[Annotator's Note: This clip starts with the interviewer mid-sentence asking Jack Sinise why he wanted to be in the Air Force.] Sinise did not want to be in the infantry. In 1940, he graduated from high school at 16 years old. He could not get a job. A number of the guys he hung around with signed up for the National Guard because if you got drafted, you could pick what you wanted besides the infantry. He said he was 18 when he was only 17. He joined the Field Artillery in the National Guard in November 1940. [Annotator's Note: A background noise starts at 0:01:15.000 and gets louder and continues throughout the clip.] The Guard unit, the 33rd Division [Annotator's Note: 33rd Infantry Division], was federalized and sent to Tullahoma, Tennessee to a brand new Army camp [Annotator's Note: Camp Forrest]. They were called Yankees. He had not heard that name before. They started a large maneuver, playing at soldiering. He became a radio operator in the artillery. After the maneuvers, they were forming an anti-tank unit. He was transferred to that battalion. He was also clerking in Headquarters. He saw orders come through that said they wanted to enlarge the Air Force. Anybody could apply to become an Air Cadet. Sinise was too short to be a pilot, so he settled on navigation. He went to navigation school. He had applied while his outfit was attached to another National Guard division out of New York that had gone to California. He was sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama [Annotator's Note: in Anniston, Alabama]. It was snowing and they got equipment that meant they were going to the Philippines. He went to California [Annotator's Note: on 13 April 1943] and then had to apply again. He applied four times. The day he was to go to the Air Force, he was on the dock in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California, 7 July 1943] and was awaiting to board a ship. He got his orders, but the Colonel told him to get on the boat. The Japanese had taken the Philippines, so they stopped in Hawaii [Annotator's Note: on 12 July 1943]. He spent a year applying to the Air Force. He finally got in and came back for navigation school. He was assigned to a crew on a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. They did some training in Texas and then Dyersburg, Tennessee [Annotator's Note: Dyersburg Army Airbase in Halls, Tennessee]. Then they went to Kearney, Nebraska [Annotator's Note: to Kearney Army Airfield], picked up a new B-17, and flew it to England.

[Annotator's Note: There is background noise throughout this clip. The interviewer asks Jack Sinise where he was when heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] He was in Huntsville, Alabama which was south of Camp Forrest [Annotator's Note: Camp Forrest, Tullahoma, Tennessee]. They had a great service club they would hitchhike to. He was having dinner with a girl and her family when the girl got a phone call telling her to turn her radio on. All troops were being told to report back to base. He did not know how it affected him. He went back to Camp Forrest. The infantry [Annotator's Note: 33rd Infantry Division] was being sent to guard bridges and things like that. We were not really at war. We were helping Britain with Lend Lease [Annotator's Note: Lend-Lease Policy, officially An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States 1941 to 1945]. He was transferred into an anti-tank battalion. He had applied three times for the Air Force. He got his orders [Annotator's Note: to go to Aviation Cadet school] the day he was to leave for the Philippines. His colonel made him get on the ship anyway. The Japanese took the Philippines, so he ended up in Hawaii for about a year. He applied for the Air Force again. He got his orders and went to navigation school in San Marcos, Texas [Annotator's Note: at San Marcos Army Airfield]. He realized then he would become an officer. He went through school and graduated after three months. He was sent to be assigned to a crew. He went to Pyote, Texas [Annotator's Note: to Pyote Army Airfield] in the middle of nowhere. They did some training as a crew. They went to Kearney, Nebraska [Annotator's Note: to Kearney Army Airfield] and then to England.

