Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. was born in White Hall, Illinois [Annotator's Note: in July 1918]. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], he worked in the corn fields after school. His father ran the family farm and was a veterinarian. His mother was originally from Houston, Texas. She was surprised when she moved to a farmhouse with no running water, no electricity, and no telephone. A few years later, his father and mother moved to a house in White Hall that had all the amenities she needed. Giller went to school in the local town until his sophomore year, and he work on the family farm after school and during the summers. He was responsible for taking care of the hogs and cattle, and he also mowed hay. He became a little bit of a problem for his parents, and his grades were slipping, so they decided to enroll him in military school at Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. To his surprise, he really enjoyed his experience as Kemper. He liked the military style of doing things. He ended up staying there three years, which included his first year of college. He then continued his college education at the University of Illinois for a chemical engineering degree. He graduated in the Spring of 1940 and found a job at the Sinclair Oil Refinery in Houston, Texas with the help of a relative. After about six months of working in a "pipe gang" at the oil refinery, he decided to enroll in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, or CPTP. He received 40 hours of training on the ground and 40 hours of training in the air. When he completed the basic training, he decided to enroll in the advanced training. By this time, he was fed up with his job at the oil refinery and decided to join the military because they would pay him to fly an airplane. He enlisted, with some buddies, in the Army Air Corps and was sent to Ellington Airfield [Annotator's Note: now Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas] where he passed a physical, after an ophthalmologist told him how to strengthen his eye muscles. He was sworn in and sent to Stamford, Texas for training. Since he was already an experienced pilot, he and his instructor spent most of the training time doing acrobatics. Giller first heard the news of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while he was in the barracks at Stamford that Sunday morning. He was sent to basic training at Randolph Field [Annotator's Note: now Randolph Air Force Base in Universal City, Texas] where he became a lieutenant of a battalion. He was given this duty because of his military school experience. He trained on BT-14 [Annotator's Note: North American BT-14 Yale basic trainer aircraft]. He flew about 40 hours at Randolph field and learned how to do formations, night flying, use radios, and ground school. During the winter of 1941, he and his group was transferred to Lubbock Air Force base in Lubbock, Texas. He was in the upper class, and they were allowed to harass the lower class. On the weekends, they had to get someone to drive to the next town to get alcohol because Lubbock was a dry city [Annotator's Note: slang for a city that does not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages]. Giller received a car from his mother after he graduated from college, so he had his car with him during his military training. Giller said this made him very popular. In April 1942, Giller received his wings and was commissioned as second lieutenant.

In April 1942, after received his pilot's wings, Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. was transferred to the newly built Paine Field [Annotator's Note: near Seattle, Washington] with about 50 other new pilots. Here, he and the others joined the 55th Fighter Group [Annotator's Note: 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force]. The base began to receive P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] and C-45s [Annotator's Note: Beechcraft C-45 twin engine light aircraft; also known as the Twin Beech]. Their job was to protect the West Coast from any enemy aircraft. Giller never saw a Japanese airplane the year he was stationed there, and most of the time they were "just chasing themselves." After being promoted to Senior Officer, first lieutenant, he was sent to Burns, Oregon and was responsible for four planes for the defense of the Northwest. He was assigned to the 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group [Annotator's Note: 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force] who he remained with throughout World War 2. He was given orders to go to England and while he was on the train heading to the East Coast, he received a telegram that said his orders had been canceled and he was to return to base. The train stopped in a small town so he could switch to another train heading west. He was then sent to Patterson Field [Annotator's Note: now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Greene County, Ohio] to test different airplanes, which included the P-40s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft], P-38s, P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft], B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]. While he was testing a P-40, the oil cap came off while he was doing a slow roll and oil spilled all over his windshield. Luckily, because he was landing in a field and not a runway, he just looked out the side of his plane to land. In August 1943, the Army Air Corps sent his whole squadron to New Jersey by train, to prepare for overseas deployment. Because he was an officer, he was assigned to a compartment. The enlisted men had to sleep in chairs. It took a week for Giller and his squadron to travel across the United States. They got into some mischief during the voyage. They disembarked in New Jersey then a week later they boarded the USS Orien [Annotator's Note: unsure of identity of vessel; possibly the RMS Orion] for Europe. There were 7,000 people on the ship. The enlisted men slept in holes where the beds were side by side. Since he was a second lieutenant, he was put in a bunkhouse with four others where they slept on a sleeping shelf. There were USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] girls on the ship who performed in the club. His ship was in a convoy and every so often would hear the destroyers checking for enemy submarines. They landed in Glasgow, Scotland a week after departing from New Jersey. He boarded a train that headed to his assigned airbase. While on the train, he could see bombing in the distance. He was stationed at an airbase outside Cambridge, England. Giller flew P-38s and learned the strengths and weaknesses of that airplane. It was the coldest airplane he ever flew because the engines were not in the front of the plane. He wore every single piece of clothing he had when he flew the plane. The pilots had several occasions of frostbite. One instance, when flying above the Ruhr valley [Annotator's Note: in Germany], he decided to fly at a lower altitude because everyone was freezing. The Germans were shooting at them, but he did not care. The P-38 was only good for some maneuvers against the German fighter planes but lacked in other ways due to the compressibility of the plane. Eventually, all the P-38s were transferred to the 9th Air Force, and his squadron received P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft].

Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. and his unit [Annotator's Note: 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force] were stationed at Nuthampstead, England at the time of D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was told that his squadron was to cover and support the Allies at the beaches. They were given orders to fly at an altitude of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. That morning, as his squadron flew over Normandy and he saw the dark smoke above the beaches. He went down at about 1,000 feet toward the beach to get a closer look, but all the gunners on the ships started to shoot at him, so he quickly went back up to 8,000 feet. He does not blame the gunners for shooting at him because everything was chaotic and German planes were flying low. His squadron provided air cover from four o'clock in the morning until 11 o'clock in the evening. When he finally returned to his base, he asked the tower to turn on the lights which they denied because there were German fighter planes in the area. He was told to fly to a different airfield in southern England. Giller was "pissed" and cursed out the tower guys. He flew to the airfield with no lights and found the airfield. He was told to stay on his right as he landed because other planes are landing in the opposite direction. As he made his landing, another plane landed simultaneously next to him. He slept at the hangar on a straw mattress that night. The next morning, he flew back to his base. After the Normandy invasion, his assignments were mainly escorting B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] after the Germans found ways to interrupt the bombing formations. They met the B-17 formations at the German border then would take them to their target areas. For the first few months, his squadron went up against many German fighter forces. As the war progressed, they were able to receive more help from other squadrons. But his main duty was to support and escort the bombers to their target site. Prior to escorting the B-17s, Giller was assigned to dive bombing in the P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft]. They used 500 pound bombs to target bridges. He only saw that they hit forest, but he supposed there may have been German troops hidden in there. He also was assigned to strafe trains, decks, and flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] towers in France and Germany. There are several videos of P-38s bombing and strafing their targets during World War 2. He often had to look for hidden antiaircraft nests when he strafed a target. They lost a lot of pilots due to strafing, especially at enemy airfields. He went to Prague [Annotator's Note: Prague, Czechoslovakia; now Prague, Czech Republic] in a P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] to strafe a train. He ran out of ammunition before his return to base. This became common as the war went on because their targets were further from their base. The wingmen consumed their fuel faster than the lead pilot. The lead pilot flew more constant, while the wingman flew up and down to avoid the enemy. The enemy always came from behind, which meant the fourth wingmen were always avoiding getting hit. When his missions were in the Ruhr valley, he often worried about flak more than fighter planes.

