Lloyd William (Bill) Reese was born in Milton Center, Ohio. His father was a superintendent of schools. They moved to Bowling Green, Ohio where his brother was born and where his father was a county supervisor. The Great Depression didn’t really affect his family and childhood was pretty carefree. They were comfortable and he spent summers on a farm near Lima, Ohio. His father moved to Washington Court House, Ohio. Reese enjoyed high school – head of class annual – very aware of the state of the world at that time– took flying lessons at Fort Columbus, Ohio with a friend. He later attended Ohio State, studying Animal Science in the College of Agriculture. He enlisted in the US Army Air Forces when he was a junior in college. Bored with college, Reese enlisted in the Air Corps. His father was a coordinator for enlistment for the Air Corps with an office at Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio. Lloyd enlisted 6 December 1941 but didn’t get called up until April 1942. He was sent to Maxell Field Maxwell Field – [Annotator’s Note: now Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama] and by the time he got there, 30 or 40 people had already washed out. Not wanting to do that he went into bombardier work.

Lloyd Reese was asleep, and his father woke him to tell him about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He knew that we were in the war now. His brother went to West Point [Annotator’s Note: United States Military Academy, West Point, New York], but Lloyd was not admitted due to a hearing issue. He says he managed to pass the hearing test for the US Army Air Forces and enlisted. He went to Maxwell [Annotator’s Note: now Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama] and then was sent to California for more training. After Maxwell, he went to Victorville Annotator’s Note: Victorville Army Field, Victorville, California] for bombardier training. He trained on Beech 11s [Annotator’s Note: Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan] with 100-pound practice bombs. They were graded on how close they could get to the center of the target. He graduated November 1942. He felt training was easy. From Victorville they were sent to Salt Lake City [Annotator’s Note: Fort Douglas Army Air Field, Salt Lake City, Utah] and then to Tucson [Annotator’s Note: Tucson Army Air Field, now Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona] where they formed their crews. After that Alamogordo [Annotator’s Note: Alamogordo Army Air Field, now Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico]. Reese does not remember much about how the crew formed, but he thought it was a good bunch. They got their navigator late and he was the only one who had trouble with some of the crew.

Lloyd Reese trained to be a bombardier on the AT-11 [Annotator’s Note: Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan] and then the B-24 [Annotator’s Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator]. Reese liked the B-24 but said that every Sunday in training they would lose one. They had a joke–they smoked well–which meant when they crashed, they produced a lot of smoke. He first trained at Alamogordo [Annotator’s Note: Alamogordo Army Air Field, now Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico] they went to Clovis, New Mexico [Annotator’s Note: Clovis Army Air Field, now Cannon Air Force Base] which was a nicer area for training. From there to Topeka, Kansas [Annotator’s Note: Topeka Army Air Field] where they got their assigned aircraft. They loaded and went to West Palm Beach, Florida [Annotator’s Note: Morrison Field]. Reese says they then got a 100,000 dollar trip across the world – Puerto Rico [Annotator’s Note: Losey Field, Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico] – Georgetown [Annotator’s Note: Atkinson Field, Hyde Park, British Guiana]– Belém, Brazil [Annotator’s Note: Belém Army Air Field] for a week – Dakar, Africa [Annotator’s Note: Dakar Airport] this where their navigator really showed his skills. Then to Marrakesh [Annotator’s Note: Marrakesh Menara Airport] for a couple of weeks and stayed at a hotel [Annotator’s Note: hard to make out but likely the La Mamounia]. Then to Lands End [Annotator’s Note: geographical reference only; no city named this] in England. On the way up the coast of Europe, he liked looking over towards Spain which was pretty brown and then the green of England. He enjoyed the trip over a lot. Reese’s most significant memory was going in to the mess hall where he saw steak sauce in a quart bottle. He then went Shipdham near Norwich to his base [Annotator’s Note: Royal Air Force Shipdham, Dereham, England].

Lloyd Reese was a bombardier on a B-24 for the 67th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. He and his crew came into Shipdham [Annotator’s Note: Royal Air Force Shipdham, Dereham, England] as the first replacements into the 44th. The next day’s mission was to bomb Kiel Canal in Denmark. The 67th only had three remaining crews so their commander Pappy Moore [Annotator’s Note: Brigadier General Howard W. Moore] said to not go before they had more training. All three aircraft that went were shot down. Reese was not scared or worried though – he just accepted that they were at war. His first mission was over Marseille, France. They flew out of Marseille. The only time they worried because they had to land with a full load. Sub pens. They encountered light flak over the targets and lost no aircraft. Throughout this time, the German fighters would stay out of range. His first 11 missions were relatively uneventful – they arrived, hit their targets, and returned. On a mission to bomb the telephone offices in Sicily, Italy, Reese was the lead bombardier. He could not find the target, but he saw a nice tall building and he aimed for that. They successfully hit the building and found out later that the telephone offices had been moved there–the Germans wondered how they had known. [Annotator’s Note: he laughs] On another mission, they raided Rome, Italy. They were ordered to not drop bombs if they weren’t on target. Reese’s element was second in formation. As the bomb sight lined up and the lead bombardier hadn’t dropped any bombs, Reese decide to drop his. The rest of the formation followed suit. He didn’t speak of this at all until later at Salt Lake City [Annotator’s Note: no time reference is given]. He learned then that the success of that bombing of the railroad yards had made headlines in the paper. He had been afraid that he had made a mistake in releasing the bombs. [Annotator’s Note: he laughs heartily].

