ALLERGIC TO COMBAT

ALLERGIC TO COMBAT
Friday, March 29, 2024 by TERRI WANGARD

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

TERRI WANGARD

FICTION FRIDAY

Allergic to Combat

Excerpt from Seashells in My Pocket:

No sooner had they climbed from the jeep, then a loud voice said, “Oh, no. We’re depending on a coward to get us to Africa?”

Silence descended. Daniel recognized the malcontent. Phil Colton had been in his high school class. A braggart and a bully. Just how did he expect the plane to get them to Europe without a pilot?

The group’s commanding officer studied Daniel and his crewmates before asking, “You have a problem, Colton?”

“They’re sissies, flying in the backwaters instead of in combat.”

The CO rocked on his toes. “May I remind you, Colton, that you go where the military sends you and do what you’re told to do?”

Colton shrugged one shoulder.

Kenny jumped into the fray. “Lieutenant Lambert flies combat in his spare time. And next week, Mrs. Roosevelt, the First Lady, is gonna pin a Distinguished Flying Cross on him for dive bombing and sinking a German supply sub. Single-handedly.”

Daniel headed for the plane. “Come on, Kenny. You know the Krauts scuttled their boat as soon as the navy showed up.”

Colton’s smirk slid off his face.

###

A lightning strike hurled the plane onto its side. The luminous dials of the controls went haywire. The artificial horizon indicated they were upside down. Daniel grabbed a pen from his pocket, held it out, and dropped it. It fell forward, down and to his left. They weren’t inverted, but they weren’t flying level. And they were plunging downward. He strained against the rudders and control column.

They needed a miracle to avoid crashing into the sea.

A voice with a Texas twang reverberated in his ears. ‘Sonny, in the old days, we didn’t have all these fancy instruments. Just the needle, ball, and airspeed. Pay attention to them.”

Just like that, Daniel was back in flight school, flying with a crusty old pilot instructor who’d flown biplanes in the last war.

His thoughts settled. He concentrated on the turn and bank indicator and the climb and descent needle. They’d dropped low enough for warmer air to revive the airspeed indicator. He hauled back on the control column and the plane leveled off.

Before he had a chance to catch his breath, a massive updraft shoved them hundreds of feet higher. His heart hammered in his chest as though trying to get out.

“Going up to kitchen wares. Next stop, children’s clothes.” K[AA1] enny’s voice in the intercom sounded somewhere between laughter and concern.

Just as suddenly, the draft dissipated and they dropped.

“Oof.” Any laughter disappeared from Kenny’s voice. “Bargain basement coming up where you’ll find lots of good deals you won’t want to miss.”

“Like a watery grave?” Reggie slumped in his copilot’s seat, still gripping the controls.

###

As the CO led his men off the plane, Phil Colton hesitated. And nodded. No smile, but Daniel recognized the emotion that lurked in Colton’s eyes.

Respect.

Why choose Brazil as a setting for a World War II novel? Because it’s different. I like different. The idea for Brazil came from Gail Halvorsen, known as the Candy Bomber of the Berlin Airlift in 1948-1949. During the war, he had served as a transport pilot based in Natal, Brazil.

Many combat pilots characterized the noncombatant cargo pilots of the Air Transport Command, or ATC, as allergic to combat. Being noncombatants didn’t equate with safety. Most dangerous was flying over The Hump between India and China, where over 1,600 personnel were killed or missing. Flying from Brazil to Ascension Island in the Atlantic required precise navigation. Some aircraft simply disappeared.

Brazil also interested me because of the large German population. In the United States during World War I, people of German ancestry were viewed with suspicion. Intolerance and rumor-mongering drove many German-Americans to change their names and deny their heritage. Churches were pressured to discontinue German-language services. Schools stopped teaching German. The German Brazilians experienced much of this during World War II.

So, what if a young German Brazilian woman who is fascinated with the United States meets a young ATC pilot? Would a romance be possible? Seashells in My Pocket is my answer to that.

ABOUT TERRI WANGARD

Terri Wangard grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, during the Lombardi Glory Years. Her first Girl Scout badge was the Writer. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in library science, she lives in Wisconsin. Her research included going for a ride in a WWII B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Classic Boating Magazine, a family business since 1984, keeps her busy as an associate editor. She also serves on the Genesis and First Impressions contest teams and as secretary of the Wisconsin Southeast chapter.

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[AA1]You keep making me laugh out loud! I love these guys.

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