In the Fall of 1944, Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. and his unit [Annotator's Note: 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force] were given P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] to fly on missions. Giller had went home on R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation] for 30 days after his first set of missions. He stayed with his wife and visited his mother in Illinois. On his return to Europe, he boarded the Amsterdam [Annotator's Note: SS Nieuw Amsterdam], which was a first rate cruise ship. They had linen table clothes. When he returned to base, he saw that they had transferred from the P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] to the P-51s. He had one practice flight in the P-51 and then he was sent on combat missions. It was an adjustment from flying a plane without torque to flying one with torque. Because of the location of the fuel tank on the P-51, many pilots would spin out in the clouds when they reached a certain altitude. Lucky for him, he never experienced that. Pilots had to dump some of their fuel to get out of the spin. Giller believes that the P-38 was the first long range fighter plane, although historians may disagree. He had six hour missions in the P-38 and the P-51. Giller cannot recall if he was involved in the battle of Saint-Lo [Annotator's Note: Battle of Saint-Lô; 7 to 19 July 1944; Saint-Lô, France]. Saint-Lo had very little meaning to the air support, but more to the ground troops. There is a book that has been published that lists all the missions of the 8th Air Force during World War 2. This helps him know what missions he had participated in. Giller never took part in a shuttle mission, but some of his fellow pilots did take part in a shuttle mission to Russia. His first mission was a milk run [Annotator's Note: slang term used by American airmen to describe an easy combat mission] to France. About 40 of them were flying in formation when a German fighter plane came through. The lead pilot, who was a seasoned colonel, told everyone to not chase him. Giller's baptism by fire was from flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] in the Ruhr valley [Annotator's Note: in Germany]. His mission was to support a bomber group. He had no choice but to fly through the dark cloud of flak. Bursts would go off everywhere around him. He soon realized that he could fly around the flak cloud and meet the bombers on the other side. He knew that the German fighters were not flying in their own flak. Giller also learned to never fly straight and level when crossing through Germany to avoid the antiaircraft fire. Giller had the best mechanic in the United States Air Force, and he never had to do an emergency landing or abort because of an engine problem. The only time he had to abort was when his radio quit working when he was a group leader. The engine in the P-38 had a flaw above 30,000 feet, but the P-51 did not have this problem. Giller tended to like the P-51's engine better than the P-38's engine.

Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. and his unit [Annotator's Note: 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force] were grounded for most of the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] because the weather was so bad. When they were finally able to go on missions, they were not any different than any other mission. He was given strafing targets to keep German supplies from coming in. He also tried to chase off German fighter planes. England would have such bad fog that they could not see anything when they walked through it. The 9th Air Force had more of an impact on the Battle of the Bulge because their base was closer to the troop lines. It took the 8th Air Force over an hour to get to the combat site. He strafed trains and cars. Some of the cars blew up, but he never had a train blow up in front of him. He tried to avoid civilian buildings and houses. It took a lot of concentration to strafe accurately because of flying low and fast. Some pilots did fly too low and crashed during strafing missions. There was more loss in strafing than in combat. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the video at 1:01:08.000.] Many pilots hated doing escort missions up in the Norway area because the trip was so long, and they had to travel a great distance over water. The target was a submarine base. There was one guy that lost his engine and ended up in Denmark. He somehow got connected with the underground who smuggled him into Sweden. A month later, he walked through the doors of their barracks. Everyone had written him off for dead. He asked for his belongings, but the Air Force had already collected all his possessions to send back to the United States. In April 1945, towards the end of the war, Giller was shot in his left shoulder while strafing on the autobahn [Annotator's Note: German freeway system] in Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. He pulled out of formation immediately and tried to think about what he wanted to do because he did not want to bleed to death. He considered landing in a field in hopes of receiving medical attention from the Germans. He decided to try to fly towards the American side and eventually he found himself back in England. He landed his plane with one hand. He was sent to the nearby hospital where he was treated. He later found out he was hit by a chunk of a 20mm shell that came through the plastic canopy of his plane. He was relieved to find out that he had non-life-threatening wound. Luckily for Giller, this was his last combat mission of the war. At the beginning of his World War 2 experience, Giller saw about 50 German fighter pilots in the air during his combat missions. The Germans would know if P-38's [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] were in the air by looking at the contrails of the plane. This was an advantage for the Germans, because the American pilots could not determine the difference between a German contrail and other Allied planes. When he was transferred to the P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft], he saw a major difference in how the German pilots maneuvered in the sky because it was not as easy to identify that plane by its contrail. The German fighter force expertise was starting to deteriorate.

