[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 11088-11089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         2ND LT. WILLIAM WOLBER, ONE OF THE GREATEST GENERATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 21, 2002

  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, the freedoms we enjoy and the 
opportunities that abound for all Americans are the products of 
sacrifice on the part of so many. Often at far distant places in the 
world and under great stress.
  There are literally tens of thousands of stories, so many of which 
involve what it is widely acknowledged to be ``The Greatest 
Generation.'' One such story, that of Army Air Force Second Lieutenant 
William Wolber, is of heroic dimensions. It was relayed to me by a 
mutual friend and neighbor, Fred Carville of New Hartford, New York. 
Here it is, in the words of Mr. Carville:

       Second Lieutenant William Wolber served in the Army Air 
     Force during World War II. He was a bombardier serving in the 
     8th Air Force, 466th Bomb Group, which flew the B-24 
     Liberators out of England.
       On one mission into Germany there were 12 planes in the 
     formation flying in three flights of four planes each. 
     Wolber's plane was flying in formation as plane three of the 
     first flight. The standard procedure was for all planes of 
     the mission to follow the lead plane of the first throughout 
     the entire mission. Radio silence was of the utmost 
     importance.
       On this particular mission planes one and two of the first 
     flight were downed by enemy flak. Plane three (the one Bill 
     was in) then took on the role of ``the lead plane'' for the 
     return flight to England. All remaining planes were now 
     taking their lead from plane three. However, Bill's plane, 
     number three of the first flight, (for some reason) did not 
     have a navigator on board during this particular mission.
       Second Lieutenant William Wolber, bombardier, assumed the 
     role of navigator. He evaluated the situation, looked at the 
     navigator's maps and equipment. Based on target information 
     Wolber determined a heading for the return flight and passed 
     the bearing he had calculated on to the pilots to follow.
       According to Bill's recollection, it was a very overcast 
     day and the entire return flight was over cloud cover. There 
     were no visual observations to aid in determining the correct 
     return flight path. Bill continued to estimate the progress 
     of the flight using the maps, heading, air speed, etc. All of 
     the remaining planes of the mission continued to follow the 
     lead of his plane.
       At one point Bill told the pilot ``we should be over the 
     field, drop down through the

[[Page 11089]]

     cloud cover.'' The pilot dropped down through the cloud cover 
     and lo and behold there was the field as Wolber had 
     calculated. All remaining planes of the mission landed 
     without incident. Bill continued his role as bombardier and 
     flew 32 missions.

  I have thanked Carville for sharing that story with me. Because it 
says so much about the character and courage of a fellow American, I 
want to share it with you, my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives. But I want to add a postscript.
  I, like Mr. Carville, have been a friend and neighbor of Bill Wolber 
for years and yet never learned of that eventful mission in enemy 
territory during a peak period in a great world war until just 
recently. I wasn't surprised. You see, Bill Wolber is one of the 
finest, most decent, patriotic citizens I have ever had the privilege 
of meeting and getting to know.
  Bill Wolber is a quiet, unassuming guy who, I suspect, was always a 
giver, one who did things for others whenever the opportunity was there 
because it was ``the right thing'' to do. I'll bet deserved recognition 
never crossed his mind. I know he doesn't talk much about helping 
others, he just does it. And that is why he and his contemporaries like 
him have earned the accolade ``The Greatest Generation.''

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