Interview with Gene S. McIntyre

• Main Author: McIntyre, Gene S.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of Texas at San Antonio 2004
• Subjects: United States. Navy.; World War; 1939-1945 > Personal narratives.; Military; Oral History Interviews; Boxing; Canada; Clayton; Fernandez; Garry; Greenland; Gunner; Lands End; Lotta; McIntyre; Minot; Orleans; Turret; Willis; Iceland; Newfoundland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15125coll4/id/2004

From Tenneessee, McIntyre enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at the age of 20. He joined the US Navy in 1942. Topics: experience in the Royal Canadian Air Force and US Navy during World War II, flying Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 D. Fernandez: Interview with veteran Gene McIntyre for the Library of Congress. This interview is being conducted at 1766 Summer Park Lane. This is Mi. McIntyre's house. He was born on July 21, 1915. Chief McIntyre: Seventeen. D. Fernandez: 191 7, correction. Um, the people present here are going to be us two interviewers, D7Lisa Fernandez and Megan Cavazos Forthman. And Mi. McIntyre and his wife, Maxine will be, um, present during this interview. Ok I'm going to start with these questions if you'd like to answer. The first one is what war and branch of service did you serve in and what was your rank and where did you serve? Chief McIntyre: Um, I was in the Navy. Ah and this was course World War Two. Ah, what was the other question? D. Fernandez: Your rank. Chief McIntyre: My rank ultimately wound up as Chief Aviation Ordinance Mate Air Bomber. They had the addition. There were a lot of ordinance men but only one air bomber for the plane. D.Fernandez: Oh and where did you serve? Chief McIntyre: Ah, started out at San Diego after the States got in the war and ah, ultimately moved to Providence, Rhode Island to refit the B24 into a PB4Y1 which would, ah alternate the bomb loading capacity. There was a reason for this and I'll probably come into it with you in a little hrther down the road the reason why this was being done. But we moved from there and went to Argencia, Newfoundland. Ah, in Newfoundland ah, we did patrol area in the North Atlantic and escorted the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary. The reason for doing this the German submarines (inaudible) the North Atlantic in the beginning of the war. Ah, mainly because we did not have the aircraft to reach out beyond 200 miles form Agrencia. Ah the Germans knew this so they laid off at about 200 and when any of the transport port ships and all came, they would pick 'em off, so the reason that we wound up with and I may jumping ahead on some of your questions. D. Fernandez: (laughing) That's fine. Chief McIntyre: Ah, that we had to have a plane ah, that could go hrther than 200 miles. The old PBY, the boat twin engine, could only go 200 and come back in. Ah, the cargo on the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary was carrying ah troop ships and supplies across. Ah, so when we got the ah B241 PB4Y 1 we went to ah Providence, Rhode Island and put in new bomb capacity for our needs not heavy bombing of the costal areas. And ah we were the only one of its kind at the time. We carried 9 aerial ah bombs, ah 325 pounds that were hydrostatically controlled so that when they went down and I had it set at something like 60 or 70 feet the pressure then pushes these hydrostatic and blow it up. We also had 2 ah aerial torpedoes that ah were sound and ah metallic ah controlled so that if we were in a certain area ah we could drop one of these and 2 miles time magnetically pick him up with this or sound. Well they got wise. They just stopped the thing and nobody moved but we could still get him. So ah this then changed the whole warfare. Ah, they couldn't figure out why they were losing subs in the North Atlantic at a terrific rate and all of a sudden ah (inaudible) ah takes them out and a Hitler and (inaudible) I'm sure and then pulls them down into the coast of France, they were occupying France at the time ah building submarine pins and all and this was a real jaunt for us. Ah you're gonna move from Aregencia, Newfoundland where it was so cold MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 1 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 you'd hoped you die (laughs) that ah we flew across from Greenland, Iceland and down into Valley of Wales and ultimately into the Lands End at England. Now if I come to a part you'd rather ask me something in there and then we'll cover at a later part cause it looked like I was about to cover the whole war (laughter) right fkom the very beginning. So ah this then we moved to Dunkeswell, England which was Lands End and (inaudible) ah and finished the war there. D. Fernandez: So basically you served everywhere (laughs). Chief McIntyre: Right. D. Fernandez: Pretty much you traveled a lot. Um I'm gonna go ahead and ah ask a few of the basic questions that we really need to. Ok urn were you drafted or did you enlist? Chief McIntyre: I enlisted. D. Fernandez: You enlisted. Chief McIntyre: I'm an old time-y patriot born in World War One. I was raised on ah, ah dime novels about the (inaudible) battle aces and the heroics of the time. Ah, fortunately came along when I showed you that picture of me at 1927. I was at the age when Lindberg flew across. He came to Memphis and ah the heroics of the time we had a statue to the dough boy, that's what they called the ah man that sloughed on the ground with a rifle and he was standing like this. And Lindberg choose this place to ah, ah make his speech. I road my bicycle five miles out and I listened to Lindberg then. But ah it's a long way to say ah I was not drafted. D. Fernandez: (Laughter) Oh ok. Well since you did, when you did enlist did you know you were going to war and you enlisted or had urn or did you enlist just so you could fight? Chief McIntyre: I did. Ah I mainly. Ah at the time there were few jobs worthwhile and ah Britain was asking DuPont to make TNT for ah them there at Millington and my high school principal called me one day and said ah I want you to come work for me and I said what is it (laughter) cause with him I was in trouble most of the time. Ah he said I got a good job for ya and we're gonna make TNT for Great Britain at Millington. Millington at one time was my home. And in WWI they had a place called Park Field that they trained the pilots and I would go out there and they had one of the guys that would do parachute jumps and things and I would hold the dog and he says if you work for me this week I'll take you up in the plane at the end of the week. This was the living end for me; I'd work myself to death ya know to ride in the plane. Well, I did and we did and ah. D. Fernandez: How old were you when you enlisted? Chief McIntyre: When I enlisted? I went to Canada at ah I think I was 20 years old and ah the reason I got in with them, one of the plants blew up close to me and scared me to death and I said I'm not gonna go this route, I wanna see some of the world and, ya know I wanna fly. And so ah the Clayton Knight committee which was a WWI hero pilot fkom England on the committee and they came to Memphis asking for people that could fly. And I told them all I had was about thirty hours in a little two seater and they said you gotta a license and