John W. Towle was born in June 1921 in Sequoyah Hills. Towle's family moved to a dairy farm in Bearden when he was three years of age. [Annotator's Note: Sequoyah Hills and Bearden are neighborhoods in Knoxville, Tennessee.] Work on a dairy farm was difficult in the Great Depression. Towle and his family were lucky to have a dairy farm with a large garden. There was a nearby hill with five or six black families living there. The blacks had nothing to eat. They were good blacks so Towle's mother would provide milk and some food from the garden to them. Towle had three brothers and four sisters. Towle's oldest brother was killed in an airplane crash. Towle was the fifth born out of the eight siblings. Feeding eight children off a wooden stove was rough. His mother never complained about the situation. The children attended school in Knoxville. Both his parents believed in school and education. Some of Towle's family members had been school teachers. After supper, the children knew that homework was next. Towle's brother became a mechanic and ultimately worked in a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. His brother witnessed some of the prejudice against blacks during his tenure at that shipyard. The members of Towle's family have done well over their lifetimes. His youngest brother served in the occupation forces in Japan after the war. The older brother died in an airplane accident before serving. [Annotator's Note: Time is spent during the interview looking at the number of Towles who had served in the armed forces.]

John W. Towle volunteered for the service. He had been attending the University of Tennessee but had a wreck and was not able to finish. He worked in the needling furnace as a supervisor in the local airplane factory. He was even recommended as a shift supervisor for the plant. Because he was unmarried, he was passed over for the job. It angered Towle so he decided to join the Air Force like a buddy had previously done. Even though the factory work earned Towle a deferment from the service, he enlisted based on the commitment for him to be a mechanic on the ground. He attended boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi. A general came to the camp asking for people to fly in airplanes. Towle agreed to join up and fly. He next went to California to train on B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Forttress heavy bomber] bombers. He had been training on B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] in Biloxi. After California, the top trainees were sent to Salinas, Kansas to work mechanical problems on the aircraft. He was the flight engineer on the airplane. The country was flat. It was somewhat frightening because Towle had not flown before. He also attended gunnery school. In Washington, Towle was assigned to a crew. He flew to Galveston, Texas to pick up a navigator and test his ability to find the home base. Pilots practiced flying in formation. On one occasion, there was a collision that killed the crews of three aircraft. Towle was asked to bring a dead crewmember back to Tennessee. He had a bad experience on the subway line in Chicago. When he reached home with the body, he found out that a girl he was interested in prior to joining the Army was the sister of the boy whose body he accompanied. Towle graduated from high school and was in college prior to his enlistment at 21 years of age. Towle became a flight engineer and therefore knew all about the engines and instruments. He could direct the pilot to drop the bombs or circle back to base if there was a problem. Towle's pilot even taught him how to land the plane.

John W. Towle was assigned to the 448th Bomb Group while in Washington. He still belongs to a veterans group and receives information from them. When deployed to the European Theater, Towle sailed on the Queen Elizabeth. It was a large ship. It was a new experience to Towle because he did not travel much. His father had only owned one vehicle, a Model T. His mother could hear the automobile coming and heard Towle's father yelling "Whoa!" to the vehicle. He did not use the brake but stopped only when he hit a tree. That vehicle was fixed up and given to Towle's brother so he could travel to Texas and work in the oilfields. The Queen Elizabeth brought Towle to Europe. It docked in Scotland upon arrival. They spotted a Russian submarine near their ship. [Annotator's Note: Towle goes on to discuss his views on the housing and traffic in California.]

John W. Towle spent time in Scotland after arriving from the United States on the Queen Elizabeth. He rode a train from his port of entry through Scotland. He was pestered for food, candy and tobacco. When he arrived in camp, there were three enlisted men crews, or 18 men, assigned to a barracks. They never got to know the other men because of casualties and rotation of personnel. They did not have time to socialize. They would go out on a mission at four o'clock in the morning. They usually got fresh eggs for breakfast, would do their mission then return and sleep. Enemy fighters could not reach the area where Towle was based. The British had every one of their trees marked because of their scarcity. The British people treated Towle well. He went to London a couple of times. Towle had a friend in the 385th Bomb Group near him. They would meet in London. At one point, Towle was thought to be missing in action by his friend. The Red Cross would let people know if a person was killed in action. Towle wanted to see his buddy so he hitched a ride on another plane to see him. There was a small club with only one man there. The one man sent him to his buddy. Towle's buddy had been drinking and was upset with him at first but then fainted. Towle told his friend to join him in London and they had quite a time there. They met some girls in a hotel and enjoyed their company. Some of the buildings had been bombed and left open to view. The London subways were full of people who had their homes bombed.

