S/Sgt Melvin Hurwitz, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War II

Melvin Hurwirz was 16 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Within just a few years, all four boys in his family were at war, each in a different branch of the service. After enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Hurwitz was assigned as a gunner and as a radio man for a B-17 bomber crew after an aptitude test showed his proficiency at Morse Code. His crew then had a bit of an adventure flying the bomber over to Great Britain. It was Spring 1945 by the time he saw his first bombing mission.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Hurwitz explains why he chose the Army Air Corps, what he was thinking as he went up on that first mission, and the amount of enemy resistance he faced in those final weeks of the war.

Hurwitz also details his four bombing missions, particularly two aimed at German personnel still in France and how his was among the first planes ever to drop napalm in Europe. Hurwitz also tells us about bringing desperately-needed humanitarian aid to Belgium and the Netherlands at the end of the war and bringing French POW's back from Germany.