Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest this week is retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs. He's a veteran of World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In all, he spent more than thirty six years in uniform. This is the second half of our conversation with Colonel Peterburgs. In our first installment, we learned about his service as a P fifty one fighter pilot in the European theater, starting in late nineteen
forty four. Peter Burs flew forty nine missions while escorting American bombers towards their German targets. On his forty ninth mission, Peter Burs shot down one of the most prolific German aces of the war. But on that very same mission, he was also shot down and became a prisoner of war. Please be
sure to listen to that part of our profile of Colonel Peterburgs. Today we look at his service following World War Two and how he returned to the air and combat during the Korean War in a very different but critically important role. We'll also examine his years in between Korea and Vietnam, which included the only ejection from his many years in the service, and once in Vietnam, Colonel Peterburgs will share the vitally important role he played during the air campaign there.
But we begin in the immediate aftermath of World War II, as Peter Burs returns home and moves forward with his life while staying in uniform. When I got back in the nineteen forty five, I got buried at thirteenth to June to by Yeah, i'd say Joseph Pede, who I named my air craft after, and I had an extended leave of sixty day leave. After the honeymoon, we were transferred to back to Douglas, Georgia, and then I mean Napier Field doth in Alabama, and that clothe We got there and we
were there for about ten days and they then that base close. So then we were shipped off to Truexfield, Wisconsin, and we're there for probably two months and that closes, and then we end up at Chanute in Illinois. So that was the first part. But anyway, and then I started getting jobs. I mean I didn't have time to get a job at any of the other places, and so at Chanute, I was made adjut to the
group, the housekeeping group that ran the base. And then I was in early nineteen forty seven or late forty six, it was right in that time period. I was made command of the Squadron F and of course segregation was in effect at the time. Then it was an all African American the unit, and I'm the only white person. And fortunately the the first sergeant, by first sergeant was a he had a two twenty year of debt print and he was, you know, really, I'm twenty one years old and I
don't know, you know, run it out that. So he taught me everything I knew and then we got along good. But that about six months after I took commed of the outpit. Then Truman desegregated the armed forces. So it was my job to integrate by unit into the various white units. Now, the difficulty of this is is that all the white units that they are now and I always have been in the in the services that they were organized by trades, like you had a squadron of engineers, so you had
a squadron of cooks and bakers. You had a squadron of MPs where the black unit. It was segregated based upon color period, and you had engineers, you had bakers, and you had MPs, and you had all, you know, all the skills all in that one year. So my job was to take the proper skill and get it into the proper whites unit. And so that was meant, you know, there were just a small you know, maybe fifty fifty guys would go into one unit and twenty guys or
three guys or whatever. So the first hard and I worked out sort of a feedback system where we would be able to tell, you know, how they're treaty guys. And it was really difficult. It did not go smoothly as far as the but my unit, what fruit. We got it. Anyway, that must have done fairly condicent because in July of forty seven I was promoted to captain twenty twenty one, twenty two years ago something like that.