I said heck no! (Laughter) We didn't know what licenses were back those days; we just got in and flew. So he said you are a prime character for me and we'll accept you. And I said this is wondefil and now how do I get to Canada? He said that's your problem. (Laughter) So I hitchhiked from Memphis to Windsor, Ontario. And they were glad enough to see me to give me a plane ah a train ticket over to the base where I was to be stationed. MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 2 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 D'Lisa: So you say you weren't originally from Canada, you had to drive up there but how, were you the same age? Chief McIntyre: Hitchhiked. D. Fernandez: Oh, Hitchhiked. Um so how did you, you joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, correct? Um and were you also 20 when you enlisted there? Chief McIntyre: That's right. D. Fernandez: You enlisted over there. Ok and ah, do you recall your fist days in service? Chief McIntyre: First day in service? D. Fernandez: First days, day in service with the United States? Chief McIntyre: Oh in the United States. D. Fernandez: And how old were you when you. . Chief McIntyre: Yeah I came back ah when the States got in. There was five of us that they accepted and ah when they came back why DuPont wanted me to go back to work out there because I was an experience man and they needed people to make TNT. Ah I went back for a few days and ah I said I just I can't stand it. And one of my friends says ah lets go join the navy. We went down to New Orleans and had a night on the town and ah as a side, a little finny thing. Ah I and this boy woke up in Biloxi, Mississippi at a parachute jump place and ah when we sobered up I said I want outta this! I'm not supposed to, I'm a pilot! This guy said man you're signed up, ya know, for us and you're gonna be a glider pilot. And I said no way, no way! So he got an officer over there and said I got a stubborn head here and you're gonna have to talk to him. And I told him, I said ah I was boozed up and so was he pretty good (laughter) and ah they accepted me. And they took the record and the ah medical officer that saw it read that he's physically in great shape but that he had been drinking. And ah I said I just want out easy cause if you don't let me out I'll jump ship. Ah he said ah we may can arrange it but I'll let you . go back to New Orleans. If you don't sign to the Navy there, we're coming after you. Don't worry I'll be in the Navy as soon as I can get there; that's what I went there for in the first place. And so we went back and they put us on train and carried us out to San Diego. This was my first part of the Navy. When we got out there this train had no windows on it, anything, dirtiest thing (laughter) you've ever seen in your life. And when we got there everybody's face was black; the hair was done and the chief that picked us up to take us in said ah ya'll are absolutely the grungiest crew I have ever seen and they marched us directly to the showers. We took our clothes off, they just throw 'em away, we don't even want to send 'em home. We took a shower; they to us, they gave us shorts and underwear, then took us to get hair cuts. And these guys who are finny ah you wanna keep some of this hair and ah everybody said yeah. Ok then (buzz sound) all the way front to back and then here it is. We were bald. Ah they then issued clothing and were we would stay. Ah I'll probably jump ahead a little bit but I can tell you where I got started. Ah they ask for somebody with military experience. And ah I know not to ask, volunteer, and things of this sort and so I just kept my mouth shut and ah and waited to see. And ah he in a few minutes says ah where's McIntyre and so I held up my hand. He had my record. I was in ROTC in the high school when I got out. He says ah you were in the Canadian air force, yes. Do you know how to drill and I said absolutely. Different from here because we did it on a different step. And ah he said ok you are the head the company, this company 336. Ah he later says I was a little older than most of the 16, 17, MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 3 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 18 year old boys. And he says ah come on in. We went in the bunk house. He said it does have a little advantage. This is my room over here and he was set up nice but he said you get a separate room right across the hall. And ah this separated me from the rest of 'em. So it gave me a step ahead when we started going through schools and things. I was kind of a leader of that group at the time. D. Fernandez: Um, I never got to ask you, we discussed you entering in to the US Army or the US Navy. But we never discussed on how did you transferred from the Royal Canadian Air Force, how did you transfer from there and get into the US Navy? Chief McIntyre: The five of us that went up ah went in and talked to the commander and ah we told him that our country is now at war and we feel like that we should be servicing our country. And he said well your flight training, you lack about 6 to 8 weeks finishing. Wouldn't you like to stay up here and finish? And we said no we wanna go on back. Big mistake. We should have finished flight training there. This would have given us the same as ah second lieutenant or an ensign in the Navy. And transferring we would have jumped a grade to the next. We would have started Lieutenant JT. Ah you don't, at those times you're very patriotic and you don't always make good decisions. D. Fernandez: Was service in the Navy very different from service in the United States? Chief McIntyre: The Navy? M. Cavazos: The Canadian Air Force. D. Fernandez: Um the Canadian Air Force. Chief McIntyre: The Canadian. Not very much. Ah you're pretty well regulated my military decisions and they go ah a little different. Ah they take a step and we issue an order of turn, why, we do it on the left foot, they do it on the right foot. So this sort of thing, but military wise it's pretty much the same. Most of the cases, and I've found this with a lot of the older generation, as they go in, the difference in anything military is the attitude the person goes in with. If he's ah, and I liked it. You take a farm boy that didn't have anything and here you're exposed to the world and all of these wonderfbl things that are going on and in Canada and in the Navy and everything, why you wanna see the world. D. Fernandez: So um you already told us a little bit, some of your stories about boot camp. Would like to elaborate on any of that, boot camp or your training experiences? Chief McIntyre: The boot camp part was a little lack luster. It ah, you didn't get a chance to do anything until you had all of your shots, had been indoctrinated and ah was on a. We did have a little excitement. That ah, oh we were on this huge tarmac out in front of one of the ah airplane hangers. And ah they ah we were drilling back and forth; I think I was standing about the middle and let 'em go down so far and come back and (inaudible) and all of this sort of thing. Then all of a sudden everything started just (noise) and it got bigger and bigger. And I looked at the hanger doors on this thing and they're just jumping and I'm looking out and the tarmac is waving; the asphalt is waving. Like almost sea like, ya know, in the waves. We were