnam? We had radios we could transmit and receive on. They would call in and tell us they needed an airplane to transport cargo or to use to move some people.
Could the Japanese hear you on the radio? Yes, sometimes they did hear us. We tried to talk in code and not to talk too much. Sometimes we used hand signals and motions in the top of our airplanes, because the tops were clear and we could see each other from the air. This was important because they had directional finders that could point out the location of an airplane if someone was talking on the radio.