Levenick, Richard Leo

Item

Title

Levenick, Richard Leo

Performer

Richard Leo Levenick

Interviewer

Matthew Pinard

Description

Richard Levenick spoke of his early memories attending high school in Michigan when WWII started in 1939. He started studying chemical engineering in college in Wisconsin when he enlisted in the Army. He was tested while in the Army and was selected for a top-secret program developing "Auto Pilot" systems for the Army Air Corp. His training was done in the middle of the night in a classroom. They were not allowed to take any materials to or from the training areas, and they had to memorize everything. Dick talked about being shipped out to England with the 18th Bomber Squadron of the 34th Bombing Corp. He was stationed in the countryside in England just north of London. He was tasked with checking the auto pilot systems before and after the bombing missions over Germany. Dick said he recalled seeing thousands of planes flying overhead on the day that D-Day began. He recalls the bombers would return and then leave many times during the initial invasion and throughout the next few days. He also remembers when the Battle of the Bulge began and also remembers V-Day quite vividly. Dick recalled that after the 100th bombing mission, the group was allowed to throw a party. He talked about how wars will always exist unless humans can "evolve" past conflict to settle disputes.

Date Span

Dates of Service

Subject

Enlisted; United States Army Air Forces/Corps; 18th Bomb Squadron, 34th Bomb Group; World War, 1939-1945; Second World War - European Theater; Technical Sergeant

Publisher

Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Collection Location

3/8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM8TKTZffIU&list=PL05gqqIuA4HK1S_labZh5qO9iutjJf_gO&index=2

Spatial Coverage

Second World War - European Theater

Item sets

VHP

Media

Richard Leo Levenick