Flying in Honor: An interview with Mr. Robert Georgia Gillespie

Mr. Gillespie served in the United States Army/Air Force during World War Two. Although he didn't serve overseas, he instructed many young pilots who did, 80% of which, he told me, died. In 1945, he was training to help invade mainland Japan, but with the dropping of the atomic bomb, preparation ceased.

Your full name?

Robert Georgia-- my mother's maiden name—Gillespie

You were in the U.S… Air Force?

Army.

Army?

Well, back then there wasn't an Air Force; it wasn't called the Air Force, just the army.

Ohhh, okay, but you were a...

Pilot.

From what years did you serve?

From '41 to, ahhh, '45.

How old were you then?

I was uhhh, 20 when I enlisted.

Where were you living then? Were you in Unionville?

Unionville.

And what was your rank?

Well, I started as a Private, then I, uhh, ended up as a Captain.

And uh, what types of jobs did you do?

Well, the first job I had in the Army, the five of us had to clean 100 dozen chickens, for Sunday dinner, which wasn't a very good start! Then we, uhh, well, after I graduated from flying school I was, I had a, you had a crew of ten, trained in four engine bombers, and they made us all instructors--combater routine, combater instructor, radio operators, they needed radio operators...so we stayed together for a while and uh, then, uh, then, uh, then, uh, in between training crews, when there was a gap in training crews, we, uh, ferried airplanes that needed major repairs, in the Western part of the country.

Where did you work?

In Colorado for, uh, after I finished training I was in Colorado for perhaps a year and then uh, then in Westover, Massachusetts, for two years and from there I was, I taught flying, and I was assistant operator for squadrons in the field.

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Did you want to be part of the war overseas?

Well, I wanted to stay, if I had a choice I'd stay...but if they told me to go…(chuckling) they didn't ask you what you wanted to do. They were short on instructors, very short, they were short on everything.

Did some of your friends go overseas?

Uh, yes, one went. The night before I enlisted I tried to get him to go to Canada, so we could join the Canadian Air Force, but he didn't want to go and I didn't want to go alone.

So you wanted to be a pilot.

(smiles) I wanted to learn how to fly.

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(quiet, heavy with emotion) When President Roosevelt died, I, uhhh, I was at Westover and uh, I led a flight of planes for the President's funeral.

Where did you fly?

We were in Westover and we went down the night before, uh, to Washington. Uh, Washington was a restricted area; you couldn't fly over it, so none of us knew what Washington looked like from the air. And we went down at night and uh, I got clearing instructions to land but couldn't find the airfield, and we ended up in what I thought was Andrews Air Force Base, but we ended up on a fighter strip. You see, Washington was surrounded by fighter strips. (Fighter strips were little, short runways for fighter planes, which didn't need a lot of space). So then we stayed overnight there and the next day (pause) when the President's coffin was brought from the railroad station to the Capital we flew up and down Constitution Avenue-- now Pennsylvania Avenue.

How many of you were there?

Only about 20.

Do you remember what the weather was like?

Nope-- the weather was April {sic}-- it was spring...We flew in formation and we'd fly up and circle around and fly up again, the casket was drawn by horses, so it went slow.

Did you ever look down?

Well, we just saw the procession.

What did you see?

(voice breaking) A lot of soldiers...it was quite a, very ahhh, long...it was fairly long, (uncomfortable, short) it was led by flags and horses.

Were there a lot of people lining the streets?

Oh, yes, big crowds.

How did you feel flying over the procession?

Well, we were flying in very close formation and most of the time I was paying attention to the planes. You couldn't do a whole lot of looking around.