First Lieutenant Lloyd Reese flew 11 missions as a bombardier on a B-24 for the 67th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, when they took part in Operation Tidal Wave to bomb the oil refineries in Ploiești, Romania, 1 August 1943. They were not told much about the mission beforehand and he doesn’t recall any suspicions about it but knew something was different due to all of the low-level flying practice they were doing. The day of the raid they were driven out to the plane. Everything was completely normal, and they were not very concerned about the mission, however they lost a plane on take-off. [Annotator’s Note: Reese looks off-screen and says his wife gets mad, but then does not say why] Shortly after that, Walt Sorenson [Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Walter M. Sorenson], the navigator, and Reese saw another plane spiral out of control and crash about halfway into the mission. Over Yugoslavia, they encountered a biplane which left them alone. They dropped down into Romania to about 3,000 feet altitude and then lowered to 300 feet at the IP [Annotator’s Note: Initial Point; well-defined point used as starting point for the bomb run] and then came to the railroad yards. Reese’s group was the third element of the raid. The way in was easy. Reese had twin 50s [Annotator’s Note: .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun] in the nose and he shot up a couple of trains on the way in. He remembers a train idling while the engineer was drinking coffee and talking to someone in a horse-drawn wagon. Reese could not bring himself to shoot them. Later, after their aircraft crashed, an FW-190 [Annotator’s Note: Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger; English: Shrike] was coming towards them. Reese was sitting in the window expecting to be shot but the aircraft did not attack. He feels it was a trade-off.

Lloyd Reese was the bombardier on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator taking part in Operation Tidal Wave over Ploiești, Romania, 1 August 1943. Before his aircraft could get to the target they were hit; Reese dropped the bombs and they were hit again. The aircraft was struck once in the nose, once in the bomb bay, and once in rear turret. Hinely, the radio engineer, [Annotator’s Note: Technical Sergeant Jesse L. Hinely] put the fire out in the bomb bay where they had a 500-gallon fuel bladder. Reese saw that the bomb bay was riddled with holes, yet no one was hit by bullets. Frank, the rear turret gunner [Annotator’s Note: Staff Sergeant Frank J. Suponcic] was hit by flak. Hydraulic fluid was all over the plane making it slippery. Number four engine was on fire – when it quit, they knew they were going down. When Weaver, the pilot, [Annotator’s Note: First Lieutenant Worden Weaver] pulled back on the remaining engines, everyone hit the bulk head and the fire started again. The left wing caught fire and threw them to the right and into the bomb bay, where they bailed out. The guys who had gotten out were Frank Suponcic, the waist gunners [Annotator’s Note: Staff Sergeant James A. Brittain and Staff Sergeant Paul L. Breedlove, Jr.], and Hinley. They hit the ground and started looking for the crew from the flight deck. Reese saw the pilot going crazy around the front part of the plane so he went towards him. That’s when he first became scared. He was going by the engines and the ammunition was going off and there were flames in the cockpit. The navigator was stuck due to his parachute harness being caught on the window going through. Reese and Hinley were able to pull him out.

Lloyd Reese was the bombardier on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator taking part in Operation Tidal Wave over Ploiești, Romania. He was manning the nose machine guns as they approached Ploiești. He saw other aircraft being hit. He still hasn’t gotten over seeing a crew member crawling out of the nosewheel door of one aircraft and trying to hold on. He eventually fell with no parachute on. Another aircraft was low and on fire and he watched the pilot pull the plane up to allow the crew to get out, but he never saw anyone make it. Reese said he could not really see the targets being hit. Their target already had two tanks burning and their flight path was directly over them. When they flew over one tank, the heat pushed them up above 300 feet and that is when they got hit by enemy fire. He said the flames below them were very visible. He says today he wonders how they did it and he feels pretty lucky to have survived it at all. He lost his engineer when they crashed. He says that the crew was not very well acquainted. He won’t forget that when he got out of the plane and could see the B-24s heading back to Benghazi [Annotator’s Note: Benina airport, Benghazi, Libya], he felt incredibly lonely and devastated, which he had never felt before nor since. He does not know how Walt Sorenson Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Walter M. Sorenson, navigator], Bob Snyder [Annotator’s Note: Second Lieutenant Robert R. Snyder, copilot], and Weaver [Annotator’s Note: First Lieutenant Worden Weaver, pilot] walked several mile –Sorenson had his pants burned off and his skin was hanging off but he never complained. Reese got hit by shrapnel and had suffered burns getting the crew out of the cockpit. They were marched into a small village. They then were put aboard a truck and were taken to a doctor’s office and had their wounds dressed. The following day they went to Bucharest [Annotator’s Note: Bucharest, Romania]. They were captured by Romanians – he did not see a German until he was in a hospital a month later. All of the crew did well regarding their injuries. [Annotator’s Note; Reese asks his wife about the postwar life of Sorenson – hard to hear an answer]. They went from the hospital in Bucharest to one in Sinaia, Romania for about 6 weeks. Then they went to a prison camp.

