Russell Bretz Linger, Jr. was born in Winter Haven, Florida in March 1921. He lived there until he was 13 years old. They lived on a lake, and spent a lot of time on boats fishing and sailing. They had sailboat races every Sunday. He grew up with a younger brother and three sisters. The family did pretty well during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. His father always had a job. Linger had begun working at a Naval Air Station when Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] happened. It was a shock. Right after he turned 21, he was given notice by mail that he had been drafted and was ordered to report to Camp Blanding [Annotator's Note: near Stark, Florida] in July 1942 to be sworn in. He did basic training at Keesler Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: in Biloxi, Mississippi] for about a month, then went to Morrison Field in West Palm Beach [Annotator's Note: West Palm Beach, Florida] by train. He became a messenger for Headquarters. There were advertisements for aviation cadet training, and Linger had always wanted to fly so he decided to take the test. He passed, and became an aviation cadet. He was then sent to Montgomery [Annotator's Note: Montgomery, Alabama] and did primary flight training in Avon, Florida [Annotator's Note: Avon Park Army Airfield near Avon Park, Florida] with a private contractor flying a PT-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet or PT-13 primary trainer aircraft]. After that, he went back to Montgomery, to Gunter Field [Annotator's Note: Gunter Field, later Gunter Air Force Base, near Montgomery, Alabama], for more training before being transferred to Lawrenceville, Illinois [Annotator's Note: George Field near Lawrenceville, Illinois] for his last bit of training. Linger had always wanted to be a pilot. He had worked at a municipal airport for a dollar a day, as well as at the Naval Air Station, before being drafted.

Russell Bretz Linger, Jr. was accepted into pilot school [Annotator's Note: after having been drafted and the accepted into the US Army Air Forces aviation cadet program]. After training, he was accepted to Barksdale Field, Louisiana where they were flying B-26s [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber]. He went in as a copilot. They flew to England with his first regular crew. He got along with his pilot. They were stationed in Earls Colne, England. Before going into combat, they had to complete escape and evasion school in Ireland for about a month. He flew a few missions with more experienced crews before they were allowed to go on missions on their own. On Linger's sixth mission, they had flown into France and were trying to avoid flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire], but got hit and had an engine knocked out, along with the electronics and hydraulic systems. Without hydraulics, they had no way to close the bomb bay doors, so they kept the bombs on board. They were lucky to make it back to England, landing at an emergency landing field. The B-26 was a great airplane as long as you flew it correctly. Linger loved the plane, because it could take a beating, but always got him home. He ultimately completed 65 missions. He was made a pilot and was assigned a new crew. Many of them had previously been ground crew and were inexperienced. Towards the end of their missions, Linger got nervous. He requested to be put in the tail end of the formation which was better as far as flak went.

Russell Bretz Linger, Jr. would be woken up in the morning, go get breakfast, and then be briefed. They were shown maps where flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was concentrated. For the rest of his missions, they were never hit again. They [Annotator's Note: 456th Bombardment Squadron, 323rd Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force] moved to Lessay, France [Annotator's Note: from their previous base at Earls Colne, England]. He flew the majority of his 65 missions out of France. They later moved to Valenciennes [Annotator's Note: Valenciennes, France] on the Belgian border. They targeted railroads yards, bridges, and troop concentrations. Linger will never forget one specific mission when he had never seen so much flak in his life. The sky was black, but they got through it. His first mission was flown the day after D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. They flew a lot of support missions during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. Crews would be selected to go up front and coordinate between ground and air forces. They had jeeps and trailers with all of their gear and were sent into Belgium. They were there a week, but the weather was so bad that they could not fly so they just enjoyed the scenery. The day they left, 12 December [Annotator's Note: 12 December 1944], is when the battle broke out. The Germans began firing buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] while Linger was on the road to Brussels [Annotator's Note: Brussels, Belgium]. Their jeep was destroyed, but all of the men made it. They had brought booze with them to trade for souvenirs, but ended up drinking it before they arrived to Brussels. [Annotator's Note: Linger laughs.] On missions, they normally flew at an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet [Annotator's Note: in a Martin B-26 Marauder]. The temperatures were very cold while in the air. He stayed with the same crew for almost every mission. The local British and French civilians were kind to the Americans. The Germans were good fighters and good shots.

Russell Bretz Linger, Jr. flew a mission where there were heavy guns on the Cherbourg Peninsula [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France] and they were flying at a fairly low altitude. The plane on their right got a direct hit to their bomb bay and began burning. They later found out the pilot had managed to circle back to the French coast and crashed on the beach to avoid hitting a town. The French built a monument in that spot. They sometimes flew two missions a day. They also had a lot of down time, especially when the weather was bad. While stationed in France [Annotator's Note: Lessay, France] they lived in tents and it was very cold. In their free time, they would pay cards or poker, and sometimes go into town. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the interview to change tapes.] The biggest problem when taking off was getting a flat tire, because you would crash. They lost a few planes that way. When planes took off, they would circle above the field until all the planes had gotten into formation. Usually, their missions lasted around four hours at a medium altitude. They dropped many different kinds of bombs, from 100 to 2,000 pounds [Annotator's Note: from their Martin B-26 Marauders]. At the end of the war in Europe, there was a possibility that Linger would be sent to the Pacific. Eventually, he was sent home on a hospital ship. Being in combat forces you into a different mindset. You do not know how long you will last, and you might do things you would not normally do. That is just war.

Russell Bretz Linger, Jr. was very happy that the war was over. They had good food on the ship coming home. His wife met him in Fort Lauderdale [Annotator's Note: Fort Lauderdale, Florida] where his parents lived. He had gotten married while on furlough before being deployed overseas. Linger regularly sent and received mail while stationed overseas. He was assigned to Frederick Field, Oklahoma, a B-26 [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber] base. When the war ended, Linger decided to get out of the service. He and his wife moved to Pensacola [Annotators's Note: Pensacola, Florida] and bought a house. He considers himself a very fortunate person. After the war, he traveled to Europe with his wife and visited the places he had been stationed during the war [Annotator's Note: Earls Colne, England and Lessay, France].