having an earthquake. And so I hollered hit the deck and lay down! Separate from each other. So we laid there. And the chief later said that was the thing to do. That was what you wanted to do. And I said what I wanted to do and I figured it was right. M. Cavazos: Um, I'm gonna start asking the questions. So you actually flew for the Royal Canadian Air Force? Did you fly missions for them? Chief McIntyre: Oh yeah. Well it wasn't missions really, it was just training because we MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 4 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 had ah a plane has a twin engine called a Cessna Crane. And ah we flew those ah out and about like my crew chief during the Navy was fiom Wichita and he knew about the Cessna Cranes and ah we really enjoyed it. I had a nice little thing that happened to me there. In flying and with my instructor we decided that we would like to visit Minot, North Dakota ah which was just across the border. And as we came down we ah really faked a little engine problem and decided to set down and checked it out to see what was going on. We did. We got a night out at the American Legion Hut in Minot. I hit a dime machine jackpot which paid off for us. And ah when we got back the commander called me in and said ah understand ya'll sat down in Minot. And I said well we thought we might have had a little problem. He says lets understand each other. Lest us do not think we got a little problem over Minot, North Dakota anymore. Do you get my message? I said yes sir. That was the last of our adventure back in to the States. It seems some of 'em had tried this before (laughter). M. Cavazos: Um, so the planes that you flew in Royal Canadian Air Force were different, obviously than that of the one that you flew for the Navy? Chief McIntyre: Oh yes, entirely different. M. Cavazos: Ok, going completely into the Navy now. Did you fly B24s or the PB4Yls exclusively or did you, were you in other planes also? Chief McIntyre: Ah we started out in a PBY at San Diego. And this was the old twin engine boat that took off in water or would let wheels down and would taxi up (coughing, inaudible). Ah then after Pearl Harbor, fortunately some of the men that were in one of the squadrons down there, five of them actually, were transferred back into San Diego. And ah I still correspond with two of them. Recently Mike (inaudible) is still living and another one in San Diego. And ah what led ah Lieutenant, he was a Chief Pilot down there but when he came back up he made officers and ah there was several of the guys that ah we were going through different schools. We couldn't understand why we were going to. They put us, a friend of mine named Carleton Lilly (spelling) just passed away a fee months ago, ah put us through aerial torpedo school. Ah we just couldn't understand this. The next thing they put us through the Nordon Bomb Sight which was highly secretive at the time. Ah aviation ordinance, ah turrets, ah quite a few of the ammunitions, things of that sort. And while we're going through this these pilots fiom Pearl were coming back. And Lieutenant Berkie who wound up being a very good fiiend of mine came over and said ah I understand that you can fly. I said I'm not getting a chance. I got back down here too late. All of the schools were closed. And so I couldn't go to flight school even though, and I didn't have a license to show I was flying and I didn't finish up in Canada to show I was flying. But he says we'll hold you out here ah for about ah 4 or 5 months and when one opens you can go. And I said no way. I'll go with this bunch. The dad-gum war's gonna be over before I can get there. I'm gung-hoe about . M. Cavazos: Fighting. Chief McIntyre: . . .this thing. And so ah Berkie asked me, he said how would you like to fly with me? And I said if you want me, I'd love it. Cause I wanted to go with somebody that's good. Well it turned out real good. Ah he, Jerry ah John, who was our plane captain and I we'd go to London. Him being an old ah enlisted man with us. So we had holidays in London several times during the war. M. Cavazos: So during the actual war you were basically in the B24s. . MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 5 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 Chief McIntyre: PB4Y 1. M. Cavazos: . . .the whole time? Chief McIntyre: Right. We were then transferred from the PBY and Roosevelt gave us ah fifteen B24s. And we went out to ah camp, just out, Miramar, just outside of San Diego. And the Army then taught us the rails of the B24s. Ah which we really enjoyed because we were hoping not to go PBY. M. Cavazos: Can you just, ah, to clarifL for the tape what the difference is between the BPY and B24s? Chief McIntyre: Basically the PBY is a short range 200 miles boat. And ah it did carry some um bombs. We patrolled ah and had a nose turret and two waist turrets on the side. And ah it was totally inadequate to patrol the North Atlantic; it didn't reach far enough. And so the Navy went to Roosevelt and ask him, we need distance. We need bomb carrying facilities. Ah I dunno whether you would know but Roosevelt was a Navy man. He leaned toward the Navy, his family did. And ah he said I can understand that. Roosevelt at the time and Churchill were buddy-buddies; history will give you that story. Ah so he agreed. He gave us ah fifteen B24s. Ah this then the change made the Navy to PB4Y1 as I explained to ya earlier. Ah gave us then to where that when we retro fitted at ah Quant Sent Point, Rhode Island ah we put in nine torpex and two aerial torpedoes. OK then we were sent to Argencia, Newfoundland. It was ah a wonderfbl place; well equipped, modern, ah all the comforts of home except cold (laughter). And ah the PBYs who then had gone out 200 miles, we could take a B24PB4Y 1 with a full gas load and gas load fly to Greenland, Iceland, ah Valley of Wales, in one trip. This is what we needed. So we then surprised the ah people that ah in submarines that all of a sudden these people are showing up. I would like to throw in something here. I have a first in the Navy. Ah we had a thing called a 'sonnaboy.' Ah these torpedoes that ah, guiding torpedoes. Sonnaboys were a parachute controlled radio. Microphone, when it hit the water, would drop 20 feet down into the face. A was the red, green two, blue three, yellow four. So we could drop these four sonnaboys in the water and our radio man would track each one. When a submarine would cross at an angle, from A to C or red to yellow, he'd go across there; he could give the position of where this submarine was. We could then go down about fifty feet or sixty feet and drop an aerial torpedo and track him up. Ah the booed the first time we did that but we were the first ones to drop sonnaboys. Ah and we wasn't as experienced at locating, they got away from us. Ah we, in one case we dropped some, we didn't think we did anything. We found out through one of the ah boats that we had actually damaged his rotor and he wound up in Spain, disabled and they captured it at the end of the war and took it up by Scotland and put him down in about six miles of water. M. Cavazos: Um so obviously the consolidated B24s had a very specific job. They were U-Boat hunters, destroyers. So there was, you kind of told us about special training. You went through the training that you