The Charbonneau Villager Newspaper 2019 Nov issue Villager | Page 12

12 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER
November 2019
THANK YOU VETERANS
By CLARA HOWELL
Charbonneau
veterans look back
on wartime service
Night raids over Japan
Every two minutes a B-29 Superfor-
tress departed on a mission to bomb
Japanese oil refineries.
Charbonneau resident Dale Long,
97, flew in five missions as part of stra-
tegic bombing raids from June to Au-
gust of 1945 to obliterate Japan’s oil re-
sources.
Long served in the United States Ar-
my Air Forces in WWII from 1942-46
and completed three years of navigator
and air gunner training, though his po-
sition was a navigator. He entered the
U.S. Army Officers Reserve Corps in
1946.
During WWII, Long became a second
lieutenant and flew in the 315th Bom-
bardment Wing, 357th Bombardment
Squadron, 331st Bombardment Group
as part of a 10-member crew.
Long entered the Army in 1942 and
trained in many different areas, includ-
ing Texas and Nebraska, where he
trained with the new B-29 bombers —
and met Vivie, the love of his life.
When Long was deployed from Ne-
braska in 1945 and was sent on his first
bombing mission as a navigator, Long
said he felt antsy.
“It really bothered me,” he said.
But after the first mission finished
and he’d been shot at a few times, he re-
laxed: “I lived. That was about the end
of it (and) it didn’t bother me anymore.”
The B-29 planes’ undersides were
painted black so aircraft searchlights
couldn’t locate them. Long remembers a
near-aerial collision during one of his
crew’s missions.
Long told the pilot to look out of the
window. A Japanese plane was un-
aware of the B-29 and flew only 50 feet
away, right in front of the crew’s plane.
Long remembers seeing the faces of the
PMG PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE
World War II veteran Dale Long.
men in the other plane.
The last mission Long went on was
to bomb an oil refinery in Akita Prefec-
ture. Once the mission was complete,
his crew was told to head back — the
war was over.
Before Long was discharged he went
on two last missions for a supply drop
in Japan.
During his service, Long’s crew re-
ceived an Air Medal from President
Harry Truman. Long’s awards also in-
cluded an American Theater Service
Medal and an Asiatic Pacific Service
Medal with two bronze stars.
Despite his wartime activities, the
Oregon native’s real pride and joy was
his late wife, Vivie.
Long said he never asked Vivie to
marry him, but instead he asked her to
wait until the war was over because he
didn’t want her to become a widow.
Though it took him a year to get
home after the war because there
weren’t enough ships to bring the
troops home from overseas, he eventu-
ally married Vivie in Texas, just days
after being discharged from the Army
Air Forces in Fort Lewis, Washington.
He and Vivie were married for 71
years and together they had two chil-
dren, Marise and John.
“It’s an honor to have a father who is
still with us, who served in World War
ll and it’s fun to hear him tell about his
recollections of that time,” Marise said.
World War II veteran Dale Long with a photo of
his flight crew. World War II veteran Dale Long kept various
knick knacks from his time in the military.
World War II veteran Dale Long. A photo of World War II veteran Dale Long with
his late wife Vivie.
Long grew up in Lebanon, Oregon on
his family’s farm and after the war he
attended the University of Oregon to
become an architect. (Long had origi-
nally attended Oregon State University
for two years to study chemistry prior
to being drafted into the war).
Both of Long’s children were born in
Oregon. Long worked in various archi-
tectural firms throughout the country
before moving his family to Tacoma, en-
tering into his own architectural busi- ness, Home Designers Inc. Vivie worked
alongside him as his secretary, running
the business side of the company.
Long moved to Charbonneau in 1991
and designed his Charbonneau home
for he and his wife.
“I was pretty much on my own. I
liked that,” Long said of his career, add-
ing that he understood how to design a
home so the furniture fit in beautifully.
“I was good at that.”
Vivie died in 2017, but Long remains in
his home that he said his wife loved dearly.