Benjamin Clark Amsden was born in his mother's hometown of Springfield, Ohio in October 1922. He was there for three days and then they returned to Buffalo, New York. His father was a salesman with Exact Weight Scale Company [Annotator's Note: based in Columbus, Ohio]. His mother did not work. Amsden was the oldest of three children and he started to work when he was ten years old with a morning paper route. After he turned 12, he washed dishes in a restaurant after his route was finished. He got his meals at the restaurant. He played baseball, football, and hockey too. He did not know any different as everyone was in the same position at the peak of the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He got his first car at 16, which was a 1929 Ford coupe [Annotator's Note: brand of automobile]. He kept it a year and then his senior year of high school he got a 1933 Plymouth convertible coupe [Annotator's Note: brand of automobile]. He was 19 when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He volunteered for the service. He had always loved planes and made models. He followed the air races and attended the Cleveland Air Races [Annotator's Note: Cleveland National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio] where he saw Jimmy Doolittle [Annotator's Note: American airplane racer, later US Air Force General, James H. Doolittle] in the Gee Bee Super Sportster [Annotator's Note: Granville Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster special-purpose racing aircraft]. That plane looked like a barrel.

In the Spring of 1942, Benjamin Clark Amsden started pursuing going into Naval Aviation. He found out the eye exam was a major one. He started drinking carrot juice because carrots are good for the eyes. A friend, Bill Harrington [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], and he went together. Harrington did not work on his eyes and flunked the exam. Amsden still reads the newspaper without glasses today. Amsden chose the Navy because he wanted to fly off a carrier [Annotator's Note: an aircraft carrier] as it was more challenging than flying off of land. They also had better food aboard a carrier. He went in in September 1942 with the CPT, Civilian Pilot Training [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program or CPTP], in Schenectady, New York flying in a Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft]. He then went to Chapel Hill [Annotator's Note: Chapel Hill, North Carolina] for three months of physical training. They had a baseball team, and he went out for practice thinking it could get him out of some of the training. When he got to the field, Bob Kennedy [Annotator's Note: Robert Daniel Kennedy, American professional baseball player] from the White Sox [Annotator's Note: Chicago White Sox, American professional baseball team], Ted Williams [Annotator's Note: Theodore Samuel Williams American professional baseball player], Johnny Pesky [Annotator's Note: John Michael Pesky, born John Michael Paveskovic, American professional baseball player], Johnny Grimph [Annotator's Note: from the Braves [Annotator's Note: then the Boston Braves, later the Atlanta Braves, American professional baseball team], Buddy Hasset [Annotator's Note: John Aloysius "Buddy" Hassett, American professional baseball player] from the Yankees [Annotator's Note: the New York Yankees, American professional baseball team], Buddy Gremp [Annotator's Note: Lewis Edward "Buddy" Gremp, American professional baseball player] from the Braves, and Dusty Cook [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] were all on the team. Amsden laughed and went back to the locker room. He knew he would not make the team. Pesky could not learn to swim well enough to get into the Naval Air Corps. Amsden then went to Bunker Hill [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, now Grissom Air Reserve Base in Cass and Miami counties Indiana] for primary training in a Stearman [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet or PT-13 primary trainer aircraft], which was one of the greatest planes ever built. They still fly as stunt planes. Amsden went to Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station, Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida] next and flew the AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft], that was called the SNJ in the Navy. He graduated there in February 1944 and went to Melbourne [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Melbourne, now Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida] where he started flying the F6F Hellcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft]. The F6F Hellcat was an easy plane to fly. Amsden did not have much of a transition from training in the SNJ. They learned a lot of field training to learn to land on carriers. The F6F was a good, tough plane. It was not as fast as the Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] but was good in a fight. He had no problem fighting the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. Once they got above 5,000 feet [Annotator's Note: in altitude] they were superior. Below 5,000, the Japs could beat them in turns.

Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: an aviation cadet in the United States Navy] went from Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station, Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida] to Melbourne [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Melbourne, now Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida] and then went up and qualified on the carrier, the Wolverine [Annotator's Note: USS Wolverine (IX-64)], in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. He then went to Oahu [Annotator's Note: Oahu, Hawaii] at Barbers Point [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Barbers Point, also called John Rodgers Field, now Kalaeloa Airport on Oahu, Hawaii] for six weeks. About 6 August [Annotator's Note: 6 August 1944], he was picked up by the Cowpens [Annotator's Note: USS Cowpens (CVL-25)]. He had many field carrier landings that he was experienced at following the landing signal officer. You did not take your eyes off of him [Annotator's Note: the landing signal officer]. He led them aboard. The first time they would see the deck was when he gave the signal to cut the engine [Annotator's Note: turn off the engine]. The Cowpens' deck was 72 feet wide. Larger carriers' decks were 96 feet wide. Amsden was a replacement pilot when he joined the ship. He was assigned to VF-22 [Annotator's Note: Fighting Squadron 22 (VF-22)]. He does not recall them having a nickname, but the ship's nickname was "The Mighty Moo." [Annotator's Note: Amsden refers to his flight logbook.] Life aboard the ship was very good. Their quarters were nice, and the food was wonderful. He had about 30 pre-dawn take-offs. For one of those, they had a breakfast of steak and eggs. The pilots did not see a lot of the sailors on ship. The officers had their own mess hall and quarters. They did see them in action on the deck. His life was from his room to the mess hall to the ready room to the flight deck. When not flying, they played cards. The ready room was the conference room. His first combat mission was in September [Annotator's Note: September 1944]. That was a busy month. On 9 September [Annotator's Note: 9 September 1944] he flew one five-hour mission and then flew another for a total of ten in one day. They mostly flew strikes against airfields in Formosa. The Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] had many fields there and heavy antiaircraft fire. They struck Palau, Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines], Cebu [Annotator's Note: Cebu, Philippines], and Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines], all in September [Annotator's Note: September 1944].

The F6F Hellcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] was very tough [Annotator's Note: when handling ground attack missions]. Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: a pilot with Fighting Squadron 22 (VF-22) flying from the USS Cowpens (CVL-25)] never knew of taking a bullet. He did land once with one wheel locked and got only slight damage to the aircraft. He did not get into air-to-air combat until October [Annotator's Note: October 1944]. Most of his initial strikes were on airfields and he had cleared the area before the Japanese could take-off to counterattack. They could carry 500 pound bombs or six five-inch rockets which did a lot of damage to ships. He only went in once as an escort for torpedo-bombers with eight other planes. When a torpedo plane attacks a ship, it is only about 40 feet above the water, flying at a speed of about 150 miles an hour, making it a sitting duck [Annotator's Note: slang for an easy target to shoot down]. He and his aircraft come in at about a 60-degree angle from above and at about 400 miles per hour with their rockets. They were attacking some cruisers that had good firepower. That was the worst fire he ever encountered. He does not know how they missed his plane. They lost a couple guys when three torpedo planes were lost. They are so slow, and they cannot maneuver. Amsden does not know how anyone was recruited to do that. The cruiser attack was in September [Annotator's Note: September 1944]. He did not have a lot of experience then and it scared the hell out of him. After he made his run, he climbed up to 20,000 feet and there were still explosions around him from the Japanese guns.

On 12 October [Annotator's Note: 12 October 1944], Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: a pilot with Fighting Squadron 22 (VF-22) aboard the USS Cowpens (CVL-25)] had his first confirmed aerial victory. They hit an airfield in Formosa [Annotator's Note: now Taiwan, Republic of China]. They got some planes on the ground, but some came up after them. They got into a skirmish with 14 aircraft. The Americans got 12 of them and the Japanese got two. Amsden got a Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] that day. Stanley [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and Felsen [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] were shot down that day and were killed. They lost a third of their pilots ultimately. Two days later, they had been in a sea battle in the Philippine Sea. Two cruisers, the Houston [Annotator's Note: USS Houston (CL-81)] and the Canberra [Annotator's Note: USS Canberra (CA-70)], took heavy torpedo hits and were disabled. Amsden's carrier and the Cabot [Annotator's Note: USS Cabot (CVL-28)] were assigned to escort them to safety. For two days and nights they were under heavy attack. On 15 October [Annotator's Note: 15 October 1944], Japanese Bettys [Annotator's Note: Mitsubishi G4M medium bomber, known as the Betty] came in. It was almost a twin of the B-26 bomber [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber] and was used for everything. Amsden and seven others were prepared for them and shot down ten of the 12. They came in at about 8,000 to 10,000 feet stacked in twos. Amsden blew up the top plane and the partner went to the water. Amsden had to go down and get him. Amsden made a deflection shot and got the waist gunner. He took another run and took out the plane. That was two in one day. They never learned to shoot at the back of a plane. They always took deflection shots and learned to lead the opponent, by shooting out ahead of them. The F6F [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] had six .50 caliber guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun]. A 30 second burst would deliver 22 pounds of lead. Amsden never ran out of ammunition. Each gun had at least 500 rounds. The sight was on the dashboard. They had had hours and hours of gunnery practice.

Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter pilot with Fighting Squadron 22 (VF-22) aboard the USS Cowpens (CVL-25)] was on patrol with three other aircraft one day after MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] had landed [Annotator's Note: to the Philippines in October 1944]. The Japanese were coming in behind him [Annotator's Note: MacArthur]. Amsden flight spotted a troopship that did not spot them. They were unloading and marching four abreast off the ship. There is very little gunnery from a troopship. Amsden made the first run and got at least 100 of them. He was firing six .50 caliber guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun]. They wiped out quite a few. He only made the one pass. It did not bother him at all. The Japanese had treated the American prisoners of war brutally, so he and the other pilots were happy to equate the situation. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Amsden what Christmas, 25 December 1944, was like.] It was just another day. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Amsden to talk about his fourth air-to-air combat victory that happened in early January 1945.] They were flying to Formosa [Annotator's Note: now Taiwan, Republic of China] and hit an airfield. Fourteen Japanese aircraft came after them. In the group were planes they had not seen before. They were twin-engine Irvings [Annotator's Note: Nakajima J1N1 Gekkō, twin-engine fighter aircraft; Allied name: Irving] that were being developed as a night fighter. It was very much like the P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft]. He read that they [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] only lost six of them during the war. He cannot believe that, but he got one of them. They shot down 12 of the Japanese and did not lose any of their own. Amsden could not always tell when he got an aircraft. All he knows is that he got in his gunsights, and he paid for it. Two weeks later, he got number five. Amsden is Catholic and carried his rosary beads [Annotator's Note: a string of beads used in The Holy Rosary, a form of devotion in the Catholic Church]. Every night he prayed for two things, to come back alive and to become an ace [Annotator's Note: flying ace, fighter ace, or air ace; military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat]. On the second to his last day of duty on the carrier, he got his fifth plane. Eighteen bomb-carrying planes had attacked them on a suicide mission. They came in in a stacked formation. Their skipper got five of them that day, he got nine planes in two flights in January [Annotator's Note: January 1945]. Amsden was flying as wingman for Jim Bryce [Annotator's Note: then Lieutenant (junion grade) James Arthur Bryce] who got three. They were Oscars [Annotator's Note: Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter aircraft; Allied name: Oscar, often called "Army Zero"], which were similar to the Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero]. The Japanese pilots had been better at the beginning of the war. They were getting the younger guys by this time, but their planes were quite maneuverable.

The Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] was tough to fight up to 5,000 feet. Above 5,000, Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: a pilot with Fighting Squadron 22 (VF-22), USS Cowpens (CVL-25)] had the advantage in turning, climbing, and speed [Annotator's Note: he flew the Grumman F6F Hellcat carrier-based fighter aircraft]. The plane's engine performed better in the lighter air. There was no ceremony when anyone became an ace [Annotator's Note: flying ace, fighter ace, or air ace; military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat]. A lot of guys did not even know how many kills they had. His squadron book did not have two of his planes listed in January [Annotator's Note: January 1945] and he had five. He also had two probable victories. The gun camera is the best way to confirm a kill, which is what all of his were. A friend of his on the Essex [Annotator's Note: USS Essex (CV-9)] went to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.] and checked out his gun camera film. Pilots were allowed six months aboard a carrier. It was felt their efficiency decreased after six months, and they would be reassigned. Amsden went to Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] for about ten days. It took two weeks to get from there to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] for recuperation. He departed from VF-22 there. He had left Ulithi on 27 January [Annotator's Note: 27 January 1945] and boarded the USS Esperance [Annotator's Note: USS Cape Esperance (CVE-88)] for the trip back to the United States. He arrived in San Diego on 1 March [Annotator's Note: 1 March 1945] and went on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. From there he went to Otis Field, Massachusetts [Annotator's Note: now Otis Air National Guard Base, part of Joint Base Cape Cod in Cape Cod, Massachusetts].