had to use on the plane. Um so you kind of covered that with out me asking. Chief McIntyre: Well, actually what it did, Megan was this. That each school that we had gone through. . M. Cavazos: Exactly, that was. . Chief McIntyre: . . .was put to use. We didn't know at the time why or where. But by going through aerial torpedoes and I learned how to work on torpedoes and hydrostatic MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 6 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 hses and things they ah setting the wheel to where the the contact would arm it to make it go. Ok so I'm working on submarine ah torpedo type things and here I am in the Navy. Ya know, you begin to wonder. The next step, then they sent us to the Nordon Bomb Site School. This was, at the time, one of the most ingenious things for dropping a bomb. It was right down my alley. I really loved this because your hand eye coordination with the controls would allow these two lines to cross to where that you would hang on and drop this bomb. And so you had what they called ah series on the side double clutching. We could move fast or one slow same thing up and down on this. And bring these coordinates in to where that we would contact and make it. I fortunately wound up as head of the class in that one ah Lieutenant Berkie liked that. My buddy that I told you just, Carlton Lilley passed away a few months ago was right in there behind me so we stayed through the war ah together. And I'll tell you a story about him in the end. So let's go on from there. M. Cavazos: Alright. Um we're gonna kind of go back to living conditions. You were stationed in Dunkeswell, England for the majority of the war correct? Chief McIntyre: Yes. M. Cavazos: And what were your living conditions like there? Chief McIntyre: Terrible. M. Cavazos: Terrible. But it wasn't cold like in Newfoundland! Chief McIntyre: Yes it was! Cold and wet! M. Cavazos & D. Fernandez: Oh! (laughter) Chief McIntyre: And the year that we were there ah was '43 I think it was, was the worst winter they ever had. M. Cavazos: Oh no. Chief McIntyre: We took the base over from; the army had it in fine summery. They didn't want it, they went into regular mom. And ah went to bombing the mainland. And ah we were then brought in from St. Eve1 which was down on the coast and brought up. And we um were given bunks and things like that as they improved but we thought it was the most miserable living conditions. They called it mudville at the time. (Laughter) it was muddy. I wouldn't eat half of the time because I'd have to walk through all of this. . M. Cavazos & D. Fernandez: Oh no. Chief McIntyre: . . .to go down to get something to eat. Fortunately the Navy was very generous. If you went down and got a can of peaches and pears and some bananas and stuff you could take it back to your hut and ah you could exist for two or three days (laughter). They did have a bar there that would serve ah some food and we couldn't spend our money any other way so we'd hike up to the bar and hoist a few and eat normally (laughter). M. Cavazos: Were you ever in contact with the English people or did you kind of just stay on the base? Chief McIntyre: With the English people? Oh yes, made it a point to be (laughter). Ah Dunkeswell is a, was a lovely, lovely town. The people were ah glad to see us. M. Cavazos: So there wasn't any, there weren't underlying problems with them? Chief McIntyre: No, no. They loved us. They wanted us. Ah I thought I could show you a picture of the town of Dunkeswell. I dunno where it is. But it was a lovely little down and from where our base was you would come into town and down by the phone, one phone and all the sailors used it to call their girlfriends around. And we show a Christmas MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 7 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 picture of Dunkeswell that I wish I could put my finger on it now but it looks like something that you would ah think it was so beautiful that, that ah it's something that somebody just made up (laughter). Ya know it was great. The people there were good. The sailors, ah we'd take some of the bananas, and apples, and oranges and h i t and whoever they got to know in the town they would share their largess with them. And ah they liked that too. So we to this day well I'll show you how close we got. The church that was there, we all took up a collection and gave them an organ. It's a beautiful thing in this church; it is there till today. We have a museum there ah that's ah is doing real well. And the, a lotta the boys, men from this age ah take off and go over to England and, and see the old thing. But it's all gone now except one hanger. And ah it ah well what do you except for sixty years? D. Fernandez: OK. Was your base ever attacked by the axis powers? Chief McIntyre: We had ah (laughs) this is kinda funny. When you go out and you're flying along the coast of France and Garring has these ah pilots of the JU88 and the ME109, these are fighter pilots. Ah JU88 is a, a ah pilot ah operated and gunner. And ah it carried some bombs. The ME109 was the equivalent of the spitfire. And ah whenever that you would go out why they would want to keep you from tracking their subs. See if we keep a submarine down from the coast of France to 300 miles out, he's underneath and he uses up a tremendous amount of he1 getting out there, making him a whole lot less effective once he's out there. So our big job really was to keep 'em down, not so much to sink 'em. Sink 'em if you could and we ah I think our three squadrons I think you said got five subs. . M. Cavazos: That's what I, what I read. Chief McIntyre: Right M. Cavazos: There were five. Chief McIntyre: We get a lot of different things in this. When it got up to, ya know there were strange things. And here I say I clash myself a patriot. Ah you see the flag on the front of my house. I was born and raised that way but in the Iraqi war, they lost, I think it took them eight, nine months to lose 100 men. We lost 136 in men in six weeks! D. Fernandez: In your squadron? Chief McIntyre: Yeah. Due to enemy action, some of it was not controlled from their source; some of it was poor judgment on the pilot. Ah, pilot error. Some landing; we would land on an icy tarmac when we got back. And the plane would hit; you try to take a 34,000 pound plane coming back land and he hits on ice you don't know where you're gonna wind up. M. Cavazos: Exactly. D. Fernandez: And so then you did see combat? Chief McIntyre: And so we lost quite a few that way. But we lost 138 men in no time at all. D. Fernandez: So then you did, you did see combat? Chief McIntyre: Oh yeah (laughter). D. Fernandez: I didn't want them. . Chief McIntyre: Well I was gonna tell you, you ask the part about that did they attack us. Ah as I said there was one idiot that ah. . M. Cavazos: Uh oh. (Laughter) Chief McIntyre: . . .ah we fired at and ah I think we must of really twisted his tail a little MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 8 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 bit. But he wanted to follow us home and he did. And they shot him down. We had crews that ah, I was, being an ordinance man we were jeep for our hut and the ordinance men were the only ones that could carry Colt 45s. So we hopped in the ah jeep and strapped on the Colt 