Meet Carroll Peterson... born February 25, 1919. Carroll was the 5th child of 6
born to Luther and Hilda(Lundberg) Peterson - 3 boys and 3 girls. Luther and Hilda had been born
and raised in the Stanton and Nyman area. They were married December 17, 1903 (...the same day as the Wright Brothers initial flight in North Carolina... keep that
day in mind for later.).
Their farm was 2 miles south and 3 mile west of Stanton and was very typical of farms in the
first half of the twenty century. It was 160 acres and they typically raised corn, alfalfa, and
oats, and the livestock part of the operation was also very typical - stock cows, milking cows,
hogs, and chickens. As anyone knows that grew up in a similar setting, there are always plenty of
chores in an operation such as The Petersons'.
They milked 5 to 6 cows for family use as well as to have cream to sell weekly. Eggs from laying
hens also provided for family food use, as well as to sell weekly for groceries and other cash
requirements. They hauled their cream and eggs to Red Oak on Saturday evening to sell at Martin and
Sons, at 5th St and Washington Ave. Carroll recalls that the square would be so crowded on Saturday
night that it was difficult to drive around the square, so most folks parked and walked wherever
they needed to go. As anyone from this time period knows, Saturday was THE big day in town - both
for shopping as well as socializing.
Carroll's entire 8 years of elementary school was attending Lombardy Grove in Scott Township
that was over a mile. And like all kids of the day, Carroll and his siblings walked to
school. As folks from the period may recall, school was held from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. with 15 minute
recesses in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, with a one hour lunch period. Typical games of the day
would generally include kids from all classes and involved games of "tag", "Andy-over",
"drop-the-handkerchief", etc. Following grade school, Carroll attended Stanton High School and
graduated in 1935 in a class of 18. Through the sophomore year of high school, Carroll, like a lot
of others, rode his horse to school. And like other schools, Stanton had a livery stable where the
horses were kept during the day.
Sports were not a real important part of schools in the 30s and most time was spent on the
basics of education. Carroll recalls his favorite subject was mathematics and his least favorite
subject was English. After graduating from high school, Carroll enrolled at Red Oak Junior College
in the fall of 1935. At that time, there were approximately 60 in ROJC and liberal arts classes
were held on the top floor of the high school building (...this is now the Middle School building and the "junior high" at that time was
across the street on the north side of Corning, between 3rd St and 4th St.)
1935 was sandwiched in between two extreme weather years of 1934 and 1936. Extremely hot in
summers and cold in the winters, had put farm operations in very difficult conditions. (editor
note: even to this day, many of the record temperatures - both highs and lows - are from these
years) In order to survive, the number of head of livestock had to be cut back since corn and
hay were in limited supply. The fact is that families of the time were very hardy and frugal and
this frugality allowed them to make it through tough times.
But because farm families had to reduce their operations, many of the younger members of a
family left the farms in order to search for work outside of farming. Like many young men from
Iowa, Carroll headed for California. The word-on-the-street was that there were jobs there. In the
summer of 1936, after reaching California, the first job Carroll got was parking cars (valet
parking) for patrons of the Plaza Hotel that was located at Hollywood & Vine. He
would drive cars to a parking area about 2 blocks away and then would retrieve them upon
request.
Parking cars was not a great paying job, so Carroll eventually got a construction job that paid
40 cents/hour. The job involved installing skylights in the roof of aircraft manufacturers. This
was a good paying job, but the company eventually ran out of work and Carroll was once again
looking for work. He would survive on numerous odd jobs including washing dishes and waiting tables
in some of the local cafes' and restaurants at $10/week plus meals.
In December of 1940, the draft law was passed and the National Guard was being mobilized. Like a
lot of young guys that were struggling to make ends meet during this depression period, Carroll
decide to join the 160th (light) Infantry Regiment in Los Angeles, whose nickname was "Blackjack".
Since many in the USA wanted to stay out of the war raging in Europe, the term,
"mobilization" was replaced by the term "federalized". Regardless of the terms used,
the fact is that the our country was preparing for war. Heroes such as Charles Lindberg fueled the
"isolationism" ideology of the time.
In February 1941, Carroll was sent to Camp San Luis Obispo.
(editor note: Camp San Luis Obispo is the original home of the California Army National Guard.
It served as an Infantry Division Camp and Cantonment Area for the US Army during World War II.