And then after that I went into accounting and finance. I was a finance officer and I went to Shepherd and I was there for a while. Then I went back to Chanute. That was in nineteen fifty one. I was the accounting and dispersing officer at Chadout that I got orders for Korea the fighter pilot. But all I've been doing is flying. I hadn't flown the fighter since the day I was shot down, and I was flying B twenty five and stuff like that, mainly just to get maintain my proficiency because I
had an administrative gentleman didn't ever fly job. But even you know, the thing was, you still flew. You flew at least four hours a month. That probably ended up getting about twenty twenty five hours a month of flying time that average. Anyway, I got the orders overseas, and I got the side to the eighteenth Pight of Barber Squadron twentieth PARTIT group stationed at Pussan and with a forward operating based up at hank Song, a K forty six
a month or probably forty fifty miles from the DMZ. So I get over there, and then the first thing that happens to me is I just twelve to the general's officer as General Rogers, and he said, well, well you're going to make you the fineout officer, And I said, I've been sent over here as a pine a bottle. He said, well, you got to here. Two brothers that were killed and we know you're not going to go to combat. And I said, well, I said you the
Sullivant Act, you know, didn't pass that. And I said, the Sullivan Act says that is the load surviving sun. And I said, I've got about three other brothers, three other brothers. That's home yet, I said, I'm not this old surviving son. But anyway, after probably a day or two of discussions and stuff like that, they said, okay. So I went got five hours in the P fifty one and we checked out
the fifty one, got five hours of start to flying combat. And it was the fifty one that that you know, we in the World War Two we were the Knights of the Sky, you know really, and then Korea and we're given this ground support road worth aircraft in the Air Force inventory for that type of road, you know, close air support. Very vulnerable there. The fifty one was very bold to ground fire and as I could attest, tore too. Anyway, I put seventy six missions and had some had
one that had the cannon. I was doing a rocket well, I was doing the dapile brown and troops and trenches along a ridge and the mountain ridge, and I let that day, Bob attack through that and what good? Then I came around with the rocket. We had four or five inch rockets, but they were not controllable. They went for you via aircraft was pointed and that was about yeah, no sights and that anyway, in order to do that, to be effective, you had to be straightened level, you
know, you can't be the slip and turn stuff like that. Then they get the rockets and go fly off. So I'm level and I pop off by first two and then on ready to pop the third one and buy a canopy explodes and uh they reach out and I got a handful of blood, and I don't know what, you know, what, how bad I've heard or anything. So I called the called base. I'm only about thirty five miles away from pace, and I called base that said what the problem was.
And coincidentally by wingman had radio lost his radio. So I there's just a way of maneuvering that tells you can talk to each other that way. So I wobbah by wagons. He comes in and George and I've said heading back to base, and so we go back to base and then we get to over the base and he feels off ahead of me and lands, and all the meat wagons I've called, you know, the meat wagons, the
pirate engines and all were out by chasing down the run. So anyway, I land non Shalotley and go to my truck on my parking place that I'm down to the cockpit straightened up, but you know, you get the messy cockpit with the maps are down on the floor and stuff. I'm there. Who cheaps up on the legies waiting for my report, and I go up and I startle them because I had blood, and he slips and falls off
the way. Anyway, what it was when the small arms went it through the wing route and then you know through the academy he had that exploded the Plexi glass and then bounce off my armor plating behind my head and and I had plexi glass all around my faith. So about four or five hours of flight church and picking the plastic class out of my face, and then I was flying another couple of days later, So it wasn't that bad. That's
retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs still ahead. In this edition, we'll learn about the critical role that Colonel Peterburgs held in Vietnam and how he barely escaped serious injury there. But up next more on the close air support that he and the other P fifty one pilots provided during the Korean War, specifically whether it was a tough adjustment after the work he had done during World War II. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles sixty Seconds of Service.
This sixty Seconds of Service is presented by T Mobile. T Mobile offers exclusive discounts for veteran and military families and are proud supporters of the National Defense Network. Visit t mobile dot com to learn more about how they support our military community. Near San Diego, California, Imperial Beach, veterans and active military personnel now have a new way to help shape the way their city addresses issues
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Aggiar, whom voters elected as mayor last year, introduced the idea of establishing such a committee after campaigning and hearing across the board there was a need for that. The coastal city of about twenty six thousand people is home to more than sixteen hundred veterans. For more great veteran stories, just go to National Defense Network dot com. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our
guest this week is retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peterburgs. Still to come, we'll discuss the colonel's service in Vietnam and his close call during that war, But first we continue in Korea. As Peter Burs explains whether it was a big adjustment to use the P fifty one for close air support, It would appear to be a tough justiment, but I did not have eight I had never dropped a bomb uh and never fired a rocket. And the closest
thing that we came to close air support was fighter sweeps in Europe. You know, after the bombers dropped their their bob's, usually a squadron would be cut news to go hip targets of opportunities, opportunities or there were also fighter sweet missions in which the fighters to go over and just and straight all the
air fields, but known targets. It was that idiot. This close air support where the troops are in contact with other with enemy troops and they need air support, and you go in and uh, you know that's that's sort of close combat and also bobbing artillery positions, and it just came natural to
me. It just I didn't be firstly, whether did you ever have to deal with enemy support aircraft or did you usually have superiority where you were Well, you know, we were hit by bigs a couple of times, but you know the fifty one was well, of course more maneuverable than the big the big ends speed as at any jet. You know, the f eighty six is were supposed to be escort against that time. Well, we had the big missions and axequent missions up around the Riyalu and we were supposed to
get a support but with the eighty six is. But in fact I had some harsh words form. We had a meeting and you know if I told them, but their job was supposed to be is escorted us, and of course they were more interested in getting the the tagli with the bigs that they were with protecting US. So we occurrent quite a few losses without that support. So between Korea and Vietnam, what were you focused down? And well after after Korea, I, uh, I thought that well it was able
to be much of a The awards are all over itself. The PO be such a demand for fighter pilots. I decided to go into command and control.