45s and rode around the English countryside having a grand old time (laughter) having no idea at all um where or what we were looking for. We got back to the base and they had already captured 'em and they were in ah, ah huts. The officers were interrogated. D. Fernandez: So then you did have POWs. Were you yourself a POW or. . Chief McIntyre: No. D. Fernandez: . . .people of your squadron ever POW? Chief McIntyre: No. I was never. Ah the only time I ever saw ah prisoner of war; I was in Canada and I was going fiom Winnipeg to ah, urn I forget the town, we past through it on the train. And ah it was somewhere like seventy degrees below zero. And the camp that we went through and all of these prisoners were out walking around. And it wasn't, it was a dry cold; it wasn't all that bad. I would not have liked to have been in it, personally (laughter). Ah the time from Canada to Argencia, Newfoundland, to lower England; I'm just now beginning to warm up (laughter). M. Cavazos: Um did you always fly in the same plane? Chief McIntyre: No. We ah, ah of the fifteen planes, ah we, we flew mostly in ah plane number five called "Mux Mallef' and he is a good friend of mine today; (inaudible) captain out in San Diego and we called him Mux; in fact he came over to visit us in San Die---San Antonio here a short time ago and we took him out and exposed him to chicken fried steak. He'd never had that before but he thought that was just wondefil. He sent me a letter a couple a days ago and said I ate at Denny's a few days ago a chicken fried steak and I thought about you and Maxine. M. Cavazos: So basically, you didn't, you didn't always have to same plane but you generally flew in. . Chief McIntyre: Oh yeah. M. Cavazos: OK. Chief McIntyre: We would, ah if plane number five wasn't ready ah the ground crews and things had plane number seven. M. Cavazos: OK Chief McIntyre: They were all identical so we could fly 'em. M. Cavazos: Um, did you ever do. You were, you said in a turret, is that what it's called? Chief McIntyre: Ah uh. M. Cavazos: . . .in the plane. Did you ever do anything; did you ever pilot the planes or was that your job in the plane? Chief McIntyre: The, the only ah piloting of the plane that I got to do was because of my pilot Berkie. He knew that I could. Ah when you have a ten to twelve hour flight this is long. . M. Cavazos: Yes. Chief McIntyre: . . .when you're confined and can't. And he would let Jerry, John, and I come up and sit in the co-pilot seat and, and play around a little bit (laugher). Ah kinda break the monotony which was, I thought was wondefil. M. Cavazos: Um B24s generally had an eight to ten man crew. How many people MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 9 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10127/2004 usually flew. . . Chief McIntyre: Ten. M. Cavazos: . . .with you? Ten? You had it full? Chief McIntyre: Full crew all the time. M. Cavazos: Did you always, did you fly missions with the same crew all the time? Chief McIntyre: All the time. M. Cavazos: So there was always the same ten men in the plane Chief McIntyre: All the same. Very, ah, seldom we would have. It depended on man who lost a crew. In other words if we had a second ordinance, I was fust ordinance. If we had ordinance number two and one of the crews ah, ah lost an ordinance man. Ah and they would then take maybe my number two man and put him in as number one. M. Cavazos: Ok, so you, you ten men became really close. And did you have any things that you would do before missions? Any things for good luck, any rituals? Things you'd always do before you went out? Chief McIntyre: No. M. Cavazos: Nothing special like that? Chief McIntyre: No. M. Cavazos: Oh. Chief McIntyre: Just get ready. See we, at the time, and my pilot was one of the finest. I'll just, till this day. Ah you could say ah Berkie (inaudible), ah, ah go take gunnery run. And ah training and so we would dip fifty caliber machine gun bullets red, blue, green, different parts of the plane. We'd get somebody to tow a target and ah we'd have them pull threw and we'd come down and under in the tarp and we see how many we. We'd get back and you'd count your numbers and ah our crew was kind of a proud bunch of little boogers. We wanted to be the leading one. Two purposes: If they're good, we come home. If they're not we may not come home. M. Cavazos: That's true. Chief McIntyre: They all saw that and the wisdom of it and we had no problem. M. Cavazos: Um were there any special catch phrases or lingo that you would use with your crew when you were communicating back and forth between the base? Like anything, if you had an emergency, what would you say? What would you communicate over the radios? Chief McIntyre: I don't ah. M. Cavazos: Nothing special to that affect either? Ok Chief McIntyre: No, ah uh. We, we were pretty much in contact ah as, as I said. Ah I have to brag on our crew a little bit. Being the fist five, we got the first five pilots comin outta Pearl. These were veterans. If I told you a story about one and, I've got a book I'm gonna show you, I want you to read this, about this man. This ah man was most remarkable. Took he and his buddies two PBYs lightly loaded down into the islands and found a, ah, ah Japanese destroyer and troop ships in a gated, where the torpedoes couldn't get in there. He attacked this group, got the destroyers. The other man got the troop ship and the generals just called havoc. It's the sort of thing that you wouldn't believe; you have to read this story to understand. But ah, ah his name was Whiskey Willis (laughter). Didn't drink but he got the nick name (laughter). M. Cavazos: We've got about half of our questions done so we're gonna just kinda whiz threw 'em quick. MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 10 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 Chief McIntyre: Alright. D. Fernandez: Ok, um I think you answered this question, that the B24s were normally used for the U-boat ah destroying or destruction or tracking. Um were you responsible for any of the five that were sunk in um Naval Air, when you were in the Air Force stationed in Britain? Chief McIntyre: No. D. Fernandez: No? Ok um and did you fly any missions over the Bay of Biscay or North Africa? Anywhere in that area? Chief McIntyre: Almost all of my missions except, I think three of them out of ah Newfoundland. The twenty-seven others were flown in the Bay of Biscay and along the coast of France. M. Cavazos: So you flew thirty missions total? Chief McIntyre: Yes. M. Cavazos: Ok. D. Fernandez: Ok. And any of those missions did you have to abort any of those due to injury. . Chief McIntyre: Only one and this was due to weather. And ah, ah we were being forced down to close to. In fact we had to throw some of the equipment out to maintain. . M. Cavazos: Altitude? Chief McIntyre: . . .altitude. D. Fernandez: Whoa. And then um, any of the men that you killed, did that kinda personal END SIDE A BEGINNING SIDE B D. Fernandez: Oh, um, I was going to ask about any of the men that, um you killed or injured, how did you feel about that? Was there. . Chief McIntyre: It, it would ah really get to you at first. I had one of my very good friends, the first trip I made to London was with this young man and ah, ah we had ah, ah couple-a dates I think the second time we went back. And ah, it was