Joseph Pilcher was born in March 1925 and at the age of 17, the Army Air Corps allowed him to test for cadet training. He passed, and on his 18th birthday in 1943, he was called to report to the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas]. He underwent more tests to determine whether he would best be suited for training as a pilot, bombardier or navigator. Pilcher wanted to be a pilot, and thankfully, he qualified. He took three months of ground training at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center then went to primary flight school at Victoria, Texas [Annotator's Note: Aloe Army Airfield] where he flew a PT-19 [Annotator’s Note: Fairchild PT-19 primary trainer aircraft]. He then went to Garden City, Kansas for three months of basic flight training in the BT-13 [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft] and then went back to Victoria for advanced flight training. Given his choice of aircraft, Pilcher elected single engine fighters and trained on an AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American Aviation AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. During the last part of his training, Pilcher sat in the cockpit of his plane, studying instruments and controls until he could identify them by touch, blindfolded. Pilcher graduated, and was commissioned a second lieutenant, after which he was assigned to instruct cadets in instrumentation. He was selected for combat replacement training and went to Camp Springs Army Air Field in the suburbs of Washington D. C. where he learned to fly P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]. He had one very bad experience during that training. On a training flight, Pilcher crashed into a pine forest and his plane broke apart. He was hospitalized with contusions and scratches and had to wait for the next class of pilots to complete his training. Afterward, he received deployment orders, and went to the Port of Embarkation at New York where he boarded the RMS Queen Elizabeth to cross the Atlantic. After five uneventful days, Pilcher arrived in Scotland then proceeded by train to Shrewsbury Royal Air Force Base in England for six more weeks of training in P-47s.

Replacement pilots were in high demand in Europe so Joseph Pilcher was sent to Rennes, France for assignment to a combat squadron [Annotator's Note: 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, 19th Tactical Air Command, 9th Air Force]. His first quarters were in a luxurious chateau, and it was from Rennes that he flew his first combat mission over Nazi occupied Europe. His squadron was moved to Etain, France, near Verdun, where his mode of living changed. He had a bunk and a sleeping bag in a ten pilot tent heated by a coal fired stove. The tents were arranged in a quadrangle, and at one corner was the mess tent, where he got special consideration because he was a pilot. Twice a week, he got two fresh eggs from the countryside and the cook would prepare them to order. And twice a month he was issued two bottles of class-6 liquor which he gave away. Their squadron's mission was close support, flying near the front lines to strafe and bomb the opposition. Because their positions were always changing, the engineers stayed ready with perforated steel mats that could be laid down to form a narrow landing strip close to areas of engagement. The ground forces would lob smoke bombs to indicate where fire was needed, and placed "cerise panels" [Annotator's Note: air recognition panels; cerise was one of the colors used] over tanks and trucks to help prevent damage from friendly fire, although it still happened on occasion. As the front lines moved, the engineers moved the landing strips. Once they reached Frankfurt, Germany, they had a regular air field, but when the troops got as far as Straubing, Germany the pilots were once again flying off the transportable mats. Pilcher was at Straubing when the war in Europe ended, and most of his squadron mates had enough points to go back to the United States. Although Pilcher had more points than required, he initially thought he wanted to continue flying in the Pacific; he was 19, didn't know much about life, and had no girlfriend waiting for him back home. But when he saw all his friends leaving, Pilcher cried. He went to the new commanding officer, and asked to be sent home. His request was granted, but wasn't fulfilled until everybody from his own group had gone.

In Brussels, Belgium, Joseph Pilcher was surprised to run into his former typing teacher from Lafayette High School [Annotator's Note: in Lafayette, Louisiana]. Pilcher was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but his father, a combat veteran of World War 1, deserted the family when his youngest child was "still in the womb." Pilcher said he never knew his father, and when he was four years old, his divorced mother moved her four children to Lafayette, Louisiana. He spent his youth in Lafayette, where he got his early education in the public schools, and spent one semester at Southwestern Louisiana Institute [Annotator's Notes: Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning now University of Louisiana at Lafayette or ULL in Lafayette, Louisiana]. Pilcher volunteered for the armed forces because he wanted to make his contribution to what was known as the "just war." As a teenager, he was moved by the movies he saw about pilots, and he wanted to experience that "glorious, glamorous" life. He marveled at the organization and ingenuity of the American officials, and their ability to transform country boys like him into trained soldiers. He feels the real heroes of World War 2 were the military, government and business leaders who pulled together the American resources needed to win a world war.

When he arrived on the European continent, Joseph Pilcher was assigned to the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, 19th Tactical Air Command, 9th Air Force that supported General Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] Third Army. He noted that after the war, his adjutant put together a squadron history for posterity. Asked to report on some of his more memorable missions, Pilcher began by recounting how their squadron dive bombed in trail formation, one aircraft after another. If the wingman followed the lead bomber too closely, he would be caught in the explosions produced by the first plane. Two new replacement pilots in his squadron were lost in that way. He remembered seeing a P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] shot in half midair by German 88mm [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. Another incident was written up in the squadron's weekly bulletin called "The Mauler." The article declared that Pilcher was "the luckiest pilot in the 9th Air Force," and described how he brought home an aircraft that had taken a bullet in its under-seat auxiliary gas tank, and by some miracle the plane did not explode. Pilcher said that when he took the ground fire hit, he knew the tank was burning, and wanted a lot of altitude so he could safely bail out, so he climbed to about 30,000 feet. He contends that the fire was choked out by lack of oxygen at that height. Typically, the squadron's targets were wooded areas near the front lines where the enemy was taking cover; but they often went out hunting for railroad tracks, boxcars, or marshaling areas. On those forays, they went through a lot of small arms fire and flak. The 20mm small arms fire was identifiable by little telltale puffs of grey smoke; the 88mm artillery produced huge balls of heavy black smoke with metal flying out in all directions. Pilcher said they would "hope for the best and go in anyway" but they lost a lot of P-47s and pilots in the process. He felt the P-47 was well suited for the job: it could take a lot of punishment.