And I was at Tendall. I was running a I was operations officer for the support for the Air Weapons Control of the school at Tyndall, and I had I had a P fifty one h s there and then we later got F E, d's, a's and b's and I was the first American jet operational jet and then the T thirty three, which was basically a prove you know, a two seat F eight and uh so we were flying that. And then I decided after a while, I I'd go to the Air
Weapons Controller School and then get into commanding control. And that's what I did, and then from there I just keep kept progressing into the commanding control field. And then in the nineteen fifty six it was I think it was yeah, I was transferred to Newfoundland to the sixth to fourth Nora D Region, it had air defense responsibility for the whole lot east. The major routes between Europe and America were in that area. They had come along that area in
the northern northern and so that was a pretty big job I had. And then from there what to Dora had headquarters. Was a staff officer there and commanding Control did a lot of work and commanding control there. And then I was aside to that is, an officer to the ri Yeah Fighter Command and where I was responsible for the operation of our BBus Buldistic Missile early warning site at Filing nails More in England. And I spent a two year tour there
and then I got orders to Vietnam. After the completion in nineteen sixty seven, I made lutenant colonel and then I was transferred to Vietnam. And what role did you have in Vietnam? Well, I was the operations staff,
as are responsible for coordinating the airspace over the war zone. Now, this entailed a lot of different things, and it means that you know, during Vietnam there were still so minion aircraft flying in and out of Vietnam, and like the Philippine Airlines, the Thai Airlines and in the American airlines were still uh flying in it out. That's one aspect. I mean, that wasn't too bad. You know, they they stiff stayed pretty well clear, but
they still had to coordinate their activities. And then you had the various You had the Vietnam Air Force, and then you had the Army air you know, the Army had a lot of their old aircraft, and then of course the Air Force's aircraft were and you had to coordinate make sure that they weren't uh, targets weren't overlapping and this sort of thing. And then you also had the artillery, you know, the army and Marine artillery that would be
firing at targets and you don't want them firing their targets. So it was a pretty big, pretty big job. And uh so, uh that was that was it. And I had the the radar. I had commit of the staff responsibility for for all the radars and the regular surveillance ralars as well as the precision radars that were providing the ArcLight, the B fifty two information on targets, stuff like that. That's retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peter
Burrs. When we come back Colonel Peterburgs shares more of his service from Vietnam, his close called during an enemy attack there, and much more. I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is retired US Air Force Colonel Joe Peter Burs. He's a veteran of World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War and spent more than thirty six years in service to our
nation. Just before the break, Colonel Peter Burs explained the critical role he performed in terms of air traffic during the Vietnam War, but he would not be back in the air as a fighter pilot this time around. Oh no, Well, I flew a lot flying up to my sights at the Dagh, which was right on the border, and every time I went up there we got artillery fire. And then during tent my room was blown apart by one rocket that a piece of shrap. Little I was. It was the
middle of the light. A piece of shrup will hit right along my head of my bed, and I had that as a souvenir for a long time. All right, let's back up a little bit here. I feel like this is being downplayed. Explain, explain this explosion and how close it was to you and how you responded. Well, it was it was like I say, I was sleeping and it was within oh, I say, ten yards of my barracks. Previously to that, we had one of the barracks one of my units hit on twenty two and were akia in that one.