Lloyd Reese was the bombardier on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator that was shot down over Ploiești, Romania. He says being a prisoner was boring. They played bridge in the mornings and gambled at night. They were in a Romanian camp and the Princess Caradja [Annotator’s Note: Princess Catherine Olympia Caradja, Romania] helped them. She could speak multiple languages which impressed him greatly. She later visited his family at their home in the United States. She was a true friend of the prisoners of war by getting them supplies and translating for them. Reese spent 13 months in prison. The Romanians had gotten out of the war and the Swiss came in to get them out of the prisons. They went down to a town [Annotator’s Note: unintelligible] where Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses came in and flew them all out. A few days after the Romanians got out of the war, they expected the Germans to come in. [Annotator’s Note: here the video cuts in and out] By the time they were leaving the camp towards Bucharest, Romania, they passed the Germans going in opposite direction. He feels that they were fed well for being prisoners. Russian POWs were cooks. They were paid in Romanian leu – they bought and butchered a hog once. They were able to read books provided by the Red Cross. He feels that his experience was better than average due to not being under the Germans. They were liberated 1 September 1944. He says it was a unique experience waiting for the B-17s and he loved seeing the P-51s overhead [Annotator’s Note: North American P-51 Mustang]. They went to Italy from there and he feels that there was no real reason to complain. They did not realize they were the first POWs to be liberated during the war. He had to return to England due to one person having charges brought against him and spent three months there due to that. Even though he and others were able to rent a top floor apartment in London, he did not like his time there. He later found that nobody rented the top floors due to the fact that that was where the buzz bombs hit. He does not recall where they left from to return to the United States. He arrived in Washington D.C. and went up to West Point to see his brother [Annotator’s Note: United States Military Academy, West Point, New York]. He remembers calling his family to let them know he had returned. He was surprised and happy that the phone company did not charge returning veterans for phone calls.

Lloyd Reese had been liberated from a prisoner-of-war camp in Romania in September 1945 and returned to the United States. Being back felt strange because everything had changed. Didn’t take Reese long to get back into the flow of life though. He needed to go New York and took the train. It was very crowded, and the conductor let him sleep in his personal bunk on the trip. Reese’s father had joined the Navy and was on the west coast, so he went to California to be with his family. He eventually moved to Houston to a farm. His brother was graduating that June at West Point. He met his future wife while there. He was farming when he heard the war had ended. He did not feel there should be so much celebration and that it should have been more of a quiet time [Annotator’s Note: the telephone rings and Reese gets lost in thought]. He got married in 1946. His parents had returned to Columbus, Ohio. Farming got bad money-wise and he had five daughters, so he went to the Veterans Agriculture Program and taught for two-and-a-half years. Then he got a job teaching high school while still farming for 25 years. Once his hearing started going bad, he didn’t enjoy teaching any longer and retired to the farm.

Lloyd Reese had been a prisoner-of-war after his Consolidated B-24 Liberator had been shot down over Ploesti, Romania. Reflecting on Ploesti, Reese says that [Annotator’s Note: he pauses for a long time before proceeding] things happen that make you find out about yourself. Pulling the crew out of the plane helped him know what he could do and helped his psyche. Other things are bigger than that that take away from you too and he wonders what his wife has had to put up with at times. [Annotator’s Note: his wife begins talking off-camera – can’t make it out a lot – says he had a bad experience when they went to a museum to see the planes, he had to be brought out in a wheelchair and be driven home – other than that she worries about him getting emotional when he remembers these things. He tears up at this.] He feels very lucky that he came back to the farm and got busy right away and didn’t have time to worry about too much. He feels one needs physical labor to survive postwar stress and that’s what saved him more than anything else. He says he just builds another rail to block things out that he doesn’t like and that he has spoken more about the war to the interviewer than to anyone else. Reese feels that future generations should learn this history. He had a chance to do this type of interviewing and he did not do it–now wishes he had done so. He hopes that future Americans will understand and learn from history because it is so important. He says the American flag’s importance is shown by the fact that he flies one. He gets very emotional and says it’s all very important.