John W. Towle was stationed at Rattlesden, England. There are reunions with veterans of the 448th held in Rattlesden. The British welcome the former servicemen. Although it is a good trip, Towle does not attend because of expense and the loss of friends in his unit. The landscape in France was not familiar to Towle because he flew over it. There were times when flights would return from France after bad weather and dump their bomb loads off the coast of England. It resulted in the waste of so many bombs that the crews were ordered to return with their unexpended loads. It caused concern about the safety of their landings. Towle considered it meaningless to try to escape the German bombs by going underground. If one had your name on it, you would never escape.

John W. Towle flew his first missions over flying bomb sights in France. [Annotator's Note: The V-1 rocket bomb and V-2 missile were launched from the coast of France to hit various targets in England.] There was little antiaircraft fire, so he did not get hit. On another mission, the Americans were told not to fly over Paris. They could hit their primary target but the secondary target was Orly Airport. On that flight, incoming fire hit their oxygen tank and exploded. In later life, Towle would land in Orly. He told the pilot that he had bombed that airport. Towle preferred to fly through enemy aircraft rather than flak. The bombers could fight the enemy fighters. When flak was fired at them, the formations would open up. The crewmen would worry if it was their time. When attacked by fighters, the formation would tighten up for protection. Towle remembered some men crying after a terrible flight. Towle flew on 14 full missions and was shot down on his 15th mission. His bomber group hit Frankfurt hard. Schweinfurt with its ball bearing plants was bombed also. Towle was shot down while trying to bomb a flying bomb site. Towle never got to know any of the other squadron crews. They either were flying, sleeping or eating.

John W. Towle was flying towards his target with its flying bombs. The Germans placed their antiaircraft weapons in small towns to protect the guns from being strafed. Towle's plane was ready to open its bomb bay doors when flak destroyed the number four engine. It was hanging down and on fire. The plane went into a dive. Towle left his turret and could not hear the pilot's order to bail out. The copilot went out the bomb bay. The pilot shoved Towle out. The bombardier did not drop the bombs after the plane was hit. Towle used a latch in the bomb bay to release the bombs. After jumping from the aircraft, Towle delayed his pull on the ripcord so that the firing of the enemy would not ignite the parachute and burn it. He free fell for awhile and then pulled his cord. He was on the ground quickly as a result. The rest of the crew was caught by the Germans and spent over a year in prison. Towle had good luck. While he was unhooking his parachute, Germans were waiting for the other crewmen to land. Towle hid in a farm hedgerow until a farm girl brought him into her family home. The French family hid Towle below a false floor. The Germans came and tore the house apart but did not find a thing. The Germans returned later and Towle could again hear the hobnail boots of the soldiers above him. After it was quiet, the farmer gave Towle a drink of something that had a kick to it. He enjoyed that. He was hidden upstairs in the false floor area except during time to eat and stretch a bit. Towle stayed with the family for six months.

Communications for John W. Towle and his new French host family was difficult. With the help of a French to English translation dictionary, communications improved. One potential escape route was to go to Southern France and make his way to the Pyrenees in Spain. The option was risky with the Germans on the lookout. The farmer had been in World War 1 and had been gassed so his ability to work was limited. The Germans did not take him to work in Germany but took the farmer's wife instead. She had returned from that incarceration. Sometimes the workers were worked to death by the Germans. There are mass graves in France where civilians were buried after being killed by the Germans. [Annotator's Note: Towle recounts stories of German brutality toward the French.] Towle slept in the false floor space for two weeks until things quieted down. He would get out and exercise at night. As the Allies' progress grew closer, those periods outside were extended, but someone always stayed on watch lest the enemy approach and discover Towle. Food was scarce and often unidentifiable. He was glad to get whatever food he could. He wore the clothes of a trusted neighbor's son. Towle hid his GI shoes so the Germans could not discover them. Every Saturday, a French girl would shine his shoes. He would be shaved by a Frenchman but after awhile the razor was given to Towle. He learned to shave himself. The bread that was available was said to be made partially out of sawdust. It made Towle sick. A French boy would bring better bread to Towle from a neighbor who baked fresh bread on Friday. After Towle was liberated, the boy took him to his mother and told her that Towle had been the recipient of the missing bread. John Towle felt like he was well treated in the northern French town.