And this week came like I say, probably ten fifty yards right outside my room, and the splattered my room with shrapnel. And so that was one of the pieces at the hit right above the head. And so that was close call, I guess, So, Colonel, for our last several minutes here, I want to circle back a little bit to World War Two and a couple of things that we talked about. First of all, we talked briefly about how you were at first not permitted to fly in Korea because you
had lost to brothers in World War Two. Tell me a little bit about them and their service and what happened to them. My dad was born in November of eighteen eighty four in Germany and Ebbs, Germany, and he was in the German cavalry out of a Munster when he was sixteen seventeen years old. Then he became a merchant seaman and then he and then nineteen oh six he was in the New York doc in New York and he decided to join see if he could join the United States Army. And he went over signed
up and took the physical and stuff as aid. In the end of December of nineteen oh six, he became a member of the second Calvary of the United States Army and then was later transferred to the sixth Calvary and he was shipped to the Philippines around the nineteenth seventh nineth teen eight time period, and he was a fight He fought Tomorrows during the Morrow Uprising that were defeated in nineteen oh nine, and then he came back and then with the assignment in
Iowa. He was in the sixth Cavalry at that time, and he during the up the Mexican Revolution, Pato Billo was coming across the boy about overisent Hell that the American side and his unit was set down to Fort Ucci in Texas and no Arizona in that area anyway, that he was chasing Potchovilla Footill and then they had the nineteen fourteen I think it was they started in the American Putative Expedition led by Blackjack Persian, and he was part of that incursion
to to Mexico, and then World War two one came along, and being of German extraction and of being able to speak four or five languages, he was transferred to counterintelligence and he was infiltrated into the pow camp at Port Leavenworth, Kansas, where he collected and he had some other Claddstine operations, not
really familiar. I don't know that he had them though, And then he got out about nineteen twenty four something like that, and became a Sumlion was electrical steem manager until Pearl Harbor, and he was able because of his influence with his friendship and a lot of guys back in the early part of the century, he was able to put Gil himself, at sixty years old,
back into the army. Had ended up. Long story short, he ended up in the Pacific in nineteen forty three and island hopping and wounded twice, and in the Battle of the Philippine, so that my death my oldest brother George, and he joined the army in nineteen thirty six. I think it was when World War two started. He was promoted to a lieutenant and he spent time in Iceland, and then he was in the invasion of southern France just that occurred just after Neda, the major invasion, and he spent the
rest of the war fighting in Germany. And then Korea came along, his unit was sent home, and then when Korea came along and teen fifty, he was transferred to his entire unit was transferred to Korea, and he was up in the northern the northern part of North Korea. And on the second of November of nineteen fifty, his unit, on the eighth Cavalry was overrun by the Chinese. Of the eight hundred, only two hundred survived, and
so he's lost in the dust step in North Korea. And then the brother just older than me was Paul. He was born in nineteen twenty two, and we were the best friends as far as brothers. He joined the navy. He graduated from high school at sixteen, and then before he went to college, he wanted to get experience, so he joined as sort of the Navy reserve. And then the war came along, and then he was stuck in the navy and they recalled everything, and so he was ticked off because
all of his brothers were officers. He was a master. But she just made a subchaser and he was escorting the convoy from New York down to Quatallibo and they were torpedoed off the shore of North Carolina, and uh, just about all of them were killed. Of course, he was a Machidas based so he hadn't been down out of deck at the time, so he was killed there. It's an incredible legacy of service from your family. Your father
serving in two World Wars and more. And he had six sons and all of us served, and there are five of us have served in World War Two. And then the youngest was in Korea and he made he was a paratrooper and he made several jumps at the north and fortunately he was able to bump into my oldest brother about a week or two before he was killed, and so they had at least that little time together. One thing else that you did in Korea was having to reject Oh no, I wasn't in Korea.
