Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr. was born in Burns, Kansas. His father was a rural mail carrier to support his family during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. His father's job transferred him to Hillsborough, Kansas when Riggs was 12 years old. He attended High School and graduated in 1940. From the time Riggs was eight years old, he knew he wanted to fly airplanes. His neighbor took him on his first flight when he was 12 years old. He applied for the Civilian Training Program [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training Program or CPTP; United States government-sponsored program, 1938 to 1944] soon after he graduated from high school and attended a junior college. While in school, he played football and did so well, four year colleges were trying to recruit him. He considered putting his military career aspirations on hold and play football, but then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] which changed everything. The military informed all those who enrolled in the Civilian Training Program in the Spring semester would be required to enlist in the Army or Navy after its completion. Riggs passed the required cadet tests and was told he would be activated in about six months. He received a telegram to report to San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center [Annotator's Note: in San Antonio, Texas] on 10 September 1943. Riggs moved up to primary school when a few spots became available in the class ahead of him. He and his new class of 225 were sent to Oklahoma City [Annotator's Note: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] by train and began primary school in November [Annotator's Note: November 1943]. Since he already had a private pilot's license, he was comfortable with solo flying. About half his class washed out. Upon completion, he was sent to basic flying school in Garden City, Kansas. The base was brand new and still incomplete. There were only a couple of buildings and the barracks looked like they were just thrown together. He worked on formation, cross country, and instrument flying. His class also had their first fatalities. He completed basic in March [Annotator's Note: March 1944] and was sent to advanced flight training at Altus, Oklahoma. He flew 120 hours as a pilot and copilot and received his wings on 24 May [Annotator's Note: 24 May 1944]. He was first assigned to a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] airfield in Idaho, but then shortly sent to Casper, Wyoming and assigned as a copilot. Within a month, he received orders for overseas. He was assigned to a crew and flew to Gulfport [Annotator's Note: Gulfport, Mississippi]. He was then transferred to a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] and was trained by Jimmy Stewart [Annotator's Note: later US Air Force Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart; American actor]. They became very good friends. Riggs then received orders to report to Langley Field in Virginia [Annotator's Note: Langley Field, Newport News, Virginia] and join the newly activated 455th Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 455th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force].

Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr. reported to Langley Field, Virginia. He practiced a lot of formation flying, air to ground gunnery, and air to water gunnery in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. He also practiced instrument flying. Because the landing strips were short, they were able to practice short take offs and landings. He was assigned an aircraft and crew members to prepare to go overseas in December 1943. Riggs received the receipt of the plane which he saw that it cost over 3,000 dollars. He and his crew did their first test flight over the Atlantic Ocean. They were sent to Mitchell Field in Long Island [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York]. For the short time they were there, they went to the Swing Club [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York] every night. Riggs got to know the manager and female performers very well. He and his crew received free steak dinners on their last night. He told his girlfriend, Marge, to stay single. The next day, Riggs and his crew flew to a base in Florida. They experienced bad weather during the whole route but made it safely. His crew had paid someone to paint a picture of a wolf on their airplane for 20 dollars. Before he boarded his plane, two military personnel came up to him and handed him a sealed envelope with instructions not to open it until they were an hour in on his flight overseas. After take-off, he opened the envelope which revealed that he would join the 15th Air Force [Annotator's Note: 455th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force] in Italy, and to report to Algeria as their first destination. They stopped in Trinidad and then Brazil. The weather was horrible during their flights. The airbase in Brazil was primitive. His crew was held up in Natal, Brazil for 13 days. They finally left Brazil and flew a ten hour flight to Dakar [Annotator's Note: Dakar, Senegal, West Africa]. The next day he and his crew flew to French Morocco [Annotator's Note: French Protectorate of Morocco, French military occupation of a large part of Morocco, 1912 to 1956]. Riggs hired a local kid to tour him around. He and his crew ended up in a restricted area and had to find their way back to the base. The kid had run off and left them.

Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr., and his crew received orders to fly to a former German base in Tunisia. There were tons of land mines piled up everywhere. His crew got word that the convoy that was carrying their equipment to Italy was bombed by the Germans. They were held up in Tunisia until more equipment could be sent for him. Riggs and his crew went to town when they could and ate at Red Cross officer clubs. He saw several celebrities while he was there too. While he was in Tunisia, Riggs lost several of his crew members. His radio man was taken off the crew after having an appendectomy [Annotator's Note: appendix surgery]. His copilot was grounded from high altitude flying because of his bad sinuses. His assistant engineer had an accident while working on equipment and damaged his finger. Riggs' navigator was an alcoholic, so he requested a new navigator before going to Italy. He and his replacement crew flew to San Giovanni, Italy at the first of February 1943. Because there were not enough tents and the weather was bad, he and his crew slept in their plane. He flew his first mission to Yugoslavia on 22 February 1943. The target was docks and harbors on the Adriatic Sea. His crew was part of the 304th Bomb Wing, 455th Bomb Group, [Annotator's Note: 455th Bombardment Group, 304th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force]. They lost their first crew on 25 February, but Riggs was not on that mission. On 2 March [Annotator's Note: 2 March 1944] they had a mission in Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] and targeted railroads. They encountered heavy flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] on that mission. [Annotator's Note: Riggs refers to papers he is holding as he discusses his missions.] On 17 March [Annotator's Note: 17 March 1944] they flew to Vienna [Annotator's Note: Vienna, Austria] and could not see anything because of the black clouds. They quickly dropped their bombs and headed back because they were receiving heavy flak. After another mission to Austria, he witnessed a collision of aircraft. He had to maneuver his plane out of the way so it would not get hit from the flying parts of the planes. They never found the crews that crashed. On 2 April 1944, they were picked up by enemy aircraft and fought against them during the whole mission. It was the worst mission he was on during his whole World War 2 experience. Two of his gunners shot down two enemy aircraft.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout the clip, Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr. refers to papers he is holding as he discusses his missions.] Riggs' bomb group [Annotator's Note: 455th Bombardment Group, 304th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force] was assigned to very difficult missions to Budapest [Annotator's Note: Budapest, Hungary] and Romania. Many of the crew members of planes were killed or wounded during the missions. On 21 April 1943, several crews were lost due to enemy fighters and flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. Before the raid on Ploesti [Annotator's Note: Ploesti, Romania]. Colonel S. Powell [Annotator's Note: unable to identify], who was a wing operation officer, told him that he would be flying with Riggs. Usually, Riggs and his copilot would take turns flying the plane, but during this trip, Riggs flew most of the way and only took a break to smoke a cigarette. After they completed the mission, he assumed that the colonel would attend the interrogation, but he did not. Riggs and his crew were returning from an eight day leave when they heard that Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy] had been liberated by the Allies. A couple of days later, the news in the paper was about the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Their first mission after they returned from R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation] was to Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. They lost one aircraft in their group and his own plane was damaged by flak. A piece of flak hit his shoe but did not wound him. They had other missions to target refineries in Austria. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to changes tapes and the video frame freezes from 1:00:14.000 to 1:04:46.000.]

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip interview, Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr. refers to papers he is holding as he discusses his missions.] Riggs' group [Annotator's Note: 455th Bombardment Group, 304th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force] suffered significant losses while trying to bomb targets in Germany. Many of his friends were nearing the mission limit and had died from flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] or were shot down. On the 7 July 1944, Riggs had a close call when he bombed an oil refinery near the Polish border. Two of his engines were shot out. He was able to get back to base and make an emergency landing. He found out later that his plane was not as severely damaged as he thought. Riggs flew his plane the next day to Vienna [Annotator's Note: Vienna, Austria] to hit an airfield. They had to carry a fragmentation bomb. Riggs did not like to carry those bombs because they easily went off during flight. This mission was his 50th mission and it was successful. When he landed the last time at base, he said a silent prayer. It was his greatest day of his life. All his crew members had survived and were going home. Riggs took a trip to Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy] while he waited to be sent home. He was able to meet Pope Pius XII [Annotator's Note: born Eugenio Maria Guiseppe Giovanni Pacelli, Pope from 2 March 1939 to 1958] and receive a blessed crucifix from him. Riggs left on a ship in August 1944 and sailed back to the United States. There were some German POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] on the ship. One of his friends from home was assigned to the ship and he set Riggs and his crew up with duties in the food storage. Riggs ate the whole way home.

Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr., returned to the United States on 31 August 1944. He contacted his parents by phone a couple of days after he arrived. He was put on a train that headed for Jefferson Barracks, Missouri [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post, Lemay, Missouri]. He had a 23 day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], so he and some friends went to Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Saint Louis, Missouri]. He stayed in a hotel where a lot of professional baseball players were staying too. They were able to meet some and chat with them for a while. The next day he took a train home to Kansas. His father and kid sister came to pick him up. The following day all his extended family and girlfriend, Marge, came to see him. He was the first veteran in his town to return home. After his furlough, he reported to a base in Santa Monica, California to receive his next orders. He would be stationed in Boise, Idaho as a flight instructor. Since he knew that he would be doing the remainder of his service state side, he called Marge and asked her to marry him. They married in November [Annotator's Note: November 1944]. When Riggs was not flying, he and Marge were fishing. He also gave his wife a ride on the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. He received vegetables and chickens from a cousin who lived nearby. After the conclusion of World War 2, Riggs was transferred to Washington state. He eventually separated from the service, registered for college and graduated in 1947. He went to work with an oil company. Riggs stayed in the Reserves for 23 years before retiring. He was never recalled for duty. Riggs' son followed him in his footsteps and went into the Air Force.

Clarence Edward "Ed" Riggs, Jr., joined the service because he wanted to fly. He chose the Army Air Corps because he preferred to bail out over land versus water. He believes it is important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] because he feels schools are not teaching enough about the subject. He notices that when he goes to reunions, he sees children and grandchildren of veterans wanted to learn more about World War 2.