Enlisted Heritage Research Institute honors WWII gunner

  • Published
  • By Carl Bergquist
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  The director of the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute here described July 3 as a grand day because Enlisted Heritage Hall museum officials had inducted retired Master Sgt. James Traylor into its ranks.

He joins the many enlisted members the museum honors who have made major contributions to the Air Force.

Sergeant Traylor, a ball turret gunner during World War II on the B-17 nicknamed "Vertical Shaft," was shot down on his 11th mission over Germany and spent almost two years in Stalag 17, a German prisoner of war camp. 

After the war, he left the Air Force for a while to be a bush pilot in Alaska, and then returned to the service as a gunner on B-29 and B-50 aircraft. He cross-trained into supply and during the Vietnam War served as a supply sergeant at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam.

"This is a great day for (the museum) and the Air Force," said Chief Master Sgt. Malcomb McVicar, EHRI director. "We are privileged to have veterans here today, the day before celebrating our nation's birthday, who have helped build this country and also have colleagues of Sergeant Traylor from the Civil Air Patrol."

At the ceremony, Sergeant Traylor had two fellow Stalag 17 POWs attending, and because he is a pilot for CAP, a number of CAP officials and cadets were present as well.

"I want to share the story of a humble individual, a native Alabamian who was born in Montgomery and in 1942 enlisted in the Army Air Corps as soon as he graduated from high school," said Chief McVicar. "It was his choice to crawl into that belly turret in 'Vertical Shaft' as part of the Eighth Air Force in Europe during World War II."

The chief said Sergeant Traylor's imprisonment ended in 1945 when the Germans finally had to surrender to Patton's army. The surrender followed an 18-day march the Germans put the POWs through after abandoning Stalag 17.

Chief McVicar said Alaska turned out to be too cold for the sergeant, so he rejoined the Air Force. But, after being mortared with rockets one night at Da Nang, Sergeant Traylor decided it was time to retire. He returned to Maxwell and retired in October 1969.

"Sergeant Traylor is an American Airman who answered his nation's call," Chief McVicar said. "You are one of the reasons our nation will celebrate its birthday tomorrow."

Sergeant Traylor said it was impossible to explain how he felt about being inducted into the EHH museum.

"I can't describe what it feels like, but it certainly isn't the way I thought it would feel," he said.

The sergeant said he became the belly gunner because he was the smallest man on the crew, and it took a small person to squeeze into the cramped turret on the bottom of the B-17.

He said before leaving for England, the "Vertical Shaft" crew acquired a mascot they brought with them.

"He was just a mutt named Dilbert McNasty," he said. "We didn't have an oxygen mask that would fit him, so we had to put Dilbert in a canvas bag and pump oxygen into the bag on the high-altitude trip."

Sergeant Traylor said the "Vertical Shaft" crew heard that after their aircraft was shot down and the crew didn't come back to England, Dilbert McNasty, who often lived up to his name, latched on to the Red Cross personnel at the base and was riding around in their truck.

He said a memory of the war he will never forget involves the German surrender to U.S. Army troops.

"Seeing jeeps ride up with Patton's 3rd Army to tell us we could go home, that's one of the best memories I have of the war," Sergeant Traylor said.

Featured in EHH's Alabama Room, Sergeant Traylor's exhibit is a photocopied collection of his cherished World War II photos with the story of his career intermingled among the photographs.

The exhibit covers nearly all of one wall of a room dedicated to distinguished enlisted Air Force members from Alabama. 

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