Teddy Kirkpatrick was born in July 1923 in Highland Park, Michigan. His father worked at the local Ford Motor Company plant and eventually took his family to Dearborn, Michigan where he continued work at the Ford plant located there. Kirkpatrick attended high school in Dearborn and recalls that the Ford Company paid for everything at the school. They also provided for high school students to work at the plant and he learned numerous mechanically-oriented subjects including airplanes and engines. He became interested in drafting and architecture during this time. Upon graduation, he began to work as a draftsman and had hoped to use his skills to obtain a deferment from the draft since the company for which he worked was doing government-related projects. Unable to get this deferment, he then went to the University of Michigan to study architecture. During this time he also took an Army Air Force aptitude test, which he passed, but was told he was color blind and therefore unqualified for any flight-related positions. Not wanting to be assigned as ground personnel, he began exploring other alternatives, including joining the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Merchant Marine. None of these worked out and when his draft notice date came and went without notification, he followed up with his draft board in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack and was drafted. He completed basic training in Michigan before being sent to Saint Petersburg, Florida, for follow-on training. He learned then that he had been assigned to the Air Force. He describes very Spartan conditions while training in Florida; he lived in a tent on a golf course and conditions were so severe that a man died every night. Eventually his group finished and were given their follow-on assignments; he was sent to Gulfport, Mississippi for aircraft mechanics school.

Having completed basic training in the Army Air Forces, Teddy Kirkpatrick was sent to aircraft mechanics school in Gulfport, Mississippi. While there, he was rejected repeatedly for pilot training since he was color blind. When he applied to be an aerial gunner, the officer administering the exam cleared him for flying status and he was sent to Las Vegas, Nevada for gunnery school. He recounts that he was an experienced marksman and was selected as one of the top ten gunners from the school. Following gunnery training, he reported to Alexandria, Louisiana, where his B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] aircrew formed up. He describes the basic aerial training conducted during this period and recalls each crew member's name, age and crew position. During this discussion, he comments that because one of the crew was chronically airsick, once they went overseas that crewman never flew and, as a result, Kirkpatrick manned both waist guns on his B-17. He goes on to describe the miserable convoy trip overseas, which was aboard an old English steamship. Arriving in Liverpool, England, the crew first went to Stone, England, for basic equipment issue. Following that, they were sent to their final duty station at Kimbolton, England, where they became part of the 379th Bombardment Group [Annotator's Note: Kirkpatrick and his crew joined the 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. He gives a basic overview of the heavy bomber groups assigned to the 8th Air Force and comments that if the weather was good, things were much smoother. There were a lot of challenges with formation flying in poor weather, which was often the case. He outlines the bomber formations flown and describes the benefits of tight aircraft spacing, which resulted in better defenses against German fighter aircraft. He speaks to the fact that most squadron losses were due to flak [Annotator's Note: from the German Fliegerabwehrkanone, "aircraft defense cannon"] rather than enemy aircraft. He was still in this phase of training when the Normandy landings occurred on 6 June 1944; he remarks that up until those landings, Air Force crews had been fighting the Germans for some two years and had suffered many casualties.