It was formerly called Camp Merriam and was established in 1928. The camp is in San Luis Obispo
County, which is on the Central Coast of California. State Route 1 passes through the camp
about halfway between the cities of Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo
On the day following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the troops of the base were
mobilized. Each man was issued an M1 rifle and 8 rounds of ammunition (...only 8 rounds were issued
because that is all the inventory that was available at the time). The troops were deployed up and
down the coast of California and were on alert for a possible invasion by the Japanese. It was
during this time, December 1941, that Carroll met a young lady from Omaha by the name of Mary
Peterson. There was a bond formed that would last from that time forward and to this day.
Some time later, a notice was placed on the camp bulletin board requesting applications for
those that were interested in applying for the Army Air Corp (...it was not yet "Air Force" and
would not be until September 18, 1947). Carroll took the tests and passed. Upon being accepted
into the Air Corp, he was shipped out for training to Santa Ana Army Air Base - Classification
Center and Ground School for Air Corps Cadet Replacement Training. This camp had just been
activated in February of 1942 and Carroll arrived there in September 1942. After testing, Carroll
was classified as a bombardier - no doubt his mathematics ability influenced this
classification since technology of the day was necessary. Following the classification, his
training involved book learning and close order drilling (A military drill in marching
shoulder-to-shoulder, maneuvering, and formal handling of arms in which the troops perform at close
intervals).
On December 17, 1942 (remember that day?..it was the same day that Carroll's folks were married - in
1903), Mary caught a bus to Santa Anna and she and Carroll got married - she then took
the bus back to town to live in a rented room. Their time spent together during this period
was the time allotted for a weekend pass - 6 p.m. on Saturday night to noon on Sunday - not a
lot of time together for a young married couple.
In March of 1943, Carroll was sent to Albuquerque NM to Kirtland Army Air Field for flight
training of entire flight crews for the B-17 and B-24 bombers. Training consisted of practice
bombing runs with 100 pound bombs that were stove pipe filled with sand. After a couple of months,
Carroll was sent to San Angelo Texas Navigator and Bombardier School. This training involved a lot
of mathematical calculations and maps study. Practice navigational missions were conducted all over
The South and to the West Coast.
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In May 1943, Carroll was shipped to Barksdale Air Base, near Shreveport, Louisiana for combat
crew training for the relatively new B-26. Very soon after arrival, individuals were selected and
formed into a unit or a "crew". A 6 man crew consisted of a pilot, a co-pilot, a
bombardier/navigator, and 3 gunners...top turret gunner (TTG), a tail gunner and a waist gunner.
This training would last until November 1943. The major portion of the bombing missions would be
with the same crew, although there were a few exceptions.
On December 17, 1943 Carroll was shipped to Italy (...does that day look familiar?..it was Carroll and Mary's first
anniversary). Carroll's crew was assigned to the 17th Bomb Group in Villacidro,
Sardinia, Italy. The 17th Bomb Group had been converted to B-26's in the summer of 1942. The
objective of The 17th was the drive towards Rome that was only 20 miles away.
The Martin B-26 Marauder was introduced in 1941 and was a medium range bomber that generally
flew at 9,000 to 11,000 feet. They flew without oxygen so that they could not fly higher. They
carried two ton of bombs. Depending on the objective of the mission, it may have been 2 - 1 ton
bombs, 4 - 1000 pound bombs, or 8 - 500 pounders...or some combination of those. On occasion, the
mission would carry fragmentation or "frag" bombs. These were equivalent to 20 pound hand grenades
and were used for support of troops on the ground, and clearing areas prior to some planned ground
invasion. Even then the our military observed a "pull your punches war" - Rome had numerous
shrines and these were off limits to any bombing mission. A typical mission would last 4 to 5 hours
and the targets would be railroads, bridges, docks, etc. Many of these targets would be bombed
multiple times, since targets were rapidly rebuilt, but one of the objective was to keep the enemy
occupied in such activity.
Each squadron had 2 or 3 photographers that alternated between planes on each mission. On one
memorable mission when one of the photographers was flying with Carroll's crew, he captured on film
another crew being shot down. Carroll's crew had made there run and were on the way out when the
photographer got this photo (below) of a crew that was heading into their target objective. Flying
through flak was common, but on this occasion this crew's plane took a direct hit on an
engine, as seen in the photo... only two members of the crew survived. While such scenes were
common during Carroll's tour, it was rare to capture such an event on film.
One of the Martin Bomber Assembly Plants (The Glenn L. Martin Company) was located near Omaha NE
in what is now know as Offutt Air Force Base...I believe the plant is now known as Building D. This
plant was an important contribution to America's World War II effort. Of the nearly 5300 that were
produced, 1500 B-26 Marauder medium range bombers were built in the Omaha plant.
