Veteran's History Project - Jack R. Knicely

Jack R. Knicely

Lieutenant Colonel

U.S. Air Force /

U.S. Air Force Reserve

1942-1945

1961-1981

EDITOR'S NOTE: Veteran's History Project author Larry Nelson is taking a few weeks off. During that time, we'll re-run previously published features about local veterans. The following story about Jack R. Knicely first appeared in the Sun-Telegraph on May 19, 2012.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in December in Lincoln, Neb. Jack Knicely was a student at the university there. An announcement had come out over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Everything changed.

To say that the American people were "highly agitated" would have been an understatement. Most able-bodied men and many women wanted to be a part of the military effort that was headed for war.

Jack Knicely joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He wanted to fly airplanes. He wanted the training and wanted to do his part. Within eight months, he was called to active duty. From his initial training to an end-state of flying readiness, his path was circular in nature.

He was sent to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. Located south of St. Louis, this was an important and highly active base. It was the oldest operating military installation west of the Mississippi River. For soldiers-in-training there, during February, March and April it was just cold. Most of the trainees lived small huts, lines of them, row by row. The huts were poorly heated and many of the young men contracted pneumonia. Jack was healthy throughout and lucky in many ways. He made it through the basic training piece then was sent to Southern Illinois University. This was to be ground school and physical readiness training.

Next to Randolph Air Force Base at San Antonio, Texas, for more advanced training and actual flying. In time, he was sent on to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, where he would be trained on the AT10, a twin-engine aircraft. Soon enough, he was notified that he was headed for Lincoln, where he would train as a co-pilot on the B-24 (the Liberator).

Without the option of getting too comfortable, Jack was then detailed to the Replacement Training Unit in Pueblo, Colo. Here the individuals of the air crew were to become parts of teams and would get more training on the B-24. They flew nights, formations, and practice bombing runs. Here, Jack said that he realized that our Air Force was training some Chinese individuals to fly as well.

At about the same time, all military members and the general public were seeing newsreels that were telling the stories of American men and women taking the fight to the enemies in Europe, the Pacific and even in India? Jack said his first glimpse of India was that it was a gloomy, rainy place. Not much was reported to be going on there so he was confident that he wouldn't be flying over India.

He knows he is going somewhere though. He has been issued flight suits, long underwear, real-war equipment, and some oxygen items for high altitude flights, etc. All came in a foot locker that had stenciling on it "AF7." Jack did some checking and figured out that the 7th Air Force operated out of Hawaii. Well then ...

When they boarded a train to travel to the deployment site, the direction of travel was east. Hawaii was the other way! Soon, he learned that his orders directed that he was assigned to the 7th Bomb Group of the 10th Air Force. It was operating in India.

In that the training Jack received took him in and around the center of the U.S. at several stops, this pattern was not changed in his getting to the fight. He and his fellow flyers went from Miami, Fla., to South America, to Africa, to Pandavesvar, India, the base for the 7th Bomb Group. The planes in his group were flying for the Air Transport Command (ATC).

There was some transition time to get used to the conditions there, but soon, he was ordered to Chitticong, India. He and many other pilots were going to be flying in supplies to the British Indian Army as it engaged the Japanese forces there. Mostly, Jack was the co-pilot on the C-46. A twin engine cargo aircraft capable of quick take-off and hard landings on crude airstrips, the crews delivered ammunition, fuel, food, and about anything else that had been requisitioned –except heavy machinery. The Japanese had been pushed out of Burma into Rangoon so his bomb group returned to their previous base.

The mission changed at this point. The bombing runs over Burma (and the Flying Tigers valiant flying) drove the Japanese out. The next job was to haul aviation fuel from Tezpur, India, into Chengtu, China. The thing about this was the fact that the weather played such a significant part – to say nothing of the treacherous flying over the Himalayan Mountains, also known as the "Hump." A harsh piece of reality was that there were many planes and crew lost in flying over the "Hump." Evidence of this was seen in observing the crash sites. The flight path was to be dubbed "the aluminum trail." Many of the two-engine planes couldn't get enough lift to clear the high peaks. Weather was a primary cause of accidents as well.

A solution was to use high altitude planes. The B-24s that were used in bombing runs were still in India. They could easily fly at 22,000 feet. So, the bomb racks were taken out of them and replaced with fuel pods. The crews were minimal since there was no air-to-air combat. And it was a lot safer. It wasn't always a piece of cake though ... Fuel was held in 55 gallon barrels. In some instances, elephants had been trained to load them onto planes. The planes flew into highly turbulent air. The planes would literally bounce around the sky, causing the barrels to leak and spill. Just getting to the off-load location was a struggle much of the time.

On a night time return flight, one of the plane's four engines stalled out. That always meant loss of altitude. A second engine conked out. Jack and the pilot began "feathering" the prop, to maintain altitude. The pilot also directed the navigator to find a place to land ... hurry. The navigator, a man from New York named Capriatti located a place named Yunnani, a de-activated fighter base. The landing strip was short so they had one chance to get there and get stopped. All ended well, except for the navigator. In his fitful sleep, he was audibly calling the control tower at Yunnani, "Yunnani, Yunnani, this is Army 234, over ..."

At some point, in combat and dangerous operations, death is not far away. One has to ask "why them and not me?" Jack is very humble and grateful for his Christian faith, keeping him strong and alive day by day.

In August of 1945, Japan was more than ready to have the bombing of their cities stopped and the war there was ended. However, the transport operations continued, getting required fuel into China. United States B-29s needed the fuel for operations over Japan. The 500-mile flights took four to six hours depending on the weather. The ground crews that had been working non-stop were getting "ornery." A deal was struck calling an end to the flights, if a certain tonnage goal was met. The goal was met, the crews began flying home.

Jack Knicely was a 1st lieutenant at war's' end. He had flown more than 400 combat hours, most of it in harsh conditions. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and several other medals, including a Presidential Unit Citation.

Jack returned to the United States and to his young family. He returned to law school in Lincoln. He remained in the Air Force Reserve but wasn't able to get into a unit because of the distance he would have to travel. On graduation he went to Wisner, Neb., then established a law practice in Sidney. In the Air Force Reserve, Jack advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He commanded the Sidney unit and became the coordinator for Judge Advocates General for the State of Nebraska. He served 23 years, retiring in 1981.

Thank you for your service, Lt. Col. Jack Knicely!