Campfire Stories

“The thing I took away as an early fan from Bob Dylan was the storytelling aspects. He can tell some wicked stories.” – Ed Sheeran

By DAVE BERRY

The campfire is a magical place – warm, welcoming and intimate. Imagine a circle of friends, faces flushed, knees warmed by the crackling flames. Conversations are casual, friendly and hushed to match the quiet of the evening. Under the stars, a shared blanket keeps the chill at bay.

Storytelling is a natural byproduct of the campfire, where people share their lives, stretch the truth, laugh, learn and become friends across a small smoky space. Sometimes, I think of this column as a weekly session around the campfire. I want to pull you in close, wrap you in the story, hold your attention for a short while and try not to singe your knees.

But storytelling is a shared experience, not a solitary venture. And I enjoy listening to a good story as much as I like telling one. Each friend around the campfire has a tale to tell, and one person’s story can be the springboard to others.

Two of my recent columns prompted an outpouring of responses from readers. “Flash in the Pan” and “Unheralded Sacrifice” were both set in World War II and revolved around a soldier and an airman. “Flash” Gilonske was a B-29 waist gunner, a hitchhiker my grandmother brought home for dinner. Staff Sgt. John Vincent Griffin of Troup went ashore on D-Day with the 1^st Infantry Division and was decorated by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. I wrote about Sgt. Griffin Nov. 11 and about Flash on Feb. 24. Both died in battle, and their stories were amazing. Those stories spawned others, so sit back and enjoy the glowing embers.

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Jack Gibson of Hideaway, a retired Lockheed Aircraft engineering manager, said the story about Flash Gilonske brought back memories of his trip to China in 1980 when he led a delegation of aeronautical engineers and scientists on a visit of Chinese aeronautical universities, aircraft factories and research facilities. The airliner landed at the airport in Chengdu (Chengtu during the war). The air base was originally built to launch the first American B-29 bombing raids against Japan.

Jack followed up with a link to a WWII video showing the construction of the original runways by 40 thousand Chinese men, women and children. The army of workers cleared swampland by hand, dug tons of rock and sand from a riverbed and carried those materials five miles to the site, where rocks were crushed and leveled by a 10-ton roller pulled by 150 men. Eighty workers died in the effort. Those runways supported the weight of B-29 Superfortresses, which could weigh 60 tons when fully loaded. Thanks, Jack. I agree, it was a remarkable feat.

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Betty Baker, my new friend from Kilgore, wrote that she “couldn’t keep the tears from coming while reading about Flash.” My response made her smile.

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Bill Bellenfant of Whitehouse, who describes himself as a fellow door gunner, wrote that his father was a “Navy Seabee who fought and built the runways in the South Pacific so the B-29s could bomb Japan.” Bill said he was taught to fly by a World War II aviator who flew bombers into Germany and was shot down and taken POW for six months. Referring to Flash, the hitchhiking airman befriended by my grandparents, Bill said that during his training and military service, he too was “befriended, given rides, fed and encouraged by many in a similar manner. It says a lot about you and your family that they shared some happy times with what turned out to be Sgt. Flash Gilonske’s short life.”

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And Dorothy Newberry of Tyler wrote: “My uncle too was one of the ones lost too soon in the defense of our nation.” Wilbur James Chapman, born in the Panhandle near Hereford, was stationed at Pratt Army Air Field, one of the Kansas B-29 bases. Like Flash, he was a gunner on a Superfortress – “Waddy’s Wagon” piloted by Capt. Walter R. “Waddy” Young, all-American football player from Oklahoma.

She wrote of the “beautiful nose art,” which featured the crew riding in a wagon pulled by their pilot in football cleats. A dog named Damit, the crew’s mascot, ran alongside. Before the war, Young led the Sooners to a conference championship and the school’s first Orange Bowl, starred as a heavyweight wrestler, played pro football in the NFL’s first televised game… then gave it all up to fly B-24 Liberator bombers in Europe. After flying a full tour against German targets, he could have gone home. Instead, he volunteered for combat in the Pacific flying B-29s.

On a bombing mission over Nakajima aircraft factory on Jan. 9, 1945, Waddy’s Wagon was shot down while escorting a crippled bomber to safety. Ditching in the Pacific, all aboard – including Dorothy’s uncle Wilbur Chapman, depicted on the nose art pointing a slingshot at the sky, and the dog named Damit – were killed.

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Another column that caused a local stir was “Unheralded Sacrifice,” the story of Staff Sgt. John Vincent Griffin, whose heroism on D-Day was honored by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who personally awarded Griffin the Distinguished Service Cross.

John Luckey, a local researcher, brought the story to me, and I wrote it up as a Veterans Day column. On Jan. 19, we made a presentation to the Griffin’s extended family at the Troup Library and Bradford Cemetery. Our little event quickly became a big deal – with Patriot Guard riders, students singing the National Anthem and playing TAPS over the grave. I spoke, we laid a wreath, and Cong. Louie Gohmert even said a few words. The forgotten hero was properly honored that day.

Then last week, we met John Griffin, the namesake and nephew of John Vincent Griffin. As we toured the American Freedom Museum, John shared that until he read my column, he never knew his father Cecil and uncle Vincent served together, that they went ashore together on Omaha Beach with the Big Red One or that his father received a Silver Star on D-Day. “My father never talked about the war… or about his brother. Vincent was the uncle I never knew,” he said.

From his home on the West Coast, he brought his uncle’s photo album filled with hundreds of unmarked photos. He was on a quest to know more, and he thanked us for filling in some important missing pieces of his family history.

I told him John Luckey did all the research; I just wrote the story.

It was our honor, Mr. Griffin. Our honor.

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Dave Berry is the retired editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph. His Focal Point column ran on the front of the My Generation section. One day soon, we’ll throw another log on the fire and share a few more of your stories. (Column published on March 2, 2016.)

Top Photo:  The crew of the B-29 Superfortress “Waddy’s Wagon,” 20th Air Force, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bomb Group, 869th Bomb Squadron, imitates the plane’s nose art. Tylerite Dorothy Newberry’s uncle, Wilbur James Chapman, is pointing a slingshot at the sky in the back of the wagon. The crew was lost on a bombing mission Jan. 9, 1945. Photo courtesy of the World War II Multimedia Database, www.worldwar2database.com.”