| Title |
Richard Wight Burt, Centerville, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, November 19, 2005: Saving the Legacy tape no. 750 |
| Alternative Title |
Richard Wight Burt, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Burt, Richard Wight, 1924-2012 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2005-11-19 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| 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 |
Germany; Vietnam |
| Subject |
Burt, Richard Wight, 1924-2012--Interviews; Veterans--United States--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American; Bomber pilots--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, American; Prisoners of war--United States; Prisoners of war--Germany; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Army Air Corps; POWs |
| Description |
Transcript (47 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Richard Wight Burt on November 19, 2005. From tape number 750 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Burt (b. 1924) was born in Bear River City, Utah. He learned to fly in the Civilian Air Corps prior to joining the Army Air Corps in the Spring of 1943. After radio school and B-17 gunnery training he was assigned to a B-24 crew in Walla Walla, Washington. He flew with the 15th Air Force, 460th Bomb Group, 760th Squadron over Europe, and was shot down in November 1944. Initially interned at Stalag Luft IV, he was marched across Germany to Stalag XIB, where he was liberated. Discharged in 1945, he joined the National Guard and was called up for service in Vietnam in 1968. He flew with the 54th Otter Company in Vung Tao, Vietnam, for two months before being assigned as a maintenance officer and test pilot. He retired from the Guard in 1979, then rejoined for five years, retiring at age 60 in 1984. Interviewed by Becky Lloyd. 47 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
47 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/s6gb463n |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American; Bomber pilots; Prisoners of war; Vietnam War (1961-1975) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030832 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6gb463n |
| Title |
Page 28 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030812 |
| OCR Text |
Show RICHARD WIGHT BURT OV MB R 19 200 terrible. So there really wasn't much they could do about it. Food was mostly potat kohlrabies, rutabagas, kind of a barley soup. What they would do is take some of the canned meats out of the Red Cross parcels and take them into the kitchen and that way everybody could get a piece. It would stretch it out a little with the potatoes and the stew. What they would do then, they had this one kitchen and they rotated the work in the kitchen. You got nothing for breakfast but at lunchtime, you'd take a bucket and go over to the kitchen and they'd fill your bucket and then come back to the barracks. Each room would send a guy with a bucket to pick up the food. They'd bring it back to the barracks into the room and then he would ladle it out as evenly as he could. If he didn't do it evenly, he sure heard about it. BEC: I'll bet. RIC: We were always hungry, yes. The joke was you could tell a guy wasn't getting enough to eat if all he thought about was food. If he was getting enough to eat, all he thought about was girls (laughs). We never thought of girls, I'll tell you that, ever. [Editor's note: An online report from US Army doctors after the war states that, before the Stalag Luft IV was evacuated, the average weight loss for men in the camps was between fifteen and twenty pounds. After the evacuation march that followed, most men had lost at least one third of their body weight, which left most of them weighing less than 100 lbs.] So we were pretty hungry. So about Christmastime was when they had the Battle of the Bulge, if you remember. It was a pretty cold winter that year, the winter of '44-'45. The guards got kind of snotty then because they thought they (the German armies) were going to break out. Of course that never happened and the battle later simmered down, but during that 28 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6gb463n/1030812 |
