Frederick Haack was born in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York in 1920] and grew up in Wyoming where he attended the University of Wyoming [Annotator's Note: in Laramie, Wyoming]. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in April 1942, was put on Reserve and stayed in school. He had gotten a football scholarship to the University of Wyoming and was in his second year when Pearl Harbor occurred [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He and other students gathered in the auditorium the day after and listened to Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Day of Infamy Speech; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, 8 December 1941]. Immediately after, everybody ran down to sign up. There were no recruiters there for the Air Corps, so he had to wait until March [Annotator's Note: March 1942]. In February 1943, he was called up and went to Jefferson Barracks [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Lemay, Missouri] which was a nasty place. It was cold and they were in tents with little coal stoves. He did basic training there for about a month then went to Michigan State University [Annotator's Note: in East Lansing, Michigan] for tests. He stayed for two months because he was an engineer and had a lot of math education. He then went to the Aviation Cadet Center in San Antonio [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas]. It was June [Annotator's Note: June 1934] and it was hot. The ran cross-country, did calisthenics, and marched. They were tested in high-altitude vessels to see how long they could go without oxygen. About a month later, he went to flying school in Cuero, Texas. He had never been in an airplane. He had read stories about aviation and thought he would rather fly than be in the infantry. He was there for three months flying the PT-trainers. He then went to Waco, Texas to intermediate training flying the BT-13s [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also known as the Vultee Vibrator] for three months. From there he went to Lackland [Annotator's Note: now Lackland Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas] and took advanced, twin-engine training in Cessnas [Annotator's Note: Cessna AT-17 Bobcat advanced trainer aircraft]. He graduated in March 1944 and was given two weeks leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He was assigned to Sedalia Army Airbase [Annotator's Note: Sedalia Army Airfield in Sedalia, Missouri] outside of Kansas City [Annotator's Note: Kansas City, Missouri] training in troop carrier airplanes. Using C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft], they trained to drop paratroopers, tow gliders, and carry wounded for three months. Haack was assigned to a crew and sent to an airfield in Indiana. The crew was pilot, copilot, radio operator, and crew chief. They got to Baer Field [Annotator's Note: now Fort Wayne Air National Guard Base and Fort Wayne International Airport in Fort Wayne, Indiana] and got a brand-new airplane to fly to Townsville, Australia. They were just out of flying school.

Frederick Haack [Annotator's Note: a cargo pilot] flew to Sacramento [Annotator's Note: Sacramento, California] where ten belly-tanks were put in his aircraft. They then flew to John Rogers Airport [Annotator's Note: now Kalaeloa Airport in Kapolei, Hawaii] and then to Christmas Island [Annotator's Note: territory of Australia], Canton [Annotator's Note: also called Kanton or Abariringa, Republic of Kiribati], Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, Republic of Kiribati], Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands], Port Moresby, New Guinea, and finally landed in Townsville, Australia. They spent a month there. He had been assigned to his squadron [Annotator's Note: 68th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433rd Troop Carrier Group, 5th Air Force] in New Guinea as a replacement. They flew out of Nadzab, New Guinea. They carried wounded from the front line and supplied guerrillas sometimes by dropping things or by landing for about three months. The only dangers were flying over enemy territory and over headhunter country. They had a shotgun, medical kit, and a .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol]. They went up to Biak [Annotator's Note: Biak, Papua, New Guinea] and flew from there to Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Peleliu, Palau] and Guadalcanal. They then went to Samar, Philippines. They were on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] and then Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines]. In Luzon, they evacuated all the prisoners from the Santo Tomas prison [Annotator's Note: Santo Tomas Internment Camp, or, Manila Internment Camp, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Luzon, Philippines]. The prisoners were all frail and they had to land on the highway. They took them to hospital in the rear. The only time he really got shot at was by the Navy who had misread his IDD [Annotator's Note: IFF; Identification Friend or Foe system]. They did not get hurt though. From Leyte and Luzon, they started flying to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. The Marines had just taken it and they were taking out wounded and bringing in supplies. After that, they were lining up for the invasion of Japan.

