The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE – Clifton Forge native William B. Overstreet, Jr. was honored by French Ambassador Pierre Vimont with the highest award of the French National Legion on Tuesday in Bedford at the D-Day Memorial.
The Legion of Honor was established by Napoleon in 1802.
Overstreet, now 88, served as a fighter pilot during World War II and had many close calls with death, as he destroyed German planes, equipment and men on the ground.
He was termed an “Ace.”
Overstreet was born in Clifton Forge on April 10, 1921, and his parents were William B. and Gertrude Overstreet who lived at 1041 McCormick Blvd.
He had two sisters, Bernice and Melvene Overstreet, and all three attended Clifton Forge High School.
He married Juanita Brackens, the daughter of Samuel Brackens from Covington. She died in 1999. In 1940, she was Miss Virginia.
The couple had one son that had died earlier. William Overstreet Jr. retired as a Captain in the Air Force and now lives in Roanoke.
Overstreet has cataloged some of the World War II engagements he took part in beginning with his training in the United States. One point of interest during his training was when he and three other pilots flying P-39s in tight formation would do loops around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.
The remainder of the article describes some of Overstreet’s memories and action after going to England on the Queen Mary.
Almost every day that they could fly, the bombers did go out, mostly to targets in Germany and especially Berlin. There were very few days that they did not fly six to eight hour missions or longer.
Oversteet and his 357th squadron of P-51s would provide protection for the bombers.
Sometimes when the German fighters would engage the Americans, the American losses were heavy, but sometimes the Germans would run when they saw that the bombers had air protection.
Overstreet did lose some friends as some of the P-51s were shot down. His group lost 90 pilots.
At one time there were three other Clifton Forge men at the Debden, England base, Hot Shot Tucker, Walter Wade and a person named Meade.
All crews worked together – the ground crews and flight crews. Before each mission they were always confident of success. They were rebels, and trying to outsmart the enemy sometimes meant avoiding regulations, such as not being allowed to use paper carriers for fuel instead of metal fuel tanks. That way the enemy would not benefit from confiscating the metal should the bomber go down in enemy territory.
Overstreet recalled a freak accident in a mission to southern France. While over enemy territory a burst of flak cut his oxygen line, and he soon passed out since he was flying above 25,000 feet. The next thing he knew, he was in a spin, engine dead since the gauges indicated that the fuel tank was empty.
Somehow he recovered from the spin, got the engine started and then had to dodge trees in front of him. He picked up a few leaves in the air scoop and looked at his watch. Ninety minutes were not in his memory: he had no idea where he was but did remember what heading he was on originally. So he reversed the heading and flew until he reached England. Instead of stretching the flight, he stopped for fuel before reaching home base.
Upon reaching base, the first officer he talked to was Captain Meade who lived in Clifton Forge not far from his home. The mechanic who repaired his plane was “Hot Shot” Tucker, a former schoolmate with whom he played ball in high school. Overstreet still has a picture of him and Tucker beside a P-47.
Many weeks later this story received a lot of publicity, from Lowell Thomas on the radio, newspapers and Time Magazine. So that is Overstreet’s claim to fame, even though he hopes he did a little more than that!
In another incident during a snowy take-off, his assistant crew chief, “Whitey” McCain, was riding on his wing to guide him to the end of the runway due to low visibility. On the runway Overstreet motioned for Whitey to get off the wing, but he mistook Overstreet and thought he should come to the cockpit. Overstreet pushed the throttle forward following suit of his leader. Whitey was knocked off the wing, but thankfully he was so wrapped up that he didn’t get hurt. Years later while Whitey was riding in a car driven by Overstreet, he admitted to Overstreet that after falling off the wing, he had promised himself never to ride with Overstreet again!
One mission that didn’t turn out so well was when Overstreet had a sinus infection. When they chased the German fighters out of position to attack their bombers, most of the Germans would dive away and sometimes the Americans would chase them down.