On the day Joseph Pilcher shot down an Fw-190 [Annotator’s Note: German Focke-Wulf Fw-190 fighter aircraft], he was flying wingman to an older, more experienced element leader who was the first to attack the enemy aircraft. That plane's guns burned out and Pilcher could see that, when he fired, the tracers were circling. So Pilcher went in to engage the German aircraft. According to the confirmation account, it took place in the vicinity of Hessen, Germany, and the enemy aircraft, a long nosed Focke-Wulf 190 [Annotator's Note: Fw-190-D], was heading west at an altitude of 3,000 feet. Pilcher, going under the name of "Red Three" took over the chase, which continued for about three minutes. His encounter report states that he had just pulled up from a strafing pass on a motor transport when the sighting was called in. He looked back and saw the enemy plane, climbed after him, and as he closed in to firing range at about 6,000 feet, the Fw-190 turned 180 degrees into Pilcher, and Pilcher turned too, firing short bursts, but not striking him. Pilcher gave chase while the Fw-190 "turned one way and then the other, skidding, diving and zooming." Pilcher hit the enemy's engine, left wing and left side of the canopy, and the aircraft "fell off on a wing", a 90 degree left bank, then went into a vertical dive, trailing smoke. The pilot jettisoned his canopy and bailed out; the plane hit the ground and disintegrated. The chute did not open fully and the pilot did not move when he hit the ground. Downing an enemy plane was usually cause for a "victory roll" when the pilot returned to base, but Pilcher, a cautious flyer, wouldn't do acrobatics at low altitude.

Joseph Pilcher said that when the war ended in Europe, it seemed like every aircraft in the 9th Air Force went airborne. He remembered flying in a huge formation, and for as far as he could see to the left and right American airplanes were out in a show of force. To Pilcher, that was his most dangerous mission because of the possibility of a mid-air collision. Pilcher returned to the United States in September 1945 on a Liberty Ship and reported to Aloe Army Airfield in Victoria, Texas. After a couple of months, he decided to separate from the Army, but he "kept a reserve commission." He went back to college, earned a degree in accounting, and after graduation in 1949 went to work for the Louisiana State Department of Education. When the Korean War broke out, he was called back to active duty, and although he was still on flying status, he worked for the Army finance office in England. To keep his flying status, he was allowed to fly in B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] or B-52s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber] to many of the capitals in Europe; Pilcher said it was a good time for him. Nonetheless, he requested a transfer to fighters again, and got the reply "not favorably considered." In Army terms, "no." After two years, he was sent to California and entered transition intensive training to fly B-47s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-47 Sratojet subsonic strategic bomber], qualification for which required triple a rating as a navigator, bombardier and pilot. Pilcher's first assignment was at Chennault Air Force Base in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and after a year or two, he was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida for five years. During the Cold War period of "MAD", Mutually Assured Destruction, Pilcher said he participated in nuclear airborne alerts when airplanes were loaded, ready to go, and already in the air.

Flying the B-47 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-47 Sratojet subsonic strategic bomber] was great, according to Joseph Pilcher, but refueling, avoiding explosions after a nuclear bomb drop, and minimal interval takeoffs or MITO were problems. Pilcher was part of the cleanup crew, picking up body and plane parts, when a B-47 mission failed during his tenure at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. He later went to Walker Air Force Base at Roswell, New Mexico for B-52 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber] training. Pilcher compares the B-47 and B-52 aircraft and his experiences with them. Pilcher estimated that he logged about 400 hours on airborne alert during which time he carried nuclear weapons.

When he retired from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Great Falls, Montana, in February 1967 after 24 years of service, Joseph Pilcher was a lieutenant colonel. He went back to school at the University of New Orleans [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to get a master's degree in accounting, then settled into that profession. He commented that the advancement in technology in the aircraft field commenced in World War 2, and today's planes practically fly themselves. Pilcher said his most memorable experience during World War 2 was crashing a P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]; he thought for sure that would be the end of his life. A Catholic, he remembers uttering his most sincere prayer at that moment. He said the scariest part of his 83 combat missions was when his aircraft caught fire and he climbed to 30,000 feet in preparation for a bail out. Post service, his most memorable flying experience was getting a private pilot's license, without having ever flown a light aircraft and, initially, not being able to make a respectable landing.

Joseph Pilcher volunteered for the armed forces during World War 2 because he thought it was his duty; he, like everyone he knew, wanted to contribute what they could to defeat the Germans and the Japanese. He hadn't anticipated a military career, but his service gave him a comfortable retirement, and he was ultimately able to practice his chosen profession. Pilcher related the story of a dismount accident that left him with limited motion in his left arm, but he continued to fly, and he described how he managed mid-aid refueling with the resulting condition. Asked what he thought World War 2's relevance is today, he observed that it seems there will always be wars, and worries whether today's young people could get through the rigorous training it took for him to become a well-trained soldier. He agreed that some have stepped up to fight the current conflicts, but in an all-out war, everyone would be needed. He thinks it important for institutions to teach the lessons of the war, but doesn't view The National WWII Museum as a teaching facility, although it is a world-class "tourist" museum; he doesn't know if it imparts enough of a warning to keep the same thing from happening again.