ah, we just enjoyed it. He was a real nice fella and ah we had a good time. We'd come back home and ah the next time out, why he bought the boat. And ah, ah it really depresses you because you've lost a friend yet it, it raises your awareness of the exposure that you are going through. And ah you become a little more ah on the job, little tighter, ya know. And in fact I think one of the things after that happened we said ya know we lost so and so ah lets see each other stay on the ball; your eyes to find planes. Now ah, it's like our pilot told us that ah you're not a fighter pilot. You're, in the plane you're in, you're bombing deal and you're aRer subs. And ah, when you see these ME109s and JU88s don't get the happy hoorays that we're going out and tackling. We could hold our own with 'em; they didn't want any part of us. This Carlton Lilly that I was telling you about ah, ah he and his crew shot down German's leading ace in the ah Biscay area, he and his two men in a JU88. And they also got shot down and we have ah, in this book that I'm gonna give you one of 'em, ah this man that was in air sea rescue in England; came over and visited us in one of our reunions and he was the one that picked up Carlton Lilly and got him into the boat; he wound up with a broken back and neck and was half deformed for the rest of the, his life. But he was alive and lasted until just a few years ago. MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 11 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 D. Fernandez: Um, we came across a diagram in one of, um, the books for our research and it showed that the B24 was a very large plane. Was, was it hard to fly ah due to the size? What kind of difficulties did you have? Chief McIntyre: The only time we heard it was hard to fly was when pilots from the B17s and ah. M. Cavazos: Those were the, just one size larger, correct? Chief McIntyre: .y eah. Actually we were larger. M. Cavazos: Oh, the diagram showed it wrong. Chief McIntyre: Right D. Fernandez: Oh wow. Chief McIntyre: We were not only larger, we were faster, could carry a bigger bomb load. But. . . D. Fernandez: It's definitely more efficient. Chief McIntyre: . . .we just didn't have ah, ah the name pilots ah, that they glorified in the 17s. M. Cavazos: Ok Chief McIntyre: We could hold our own with them any day in the war. D. Fernandez: Great. Um the boats were hard to locate but with technology, did the technology improve during the war or during your time period? Did you see that it improved or was it really frustrating. . Chief McIntyre: Oh yeah. D. Fernandez: . . .because it wasn't? M. Cavazos: You were talking about the sonnaboys (inaudible) Chief McIntyre: Right, well that, that moved on and our, our detection and our radar became much improved. In fact, we could take a radar and when a submarine surfaced and his ah, mass, periscope ah came up ah we could, we could get pretty close to him; because we could come down, you see, they would scan up. We would get down to fifty feet over the water and this, this gets a little hairy in itself. You're looking down there ah seeing the water right underneath you, ya know. And you, you got used to it (laughter). And so ah, ah we would locate 'em. Then when we would begin to get close, they would dive. Ah and they got smart, they improved. They had what they called a snorkel. And it would go alongside the periscope and it would come up and it's an air breathing thing that they could bring air back into the submarine but leave out the shadow and silhouette and ah configuration of a sub on the service. All you got's this one little snorkel sticking out. And ah one of our boys, that, that when he came back from a run and we saw the sub and he says ah, one of the admirals there was at the briefing said what'd you see. I saw two periscopes and the admiral very tartly says son, there's no such thing as two periscopes on a German submarine. You ought a know that, very sarcastically. And the young man says, sir all I know is what I saw. I saw two periscopes. Ah as days past, ah when they finally found out about the snorkel; the snorkel is up it looks just like two periscopes, this young man told me, he says, he never said a word nor apologized (laughter). But I saw two periscopes. M. Cavazos: He was right. D. Fernandez: He was right, that's right. Um did you ever come in direct, did the plane ever come in direct combat with other planes, air to air as apposed to . M. Cavazos: You were saying that you weren't a fighter plane but did you ever . MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 12 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 D. Fernandez: Yeah, did you ever . Chief McIntyre: Most of the time we avoided it. You see, ah, ah when we would see ah three JU88s in tangent, we hunted for the nearest cloud. And. . M. Cavazos: So they would shoot you down, I mean, even if you weren't a fighter plane? Chief McIntyre: Oh yeah, yeah. Three of them we couldn't handle; one or two maybe we'd give a fit but three they would probably get us. So we weren't heroes, we'd hope up in a (laughter) cloud. And ah. D. Fernandez: And you lost 'em. Chief McIntyre: . we lived to fight another day. M. Cavazos: You're here now. Chief McIntyre: There's an interesting thing that I think, I don't know that it would be in some of your questions there, but on Christmas day ah, December '43, several of us found ah twelve German destroyers and two blockade runners trying to get into French coast. And ah, I, I, this again, we found 'em. We broke radio silence and told them. Now ah, ah PB4Y1 with hydrostatic bombs and aerial torpedoes is not a match for a German destroyer. You just don't hail right into there because you are gone if you do. We circled around the outside and they said ah, JU88s are coming outta breast. JU88 was like a Bristol Bull fort, ah a British plane. Their outlines, if you saw them in the distance, you'd think it was the same. They left and come out too and all of a sudden we get word, get the hell outta there. So they then, and that's all we wanted boy, we went out to sea and turned and come back into Lands End and avoided all that. M. Cavazos: Good. Um was your plane or your crew ever used to transport people, delegates or POWs or anything like that? Chief McIntyre: No. M. Cavazos: Um, are there a few. You've told us a bunch of memorable experiences but are there any specific ones that you'd wanna share with us? Chief McIntyre: Say that again. M. Cavazos: Memorable experiences, or one of your thirty missions that was more important to you than the others. Chief McIntyre: I don't think so. Ah, you, ah (laughter and coughing). We had a little dog (coughing). And ah, Berkie picked him up in Mexico. And ah brought him along and he flew with us all the way over to England. And ah, ah I, I liked the little dog he, he did sit, his picture's in the book here. And ah M. Cavazos: I remember seeing that picture. D. Fernandez: (Laughs) Yeah, she showed me. Chief McIntyre: Yeah, so ah, ah most of the time he would fly with us . M. Cavazos: On a mission? Chief McIntyre: Uh huh. M. Cavazos & D. Fernandez: Oh wow. Chief McIntyre: Up in the nose compartment, with me. Cause the little dog and I. A lot of my job, really I wasn't in the turrets, when I would be ready to drop bombs, was kinda boring (laughter). Ya know and, and the time so I played with