| Title |
Robert E. Irion, Sandy, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, September 20, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 537, 538, and 539 |
| Alternative Title |
Robert E. Irion, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Irion, Robert E., 1923-2007 |
| Contributor |
Bahlmann, Benjamin; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2002-09-20 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Scotland; England; Germany; Czechoslovakia; Kansas, United States |
| Subject |
Irion, Robert E., 1923-2007--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Army Air Corps |
| Description |
Transcript (142 pages) of an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann with Robert E. Irion on September 20, 2002. This is from tape numbers 537, 538, and 539 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Irion (b. 1923) recalls his youth in Kansas and tells how he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in October 1942. He discusses his flight training in Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida. He served in the 505th and 339th Fighter Groups. 142 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
142 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6bs0rd1 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1025794 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bs0rd1 |
| Title |
Page 54 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1025703 |
| OCR Text |
Show Robert E. Irion eptemb r 20'h 20 2 And on the last mission of the war they gave Colonel Righetti of th 55th tr. Group who was shot down that day, gave him credit for nine planes. Nobody h ot down nine planes in one day, but they gave him credit for it because he crashed land d or he was shot down - and they saw him crash land. And the guys with him said, "Well, I think he got nine planes." And they gave him credit for them. No gun cam, no evidence, but that put him ahead of Joe by one. BEN: It's tough to think about all these, you know. ROB: Yeah. It really was. BEN: Mull them over later. ROB: Yeah I tell you: at the time we thought it was a disservice to Joe Thury and he, he bore it bitterly through the years afterwards. He thought he got aced out of the top dog status there. It affected his life right there, it really did. But anyhow, we saw that they did a lot of this work and thought, "Hey, this is going to be great." The 503rd Squadron was, they were known for more aerial combat than they were for ground strafing because they'd had some bad incidents and lost quite a few guys. And just said, "Whoa! Is it worth it or not?" And our squadron kept on doing it. Until the end of the war we did it, but it cost us a lot. Of the casualties we had in our group- the 505th had more than 50% percent of the casualties, we had three squadronswe had fifty guys we lost. BEN: Fifty? ROB: Fifty. And the 504th Squadron (which we always figured just went along on the missions and didn't do much) was kind of present until the end of the war and they did 52 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bs0rd1/1025703 |
