Roy E. Staggs - Tillys War: The War Within

T ILLY S W AR

T ILLY S W AR

The War Within

Based on a True Story

Roy E. Staggs

2018 Roy E. Staggs

Tillys War

The War Within

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018953411

ISBN 978-1-595559395 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-595558473 (Hardbound)

ISBN 978-1-595558374 (eBook)

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

T his book is dedicated to all the military personnel past and present who served this great nation in a combat or supporting role to overcome the atrocities that threaten all free people around the world. The author recognizes those who suffer from PTSD after their combat roles and prays that all will be able to put aside war and strive for peace on all fronts. The author further recognizes the families who have and will deal with the effects of PTSD-affected veterans on their lives as well.

May God be with them all.

T he author gratefully acknowledges the following people for their contributions of information contained in this book:

Professor (Lieutenant in wartime) George W. Crawford, retired, Dallas, Texas, professor of physics and a nuclear physicist, B-24 Pilot, 376th Heavy Bombardment Group, 513th Squadron, 15th Air Force, United States Army Air Corps.

George W. Crawfords book, THREE CRAWFORD BROTHERS, THE WWII MEMOIRS OF THREE PILOTS. Mr. Crawfords book provided information on some of Tillys wartime combat experiences while on missions in the European Theater of Operations during World War Two.

Mr. (Sgt. In wartime) Morris Barker, B-24 Armored Tail Gunner, Waco, Texas, who served with the 451st Heavy Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force, Italy, whose crew was shot down on their sixth mission, en route to Vienna, Austria, on August 22, 1944. Mr. Barker and the surviving crew members spent the rest of the war as prisoners. He provided insight to the life of a gunner on B-24 Liberators and an enlisted man in the military during the war.

The 376th Heavy Bombardment Group web site for the information on mission targets of the group.

Robert W. Staggs, Clayton, Oklahoma, Tillys youngest son

Terry L. Staggs, Texarkana, Texas, Tillys eldest son

Bobby Staggs, Winters, Texas, Tillys nephew

Laura Dean, Meridian, Mississippi, Tillys niece

Lydia Hanson, Grosvenor, Texas, Tillys niece

Patti Hendricks, Brownsville, Texas, Tillys niece

C ONTENTS

A Revelation

I stood there looking at an elderly man sitting in his chair. I once knew him very well but now I cant say I do. He was a changed man in my eyes. He was now completely white headed, somewhat feeble, and had only his memories to rely on now. He was watching the other people come and go with tired eyes that seem to drift in and out of focus as his mind drifted from past to present. It looked like he was talking to himself as I could see his lips move, but no sound was coming out of his mouth. He seemed to be questioning or arguing with himself, perhaps some event from his past that he was not quiet settled with or done with as all do sometimes. I mean drift back into the past and rehash old things and try to make sense out of them. Perhaps he was justifying himself in some way to reconcile his past to be satisfied with the present. I couldnt say it was a fact at this point, but it sure looked that way to me. Guess we all talk to ourselves from time to time when we are alone. He was alone in that place it seemed and so he now had more time on his hands that he really wanted.

He was so unassuming and appeared to be someone you would see in a nursing home with no hope and no past to discover or even if they did they probably couldnt remember it to tell you. He looked so out of place from the man I used to know. The guy who got up every morning and put in a hardworking day to feed his family, no matter what the weather or how he felt.

I saw this old man stand up straight and look a man right in the eye as he held a rifle pointed at him and he never backed down. Brave, well, I hope that was it. He wasnt afraid of much I am told. He told me one day, What is there to be afraid of? He said the next day, Im eighty-four years old and seen war up close and personal. What are they going to show me I havent seen?

But this old man had a distinctive look about him these days. I couldnt quiet put my finger on it. I know this man, but then again I dont really know him. I approached him from his left side, slowly walking around to place myself in front of his chair so as not to startle him. He slowly looked up, silently smiled, and asked how I was doing, if I was there to visit or do I have business here. He calmly said that he was not going to be around much longer and then he asked me if I had found his mission book and his wings. I said I did and that I put them in his trunk for safekeeping. He said, You need to take a closer look at my mission book and see the places we were in the war.

The old man looked at me and asked if I wanted to know more about those things about him and the war. I was startled and shocked to say the least. He had gone most of his life without telling a full story about those things, only bits and pieces of his wartime experiences so as to not make him out to be someone who was a hero or something like that.

He slowly began to tell his stories about basic training, air gunnery school, then the long trip overseas. We paused for a while so he could eat lunch and take a short nap while I went to pick up my notebook and pen to write things down.

When I returned that afternoon, he was giving me instructions on his funeral and burial. We had gone over that stuff several times before, so I just sat there listening and nodding as if to understand.

Then this unassuming man just opened his mind and began to describe how he won medals for some of the things he did and this was where it got complicated. All these years weIjust thought he was an ordinary soldier, a gunner-engineer to be exact, but now I know what he went through and why he had acted the way he did all his life.

Talk about domestic violence, combat, cigarettes and alcohol: those were just a few of his accolades. He was not much of a cursing man when sober, nor was he dishonestI mean about telling lies. As we completed six hours of talking that day, he went to bed and I went home to think about what just happened.

When I got home, I just sat there in my favorite chair. It was Saturday evening and my thoughts were riveting, exciting, fearful, and it took me a while to figure out what just happened here. I have never known him to just open up like that. I pondered the thought that he was just dreaming and was revealing things he saw in his dreams. I went to my gun safe and found all his important papers and there was nothing to allude to what he had told me that day. So I went to the storage room and dug out his old war chest. Well, there it was. That old man had kept these personal things a secret all these years. All his family knew he was in the war and flew on missions, but I didnt know the details of those missions like I was hearing. I was just beside myself to say the least. I began to put two and two together, and what a revelation it was. It was like this light just came on in my mind and lit up the whole past and secrets to the key that opened the door to wartime and domestic times.