[Annotator's Note: There is background noise throughout this clip.] Jack Sinise had heard about the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. The other heavy bomber was the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. They had heard that the B-17 was more "customer-friendly", especially for the navigator. The B-24 was not like that. The B-24 could fly a little higher and carry a little bigger bomb load, but it could not take the punishment that the B-17 could. Once you start flying in them, they do not seem that big. They trained in the AT-7 [Annotator's Note: Beechcraft AT-7 advanced trainer aircraft] for navigation. There would be three students and an instructor. The B-17 looked huge until you stuck it up against a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. When they got to England, they were not assigned to a group yet and a B-29 flew in with Doolittle [Annotator's Note: then US Army Air Forces Colonel, later US Air Force General, James H. Doolittle] onboard. Sinise is glad he was in a B-17. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer starts to give his thoughts on the B-17 at 0:18:02.000 and Sinise asks him to speak up because he is hard of hearing 0:18:11.000 to 0:18:30.000.] On his first mission [Annotator's Note: as a navigator in the 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force], they went to France. He saw flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] but it was like a movie. After seeing a few planes shot down, he realized it was a little more personal. On his fifth or sixth mission, they were nearing the target. There was a noise, and the bombardier flew off his seat. It was flak coming through the window. Sinise still remembers the sound. He flew some tough missions where a lot of planes were shot down, and saw men float by in their parachutes. They were not to open their parachutes until they got down a little bit. A man named Casey [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to further identify] told Sinise that when he got hit, all he could think of was not to pull his chute. His copilot had gone out first and when he hit the ground, the civilians killed him. Casey delayed and landed in the woods. There was a hospital and could see men looking out the windows. The German police came and got him. Hamburg [Annotator's Note: Hamburg, Germany] had been hit quite a few times.

Jack Sinise arrived in England in January 1944 [Annotator's Note: and joined the 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. The first groups got in in 1943 and took a real beating. They did not have enough fighter support and only had P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] which could only fly about to the German border. They thought the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] could take care of itself. It had good firepower, but when the air support turned and went home, there were about 200 German fighters waiting for them. The one mission everybody talks about was when 60 planes were sent on a raid. The German fighters shot them down. It was the raid on Schweinfurt Annotator's Note: Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, 17 August 1943] by the 100th Group [Annotator's Note: 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. They were called the "Bloody 100th". 60 airplanes is 600 guys. Sinise got there when the P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] came in and there were some P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft]. That turned things around. Sinise's group, the 379th Bomb Group was known for flying tight under orders from their commander. The German fighters would come down looking for the loose groups that they could fly through. [Annotator's Note: They stop to adjust the microphone.] They were based in Kimbolton [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Kimbolton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England]. When he got there, he got on the train north of London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. They stopped at Cambridge [Annotator's Note: Cambridge, England] and he walked around. Kimbolton was a little village. They got there in time for dinner. Somebody yelled out his name. It was the sister of a guy he went to high school with. She was with the Red Cross. He went to the barracks. After a couple of days, he would learn about other guys. One guy was not flying anymore because he heard bells. Some guys could not take the missions. When Sinise became a lead navigator, the busiest time was over the target. He was told all he needed was a map, a pencil, and a calculator. There were only three bomb sights in the whole group. They dropped the bombs after the lead plane did. If it was cloudy and you could not see, you did not go. Over the target, the bombardier took over and the bombsight flew the plane like an autopilot. Hell could be breaking loose around you, but you did not have time to look out the window or thinking about what was going on.

Jack Sinise got hit a number of times [Annotator's Note: as a navigator aboard Boeing B-17 FLying Fortress heavy bombers in the 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. The worst was when they had a minute to go in a bomb run. They got hit and the gas started streaming out. They lost an engine, and they were the lead plane. Because they lost power and started down, the group started following them. The pilot alerted them to go on their own. They did manage to fly all the way back to the base on two-and-a-half engines. They were alone. Another plane was coming back by itself, shot up badly. A German fighter pulled up alongside and instead of shooting them down, he took them on a route to the Channel [Annotator's Note: the English Channel] and they got home. The pilots later met a reunion. The German said there was no point. Sinise got there when they made the first run to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] because they had fighters all the way there and back. He did not go on the first one but went a couple of times. The longest mission was to Marienberg, [Annotator's Note: Marienberg, Germany] near Poland. At the briefing, the blackboard was covered. One of the first things he would ask when they woke him up [Annotator's Note: for a mission] was how many gallons of gas they put in. If they filled it, they knew they were going pretty far. On D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Sinise was in London [Annotator's Note: London, England] on a break and went to a show. He came out and the newspaper guys were yelling that D-Day started. He had to report back but the weather was not too good. Sinise went over [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France] three days later.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Jack Sinise what his roughest mission was.] Besides one where they got hit and lost gas and engines, they were supposed to bomb a crossroads at Falaise [Annotator's Note: Falaise, France]. Sinise was looking ahead to the turning point. [Annotator's Note: A phone rings and they stop at 0:43:40.000 to 0:44:24.] The town was a turning point [Annotator's Note: not the target]. There were four guns [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery] down there and they were knocking plane after plane out of the sky. Sinise said to turn short but was told to stay on course. They got hit and lost their oxygen. A piece of flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] knocked the Colonel off his seat. They lost the planes on their right and left. They made the turn. The Colonel was screaming that Sinise was not following procedure. Sinise was trying to keep the bombardier on oxygen. He does not think they hit the target. The bombardier was confused. The other one where they lost power and gas was probably the worst. The crew he flew with was hit on three missions after Sinise was off the crew. Once they were hit in the bomb bay. The radio operator was killed. The copilot had gotten what they called "flakky" [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder] and did not want to fly anymore. When they got hit bad, he left the pilot and went out through the nose. He was killed by civilians. He should not have been flying. Sinise did not have time to be scared. He got a piece of armor plating to sit on and wore a helmet. It was good to be busy. After he was all done with it and back in the United States, it caught up with him. He hated to go to bed because he did not want to dream. It was like that for about six months. He did not even want to go in airplanes.

