Richard Klenoski was born in Saginaw, Michigan in June 1924. He had three brothers and two sisters and was number two. His father worked at the Chevrolet [Annotator's Note: automobile manufacturer] foundry as a foreman. He kept working during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s], but only parttime. They managed; everybody was in the same boat. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Klenoski where he was when heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] He and some friends had gone rabbit hunting. They finished around noon and stopped to get lunch at his uncle's house. His uncle told them of the attack. He knew where Pearl Harbor was. He figured he was going to get drafted sooner or later. He got his draft notice about a year later on 18 February 1943. He went to Battle Creek [Annotator's Note: Battle Creek, Michigan] to Fort Custer for induction then to Camp Rucker, Alabama for basic training in the Army. He was assigned to a combat engineer battalion. Klenoski had a choice of being a parachutist or Air Force and he did not want to be a parachutist. He got a recommendation from his First Sergeant to transfer. He sat around for two months before going to advanced scout training. In the afternoon on graduation day, his orders came through. He went to Dalton, Florida [Annotator's Note: possiby Dunnellon Army Air Field in Marion County, Florida] to the airbase and took tests. He passed and a week later he was called up to Miami Beach [Annotator's Note: Miami Beach, Florida]. That was nice duty in a hotel on the beach. They would drill for about an hour and spend the rest of the time in PT [Annotator's Note: physical training] on the beach. He then went to Winthrop College, South Carolina [Annotator's Note: now Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina], which at the time was an all girl college. That was nice duty. There were about 30 men there and they had to take three girls each to a dance. He then went to Nashville [Annotator's Note: Nashville, Tennessee] for exams. He qualified for pilot, navigator, and bombardier. He knew there was not much room for more pilots, so he chose navigation. Klenoski went to Laredo [Annotator's Note: Laredo, Texas] for gunnery school and then to Hondo, Texas for navigation school. On 14 November 1944, he graduated and became a Second Lieutenant. He went on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] then went to Casper, Wyoming for crew training. His pilot and copilot were also from Michigan. The gunners were all from the east. He got married on New Year's Eve 1944 while there.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Klenoski joined his bomber crew in Casper, Wyoming in late 1944.] He was married on New Year's Eve [Annotator's Note: 31 December 1944]. They picked up a new airplane in Lincoln, Nebraska and that was the first time he saw the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. They flew overseas from Lincoln to Bangor, Maine to Greenland and stopped there to work on the plane's engines. They went to Iceland and then into England. They took that airplane away and sent him to the "Black 24s" [Annotator’s Note: B-24 Liberators that were painted black and were assigned to the 492nd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] which were known as the Carpetbaggers [Annotator's Note: Operation Carpetbagger, January 1944 to July 1945]. They were the people who dropped all the spies flying at night. By the time Klenoski got there, they were dropping surrender leaflets to German bases. There were about 12 ships a night doing that. He flew eight missions doing that. On his ninth mission [Annotator's Note: on 26 April 1945], they flew a course to get altitude. They were trying to build their height and the plane iced up. They dropped back down and flew around and then they iced again. A B-24 has a Davis wing [Annotator's Note: aircraft wing design] that has 98 percent lift. If it turns over, it has negative 98 percent. The airplane started turning over and the pilot signaled to bail out. Klenoski's bailout spot was the nose wheel. He opened the doors, reached down with his foot and had his flying boot blown off. He does not remember how he got out. The plane went into the ground below him. They lost their pilot. The copilot sprained his foot and was in the hospital. This put Klenoski in command. They were at Leamington on the Spa [Annotator's Note: Royal Leamington Spa, civil parish, Warwickshire, England]. Klenoski went to a house. Thankfully, the plane went into a plowed field. The copilot said the pilot likely tried to pull the plane out. Klenoski had about 20 holes in his parachute. A paratrooper told him he was missing about three panels on the chute. Klenoski wanted to go see the staff sergeant who had packed his chute. They returned to the base. A Major took his chute to the staff sergeant. They stayed a week in a rest home. The enlisted men went one and the officers to another one, a beautiful English mansion, with all the food they wanted. He was there on 8 May [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1945] when the Germans gave up.

