[Annotator’s Note: There is white noise in the background.] Theodore “Ted” R. Rogal was born in January 1924 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Albany, New York where his father worked as a service mechanic for office machines like typewriters and calculators during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Rogal had an older brother that served in World War 2 as a fighter pilot flying P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft]. Rogal enlisted in the Air Corp in August 1942. He figured that if he had to go to war, he wanted to get something out of his experience, and he thought learning how to fly would be beneficial. He began training in March 1943 at Maxwell Air Base in Alabama. He was discharged in September 1945. Rogal was sitting in a diner having a soda with some friends when he first learned the news about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He knew that he would be going into the service, and he was excited about it. His parents encouraged Rogal to enlist in the Air Corps rather than wait for the draft. After his basic training, he was sent to advanced training to learn to fly a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. He did not have any difficulty going from a twin engine plane to a B-24 which had four engines. The differences were that the B-24 had a lot more power and that it was bigger. The only difficulties were the takeoff and landing because it requires a long runway. Rogal was assigned as co-pilot and helped the pilot fly in formation. Rogal was deployed overseas in April 1944, picking up his plane in Topeka, Kansas. It took him three weeks to travel to Sicily [Annotator’s Note: Sicily, Italy]. He picked up his crew in Salt Lake City [Annotator’s Note: Salt Lake City, Utah]. He did some training for a few weeks with his team, practicing night flying and other necessary techniques. He enjoyed the base in Colorado Springs [Annotator’s Note: Colorado Springs, Colorado] because the food and service was so good. Rogal learned a lot during his training, which included pre-flight, ground school, and advanced training for nine months.

[Annotator’s Note: There is white noise in the background throughout the segment.] When he went into service, Theodore “Ted” R. Rogal was able to see more of America and the world as a co-pilot in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. As he made his way to Italy, his crew flew to South America and stayed in Brazil for a few days, and then headed to Africa. From there, they made their way to Italy. Rogal loved his crew. Everyone was from different areas of the country. Rogal is so appreciative of America and the customs that the country practices. He loves the landscape of America. He arrived in Foggia, Italy and was stationed at the Castelluccio Airfield with the 726th Bombardment Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force. One of his first missions was to bomb oil tanks in Yugoslavia, and the toughest mission was to bomb the Messerschmitt aircraft factory in Germany. He saw “the red flak” [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] and the area was heavily defended by anti-aircraft. His longest runs were to Blechhammer, Germany which took 11 hours round trip. His missions included bombing ball bearing factories, bridges, railroads, oil refineries and marshaling yards. His missions were never to bomb a city, but his targets were areas near cities. Ploesti, Romania was heavily protected and was often a very difficult mission to bomb the oil refineries. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:27:49.000.] Rogal flew a mission to Ploesti about every two weeks. Through the summer of 1944, the Allies finally wiped out all the refineries in Ploesti. Sometimes on his missions, the Tuskegee Airmen would come out and support them, and he was always very happy to see them. Rogal was always met with smokescreens during his missions to Ploesti.

On his fifth and final mission to Ploesti [Annotator’s Note: Ploesti, Romania], Theodore “Ted” R. Rogal [Annotator’s Note: a co-pilot with the 726th Bombardment Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force] was on his return to the base when he realized that he could not turn the plane. He saw some green fields ahead and hoped to make it there. The airspeed of the plane began to slowdown and the nose began to rise. Rogal grabbed his engineer to come up and help him. They both put pressure on the nose to keep it down and steady. Somehow, Rogal and the pilot found a way to pivot the plane and fly it to the base. When they came close to the runway, Rogal asked the crew if they wanted to bail out, but they chose to stay on the plane until it landed. Luckily, there was very little wind and Rogal and the pilot were able to make a safe landing. They learned later that there was a hole in the wing and that a piece of shrapnel had cut the aileron cable. Rogal felt very fortunate that the damage was not any worse. Rogal and his crew could always feel the vibrations when anti-aircraft guns fired in their direction. When shrapnel hit the plane, it sounded like rain. Rogal recalled a mission to the southern coast of France. After dropping his bombs on the target, he began to head back and saw almost 200 Allied ships. It was an amazing sight to see. During his deployment in Italy, Mount Vesuvius [Annotator’s Note: Mount Vesuvius is a volcano located on the Gulf of Naples, Italy] had erupted [Annotator’s Note: March 1944] and there was fine powdered dust over everything. Rogel also had a pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go to the Island of Capri [Annotator’s Note: Capri, Italy]. Rogal never had any doubt that the allies were going to win the war. However, he did doubt if he would return from missions. On one mission, his group lost 13 planes, which amounted to 130 men killed. Later in life, he met with a German soldier that was at Ploesti during the time of the aerial bombardments. He thought most of the pilots were good, but there were a few that were not. There was one pilot in particular who did not know how to fly in formation, so Rogal asked his superiors to never fly with him again.

On missions to Ploesti [Annotator’s Note: Ploesti, Romania], Theodore “Ted” R. Rogal [Annotator’s Note: a co-pilot with the 726th Bombardment Squadron, 451st Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force] they were not allowed to move out of formation until after they dropped their bombs on the targets. Rogal prayed every time they were over the target because there was such intense flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. All of the planes in the group anxiously waited for the lead plane to drop its bombs, so they could drop theirs on the target. Sometimes the bombs would get stuck in the bomb bay of the plane. Once his plane crossed the Adriatic Sea, the crew would release the bombs into the water. Since the cockpit of the plane was heated, Rogal and the pilot did not have to wear suits like the rest of the crewmen. While flying over to different cities, he saw the capital and a church in Budapest [Annotator’s Note: Budapest, Hungary]. He also flew over Vienna [Annotator’s Note: Vienna, Austria] and cities in Germany. When the war ended in Europe, Rogal was in Columbus, Mississippi assigned as an instructor. He had returned to the United States in September of 1944, and was discharged in September 1945.