Assigned as a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] gunner with the 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, Teddy Kirkpatrick describes his first mission as a learning experience. While he and his crew had trained extensively prior, much of this training was at lower altitudes where oxygen deprivation and outside temperatures did not have the same impact on the crew. [Annotator's Note: This mission was flown at 30,000 feet altitude.] Both he and the radio operator became hypoxic, and it was extremely cold since the aircraft had not yet been fitted with plastic covers over the waist gun positions. He recalls that if a crew could survive the first ten missions they were much more likely to complete their 25-mission tour of duty; unfortunately, most crews were lost prior to that tenth mission. They eventually received heated flying suits and adapted to operating in the cold temperatures at altitude, and he repeats earlier comments about tight formation flying being essential to protecting against German fighters. He discusses other missions that he flew, including a mission to Munich, Germany, where the lead bomber lost its oxygen system and had to descend to 10,000 feet. The entire formation followed, bringing all of the bombers into range of myriad German antiaircraft guns. Running low on fuel as they crossed the Belgian coast and severely damaged by the German gunfire, they all began to land at Norwich, England, which was closer than their base at Kimbolton. The next day, only two of the aircraft were in flyable condition, his being one of them. He continues and describes that they bombed Munich three days in a row and flew the same route each day. As part of this discussion, he comments that in general one didn't get familiar with the other aircrew so as to avoid being affected if they were shot down. There was an exception, however. One of the other bomber's crew had gone through training with him and was a ball turret gunner. During the third mission to Munich, his aircraft was visible in formation off of Kirkpatrick's right wing when the aircraft suffered a direct hit to its bomb bay. The bomb load that day was incendiary bombs and the plane immediately exploded, breaking apart. He recounts watching the ball turret separate from the aircraft and fall away with his friend trapped inside, unable to bail out. [Annotator's Note: Kirkpatrick is still clearly affected by this unfortunate incident.]

Teddy Kirkpatrick continues recounting several of the missions he flew as a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] waist gunner [Annotator's Note: in the 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. He describes returning from the target and the formation running into contrails [Annotator's Note: vapor trails produced by aircraft at high altitudes]; these were thick enough to impede close formation flying. He outlines the procedures to be followed in this instance, and remembers that when his aircraft broke out of the clouds, they were alone. Ahead of them were three other B-17s trying to form up, and when he looked behind his plane he saw a fourth B-17 being pursued by a Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter plane. His aircraft raced to catch the three in front, and the trailing B-17 was shot down. He recalls another mission where a burst of three German antiaircraft shells struck the plane. One hit between he and the tail gunner, one in the horizontal stabilizer and one that hit the top of the plane. While he and the tail gunner were unhurt, he remembers the flight as the one where he was most scared. That plane also required significant repair once they returned to England. He goes on to explain that one of his jobs was to free any bombs that may have been jammed in the plane during a bombing run; this task required him to walk along a narrow catwalk in the bomb bay that was between the bomb racks. The space was too tight for him to wear a parachute, and the nature of the task meant that the bomb bay doors had to be open. He nearly fell out of the plane on one such occasion. He remarks that when asked if he were scared on any of these flights, he often replied that he was simply too busy to be scared. He describes the two flights that the crew was not able to count towards their required number of missions to complete a tour of duty. In one instance they were assigned as part of a close support mission where another aircraft's bombs fell short and killed friendly troops, and the other was an aborted flight due to a fuel leak. On that mission, they landed at a Royal Air Force base and he comments that British aircrew enjoyed creature comforts not found at American air bases.

The B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] bomber crews typically did not fly every day; numerous factors, especially weather, affected a squadron's flight schedule. There were exceptions, and Teddy Kirkpatrick recalls one period where he flew eleven straight days. [Annotator's Note: Kirkpatrick was a waist gunner in the 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force.] As was common at the time, he went into town at the conclusion of each mission's debrief and only knew if he was flying the following day upon his return to the base. Since this was usually about the same time he would be awakened to go fly, he flew these eleven missions essentially without having slept. At the conclusion of this 11-day period, his crew was given a 48-hour pass to go into London, England, but he wound up sleeping through the crew's departure. He spent the remaining time touring the local area via bicycle and train and enjoyed it so much that the second time the crew had a 48-hour pass, he did the same thing. On the third 48-hour pass the crew was given, he accompanied them to London and was in a bar with another crew member during an air raid when a V-1 "buzz bomb" [Annotator's Note: German "Vergeltungswaffe 1" or "Vengeance Weapon 1", a primitive type of cruise missile which was called the "buzz bomb" due to the noise produced by its pulse-jet engine] struck the building next door. When the crew returned to their base [Annotator's Note: at Kimbolton, England], they were told that the B-17 they normally flew [Annotator's Note: a plane named "Snow White"] was being flown by another crew and had been shot down. Kirkpatrick flew his final mission in another B-17 and the target was a German troop and armor concentration area north of Paris, France. As the plane returned from the bombing run, he saw a large formation of C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] transport planes dropping paratroopers near the area they had just bombed. Their final mission complete, the crew flew low over Paris before returning to their base. He remembers being very happy having survived his tour of duty; the crew disbanded and was sent home separately. While awaiting transportation back to the United States, he recalls several nights in Blackpool, England before boarding the USS West Point (AP-23). There were 500 wounded and a small number of other troops aboard, so the ship seemed almost empty. He remembers the return transit as being miserable due to poor weather, so much so that the ship diverted into Norfolk, Virginia for repairs rather than its original destination of Boston, Massachusetts. He returned to his hometown [Annotator's Note: Dearborn, Michigan] for a brief stop before a two week rest and recuperation visit to California. It was on his return from California that he heard word of the first atomic bomb being dropped, followed by the second several days later. He had originally been sent to El Paso, Texas, where he attended a teacher's school, and then was first offered a posting to Yuma, Arizona, before agreeing to go back to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he had trained earlier in the war.

