Jurgen Arnold

Jurgen Arnold was born in West New York, New Jersey, in June 1925. His father, from Kiel, Germany, was 17 years old when he joined the German army during WWI. His mother came from Hamburg, Germany. They were married in Hamburg, then left for the United States, where Jurgen was born.

The Arnold family were members of the Watchung, New Jersey, Athletic Club, and Jurgen’s father was involved with the Norden Bombsight program, a secret Navy project. Prior to his employment, the FBI conducted a thorough examination of the entire family’s relations and associates.

Before World War II, Arnold worked for a machine and tool company, where he was involved in tool design as a draftsman as well as manufacturing in the machine shop. While riding in his father’s car on December 7, 1941, he heard a radio broadcaster announce the Pearl Harbor attack and realized that military service for him would become an inevitable result. Arnold was interested in pilot training and applied for the Aviation Cadet Program offered by the Army Air Forces.

Asked by the interviewer how he would have felt if assigned to bomb areas in Germany where members of his extended family lived, Arnold responded that duty had priority over such considerations. At the time of his application, Cadet School was overcrowded with applicants, and so, at age 18, in 1943, he joined the Army Air Forces as an enlisted man.

Arnold began basic training in Miami Beach, Florida. Upon completion, he was sent to Gunnery School at Tyndall Field, Florida, where he was trained on aerial machine guns, learning to assemble and disassemble them in the dark. There was also practice with top turret 360-degree rotational gunnery, and 45-degree nose guns. Arnold discussed turret rotation with .50 caliber machine guns with the interviewer, as well as the parachute he always carried with him when in the air. He also spoke of the B-17 and B-24 turrets mounted in trucks for instruction, emphasizing the mechanics, including a hydraulic system that controlled turret rotation.

Arnold was transferred to Westover Field, Massachusetts, where he received additional training as a bomber aircraft crewman and air to ground gunnery. He mentioned how, on Christmas Day, his crew members became inebriated, while he remained sober. Arnold was reassigned to another crew with behavior patterns more like his own, and he received additional training as an assistant radio operator. He described the jobs of the crew members for the interviewer, especially those of the nose and ball turret gunners. Arnold’s job was as an aerial gunner in a B-24 Liberator nose turret.

Arnold left Westover Field for overseas duty and landed in a 15th Air Force airfield in Spinazzola, Italy. Initially, he performed ground guard duty, as there were more crews than planes at the airfield. The 15th was a unit assigned to conduct strategic bombing in Europe over Romania and other eastern European sites as well as France and Italy. Arnold discussed his experiences on missions over Austria, Hungary, Northern Italy, and Greece, as well as the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania. On his first mission, as a nose turret gunner, he saw a plane in front of his get hit, with crewmen parachuting out of the disabled aircraft. Arnold spoke of what was expected of crew behavior under combat conditions.

Arnold described his first contact with the enemy, a conversation with a German prisoner, who expressed surprise at how well he was treated. He had no contact with Italian civilians, as his air base was in an agricultural area with no nearby town to visit when off duty. Arnold spoke of his first experience with enemy fighter planes during his third bombing mission, how his plane faced a flak attack; he showed a piece of shrapnel he saved as a souvenir of that experience.

Arnold told the interviewer about a mission over a target, with flak bursting all around, how planes accidently collided with one another in formation, and how one plane, heading back to base, suddenly exploded due to a crew member lighting a cigarette while the surrounding air was saturated with gas fumes. He also talked about how B-24s had accidents on the airstrip, and how ice formed on the leading edge of wings, affecting the plane’s lift ability.

There was talk of a plane that was shot down, with the pilot and co-pilot wedged in their seats. It crashed over friendly territory, and the co-pilot was rescued, though unconscious, but the pilot died. Arnold stated that B-24s could fly higher than B-17s and carry a larger Bomb Load. His average mission was 8 to 9 hours in length and in daylight, while the British Royal Air Force flew during the night. He spoke of bombs stuck in the bomb bay being released with a screwdriver wielded by the flight engineer. Arnold went to Cairo, Egypt, and to the Isle of Capri for R & R (Rest and Recreation).

Arnold completed 35 missions in March 1945 and was sent to a Replacement Depot outside of Naples, Italy, then to Casablanca, and finally home to LaGuardia Airport and Fort Totten, on Staten Island, from where he was discharged. Medals and/or Service Awards he received include European-African­ Middle Eastern Service Medal, Air Medal w/ 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, and American Service Medal. 

Jurgen Arnold died at the age of 89 on February 7, 2015.