[Annotator's Note: After his bomber crashed, Richard Klenoski was in a rest home in England when the Germans surrendered on 8 May 1945.] He returned to his base and they were flying newspaper reporters around. He was called down to navigate on a flight to Denmark to deliver some papers. He went in a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. The pilot cut the speed but the parachute cords to drop the papers was wrapped around the gear at the bomb bay door and the papers got stuck. They had to fly back to England. Klenoski was afraid the pilot would lose control. They tried to cut the cords. They managed to land. He then flew with reporters to a town that had been leveled except for a cathedral. He got his orders home. They had 20 people aboard that B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] to Iceland. They went from Iceland to Bangor, Maine. He took a train to outside of Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. He was assigned to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A navigator buddy was scheduled to get out. A plane was going to Chicago and the buddy flew on it to take his clothes home. The airplane crashed and he was killed. None of his crew members would take him home [Annotator's Note: take his body home for the funeral; Klenoski gets angry]. Klenoski 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] to get out. He had been at home on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] when the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] surrendered [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. He was in uniform and everyone invited him to have a drink. His wife was having trouble with their first child when he went to Chicago for the funeral of the navigator. His wife lost the baby. He got out in December [Annotator's Note: December 1945]. His leave time took him into February [Annotator's Note: February 1946], and he was promoted to First Lieutenant. That was the end of his active-duty time.

Richard Klenoski volunteered for aviation training while training to be a combat engineer. He qualified to be trained as a pilot, navigator, or bombardier. He chose navigation because he thought it was more of a job he wanted to do because he would be working all the time. He used celestial navigation at night. The navigators were briefed at nine in the morning. The rest of the crew was sleeping. They would plan their trips then. The Mosquito [Annotator's Note: British de Havilland DH. 98 Mosquito multirole combat aircraft] bombers flew nights as well. They were flying to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany], so they wanted to know where the Mosquitos were flying. They would be told that Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was in there someplace and stay out of that area. To him, wars are fought by generals and not politicians. Regarding Patton, when Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States], Stalin [Annotator's Note: Joseph Stalin; General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union], and Churchill [Annotator's Note: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill; Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945] got to Yalta [Annotator's Note: Yalta Conference, or Crimea Conference, code-name Argonaut, meeting of heads of governments of United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, 4 to 11 February 1945], Roosevelt said that Patton would take Berlin. Stalin said no, the Russians would, and they let him. They cut off Patton's gasoline. In Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953], Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] fired MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] who was revered by the Oriental [Annotator's Note: generally means "eastern"; traditional, now unfavorable, designation for anything from Asia] people. Klenoski has stories from his brother coming back from Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. Klenoski was with the Air Guard flying B-57s [Annotator's Note: Martin B-57 Canberra twinjet tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft]. He almost got called to Vietnam. A Major came in their briefing room once to tell them what it was like. [Annotator's Note: Klenoski tells a detailed story about the chain of command in Vietnam being run by Washington, D.C.] He says you cannot have politicians running a war.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Richard Klenoski what his impressions of England were.] They lived in tents. It was not too bad. He went into London [Annotator's Note: London, England] once. They always had one or two crews off after two or three missions. They would send one of the people to Scotland to buy Scotch [Annotator's Note: a type of alcohol]. When they had a party, they would load beer onto a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] and take it to 15,000 feet to get it cold. He was assigned to the Carpetbaggers [Annotator's Note: nickname for the 801st Bombardment Group then for Klenoski's 492nd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. He flew eight missions before bailing out [Annotator's Note: on 26 April 1945, during his ninth mission, the aircraft's wings iced, and it crashed]. He does not remember his first mission. His last mission was along the southern tip of France where there were three German submarine bases. They came in right on target. He told the bombardier there were three peninsulas and he wanted to know when they were coming up on the third one. He thinks the bombardier told him too early and the leaflets were dumped too soon. He only flew leaflet missions. There was not much call for Carpetbaggers at the time. The week before he arrived, five 24s [Annotator's Note: B-24s] were sent to Norway to drop spies. Intelligence goofed and the Germans had moved 88s [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] in. All of the planes were lost. His B-24 was not modified in anyway. The B-24 could fly higher, faster, and with a bigger load than the 17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] could. They flew in the Pacific too for the same reason. When he had bailed out, they were over England. They had only had 45 minutes of flight time. His pilot's name was Jean Anderson [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Jean R. Anderson], who was a perfect example of Terry of "Terry and the Pirates" [Annotator's Note: newspaper comic strip by Milton Caniff, 22 October 1934 to 25 February 1973], was from just outside of Lansing, Michigan. When he went into town, he picked any girl he wanted. The copilot was from Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan]. Company C was all Detroit. [Annotator's Note: Prior to transferring to the US Army Air Forces, Klenoski had served in an engineer combat battalion and served in that battalion's Company C]. That was when they were "driving around shooting niggers" [Annotator's Note: a derogatory term for Black people; 1943 Detroit race riot 20 to 22 June 1943]. They were given a choice of the Army or jail and those guys became Company C. Klenoski had gone through basic training as a combat engineer. He was in one section and across the road was a battalion training as gravediggers. They had the best cooks in the Army. Their base in England was secret. They could leave base but they had to keep their mouths shut. When they took leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] every night, there were civilians along the fence watching them go. The navigator's briefing was nine o'clock in the morning. About three o'clock in the afternoon, the crew was briefed, and they went to the airplanes. They would take off just before night. That time of the year it was about four or five in the afternoon. It was dark by the time they would get to Europe. It was still light out when they had to bail out. They should not have been flying that night due to the weather. Should have been a night they scrubbed it. They were dropping leaflets. They did hear from Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] that all of the Germans that surrendered had the leaflets.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Klenoski was a navigator on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber in the 492nd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force.] Davis was the radio operator and Sullivan was the tail gunner. The ball gunner was from Pennsylvania. There were two waist gunners. The crew chief was from Pennsylvania. They never experienced any attacks from night fighters. They had a Black Widow P-61 [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter] fly by them one night. They did not get ground fire because they knew what they were up there for. He flew from Harrington [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Harrington, Harrington, England]. There is a big monument there. Klenoski was contacted by his radio man who went to see the monument. Their pilot was probably the last one lost; same for their airplane. He would return from a flight about midnight and have bacon and eggs. He would then go to sleep to get up for the next morning briefing. Weekends there might be a dance. They did not have too much contact with the British.