But one time Overstreet was chasing a 109 in a power dive from 30,000 feet. Suddenly his eyes were swollen shut, but he was able to keep flying from feel of pressure and so forth. He radioed for help from a friend who came to fly on his wing and guided him by voice, how much to turn, how much to keep the nose up or down. That way he was directed all the way back to England and to a straight-in approach for landing.
It was four days before doctors could relive the pressure enough and for his eyes to open for him to see again.
On April 11, 1944, his flight was flying as escorts to a group of bombers when they spotted some German 109s and shot at them. At 5,000 feet, one was destroyed and the Americans had to dodge its debris, while another was destroyed at 3,500 feet. Then they spotted a Heikle 111-K flying close to the ground, trying to escape notice. All the pilots including Overstreet were instructed to take hits at it, and when the Heikle was hit from nose to tail, it crashed and immediately all five crew members got out.
Overstreet and his friends mused later that the German crew must have been track stars because of their speed in running away.
In May 1944, there was an order for side arms to be carried at all times due to an alert about German paratroopers. On May 12th, he destroyed a JU-52 on the ground, and together with his flight of fighters they destroyed a locomotive, railcars and some barges.
June 6, 1944, was the D-Day invasion. They took off at 2:00 a.m. in horrible weather and had to climb to 20,000 feet to get out of the overcast. It was beautiful then, with a full, bright moon. When planes broke out of the overcast, there was a different attitude among the airmen from that of the long climb using only instruments. Most fighters were then able to fly in groups of four even though they were unable to find their assigned flights.
They flew into France to make sure that no German bombers could bother the invasion and prevent reinforcements from being brought into place.
After six hours they returned to the base for fuel and the group flew eight missions on that day of invasion.
Overstreet flew for eighteen hours on three different missions.
On the next day Overstreet and his flight strafed trains, trucks and military vehicles. They continued this for the next few days, claiming trains, boxcars, rail shacks, lorries and barges.
A commendation was issued for his Unit, the 357th, for destroying 48 enemy aircraft without losing a single bomber.
On July 29, 1944, Overstreet chased a 109 to the deck, and it had a wing in the grass when it blew up. The 109 must have been trying to reach its home base since they were close to a German air field.
Overstreet and his wingman made another pass and destroyed another 109 and a DO-217. Overstreet went back to get another 109 and found out that he was alone: his wingman was giving him top cover, a good thing.
On August 6, 1944, they started a shuttle mission. Overstreet was leading a flight which included a New Zealand pilot who was used to making two hour missions and wanted experience on longer missions.
Another of his pilots trained in Canada and then transferred back to the USAAF. After more than seven hours and several dog fights, they landed on a grass field in Russia. The 357th had sent some mechanics and gunners on the bombers so they could service the planes. The trouble was that they landed at a different field so the mechanics never got to their P-51s. The Russians put the wrong octane fuel in the 51s and that did cause problems.
In Russia, Overstreet was assigned to a cot in a tent that came complete with a black snake in the cot. He was never sure if that was the Russian welcome or just the snake’s choice. At any rate Overstreet put the snake outside and went to sleep.
While there, he saw a P-39 on the field and asked to fly it since he had a lot of flying time on P-39s. Not a chance! He was not allowed within 1000 feet of it!
They were given an escort mission out of Russia and had enough time to find some beet vodka, which they thought would be better than potato vodka. Overstreet even offered to leave behind some of his ammunition to make space for the vodka. That was fine until they ran into some 109s on their way to Italy.
They gave chase but the 109s ran away and one pilot bailed out. Overstreet could’ve gone after and claimed the 109 but didn’t want to make an enemy claim destroyed by the plane with beet vodka on board. So then his only worry was making a smooth landing in Italy to safe guard his cargo, which he managed successfully without breaking a bottle.
His mission to Italy was a real thrill! Overstreet’s flight escorted C-47s to Yugoslavia to pick up downed airmen collected by Tito in Yugoslavia. In a small airfield the C-47s took turns landing, loading the men and taking off. The amazing sight was seeing the Americans as they jumped into the C-47s stripping off their shoes, clothing, anything they could spare and throwing it to their rescuers. Everything was in short supply and these airmen wanted to help those who had helped them That’s the American way!