That was after the after Korea. So T thirty three, like I said, earlier. I was an operation officer for the unit, and we always did a weather check to make sure the area was clear so we could run our operations. And I took off I think it was about five thirty something like that, and it was pretty thick soup and seely was about three hundred feet and I was climbing through the weather at about eighteen thousand feet and uh, I got a warning light blunted chamber, the fire warning light amber
light, and said something was wrong. So I immediately called the bass that said I've returned to the base. And I pulled the throttle back and it's going to make a dead stick back in and uh, I made the turn of heading down. A few seconds later, the red light came on and then blinked. It was blinking and uh, so I immediately stopped, cocked the fire thotvel which cuts off all fuel to the engine and uh and then it came on bright and I said, I want to so I have to
punch out. So you're setting basically out of thirty seven millimeter canny shells. So you're set there and and so you blow the canopy, uh, and you bring the armbrust up and pulled the trigger and you're blown out, and of course you're still strapped to the seat, so your seat is tumbling. And as it's tumbling, you got to figure out, well, I got to release myself from the seat. So you release your seat hardness and then
you throw it away from the seat, but you're both still tumbling. So then you have to figure out what should I pull my ripcord because you don't want close it up to the seat where your parachute will get tangled with the rip You know, with the parachute. Everything worked perfect, and I've tumbled it. I pulled the ripcord and shoot open, and I was in the weather and came down, broke out about three thousand feet and uh I was swinging at a real high rate. You don't of course you're vertigo. You
don't know this is happening. When you've you know, you're you're in the weather. And uh So, anyway, uh I been able to get the lanyards and slow it down and and get it and anyway, I landed the swamp and the helicopter was there in about five minutes to pick me up. So and then uh I had a little compression of the spy that I did recognize it. That's what I got hold after I finished a hospital. But I got home and uh, my son, my oldest son, said,
what where'd you get that bump? Buddy? And I had a big knot and there's a turn blue, I guess, but they didn't notice that at the hospital. But anyway he noticed. But it was just a little black eye. When I released from the seat, the oxygen tube was still hooked up. That I think that just you know, that broke loocid popped me in the head. There's a couple of questions before we go, Colonel, after more than thirty six years in uniforms, serving in three different wars,
what are you most proud of from your service. I'm most proud of my last tour at Germany, where I was companed of several thousands of troops and I was able to make their professional board recognized and working with the troops and
spending time with them and getting the job. And we did a fantastic job there, and we built a complete structure and with dedicated men and women, and integrating women into my units, the combat units, was a great achievement, I thought, and I felt that that probably was my most meaningful job that I had in the airport. The other job, yeah, I was
a combat pilot. It's a comb yeah, and you know, you do things you're you're lucky sometimes, your skill sometimes and but but this took a lot, I think, a lot more humanity to come out, to be able to to to work with people. And my poudest thing was that at the end of my tour I was affectionately called Colonel Pete by all my men and women. So they became better service members and they loved you for it.
So that's a that's a good combination right there. Lastly, sir, what does it mean to you to have us at the American Veterans Center record and share your story. Well, I think you know, it's a job that had to be done, and it was very reluctant for uh, you know, most of the or many of the veterans of the wars to to come out explain it. But it is so important that that we who experience these things, you know, give it to you from the horse's mouth.
You know, just exactly what our feelings were and how you know, how we we related to the times, and how we uh have made mistakes and and made tremendously heroic acts. At the same time, you know, it's a it's a necessary part of humanity to to know what has gone before so you can adjust and learn from the past, so you don't keep reputing the same mistakes over and over and over again and letting that pendulum swing back and
forth, back and forth with the whole human race. To live in ignorance of the past, I think is one of the saddest things that a person could do. Well side, Colonel, thank you so much for your time today, and most of all, thank you so much for your many years of honorable service to our country. Heekku retired US Air Force Colonel Joseph Peterbergs. He's a veteran of World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. In all, Colonel Peterburgs spent more than thirty six years in uniform to our nation.
I'm Greg Corumbus. This is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter dot org. You can also follow the American Veterans Center on Facebook, and on Twitter we're at
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