A tour guide at the
Mighty Eighth Air Force Musuem in Pooler, Paul
Grassey knows first hand what the fly boys of World
War II went through. "I was only 18 and my
father didn't want me to join, but I wanted to
get in the Army Air Corps because my buddies and
older brothers had their uniforms on and came
home and had their wings, and I said by God I am
going to do that,"he said. And he
did, Grassey became a pilot in a B-24.
Flying 13 missions over Europe, Grassey doesn't
sugarcoat the experience. When asked if he was
scared, "Yes. In fact, I don't remember
turning a heated suit on because you were
sweating so much. Right from the moment you took
off you were under pressure," he said.
In fact, Grassey said one of the most stressful
parts was taking off. "One of the toughest
things was just getting off the ground and
getting into the forming area, because there
might be 2,000 airplanes on a mission plus 100
fighters."That made for some tight
squeezes, and on top of that Grassey had to deal
with enemy fire. "A place like Madgeburg had
900 guns. A place like Berlin had 2,500
anti-aircraft guns and that molten metal is over
the sky. It was just pure luck. It didn't take a
lot of skill to figure out, not to hit by one
because you had no control over it,"he
recalls. Grassey said if you made it through the
first five missions, you had a shot at surviving
more. "It was really pretty exciting but
scary. I mean scared to death."
In addition to now sharing his stories, Grassey
hopes some of his patriotism rubs off on those who
visit the museum. "These young people need
to understand that freedom isn't cheap."
Recognizing he is part of the Greatest Generation,
he points out those now serving our country are the
greatest new generation and should be supported like
he was, some 70 years ago. Grassey is one of an
estimated 350,000 men who served under the Mighty
Eighth Air Force during World War II.