Instead of returning to England immediately, the shuttle mission flew over southern France to help with the invasion there. So not only did Overstreet participate in the D-Day invasion in northern France but also helped in southern France as well.
From their mission in Italy, this was more than an eight hour mission and quite taxing for the New Zealander who was used to two hour missions!
Overstreet had a number of exciting missions. On one, he was too close to a 109 which blew up. Pieces of the plane came into his cockpit and landed in his lap. He still has a piece of extremely strong and light metal. On another occasion he saw a 109 on a shallow dive after the pilot had bailed out. The plane crashed into the side of a factory. However, on the other side of the factory, only the engine, which was heavy enough to go through the two walls of the factory, went sliding down the main street of the town. Weird sight!
Another time a cannon shell came through Overstreet’s canopy, taking out the oxygen mask, helmet and all the attachments and gave him a haircut. He still wonders who the German was shooting at since the 90 degree angle of the shot was almost impossible. At least he knew why his canopy was missing.
A friend also lost his canopy and was angry at his crew chief. The chief later took the pilot over to the plane to show him the bullet holes that caused the missing canopy.
One particular remembrance for Overstreet involved his friend Eddie Simpson who was on a mission while Overstreet was in Russia. Simpson went down in a mid-air collision and was reported killed. However, he parachuted and landed in enemy territory in France, where he was rescued by some free French before Gerrnans got to him. He stayed and fought with the free French while waiting for the opportunity to rejoin his flight.
During that time, the Germans found out about this free French group and came after them in full force with modern equipment while the French had very little out-dated equipment, mostly stolen from the Germans. Simpson ran with the French trying to escape the Germans on little narrow French roads. However, with superior equipment the Germans were gaining on the French.
Eddie, along with three Frenchmen, jumped off the back of the truck, set up a machine gun in the middle of the narrow road, disabled the lead German vehicle, and saved the rest of the marquee who managed to escape. Of course those on the machine gun did not survive long. Overstreet and his flight did not know of Simpson’s bravery and experience for 20 years until records revealed where Simpson had been and what had happened.
After Simpson’s body had been identified, the Free French had a monument built on that location to honor Simpson, an American who sacrificed his life for the free French.
Another favorite and somewhat humorous story involved another of Overstreet’s friends who had his props shot off while on a mission to strafe a German airfield filled with German jets. The friend had to land and was captured. After a day of captivity, the Germans asked him to lead them to the Americans so they could surrender!
The Russians were advancing from the east, but the Germans preferred to surrender to the Americans on the west.
The friend agreed and, after the German surrender, mused about a headline in a large newspaper, “Lone Jewish Fighter Pilot Single-Handedly Captures Entire Luftwaffe Base.” He never saw the headline in print, but the entire flight enjoyed the humor and the capture.
Another of his favorite experiences took place in Paris while chasing a German 109 fighter. The German flew under the Eiffel Tower, expecting Overstreet to fly around the tower. Overstreet surprised the German by following him under the tower and was able to shoot down the German plane when he pulled up from the tower.
At the end of the war Overstreet was sent to a base in Florida where the airmen were evaluated and assigned points according to how much they did during the war. Overstreet had about four times the number needed for discharge but was not allowed to do so and was told that he was “essential.”
Instead, he was offered the chance to go to Washington and Lee in Lexington to prepare to be in the diplomatic corps. He was interested in attending W&L since it was so close to home, but he felt that he was about as far from being a diplomat as anybody they could find. However, he was discharged as a second lieutenant and placed in the reserves. He moved to Roanoke and after being there about a week, he received orders to return to active duty and was ordered to Mitchell Field immediately.
According to Overstreet, the teamwork of his flight of pilots was amazing. The bond is much stronger than brothers and they continued to have reunions until 2001.
The family atmosphere is unbelievable. Overstreet talks to his buddies or their family members often, if not daily. They had learned to depend upon each other in war and continue to support and encourage each other now.
