Harold V. Gividen, Mapleton, Utah: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, May 22, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 15

Transcript (42 pages) of an interview by William P. Erickson with Harold V. Gividen on May 22, 2000. This is from tape number 15 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project

Gividen (b. 1924) recalls growing up in Mapleton, Utah. He joined the civil air patrol and later, the Army Air Corps. He received his training in 1943 in Kearns, Utah, and Pullman, Washington, before entering flight training in Tulare, California. He was trained in the BT-13, PT-17 Stearman, Cessna PT-17, and the B-17. He describes crossing the Atlantic in January 1945 to reach Polebrook, England, where he was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 351st Bomb Group, 509th Squadron. He was shot down on a mission to Munich, Germany, and managed to land his aircraft in Munswagen, Switzerland, where he spent a month in the hospital. Eventually transferred back to England, he was reassigned to Ellington Field, Texas, where he learned to fly C-47s. He remained in the Reserves, from which he retired as a lieutenant colonel after twenty eight years in the service. 42 pages.