the little dog. Ah on twelve hour missions we got two heavy roast beef sandwiches (laughter) for our lunch. And ah, ah the coffee that went. So I ah played with the dog and if the dog got hungry I'd feed him some of my sandwich. And ah, after a little while the dog got air sick and gave up his MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 13 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 part of the sandwich (laughter). And ah, it was terrible (laughter). And Lt. Berkie said what in the world do I smell and I said you're dog just gave up the, the sandwich . D. Fernandez: The sandwich. Chief McIntyre: . I fed him. And he said guess who's gonna clean up after your dog gets back to base (laughter). I said I know who's gonna do it (laughter). That's about as memorable, other than dropping than dropping ah, ah zombies and things like that. M. Cavazos: Did you ever participate in any other form of combat other than in a plane? Or, you never did any ground fighting? Chief McIntyre: No. M. Cavazos: Alright, we're gonna kinda get into D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy. That's obviously, Pearl Harbor and D-Day are kinda the two that you remember from World War two. Chief McIntyre: Sure. M. Cavazos: Um, did you participate during D-Day and where were you stationed to fly? What was your job during that time? Chief McIntyre: I was there, my crew had already gone back home. There was a dearth of ah, ah ordinance men and so they said ah, would you stay over and maybe take some flights if somebody needs ya. I said sure. I got no place to go (laughter). So ah, I stayed and ah, on June the sixth, D-Day ah I, I'm not really sure whether I went out then or the day before. Ah but when I got back my duffle bag was packed and sittin there and this chief says on that truck and it on the truck and hit the New Amsterdam out of Glasgow, Scotland and came back. Ah the hnny thing, hnny not, but ah, ah ironic I guess is the word that ah on the New Amsterdam we were picked up by two German submarines ah just 'about England, on the coast, and so we had to start a run and the New Amsterdam fortunately was a fast luxury ship converted to troop. And they chased us and we went down below the Azores and back up into New York City with these two ah German submarines. . M. Cavazos: On your tails. Chief McIntyre: . chasing us all the way. M. Cavazos: So basically, you, you might have flown on June fifth or June sixth but you didn't participate in any of the invasion? Chief McIntyre: No, no. M. Cavazos: Alright. Chief McIntyre: In fact, nobody had to really because ah Garring says it'll be disaster if you people come out there and try to cover on it. We did not see a single (inaudible). They did not send a single plane out into the bay because we were so well covered. It would have been disastrous for 'em. D. Fernandez: Um, where did you, when did you leave the army? Ah. . Chief McIntyre: The Navy? D. Fernandez: . the Navy, yes I'm sorry. Chief McIntyre: When'd I leave the Navy? I left the Navy October the twelfth, 1945. It's a key day for us. My wife and I, ah Maxine, every time that we have it, this was our lucky day. It seemed like something nice happened to us. Ah I would like to have said ah we had one little daughter born in ah, ah Jacksonville, Florida. Ah Patricia. She is now a grandmother about six times over (laughter). And ah, ah four times I guess. And ah, ah then after we got. The money I was making then, I had made aviation ordinance first MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 14 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 class and ah, and it, the sad thing is that I was put in charge of a gunnery range down there as if this wasn't bad enough for my hearing problems. When I went to go out they said ah that you have ah a earring problem caused by machine guns and ah if you stay in we'll see what we can do about it (laughter). And I said well you don't pay enough money for, I have one daughter and another one on the way, to ah, for me to stay in. But I will sign up for the reserves. And I stayed in the reserves four more years so I had a total of eight years ah. . M. Cavazos: With the Navy? With the United States? D. Fernandez: United States Navy. Ok, um, were you awarded any medals or um citations of any sort? Chief McIntyre: Tons of 'em (laughter). I was very fortunate. And some of the time we don't how exactly we got our medals. We do know that ah thirty entitled us to a, ah, distinguished flying cross. Ah, I got six air medals beyond that and ah four ah commendations. D. Fernandez: Ok, um and then we're gonna get off from that; we're gonna go into more of leisure time. Um, were you in any special activities, Navy activities, like boxing or um a band, or different sorts like that? Chief McIntyre: I avoided that as much as I (laughter) unless it was in ah London and we couldn't avoid it (laughter). D. Fernandez: Did you stay in touch with your family while you were in service? Chief McIntyre: I did pretty much. But ah, um, I'm sorry to say that ah I lacked quiet a bit of writing at that time. I should have written more; I wish I had written more. But ah, ah, you didn't have a whole lot of free time for writing. Ah, gambling and ah, ah poker and black jack took up a lot of your time (laughter) free time too. D. Fernandez: And, um, what did you do, during this like, everything seemed so gloomy being so rainy and muddy, what did you do for hn, how'd you stay up beat in such a depressing time? M. Cavazos: You gambled (laughter)! D. Fernandez: Besides the bar. Chief McIntyre: Now, for h n and ah things. Yeah they had a bar but I didn't, I wasn't that much into drinking that ah I hung around the bar a (inaudible) times out. I was more interested in playing black jack and ah, and poker then ah it was cause we didn't have to leave the base, it was done right in our hut . M. Cavazos: You just stayed in your hut. D. Fernandez: Uh huh. Chief McIntyre: I saved money, sent it home to buy a car so I could marry Maxine (laughter). I know that's kind of unjointed but it is a story within itself (laughter). M. Cavazos: It's a good story. D. Fernandez: Mmhm. And um you said that you were on leave. Where did you go when you were on leave or speaking of which, um. . Chief McIntyre: There's little towns called Honiten, Exeter, Bow Mont. Ah go down by the ah sea or any of that part that ah you would go that when ah they would see a Navy man it was unusual (laughter) and ah we got ah a lot of attention (laughter) fiom the locals, which we enjoyed. M. Cavazos: Um, I already asked this. You didn't really, the missions that you flew; they weren't really missions for the Royal Canadian Air Force. So basically your, your MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 15 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 10/27/2004 experiences there and your experiences in the Navy didn't really . Chief McIntyre: This is exactly right because . M. Cavazos: . coincide? Chief McIntyre: .y ou see, we had no mission in the Canadian. The, that part was ah learning to fly and we spent . M. Cavazos: It was all training. Chief McIntyre: That's right. M. Cavazos: Alright. Um, you obviously, did you make some close friends during the service? You still keep in touch with many of the people you . Chief McIntyre: We did. In fact ah some of the ones that I went