World War II pilots reenite after 25 years Bomber Group, 866th Squadron on Angaur Island and Okinawa. Together for 18 months at the end of World War II, they flew 2VA missions over seven battle scars (geographical areas) of combat. Asked about their 21 Vi missions, they explained that three of their missions to a nearby island were credited with only one-half mission. mis-sion. "So instead of 23 missions, we were officially credited with only 2Vi missions," said Dick, pilot and flight commander. Nolan was the plane's navigator. Bombing missions included the mainland of Japan, China,, north and south Philippines, Corrigador, and Marcus, Koror and Ryukyus Islands. They were hit over Corrigador Corri-gador and found a piece of flak just one-quarter inch short of severing the No. 3 engine oil line. "It was the main line serving the plane's entire hydraulic system," said Dick. "With that line severed, it would have taken a miracle tc return to our home base safely." One mission over Japan found the formation of B-24s without fighter escort. An uncoded message mes-sage was received by the crews that the fighter support was "at least 30 minutes away." "We knew that the Japanese would pick up on the uncoded message mes-sage and I ordered our gunners to man their stations, that we were going to be in real trouble," said Nolan. "Almost immediately Japanese Zeros were on top of us and we were left to fight for ourselves without fighter support . ' ' "We kept a very tight formation and only two Zeros were able to get to us in the No. four spot of the formation. Our top gunner got one and our tail gunner got the other without us receiving a single shell. In fact, all of our formation escaped and made it safely back home." As fate played a major role in many war experiences, so it did with the crew of "Sack Time Sal." "We were scheduled and briefed to carry out the bombing mission of the Japanese Battleship Haruna, a huge, 31,000 ton carrier anchored in the Kure Harbor of Japan," said Dick. "All of our missions to date By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL Two B-24 crew members who grew up together near Ogden and resided for several years in Bountiful, recently completed com-pleted an 8,500-mile trip to visit pther members of their World War II crew. Nolan Taylor, still a resident of Bountiful, and Richard Groberg, who now lives in Porterville, Mor-rvS.County, Mor-rvS.County, spent 22 days on the tyj -country auto trip to visit six oTthe remaining eight members of the 10-member crew. "We found all but two of our flight crew," said Nolan, all of whom we haven't seen for more than 25 years and some of whom have not gathered together since we separated in December of 1945. It was a great experience even if we met them one at a time rather than a full crew reunion," said Nolan. He said a full scale reunion of the crew, hopefully including the two they have been unable to locate, is planned in the summer of 1990 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Colora-do Springs, Colo. Meanwhile, Nolan and Dick pooled their resources and set out on the cross-country tour, heading first for Corpus Christi, Tex., the home of the radio operator and the one who helped Nolan and Dick put together their trip. Then it was off to Savannah, Ga. , to meet the co-pilot and then to New Jersey where the top gunner and belly gunner both reside. On the way back home, Nolan and Dick stopped off in Ohio to visit the flight engineer and on to Milwaukee to meet the bombadier. "It was a wonderful trip and we were treated royally every place we stopped," they said. "We had a travel club plan our trip and there was no back tracking anywhere along the way." Two of the six crew members paid a visit to Dick and Nolan about 25 years ago. The other four they hadn't seen in nearly 43 years. They all served together as crewmen crew-men aboard "Sack Time Sal" which was assigned to the 494th r 1 " " -- L - .... -. n w had been over inland military installations in-stallations and we dreaded having to take on a well-known battleship." bat-tleship." At the last minute the crew still doesn't know why another younger crew wih only one prior combat flight was assigned the mission. mis-sion. "That plane was shot down and only the pilot survived and was captured by the Japanese," said Dick. Another time, their plane was ready for takeoff on a bombing mission mis-sion to Marcus Island when the plane ahead of them crashed on takeoff in heavy fog and the mission was scratched. The two said they were not aware of the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima until the following day when they were on a bombing run to Japan. "We were ordered to stay at least 100 miles from Hiroshima Hiroshi-ma and we didn't know why," said Nolan. "We edged in a little closer and noticed that the sky had a reddish tint and was filled with small particles. When we returned to our home base, we were advised that the A-bomb had been dropped and we were seeing the residue of the bombing." It was a series of circumstances that placed Dick and Nolan on the same aircraft. They grew up together in a small farming community com-munity of Farr West, about seven miles northwest of Ogden. Although Nolan was three years older, they attended Farr West Elementary and later Weber High School together. Dick was a three-year letterman in football and Nolan excelled in music and is still a renowned singer. sin-ger. In more recent years, they both resided in Bountiful and Dick moved to Porterville east of Morgan. They enlisted in the Air Force in 1942, but not knowing that the other had joined. Dick went through a series of flight training schools including Glider School and was finally O CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE - - - - - -'-'" " ' !! t in i i i i n 1 r r1 f'-; H I tS if , ' ! r ? ht ri Ji )w : I v ' I i f I if i I 1 ; i l I I " i M f i 1 '' 1 1 f I 1 t I I. f li ! i! -I will " l i r ' f ' I t i Richard Groberg, left, pilot and crew commander, and Nolan Taylor, fourth from left, grew up together in Farr West, Weber County, and served 18 months together on B-24 crew during latter part of World War II. Nolan, of Bountiful, end Richard, formerly of Bountiful now residing in Porterville, Morgan County, had several "narrow escapes" on their 23 missions together. pilMlSSIllMl vpl-RISSSS liltf ;fllli' 'illil p: .', I PHOTO BY GARY BLODGETT Reminiscing World War 1 1 experiences together as crewmen on a B-24 Bomber are Nolan Taylor, left, and Richard Groberg, formerly of Bountiful. They spent 22 days and traveled more than 8,500 miles to visit other crew members. . WWII Pilots reunited CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE assigned to what is now known as Edwards Air Force Base in Cali-: Cali-: fornia. Nolan, too, was attending flight schools and one day returned to Salt Lake City to pick up equip- ment for use back at Edwards where he was also stationed. During Dur-ing an overnight visit to his Farr West home; he broke his ankle. "That delay was enough to get me reunited with Dick since we were now at the same base," said Nolan. "I was a crew member on a cargo plane but when Dick heard that I was there and recovering from a broken ankle, he requested that I be transferred to his crew as a B-24 navigator." Nolan said that "it took some . doing" but the transfer was made and we left together in June of 1944 to serve the next 18 months in combat com-bat in the same flight crew.