Lorcey J. Sonnier was born in May 1924. During the Great Depression, he did not have shoes. The town did not have roads. His father grew the food his family ate and raised farm animals. The family did not trade with other farmers. Sonnier grew up with a sister. The family had two workers who helped them with the farm. When he was 13 years old, Sonnier's father died. He dropped out of school a few years later to work on the farm. He could have been deferred from military service. He did not want to be classified as 4-F [Annotator's Note: unfit for military service] or judged by the towns people. Sonnier was drafted into the service. He reported to Abbeville [Annotator's Note: Abbeville, Louisiana], then went to Lafayette [Annotator's Note: Lafayette, Louisiana] for a physical. Afterwards, he went to Camp Beauregard [Annotator's Note: Pineville, Louisiana]. He was finally sent to Keesler Field [Annotator's Note: now Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi], where he found out he was in the Air Force. After his basic training, Sonnier shipped out to Buckley Field near Denver [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado]. He learned how to operate a .50 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun]. He then shipped to Laurel Field in Denver, where he learned how to be an armorer-gunner. That involved becoming an electrician on a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] and being a bomb loader. After that, Sonnier went to Nellis Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: near Las Vegas, Nevada] where he learned air to air gunnery. He spent six or seven weeks there. Afterwards, he was sent to Texas, where he did B-17 training and formed his crew. He learned to shoot a rifle. When he finished in Texas, Sonnier was given a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], then was sent overseas.

Lorcey J. Sonnier departed from Maine for duty overseas. He made a stop in Newfoundland, Iceland, Ireland, and Scotland before landing in England [Annotator's Note: England, United Kingdom]. After a few weeks, Sonnier was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 322nd Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. His crew was ready for action. Another crew had to be taught how to fly in formation. His crew did not need that practice. They had extra flight time and time on the range. Sonnier's unit was stationed at Bassingbourn, near Cambridge [Annotator's Note: Cambridge, England]. The first mission Sonnier flew was to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. The raid took place on 8 March, and took ten hours and 20 minutes. He does not know what he bombed that day. He was tense during the mission. The flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was popping around him and he did not know where the next one would hit. He saw some planes take direct hits from flak guns. He watched planes explode. There were also problems with German fighter planes. They would attack from all directions. No one knew where they would strike. The Americans called the Germans "Jerry" [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Germans]. Sonnier was escorted by P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft], P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightening fighter aircraft], and P-47s [Annotator’s Note: Curtiss P-47 fighter plane]. Those planes had extra fuel tanks on their wings. Planes next to Sonnier were going down. Nobody in his plane were wounded on that first mission. On the Cherbourg Raid [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France], his plane had 147 holes in it. He was able to hear the flak pop in the air. He also saw the shrapnel. After a mission, Sonnier was interrogated and then allowed to drink. The Germans knew where the planes would go four hours ahead of time. During the Cherbourg Raid, Sonnier's plane broke out of formation. The flak was very heavy. The B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] were not supposed to break formation, but the flak was just too heavy. It was thick enough to walk on. The ground soldiers thought the flight crews were all glory. However, there was nowhere to hide in a plane. Sonnier felt like a sitting duck. Sonnier does not remember the target of the Cherbourg Raid. He did not lose an engine during that raid. He lost two engines during the Munich Raid [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. He does not remember what he bombed, but he lost an engine over the target. His plane was forced to drop in elevation. Two German planes were after Sonnier's bomber. The fighter pilots liked to attack a wounded bomber. Two P-38s chased the Germans away. One of the P-38 pilots waved to show he was going to strafe a train. The train exploded and the pilot returned. On the way home, the second engine died. When he was over England, Sonnier received orders to prepare to jump. The crew threw anything they could out of the plane. Fortunately, they did not have to ditch the plane. Only one crewman jumped out of the plane. He landed in a tree surrounded by armed Englishmen. The plane landed and they went to pick up their missing crewman. That was the roughest raid he went on. The landing was fine. He did not have the best pilot, but he was good. Munich and Cherbourg were bad, but Sonnier believed Cherbourg was worse because of the flak. That raid took place right before D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. They were always trying to deceive the Germans. They did deceptions on various raids.

Lorcey J. Sonnier mostly bombed oil depots, factories, plane factories, ball bearing factories and bridges. This helped cut supplies to the Germans. Sonnier does not remember shooting down a plane. He shot at many planes. He was not concerned with claiming a kill. The German planes were fast and would come out of nowhere. After the war when talking to other vets, he said Germans never came into their formation. It was because they flew tight formations. Sonnier acted as his pilot's eyes, telling him when people were out of formation behind the plane. His gun never jammed. He took care of the guns on the plane because he was the only one trained for that work. He worked in the bomb bay as well. He checked the bomb bay before the plane took off. Sonnier never had to abort a mission. Sometimes he was sent to a secondary target, if the weather was bad, Sonnier participated in 30 missions. Before he went on a mission, he was given the Last Rites [Annotator's Note: religious ritual given at the time of ones death] because he was a Catholic. Sonnier does not remember his last mission. He flew with a different crew, but with the same pilot. It was an easy mission. A few days later, he was sent home. He landed in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York], then to Mississippi. He then took a bus to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was given a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and had a good time. Afterwards, he was sent to Miami Beach [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida] to receive shots. After Miami, Sonnier was sent to Laurel Field [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado] to teach armor for three months. He was then sent to Keesler [Annotator's Note: then Keesler FIeld, now Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi] as a drill instructor. He then fought fires and was then discharged. He had good times in England. He could go to clubs. He never went to a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] show. When he was in London [Annotator's Note: London, England], the German Buzz Bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] would go overheard. They never landed near him. While Sonnier was in London, there would be blackouts when the air sirens started.

Lorcey J. Sonnier began drinking too much after the war. He went back to farming when he returned home. He got married and eventually stopped drinking. He thinks the world was changed by the war. Sonnier thinks America became more competitive in the world. He thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a good idea. People do not know what happened during the war. None of Sonnier's crewmen were wounded during the war. He thinks that was a miracle. He flew a B-17G [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. Originally, he flew older models, but eventually received the model G. He thought the B-17 was a warhorse. One of Sonnier's friends flew in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] and thought it was the better plane. The B-24s were bulky, but a little faster. The B-17 was slick. The Germans were sharp and wanted to take out the Americans. Some of the Germans would collide with the B-17s on purpose. Sonnier prayed and cursed in French and English while on missions. He is glad he went to war. He would not like to, but would if he had to. He would not want his kids to have to go to war. Sonnier praised the fighter pilots because they took care of the bombers. He thanks the government for helping the veterans after the war. They gave veterans good benefits. He feels lucky to have survived to his old age.