On Veterans Day we remember from World War II the hazards faced by young men who became our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. For example, the 8th Air Force suffered more than 26,000 dead compared to the Marine Corps losing nearly 20,000 killed in the Pacific. But of all bomber crew members, the ball turret gunner confronted the most dismal fate.

This Plexiglas ball hanging from the bottom of the B-17 or B-24 was a heavily armed bubble just big enough to hold a small man and two 50-caliber machine guns. He sat between the guns with feet in stirrups positioned on either side of a 13-inch diameter window and with his knees around his ears. The cramped quarters meant the gunner was the only crew member who could not wear a parachute during a mission. He had to exit the turret into the fuselage to put it on.

The ball turret in the B-24 was electrically raised and lowered, unlike those on B-17 bombers, which had to be manually cranked into the fuselage. Otherwise, there was no way to exit into the fuselage of the plane, and crews had all heard the stories of gunners who were trapped in their glass bubbles when battle damage caused the plane to crash.

Returning home could become tragic. There was sufficient clearance with the B-17 for the turret to be in the lowered position when the plane landed. When a B-24 landed a lowered ball turret was scraped off taking the gunner with it.

Nolan Nelson

Redmond