The worst ride Jack Sinise had was when he came back [Annotator's Note: from the war in Europe]. He was sent to a navigator pool in Houston, Texas. They started hearing about people being picked to go fly The Hump [Annotator's Note: name given by Allied pilots to the air route over the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains] in Burma. They needed navigators for missions and Sinise did not want any of that. An order came down that said the navigators could go for bombardier or pilot training. Sinise signed up for pilot training, figuring it was not going to happen. He went right by 20,000 cadets at Kelly Field [Annotator's Note: Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas] and the next thing he knew he was in a Stearman [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet or PT-13 primary trainer aircraft]. Then he thought he did not really want to be there. There were rumors that if you 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], you could get out. He only lasted six weeks in pilot school. He returned to Ellington Field [Annotator's Note: in Houston, Texas] and applied to be an instructor. He had enough points to go home. He got on a DC-3 [Annotator's Note: Douglas DC-3 commercial airliner] and it got really stormy. They were at 10,000 feet and were being tossed all around. Sinise had really never gotten sick. In training, he ate a lot of popcorn and crackers to settle his stomach. Some of the planes on the flight line would give off the smells of gas, rubber, and vomit. He thought he was going to get sick in the storm. That was one of the worst rides he had flying. While he was in school, he had his first night mission from Texas to Kansas. They were learning to shoot the stars [Annotator's Note: celestial navigation]. There was a storm ahead of them. They were tossed all over the sky. The pilot said he had no control and thought they would have to bail out. He gained control and got out of there. They landed at Tinker Field, Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]. The next morning, they found out five airplanes in front of them had crashed. They lost 15 guys which was half the class.

[Annotator's Note: This clip begins with an extremely close shot of Jack Sinise's face and he is mid-sentence talking about having a party until 1:01:29.000.] Jack Sinise never personally faced any German fighters directly. They flew tight. Casey's [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify further] crew had a couple times [Annotator's Note: been attacked by German fighters]. By that time, the Germans had taken a lot of losses. The P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] was just super. In 1943, they had to fly 25 missions, but at that time, you were lucky to make that. Sinise had to fly 30 missions, but never felt like he was living on borrowed time because they had fighters by them. Sinise never realized how bad it was in 1943. If he had known that he would have been scared. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Sinise what his worst memory of the war is.] You do not think anything about it, and then later, you think you were pretty lucky when you think about what you did. There were a lot of things that could have happened. He did not think about it until he was done with it all. He was not thinking about the danger. Sinise thinks the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important. If you have not experienced it, things like this helps get an idea of what it was like. The worst part he ran into with post traumatic stress was when he went to Northwestern University [Annotator's Note: in Evanston, Illinois] on the G.I. Bill. For six months, he hated to go to bed. He would dream of train wrecks. He has nephews who have been in involved in Afghanistan [Annotator's Note: War in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001 to 2014, Operation Freedom's Sentinel, 2015 to present] and they have been affected. When Sinise finally got out, he did not want to even get in airplane. He held it back and thought he would work through it. He went to work for General Motors and bought an airplane. The war did not affect his career. He was in four and a half years. He started to normalize. He started at Northwestern in September 1945. A lot of guys came back and kind of fought the war for three or four years. The guys from high school had nothing to talk about [Annotator's Note: at school]. It is a goofy world we live in. He does not know why we go to war. Unless you experience it yourself, you do not really know. When he sees the Marines invading the islands, or D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], jumping in the water. He cannot imagine that. He would not wish that on anybody.