Teddy Kirkpatrick reflects on the events in his life during World War 2, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor. He remembers it coming as a real surprise, as the country was trying to stay out of another world war and was still dealing with the effects of the Great Depression. He didn't get sent overseas until early 1944, for which he is grateful since prior to that time bomber crews were suffering heavy losses. He describes his living accommodations on his base in England [Annotator's Note: RAF Kimbolton], and he discusses the tight-knit nature of his B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] crew. He remained in contact with some, but not all, of them after the war. He recounts what it was like during a mission briefing and the fact that he often had something of advanced notice of that day's target from the ground crew. He would ask them about the aircraft's fuel load and from that could deduce how far the mission would be flown. The ground crew chief was also the one who named the B-17 he flew most often, "Snow White." [Annotator's Note: Earlier in the interview, Kirkpatrick remarks that the plane, while being flown by another crew, was shot down prior to his final mission.] He remembers that there wasn't much interaction with the local Brits and that while on a mission he really didn't think too much about those on the ground who were being bombed. He outlines the basics of what air crew had been instructed to do should they ever bail out. At war's end, he remembers celebrating much as he had done earlier when he had completed his final mission. He closes with a brief discussion about some of the disciplinary actions in which he was involved.

At the conclusion of World War 2, Teddy Kirkpatrick returned to Michigan. He briefly attended the University of Michigan and had some business dealings with his brother and father, but wound up taking what he thought would be a temporary job with Shell Oil Company. He remained with the company for 38 years, during which he became involved in their nascent environmental engineering efforts and drafted many of the related rules and regulations regarding the oil industry. He recalls the transition from military to civilian life being an easy one, and save for one instance he never was affected by the stresses of his wartime experience. He views two of his combat missions as the most memorable experiences; the first being his very first mission and the second a mission where he was nearly killed by antiaircraft fire. [Annotator's Note: Both instances are described in detail earlier in the interview.] Kirkpatrick donated a picture of the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] he flew most often [Annotator's Note: a plane named "Snow White"] and one of his flight jackets to The National WWII Museum. When asked as to why he fought in the war, he recounts that he understood what was going on and that it was a whole of nation effort. As an example, he cites his mother working in the Ford plant, which was building engines for B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers] bombers. At the time, everyone was involved in some capacity. It changed his life in that prior to the war he had planned on a fairly conventional lifestyle. A variety of circumstances after the war resulted in him being married and having kids later in life, but he has no regrets. He views the conflict as an experience, much like the Great Depression, and expresses frustration with current generations and their addiction to technology. He remarks that they have massive amounts of information at their fingertips and rather than learning from it, they play video games. He remembers learning history and hands-on mechanical knowledge in his youth, and opines that children today don't know even the basics of either.