John W. Towle was shot down on 28 February 1944 over Normandy. The news of the war was scarce in occupied France so substantial news of the invasion was not readily available to Towle. The town of Dunkirk was about 40 miles from where Towle stayed. When liberation came, the French family hiding him asked him to take some of the silver coins they had kept from the Germans. The Bovary [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] family had three daughters about the same age as Towle. Towle still hears from the surviving oldest daughter. Some of the Bovary family members have come to visit Towle. None of the family members could speak much English during the war, but they claimed to know all the words in their translation dictionary. The family was amazing.

John W. Towle was liberated near the end of the war in Europe. British troops were in the northern region of France where Towle was hiding. The British tanks ran through the French fields near where Towle was staying. Towle could look out of the top floor window of the Bovary house and see the tanks running through stacks of hay. The British were headed to Belgium. Everyone in the village ran out to meet the Allied troops. The commander of the English troops asked if anyone could speak English and Towle stepped forward. He told the commander he could not speak French. An English translator told the French villagers to go back home and not light up their homes because enemy guns were near them. They were told to wait until the next night to celebrate. That same night, English officers dropped by to ask if they could sleep in the nearby barn because of rainy weather. The neighbor's barn was given to the Allied troops so that they could get out of the weather. It was hard for Towle to understand the dialect of some of the Englishmen. That night, the British officer gave orders for his men to capture some nearby German troops. A captured German captain requested a cigarette. It was given to him by a British lieutenant. The German asked if he could reach for a light for his cigarette, but, instead, he pulled out his gun and shot the English lieutenant. Towle was very close to the action. The British troops immediately killed the enemy officer. The French buried the English lieutenant nearby. The officer's mother built a small monument to him where he was buried. The townspeople keep up the monument. The American public does not know the full story of what the Germans did during the war. In another incident recollected by Towle, the Germans took two boxcars full of candy from France through Belgium. Germany was short of sugar and candy was a precious treat. The American airplanes did not know what was in the cars so it was subject to strafing attack. When children discovered it was boxcars full of candy, they ran toward the sweet luxuries. Some SS officers lined up and shot the children who were merely trying to have some candy. [Annotator's Note: Towle is emotionally struck by the injustice of the German action.] After the German officer shot the English lieutenant, Towle left the Bovary home within a week. The English infantry had set up a base near the location where Towle was living. An offer was given to Towle to ride to Paris so he could rejoin the Americans. Towle accepted the English offer and left the Bovary family. He tried to express his appreciation to the family, but his French was limited. As Towle was leaving, people lined the country road as the airmen were exiting. Another downed airman made the trip with Towle. In the town of St. Paul, a woman was seen being persecuted in the town square. The woman's hair was cut in a public demonstration. She was run out of town. [Annotator's Note: The persecution was likely the result of the woman being a Nazi collaborator or lover.]

John W. Towle was given a jeep ride after leaving the Bovary family and arrived in Paris at the 15th Air Force headquarters. The 15th flew two engine bombers. Towle was told to be careful in his civilian clothes. That did not worry Towle. Towle called out to a soldier and identified himself and his traveling mate as downed American airmen. An American lieutenant asked them many questions and eventually brought them in and provided clothes to them. They were also given a trip to England in a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] transport. They took off from a steel runway in France. When they arrived in England, they were asked many questions about the United States. Towles had no problem because he was a student of history. His traveling mate was frightened because he did not know as much about America. When given the opportunity to call his folks back home, Towle refused. Towle would not call home until he was actually in America. There was too much sea to traverse before he notified his family. Eventually, he agreed and talked to father. His father called to Towle's mother to confirm it was their missing son. It was a happy occasion when they recognized that it was their son. [Annotator's Note: Towle becomes emotional with the memory.] Towle arrived in the United States via London and Scotland and with an unexpected priority; he managed to leave quickly because his friend had family members in the Red Cross. The airplane was full of high ranking officers except for Towle and his friend. Towle went to Washington, D.C. for interrogation. Since the Allies had already progressed through the area where the Bovary family and Towles had been located, he was sent to Atlanta. Towle was given a fast track to return home from there. Traveling by rail and bus, he made it home. He arrived home in September[Annotator's Note: September 1944]. Towle felt he had been around the world.

John W. Towle returned home to Tennessee and married his wife in May 1945. Although he had attended the same high school with her, she was younger than him. He did not know her until after his return home on leave prior to going overseas. He was married for 67 years as of the time of the interview. Towle had two successful children with four grandchildren and one great grandchild. His wartime experiences are so personal that one would have had to been there to appreciate the circumstances.