T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History
Collection
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Ralph Sims #
4700.0827
IDENTIFICATION: [1916 - ? ] Member of the Army
Air Corps during World War II
INTERVIEWER: Adele Foster
PROJECT: World
War II History
DATES: July 3,
1997; July 4, 1997
FOCUS
DATES: 1942-1945 (World War II)
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1187 Side A
description of Ralph Sims' family; how the Simes and Kittredges came to
live in Donaldsonville; trip to Hollywood where he spent a summer and one
school year; college “career”, one year at University of the South(Sewanee) and
a semester at Louisiana College; realization that the Great Depression has
affected his family; reasons he attended University of the South; differences
between Donaldsonville and Hollywood; religious composition of Donaldsonville;
Sims family was Episcopalian; discussion of heritage; Sims' mother's training
as a secretary and subsequent work at Texas and Pacific Railway; work at Hill
Stores grocery in New Orleans; work at Greyhound; meeting wife Eliza Bowie;
work at WJBO radio in Baton Rouge; meeting Charles Manship, Sr., wife's work at
Ethyl Corporation; promotion to program director at WJBO; how Sims learned of
the attack on Pearl Harbor; enlisting in the military(Army); waiting to be
called to duty; training to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps and becoming a
tail gunner; Sims' group was based in England(flew B-17); keeping his wife
informed with newspaper clippings; recollection of his first mission and his
last mission; a mission into Ukraine; opportunity to do a broadcast from London
the United States on the radio
Side B
going to London while on leave; visiting with Charles Manship, Sr. in
London; staying in Charles Manship, Sr.'s suite at the Dorchester although Sims
was enlisted; experiences during bombing in London; hotel service in England;
specific story about a bombing attack on London while staying at the Mayfair; a
mission when the plane was badly damaged and almost didn't make it back to
England; becoming fatalistic about missions; waiting for the final mission
(32); experience of being an older member of a flight crew; coming back to the
United States and training for B-29; transferring to Alexandria Army Air Base
in Louisiana; when he heard that the Japanese had surrendered; birth of Sims'
first daughter; traveling back from Europe on the Niew Amsterdam; Jack
Gremillion, former Attorney General of Louisiana; living and working in Baton
Rouge while trying to find a house for his wife and child; feelings about use
of the atomic bomb on Japan; leaving radio in 1953, finding a job with Crawford
Corporation; involvement in the development of a town, Crofton, MD; acquiring
job with Fidelity National Bank(Hibernia) in order to be closer to home;
discussion of daughters, Ethlyn, Elizabeth, and Dorothy; discussion of
grandson; discussion of current home in Westdale Terrace; wife, Eliza's work
outside of the home
Tape 1188 Side A
discussion of B-17 and B-24; detailed the conditions in a B-17 and the
crew positions; hitting bombing targets; first mission: to bomb Berlin;
carrying escape kits; instructions on how to talk with Russian soldiers on
mission to Ukraine; close relationship with flight crew; D-Day briefing and
missions; accidentally bombing own troops; bombing procedure; D-Day weather;
reporting of events in Stars and Stripes; composition of flight crew;
Clark Graham, member of Sims' flight crew contacting him; not interested in
veterans groups; motive for enlisting in military; military decorations; used
cigarettes to barter; opinion of German soldiers;
Tape 1188 Side B
parallels with Nazi philosophy and David Duke; retirement activities,
theater and Rotary Club; Rotary Club: what it is, experiences in the
international organization and local uses; opinion on role of US military
internationally
TAPES: T1187,
T1188
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 155 minutes
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: Total pages - 96 pages
T1187
- 57 pages
T1188
- 39 pages
RESTRICTIONS: None