In April 1945, Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. was wounded and was recovering in the hospital. He was given penicillin by injection every four hours. The first commander he had when he first arrived in England was Dallas Webb [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling; unable to identify], from Dallas [Annotator's Note: Dallas, Texas]. Webb had bellied in [Annotator's Note: landed without landing gear] on a mission to Greenland but was later rescued and returned to the United States. After his commander left, Giller was assigned the squadron commander, and he reported to the group commander, Colonel James [Annotator's Note: unable to identify]. When James was promoted to headquarters, he was replaced with Colonel Jack Jenkins [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Colonel Jack S. Jenkins]. Giller said he was very "gung-ho" and ended up getting strafed out on an airfield and became a prisoner of war [Annotator's Note: on 10 April 1944]. Jenkins's replacement was Colonel Righetti [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Colonel Elwyn G. Righetti], who was even more aggressive. Toward the end of the war, he bellied in on a landing and was killed by the German locals [Annotator's Note: May 1945, Riesa, Germany]. During D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Giller had a friendly fire situation. Other than that incident, it was difficult to tell if he was ever attacked by his fellow Allies. Giller said that they only used tracers in his guns to identify he was getting low on ammunition. Fighters did not care to use tracers because it would give away their accuracy to the enemy. Giller knew several men with post traumatic stress disorder, including Colonel Webb. The worst part of a mission was the hour to two-hour flight prior to reaching the target area because pilots had all this time to think about what they are about to get into. It was stressing at times. A buzz bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] when right over his base once. On another occasion the Germans sprinkled the airfield with butterfly bombs [Annotator's Note: German two kilogram anti-personnel submunition, or cluster bomb] which were anti-personnel bombs. Other than those two incidents, the Germans tended to bomb the surrounding cities. He was in a London [Annotator's Note: London, England] hotel one day and saw a buzz bomb fly by his window. He was relieved that it just flew by and did not stop. The buzz bomb had a psychological effect because of the way the motor sounded.

World War 2 taught Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. how to manage people in organizations, which he used later in life. He came out of war determined to go back to college. With the help of his second cousin, who was a two-star general, he was able to do technical work at Wright field [Annotator's Note: now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio]. About a year later, he transferred to the University of Illinois to go to graduate school. His professor wanted him to stay an additional year and a half to work on his doctorate degree. To do this, he had to get permission from the Air Force. He flew to various offices asking for an extension on his education. He was able to secure another year and one half in school. After school, Giller eventually became involved in the nuclear weapons business, CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency], and other research and development programs in the government. Later he was appointed to run the nuclear program for a government agency. The Air Force retired him in 1972. He continued to stay in nuclear programs for government agencies as a civilian. He and his wife were able to live in Geneva [Annotator's Note: Geneva, Switzerland] off and on for three years. He eventually retired in 1991 and moved to Albuquerque [Annotator's Note: Albuquerque, New Mexico]. He thinks that Kemper Military School [Annotator's Note: Kemper Military School and College in Booneville, Missouri] straightened him out and helped him get used to the military system. World War 2 changed America because it made the civilians realize that we could not be in isolation. The war improved science and technology. America ended up in a leadership role after the war. The world realized that America was a force to be reckoned with. The war opened the world to capitalism. Communism could not compete with it. Today, the world is at another challenge. Giller recalls USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] shows, including Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War], at the base during his overseas deployment. There were some Red Cross girls at the base too. They often handed out coffee and donuts. Giller hopes that The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] can project and educate using artifacts and stories. A lot of young people do not know much about the history of World War 2.

Edward Bonfoy Giller, Jr. encountered German fighter jets. The Germans tried to surprise attack them, but the Americans knew to look for a red light which indicated that the Germans were nearby. The Germans liked to attack from behind, so the American pilots had to be vigilant. Toward the end of the war, Giller was able to shoot a German plane down. He was in Southern Germany behind enemy lines and saw a German jet ahead. He opened his throttle and began going after the jet. As the German prepared to land at an airfield, Giller opened fire on the jet which caused him to crash land. Giller was accredit with hitting a 262 jet [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter aircraft]. When he returned to base, he was interrogated and found out that the German pilot survived. At the beginning of the war, Giller made a bet with one of his fellow pilot friends regarding who would take down a German plane first. After three weeks, Giller won the bet, and they had a ceremony with the loser cutting off his mustache. Giller had issues with recognizing enemy planes sometimes. He completed 120 missions.