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Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , December 28 , 2016

PUBLIC AGENDA

WEDNESDAY , DECEMBER 28

Village of Montgomery Planning Board , 7:30 p . m ., Village Hall , 133 Clinton Street .

TUESDAY , JANUARY 3

Walden Village Board of Trustees , 6:30 p . m . Village Hall , 1 Municipal Square .

HOLIDAY DEADLINES

The office of the Wallkill Valley Times will be closed on Monday , Jan . 2 , in celebration of New Year ’ s Day . Deadlines for all press releases , letters to the editor and calendar submissions for the Jan . 4 edition is Thursday , Dec . 29 at 5 p . m .. Deadline for all display and classfied adversing and public notices is Friday , Dec . 30 at noon ..

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WEBSITE www . timescommunitypapers . com

The Wallkill Valley Times , ( USPS 699-490 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550

By JESSICA COHEN jcohen @ tcnewspapers . com

David Lustig , 89 , of Walden , had to convince his mother to sign his enlistment papers when he joined the Army Air Corps within a year after Pearl Harbor , as he was not yet 21 . He argued that he would be drafted into the army if he waited .

But really , he said , “ I wanted to be a pilot . I had six hours of instruction already , but I didn ’ t have the money or time to learn .”

Once enlisted , failing the vision test did not stop him from flying . He could still be a radio operator . He was sent to Lincoln , Nebraska , to learn Morse code , then to Arizona for gunnery school , then back to Nebraska to join a crew . Their first assignment was in Gander , Newfoundland , but a blizzard diverted them to Goose Bay , Labrador , where the snow had already landed , eight feet of it . He had to climb a rope to get out of his Quonset Hut , only to face harsh winds in 30 below zero weather . Perched on a plane ’ s wing to refuel , his face got so frostbitten that he hid it when he ate in the cafeteria , purposely staffed with pretty girls for men going to battle , Lustig said . Decades later , he needed foot surgery to rectify frostbite damage to his toe ligaments that often resulted in bloody socks .

Nevertheless , he flew 22 combat missions to France and Germany . After the fourteenth , alongside the crew with whom he had trained and was close , his commanding officer decided to move him to a plane in the front . When he resisted , he recalled the officer saying , “ You ’ re the best we ’ ve got . And up front you ’ ll be more comfortable without tail winds you get in back .” He had flown in the rear of 12 planes in formation .

Flattery helped , he said , though in the front he would be more vulnerable .

“ We took an awful beating from antiaircraft fire ,” he said . But as for fear , “ I ’ ll tell the truth . I don ’ t remember being scared . I was too excited .” Also , he had to concentrate . “ I had to jot down on a log in Morse code whatever I heard . And I had to wait for the bombs away countdown , ‘ 10 , 9 , 8 . . Bombs away ,’ then open the door to the bomb bay and make sure no bombs were left there . . . No bombs could be brought back to the base . What was left

Dave Lustig enlisted in the Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor

was dropped in the North Sea . Then I ’ d say ‘ Bomb bays clear !’ They ’ d close the doors , and we ’ d head for home . I don ’ t remember being afraid .”

That was so even on the last mission , he said , after which he counted 50 shrapnel holes in his plane after 80 minutes of German anti-aircraft fire .

“ The enemy knew that if they got the lead plane , the rest wouldn ’ t know where to drop bombs ,” said Lustig .

One friend on a previous mission with him had his lung punctured by shrapnel . The crew administered opium until they could get him back to their base . But by then he had died .

“ When I watched the MPs carry out his foot locker with all his personal belongings , I had an uncomfortable feeling ,” said Lustig .

He also remembered bombing Skoda Armament Works in Czechoslavakia , in neutral territory , as Soviets approached it . Though the Soviets were allies , they were not trusted . Lustig was told that the people around it would be warned by radio to stay home that day , but he still worried when they dropped bombs .

Lustig never knew for sure that no one was unintentionally injured until 1989 , when he visited a museum there , where a video from that period let him know that people had been safe . He signed the guest book and described his relationship to Koda Works , originally a machine factory for drills , presses and lathes , now producing cars .

“ The press secretary contacted me and said he was sorry we didn ’ t meet ,” said Lustig .

He was invited for the 50th anniversary of the Americans ’ liberation of Pilsen .

“ They put David on television . They honored us ,” said his wife , Hedwig . “ Then we went back again for the 60th anniversary jubilee .”