Benjamin Clark Amsden transitioned to flying the Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft after returning home from the Pacific Theater where he had flown the Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] in April [Annotator's Note: April 1945]. Cape Cod [Annotator's Note: Cape Cod, Massachusetts] was a nice place to spend the summer. His best liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] stop was the Coonamessett Inn [Annotator's Note: in Falmouth, Massachusetts]. There was an Army base there with a lot of German prisoners of war. About once a month, they would have dinner there. Amsden befriended a waitress who would tip him off that they were there. They could schedule night flights for practice. When the Germans were having dinner, they would buzz the restaurant. The waitress told him they were diving under the tables. They were all still shell-shocked [Annotator's Note: psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to active warfare, especially bombardment] and it scared them. They only did that twice. Just coming back from combat, he was cocky and could fly well. The waitress and her mom would go to the dog track [Annotator's Note: dog-racing track]. He went out there and studied the track to see how low he could come in over it. When she was there, he came in at about 400 miles per hour over the field. The dogs scattered. The Corsair was easier on the controls and was a nice plane to fly. To go out and come back alive, he would pick the Hellcat because it was tougher. The Corsair did not get qualified for carrier service until January 1945. It was successful then. The nose was high so taxing on the ground you were blind looking straight ahead.

Benjamin Clark Amsden [Annotator's Note: a Navy fighter pilot in World War 2] belongs to an association called the Hangar Flyers which is a group of ex-military pilots and others interested in flying. He was at a meeting and a guy asked him where he was when the war ended. Amsden was in the air the night it was announced. He and a buddy "buzzed the hell" out of Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] for an hour and half then. Amsden would like to find somebody who had been there for that. He was flying a Hellcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft]. He had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to separate and was out by 5 September [Annotator's Note: 5 September 1945] as a lieutenant (j.g.) [Annotator's Note: lieutenant (junior grade)]. He was flying with Francis Ignatius Kelly [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] from Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. They went to the Boston office of United Airlines. They were accepted to be trained on multi-engine planes. They went to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and were told they did not want fighter pilots who had to be trained. Kelly spent 32 years with them. Amsden wanted to go to college. He enrolled at Cornell [Annotator's Note: Cornell University in Ithaca, New York] on the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] which was the only way he could go. The Navy had not needed them to have college when he joined. It was still a rigid exam. He was never in a skirmish where he did not get a plane [Annotator's Note: shoot one down]. A friend he played baseball with while in high school attended Cornell and did not serve. He got in the hotel business and told Amsden about it. Amsden graduated in 1949 and went with Sheraton Hotels [Annotator's Note: Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International]. He and his wife had three kids in 35 months. He stayed with Sheraton for 18 years and then went with Holiday Inn [Annotator's Note: hotel chain of InterContinental Hotels Group]. He then had a chance to manage at the Boulder Country Club [Annotator's Note: in Boulder, Colorado] for six years. Four of his boys went to college there. He would not have been able to go to college without the G.I. Bill. He worked for Republic Steel [Annotator's Note: in Youngstown, Ohio] before the war and probably would have gone back to work for them. The combination of his service and college, made him a far superior person than who he was when he went into the service. He also matured. You read today about college kids today binge drinking and getting in trouble. When he went in, the men were service men and were accustomed to drinking. The only trouble was the guys who had not served trying to keep up. Amsden is a member of the American Fighter Pilots Association [Annotator's Note: American Fighter Aces Association] that was formed in 1960. You had to have shot down five planes as a pilot to qualify. There was a separate division for gunners. Their membership is dwindling as they are dying. They are all in their late 80s [Annotator's Note: at the time of this interview].