It is reported that the B-26 is the only bomber with 4 blade props - all other bombers have 3
blades. The B-26 had 2 - 2000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney engines...positioned 6 foot either
side of the nose of the plane, which was where the bombardier was located... would you guess it
would be a "little noisey" where Carroll was positioned with his 50 caliber machine gun? It should
be noted that while the pilot/co-pilot controlled the speed and altitude of the plane, the
bombardier could control the "direction" once the auto-pilot was set. Of course this was
necessary for accuracy of the hitting the intended target.
By comparison, the B-17 Flying Fortress was much larger, flew higher, carried heavier bomb
load and flew longer missions
Just before The Battle of Anzio that began on January 22, 1944, all crews were called to
the mess hall and informed by the Air Corp Commander of the mission at hand and that the goal was
to be in Rome by the first part of February 1943...it would be June 5, 1943 before they made it to
Rome.
Editor note:
Carroll has a favorite poem that describes this battle in exact detail...click here to read the
poem The
Pinch Hitters at Anzio
It was during this period that The Commander called all crews to the mess hall again.
A full tour was considered to be 40 missions and then the individual would return state-side, but
The Commander informed crews that replacements were not keeping up with casualties and that the
"40 mission and out" rule was being scrubbed. Carroll would fly a total of 78 missions
before returning state-side. Carroll attended Sunday chapel regularly, but he noted that after the
scrubbing of the 40 mission plan, attendance went up...go figure!
He flew his last mission in November 1944. He then return, along with a couple thousand other
troops, to New York Harbor. He had been shipped to Europe on a British ship and was returning to
the US on a French ship. He arrived in New York on December 17 1944.(...does that day still sound familiar?..yep - it was his and Mary's second
anniversary.)
After arriving back in The States, Carroll was allowed 2 weeks furlough before reporting to Van
Nuys Army Air Field for 2 weeks and then on to Midland Army Air Field in Midland Texas in January
1945. The training here was in preparation for a Japanese invasion. Of course the A-Bomb would soon
bring an abrupt end to World Ware II. It was during this time that the Army had adopted a point
system to determine possible discharge. Certain points were allowed for length of service, number
of dependents, decorations earned and a few more areas of service. The requirement was to have at
least 90 points in order to be considered for discharge. Carroll's point total added up to 110
points...he was discharged in June 1945.
After a period of time to just relax and unwind from the stressful years of service, Carroll
came home to Stanton and took over the farming operation of his parents. His parents moved to
Stanton so that Mary and Carroll could move to the "home place" farm. He would operate the family
farm for 9 years with pretty much the same operation that his parents had managed for their entire
farm life.
In 1955, Carroll and Mary paid $200/acre for a 225 acre farm just a half mile east of Viking
Lake that was under construction at the time. Carroll recalls Homer Focht clearing and burning 75
acres of timber, building roads and parking areas and more. He also recalled that there was a local
contest for the naming of the new lake and that the winner of that contest was Carl Albert Johnson.
He rationalized that it could have been named Hultman Lake - named after Oscar Hultman, state
representative. Oscar had been the driving force behind the project for a number of years. Oscar
had two sons, Donavan and Calvin, and Cal Hultman would follow his dad's footsteps in state
political service.
One of Carroll's neighbors was Millard Anderson. In the early 60s when new Highway 34 was being
constructed, the new highway virtually bisected Millard's 200 acre farm in equal parcels. Millard
was very upset with the entire situation and decided to sell his farm. Carroll bought both parcels
for $200/acre. He later paid $330/acre for a connecting 40 acres from the estate of a deceased Red
Oak lawyer.
He would continue to farm until 1999 when at the age of 80, he decided to retire. However, he
and Mary would continue to live on the farm for nine more years. They then spent a winter in
Virginia with son Phillip before moving to Arlington Place, Red Oak in 2009 where they currently
reside.
Mary and Carroll had four sons; Carl (wife is Darleen), Michael (divorced), Darwin (wife is
Susan) and Phillip (wife is Becky). They also have 19 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
- Carl went to University of Missouri to study medicine and became a surgeon at the Des
Moines VA Hospital and is now retired.
- Michael is an instructor for Heartland Express. Heartland is one of the largest truck lines
in the country and is based in New Liberty IA.
- Darwin studied medicine at the University of Iowa and is currently a surgeon at Mercy
Hospital in Iowa City IA
- Phillip also studied medicine at the University of Iowa and is currently in Family Practice
in Virginia.
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