Sydney Wood, a New Jersey native, talks about his World War II service as a pilot with the
Army Air Corps in Europe. Wood discusses enlisting
with a friend who was turned down by
the military for being colorblind, basic training a
t Brady (Texas) in a PT-19, and having no
choice in his assignment to multi-engine transport
planes. He touches on coming down with
the flu when he was supposed to be getting his assignment. Stationed at Heston Air Force
Base (London, England), he discusses flying C-47s loaded with fuel to troops stationed in
France and a secretive transfer to Sweden. Wood describes military life in Sweden including
not being allowed to tell his family where he was stationed, transporting supplies to Kirkenes
(Norway) for the Norwegian underground, the poor rations the Swedish Army provided,
getting under-the-table alcohol at Swedish restaurants, and difficulties receiving mail. He
emphasizes the engine problems caused by the cold,
and he estimates they usually only had
two airplanes working out of ten. He recalls his impression of efforts Bernt Balchen made to
supply Scandinavian allies. Wood touches upon interactions with Swedish and Norwegian
personnel, living conditions in the barracks, flyin
g low to avoid German observers, and
celebrating the war's end in Stockholm (Sweden). H
e reads some excerpts from letters he
wrote home about life in Sweden and the V-E Day celebrations. After his discharge, he
touches on having difficulty settling on a field of
study at the University of Illinois. Wood
states he does not have fond memories of his experience and expresses some bitterness.