Frederick Haack was flying off the coast of Taiwan [Annotator's Note: with the 68th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433rd Troop Carrier Group, 5th Air Force] and ran into a tropical storm. It was raining so hard, that their engines were cooling too much, and they had to create some drag. They dropped their landing and revved the engines. They got out of it. They had an easy time most of the time. Only when they were on missions with the guerrillas, were they in danger. The Japanese still held Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines] and there were guerrillas there who needed to be supplied. Marine fighters would fly cover on those missions. They would land and unload with the fighter cover waiting. They did not drop paratroopers on Corregidor [Annotator's Note: Battle for the Recapture of Corregidor, 16 to 26 February 1945, Corregidor Island, Philippines], even though they had trained for it. In August, they dropped the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August 1945]. Haack was at Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] and the Okinawa campaign was on [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945, Okinawa, Japan]. He was moved to an island off the coast of Okinawa called Ie-Shima [Annotator's Note: Ie-Shima, Japan. It was tricky to land on. They were hit by a typhoon and their tents were blown away. They had to live on the airplanes for a while after that. Before the surrender, they were ordered into Tachikawa Airbase, Japan [Annotator's Note: in Tachikawa, Japan] which was surrounded by Japanese Marines. They flew in with 15 drums of gasoline as a show of force. They flew in and out 24 hours a day. Haack and a friend walked down to see if they could get into town. Along the way, a poor, Japanese woman with a child saw them and ran and hid. Haack and his friend went into Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] by train. Later they were occupation troops. When the surrender came, he was on Ie-Shima, and the Navy let loose with everything they had. There were bullets falling out of the sky. He got under the airplane. He was then put on occupation duty until he could get out. He had been overseas 18 months and was anxious to get home. They lived in a cold hangar but got into town a lot and talked to young, Japanese students who were friendly and curious. The food was awful. He got into the old Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel [Annotator's Note: Imperial Hotel, in Tokyo, Japan, one of 14 buildings built by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Japan], where there was an officer's mess. Tokyo was destroyed mostly. People slept under the eaves of burned-out houses with umbrellas. [Annotator's Note: Haack gets emotional and questions why he does so.] When the bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], Frederick Haack was relieved because they were getting ready to invade. It was a Godsend, and they did not think too much about the effects of it. He flew over Hiroshima just to take a look and the destruction was unbelievable. They dropped the second and the surrender came. He often wondered if they could have had the same effect by dropping it offshore, but the Japanese were ready to fight to the last man.

Frederick Haack [Annotator's Note: a pilot with the 68th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433rd Troop Carrier Group, 5th Air Force] went to the Imperial Hotel [Annotator's Note: in Tokyo, Japan]. It was not big and was very low due to being earthquake-proof. It was very unobtrusive and very nice inside. Now it is a skyscraper and is not the same at all. He got his orders home 15 November. He was put on a C3 freighter [Annotator's Note: Type C3-class cargo ship]. It took ten days. They were supposed to go to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington] but there was a seaman's strike, so they went to Vancouver [Annotator's Note: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada]. When the ship came into dock, all the men got over the side to look and were told to move over as the ship was on a slant. Haack took a train to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] to see his mother. She was happy. He had a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and his school did not start until January, so he stayed. When he was being discharged, he was offered a Captaincy in the Reserves, but he turned it down. He got his master's degree and worked in Saudi Arabia. He had been discharged as a First Lieutenant and a pilot. 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] was a great thing. He had been away so long he did not know anybody in school and the other students were a lot younger than him. He did not play football this time around. Back then, the team members played both offense and defense. He went to Saudi Arabia as a civil engineer. His job was building a railroad for the King from the Persian Gulf to Riyadh [Annotator's Note: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia]. He did that for three years and was Chief Engineer. He moved to Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy] for a couple of years. He worked for the Arabian American Oil Company, ARAMCO, building a railroad. They had a housing compound. They made their own alcohol when it was outlawed. The King did not care as long as it did not leave the compound. Haack taught English to the Arabs to have something to do. In Rome, he worked for the same company and then went to Holland for them where he married a Dutch girl. They were divorced 18 years later. Haack returned to the United States in 1972 and came to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana], where he met his second wife. He was sent to run a project. He was never interested in flying much after the war. He did not want to be a pilot for a living.

Frederick Haack and about nine others were put in a big, steel cylinder [Annotator's Note: during high-altitude, pilot training]. The pressure would be gradually made to represent being at high altitudes. His first major flight was about 8,000 miles to the Pacific. He did not like flying with ten tanks of gasoline to Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii]. They found the islands pretty easily by homing in on the radio station. When supplying the guerrillas forces [Annotator's Note: with the 68th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433rd Troop Carrier Group, 5th Air Force], they mostly used drops. In Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines], they mostly landed because they were taking special equipment in. Landing was more productive, and they would do that if they could get Marine cover [Annotator's Note: air cover]. They never needed it. The Japanese fighters [Annotator's Note: fighter aircraft] were pretty well cleared out of the Philippines. In a drop, the pilot is in charge of the navigation. There is usually a marker. If not, you have to do it on time and by the map. The crew chief opens the door, and the others kick the stuff out. Sometimes they made several passes to get everything out. Haack did not have much of a problem adjusting to civilian life. His situations that were nerve-wracking were in the air, and he was in control of a lot of it. He was never under fire with dead people and bodies. That is why he went in the Air Force. He did not want to be in that situation. Also, when they finished their work, they went and slept in a bed and not in a trench. He always felt sorry for the infantry. His life in the South Pacific was often boring. He was lucky. He was scared a lot, but you get scared by a lot of things. He is glad he did it but does not know if he would opt to do it again if he had a choice. He is proud he did it.