Richard Klenoski was at a rest home [Annotator's Note: a flak house; a designated rest home for American airmen who required downtime after flying a number of combat missions] when he heard the news of the German surrender. They did not have a party. They did play golf one day with some fighter pilots who were there with them. A buddy of theirs came across the valley with a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] and flew over their chateau. A British training base was near their base. Pilots were coming over in biplanes during training. They would fly upside down and have conversations with the Americans. Klenoski was scheduled to go to B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] in the Pacific. By the time he got over there, the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] surrendered. He was short of 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] to get out. He returned to the United States in June or July 1945. He flew back in a 24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] with ten extra men aboard. He separated December 1945 and went to school at Michigan State [Annotator's Note: Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan]. He went 16 straight terms and flunked out. He had two kids and worked 20 hours a week. It was hard to do. He went on the G.I. Bill but had to put food on the table. He did not graduate. He had 169 credits and needed 200 to graduate.

Richard Klenoski's most memorable World War 2 experience was bailing out of his plane. He put both feet down and his shoes went so he thought it was time to go. The plane crashed below him, and he felt the heat come up into the parachute. The engines were buried six feet down. They had a full load of gasoline because they were just heading out. People got to them within minutes. A man took him to his house and gave him some shoes. Back in the United States, Klenoski was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota just biding time. He went out threshing for a day for a local farmer. They did not get paid much but they got food and beer. The next day he did not go due to having blisters on his hands. After he left college, GM [Annotator's Note: General Motors; American automobile manufacturer] was on strike and he could not get a job. He built a house after living in vet's [Annotator's Note: veteran's] housing. He joined a Volunteer Squadron in Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan] that was a navigation training squadron. He flew to Panama and Bermuda. He went to Japan too. He then transferred over to the Air Guard. He signed up for the Reserves to get promoted to Captain. He was a senior navigator and got to Lieutenant Colonel flying B-57s, British Canberras [Annotator's Note: Martin B-57 Canberra twinjet tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft]. They would fly to a base and get lobster and bring it back. They went to Florida once to see his parents. He bought 30 bushels of oranges and took them aboard. He went to Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christ, Texas] to get lobster, but they did not have any. They went over to Eglin [Annotator's Note: now Eglin Air Force Base in Okaloosa County, Florida] where his brother was and got shrimp. He retired in 1972.

Richard Klenoski served because he was drafted. He told them they were going to pay, and they still are. For the most part, he met his wife due to the war. She passed away just after their 68th anniversary. They had five kids, nine grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and three great-greats. His service means a check every month, they are still paying. He retired with 26 years. He had about 1,600 flying hours. It beat walking. He does not think World War 2 means as much as it used to, to Americans. There are not very many veterans in Congress. Klenoski feels that is important for the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] to teach. He belongs to a vet's [Annotator's Note: veteran's] club that goes to the schools and teaches it to them. It is not in the history books yet.