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Veteran's History Project: Frederick H. "Fritz" Guenther

Frederick H. "Fritz" Guenther

U. S. Air Force

1958-1962

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is one of many American Veteran accounts published in The Sidney Sun-Telegraph. The writer, who is from Sidney, is conducting the interviews as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.

The U.S. Air Force is charged with many tasks. Some the taxpayers know about, some they don't.

It's a very powerful entity among the branches of service. The U.S.A.F. offers training and actual work in quiet, under-the-radar locations, ensuring our safety and security.

Frederick "Fritz" Guenther was a 23-year-old man living in Wooster, Ohio – located about 50 miles south of Cleveland.

The Selective Service was putting pressure on him to either enlist in a branch of service or be drafted into a branch of the choosing of the U.S. government. If he were to be drafted, his service would be most likely for two years in the U.S. Army.

Nothing against the Army ... he enlisted for four years in the U.S. Air Force. And, rather than being a foot soldier or sitting in an office, enlist in a more technical branch of service.

He obtained a physical and completed the military aptitude testing batteries. He was accepted into the USAF and was sent to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas, for basic airman training.

Fritz was a little older than the usual enlistee. He also had a college degree. These two factors gave some of his fellow trainees and trainers the idea that he was a plant by the Air Force administration.

In time though, the harassment subsided and training went on. There was plenty of marching, drill and ceremonies, marksmanship training and classroom work. The pay wasn't all that good ... $22 every two weeks.

Upon graduation from basic, he was dispatched to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver for advanced training on Special Weapons (nuclear arsenal). There were 25-30 airmen taking this training. His class graduated three airmen.

He lived off base. They studied math, electronics and vacuum tubes. The sophisticated training allowed he and his peers worked on "Big Boy" and "Little Man" replicas and other models. (The actual Big Boy and Little Man were the names of the bombs dropped n Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan.) They worked on radar and timing systems for the bombs and serviced the batteries – carefully.

After spending a year in school at Lowry A.F.B., he was ready for the next step – an assignment to Taiwan.

The trip itself was a 47-hour flight on a super-constellation aircraft. With stops in Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines, he finally reported to the Special Weapons Squadron on a nationalist Chinese base. The area was secured except for the Taiwanese farmers who sneaked under the fencing to feed their goats.

One of their responsibilities was to load the weapons on the missiles. Fritz recalled an instance where a Matador Missile (with a 27-foot wingspan) was shot off a launch pad.

The operations people decided to have a trial run with it by putting a 2,000-pound concrete ball in the nose of the missile and headed it toward Communist China. They then tweaked it while it was in flight.

Oops. The adults in the room figured out that if it landed in Communist China, the result could be dire. With just a 90-minute time away from the target, the Chinese would respond very fast. Luckily, they caused the rocket to drop into the Formosa Straights. Whew! No evidence, no crime!

Another incident involved a squadron of F-86 stunt pilots who were with the nationalist Chinese Air Force. They were practicing maneuvers (letting the Americans know the Chinese were in the area) and completed some barrel rolls at low-level elevation. One allowed his tail section to hit the runway. No crash.

Fritz stayed in touch with home by writing letters. The mail service was good. The Chinese food was better than expected.

To entertain them, he was able to obtain a motorcycle from a friend and they could ride in the area. He joined a "cat" club with civilian engineers and officers. It was like a local private club. There was no leave time available. There was no outside entertainment that visited.

One of his friends was an Ohio farm kid. He could lift the end of a 1,000-pound rocket ... serious strength.

Fritz and this man had gone to a nearby beach and the local fishermen were faced with a dilemma of moving a huge ball of netting. The fishermen left it on the beach. The strong man another Airman thought they would just swipe the heavy ball and hide it. They couldn't move it!

Soon two small-framed Chinese men came by. They prepared themselves and lifted it and walked away with the ball ... leaving the Americans stunned and a little embarrassed!

At the end of his assigned time at Taiwan, Fritz re-deployed to the US. The travel was a reverse of the process getting there. He served the rest of his tour at Barksdale Air Force Base – at a Special Weapons facility. The assignment was the same: care and maintenance of the Special Weapons. His career ended on Friday the 13th of April 1962.

From there, he traveled back to Pennsylvania in his newly acquired vehicle. He found work through a friend in Boulder, Colo. With his degree and additional classroom work to get a teaching certificate, he obtained a position as a vocational trades teacher in Leadville, Colo.

Fritz thought highly of his military experience. He enjoyed it. He liked Taiwan much more than Louisiana! Fritz added that it was an interesting experience. He got to see quite a bit of the world.

Good work, Fritz Guenther! Thank you for your service, and Happy Birthday.

 

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