I
enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on December 8, 1941 in
Buffalo, N.Y. and was inducted Dec. 27, 1941 at Fort
Niagara, N.Y. and sent to Jefferson Barracks, Mo. for
boot camp. Twenty-one days later I was assigned to the
7th Air Depot Group.
On
August 5, 1942 we departed NY City for Pointon Park,
England near Liverpool. After spending one year in England
I was sent back to the states – Nashville, Tenn.
- for pilots training but calculus proved too much for
me, and I was sent to Denver Colorado for twelve weeks
of gunnery training at Buckley Air Force Base.
From
there I moved over to Lowery AFB (also in Denver) for
eight more weeks of Central Gunnery School and then
sent to Pyote, Texas where I was assigned to a B29 crew.
After our training period we left for Guam arriving
May 25th, 1945.
We
were assigned to the 61st Bomb Squadron, 39th Bomb Group.
Our plane was named "Southern Comfort" and
our official name was "City of Beaumont".
We flew 17 missions. Our first mission was Tokyo, Japan
and we were on the last mission of the war. There were
128 B29’s out on the last mission and we all got
back safely.
I was discharged Nov. 17th 1945.
As
of this date, I’ve managed to live to the ripe
old age of 82. My wife Pat and I live in Boulder, Colorado
and we have been married for 60 years. We have 4 children,
10 grandchildren (2 deceased), and 5 great grandchildren.
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Clayt
Orton (r) with is son Tom
May 2004 |
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Clayt
(r) with his younger brother, Richard
August 1, 2004 |
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