through boot camp with and I stayed, ah, ah people that were in my crew ah particularly. But the strange thing about this, we had in and around 3,000 people on that base at one time. Each individual group shared a hut, two plane crews of enlisted men to one hut. Kind of crowded but (laughter) we made best with what we had. And those we were very close to. The thing is I'd say I didn't really know ten or fifteen people at that base at that time. But when I started the Newsletter and I got us together and started having reunions, then I got pretty close to the ah. . M. Cavazos: To those people. You already said that you didn't, you left the armed forces after the war but it was, you joined the reserves and that was . Chief McIntyre: That's right. M. Cavazos: Alright. Chief McIntyre: I would have liked to have stayed in. Ah, ah the military. Some, some people that, when the draft, ah hated it and they just couldn't get out quick enough. Wasn't for me, you take a farm boy with ah, this was a glamorous life (laughter). M. Cavazos: You were a patriot to the heart. Chief McIntyre: And I enjoyed it . M. Cavazos: Yeah. Chief McIntyre: . .thoroughly. M. Cavazos: Did your. . Chief McIntyre: I would go back right now if they'd take me. M. Cavazos: Did your views of war and society change after your experiences or are you still pretty gung hoe about going to war? Chief McIntyre: I'd go right now. M. Cavazos: Urn, what did you do as a career after the war; after you were done with the reserves? Chief McIntyre: This, this is a, a beautifid part. I was able to put it behind me. Ah, ah I started, I was selling appliances prior to the war and ah I kinda got back into that and got my heart into it. And all of a sudden television comes out and I'm on the ground floor of television at the time. Enjoyed it. Ah I put the first television in Memphis, in Little Rock, they ever had. I worked in the Motorola and Zen distributorships many, many years. You come to a point in the business where only if you hit fifty-five, you hit the stone wall and ah we can get two twenty-fives for what we're payin one fifty-five. And this thing, we kinda recognized it; it's part of the business. It was good for me because, ah, I went into business on my own; and stores and for twenty years, I was, I had five TV stores in ah Houston. M. Cavazos: Wow. MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 16 1 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 Chief McIntyre: Ah, furniture and TV stores. So it was real good but when it got to be fifty-five I said I'm stepping out because my father died at fifty-five. He never went anywhere, he never did anything, he was a lawyer and ah, um he had a little drinking problem and ah, died. And I figured it's such a waste, ya know, that, ah, I don't wanna wind up that way. So when I had my own stores and things, why, when we got enough, I said mama you ready to step out and she said I sure am. So we got out (phone rings) that's when we started with the newsletters and, and the other part in life. So I've retired really about three times (laughter). M. Cavazos: Um, so you're very active with your Newsletter. And it is, it is your Newsletter. You started it, correct? Chief McIntyre: That's right. M. Cavazos: And so you're just trying to get everybody from the Fleet Air Wing Seven kind of back together? Chief McIntyre: I did and was quite successful. We have had, we got one going on in New Orleans in early December; they think it's our last um (laughter), it probably won't be. Ah, I've got a little thing that's in mind that I wanna do. My granddaughter has started us a, ah library and memorabilia place in Van, Texas. And it's just taken off like gang buster. And ah, so, we may, I don't know, we may, with her help, take one of the last ones and put in the last hooray, ya know. M. Cavazos: Um, you already said that if you could go back you'd still fight; you'd go back if they'd take you now. Chief McIntyre: In a minute. M. Cavazos: Are there any missions or things that you would have done differently to change some of the things you did while you were flying or in missions. It seems like you had a pretty. . Chief McIntyre: Absolutely nothing. As far as I'm concerned I had. . M. Cavazos: .p retty smooth flight. Chief McIntyre: . I had the perfect crew of fifteen planes. My, ah, head chief, ah mechanic was a super guy. We had a radio, radar operator, ah named Frenchie Lu'Claire, stayed in and became a Lieutenant Commander thirty years later from enlisted men. Um, I know, I found my tail gunner, Eddie Miller, about six weeks ago. And so with ah Berkie the pilot, me, Garry John, Miller, the four of us out of the ten are still here. And we lost none of 'em due to combat. M. Cavazos: That's good, that's great. Um is there anything else that you'd like to add before we conclude? Chief McIntyre: Except that it's been very enjoyable and I have ah, ah remembered some of the things that I hadn't thought of in years. M. Cavazos: I hope that's a good thing (laughter). Chief McIntyre: Yeah. And ah, ah you, well you see me everyday. The hats I got on has got . M. Cavazos: Yup. Chief McIntyre: . Navy insignia on it. M. Cavazos: Chief McIntyre (laughter) Chief McIntyre: And everywhere I go, why, I met a man that lives up beyond the corner and ah I had that and he just stopped and I was sitting out back as usual and ah he called me the mayor. I said what in the world, I've been called a lot of things (laughter) but not MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 17 Chief Gene S. McIntyre 71 211 1917 Interview 1012712004 the mayor. And ah community, he says oh, with all that stuff you got on, everybody just calls you the mayor, you're in the community. I said no way! I'm not taking on any (laughter), anything. D. Fernandez: Happy as you are, right? M. Cavazos: Alright, well that concludes our interview I guess . Chief McIntyre: I, I'd like to add one thing. M. Cavazos: Alright. Chief McIntyre: You have seen this book that was made from my Newsletters here. M. Cavazos: Yes. Chief McIntyre: I have ah; I'm publishing the last three years of the Newsletter; that'll be coming out very shortly. Um, after doing that, I had one, one man that wrote a book that he wanted it for his family and to tell how he courted his wife. He didn't think he had a chance to ah get her and she finally agreed. And ah just the last few months, why she passed away. But he wrote a, a book. And ah he knew I was into books and so he sent it down and ah asked me to look at it. And I proofed it and went through it and I felt like it was a tremendous book. And ah I said, I suggest that you try to ah, get somebody to publish it. We found the publisher and he called and said what should we name it. And where it came from, I'll never be able to tell you, I said call it 'I Was There When the World Stood Still.' M. Cavazos: Oh. Chief McIntyre: And he said that's great. He took it to his publisher; he says I wouldn't change a period. I have the book here. So we now have about three books all based, a lot of the stuff, on the experiences that I have shared with you. M. Cavazos: Alright, well, thank you for your time. And that concludes it. It's October twenty-seventh. The interview started at 7: 15 and it is now 8:30. So, thank you. Chief McIntyre: I thank ya'll for comin over. MS 315. Veterans History Project McIntyre - 18