Never Call Me A Hero

A photograph of Coffeyville, Kansas circa 1908.

 

 

On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang arrived in Coffeyville, Kansas, with the bright idea that they would rob two banks at the same time. Two of the Dalton brothers, Bob and Emmett headed for the First National Bank, while Grat Dalton led Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers in to the Condon Bank. Unfortunately for the Daltons, someone recognized one of the gang members and began quietly spreading the word that the town banks were being robbed.

 

 

Thus, while Bob and Emmett were stuffing money into a grain sack, the townspeople ran for their guns and quickly surrounded the two banks. When the Dalton brothers walked out of the bank, a hail of bullets forced them back into the building. Regrouping, they tried to flee out the back door of the bank, but the townspeople were waiting for them there as well.

 

 

When the gun battle was over, the people of Coffeyville had destroyed the Dalton Gang, killing every member except for Emmett Dalton. But their victory was not without a price: the Daltons took four townspeople to their graves with them. After recovering from serious wounds, Emmett was tried and sentenced to life in prison. After 14 years he won parole, and he eventually leveraged his cachet as a former Wild West bandit into a position as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Several years after moving to California, he died at the age of 66 in 1937.

 

 

 

A photograph of the Dalton Gang after the Coffeyville shootout on October 5, 1892.

 

 

Now, you may wonder what this has to do with a naval aviator who declared that he wanted people to "Never Call Me A Hero."

 

 

Well, on March 7, 1916, John Louis Kleiss and Lulu Isabel Kleiss welcomed a new addition to their family in Cofferyville, Kansas. They named him Norman Jack Kleiss. Growing up young Jack Kleiss was well aware of the Coffeyville shootout with the Dalton Gang, and as a youngster he learned how to shoot a BB gun before he even learned how to ride a bicycle!

 

 

 

Six-year-old Jack Kleiss in his favorite sailor outfit.

 

 

Jack's best friend across the street was Earl Alfonso Rosebush, who was also the best shot in town. Why, he was even able to shoot a jackrabbit with a pistol while driving a Chandler automobile down a country road! Jackrabbit meals were a great treat during the depression! As time went on, Jack's interest in guns led him to have a hobby repairing guns, and he even learned how to make a few Derringers using hand tools. 

 

 

On his dad's recommendation, Jack showed one of his Derringers to a shop foreman and was hired as an apprentice making $0.50 an hour, and $ 1.00 an hour for overtime. This was very good pay for the depression era. By the time that Jack was in high school, he knew that he wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy, and at the age of 15 joined the 114th Calvary of the Kansas National Guard.

 

 

While in the National Guard he participated in a number of military exercises, and during one of these exercises his side didn't have an airplane while their opponents did have an airplane. That experience made up his mind, so Jack decided that airplanes were the future, and he decided that he wanted to become a pilot.

 

 

In 1934, Jack kleiss accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1938, 245th of 438 graduating midshipmen. Of the 438, 421 seved during World War II. However, at the time of his graduation the United States Navy restricted naval academy graduates for two years, requiring them first to serve in the Navy's surface fleet.

 

 

So, from June of 1938 to April of 1940, Ensign Kleiss served aboard three different ships - the USS Vincennes (CA-44), the USS Goff (DD-247), and the USS Yarnall (DD-143). After Jack passed his physical and psychological tests during his time ashore at Norfolk, VA Jack was sent to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. Eleven months later (without even crashing!), Jack earned his Naval Aviator Wings of Gold on April 27, 1941.

 

 

A photograph of the Gold Wings given to U.S. Navy Pilots upon graduation from flight school.

 

 

Ensign Jack Kleiss trained in the Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless, followed by assignment to Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6),the scout-bombing squadron assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6).

 

 

3 SBD-2 Dauntless dive bombers from the USS Enterprise (CV-6)’s Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) over the Pacific.

 

 

Specifications of the Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless:

• Crew: Two - Pilot and observer/rear gunner;
• Length: 32 feet 1 inch;
• Height: 13 feet 7 inches;
• Wingspan: 41 feet 6 inches;
• Empty weight: 5,652 pounds;
• Gross weight: 10,337 pounds;
• Powerplant: Wright R-1820-32;
• Horsepower: 1,000 hp;
• Range: 1,225 miles'
• Cruise speed: 148 mph;
• Maximum speed: 256 mph;
• Service ceiling: 27,260 feet;
• Armament: 2 x 0.50 caliber Browning M2 Heavy Maching Guns and 2 x caliber Medium Maching Guns in the rear cockpit position;
• Bombs: 2,250 pounds of bombs or depth charges mounted externally.

 

 

World War II

 

 

A photo of the damage on Battle Ship row on December 7th, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

 

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy executed a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. Naval fleet with the hope that they would find America's aircraft carrier fleet there. Much to the surprise of the Japanese, all three of the Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers were not there. In fact, they were all deployed to deliver aircraft to the Pacific islands of Midway Island, Wake Island, and to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 

 

 

The very next day, December 8, 1941, President Frank Delano Roosevelt delivered his "Day of Infamy" speech to a special session of Congress, asking that a Declaration of War be declared between the United States and Japan. His speech was met with overwhelming support from Congress, resulting in a near-unanimous vote to declare war on Japan.

 

 

As the U.S. quickly began to prepare for the war with Japan, Navy Codebreakers began the hard work to discover where the next attack of the Japanese would be. It was clear that Japan would now do everything that it could to eliminate the ability of the United States to function as a naval power in the Pacific. Japan wanted to establish clear naval and air superiority in the western Pacific, and their next move was to invade New Guinea.

 

 

The effort to slow down and stop this invasion brought Japaneses and US naval forces together in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The battle took place between May 4th and May 8th, 1942. It was the first battle in which opposing naval fleets fought at a distance with aircraft carriers. The result marked the beginnings of a new eara in naval warfare.

 

 

But what led to the United States being dragged into yet another world war?

 

 

The Great Depression

 

 

A men waiting in line for help as they struggle with the effects of the Great Depression.

 

 

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic downturn which began in the United States in October of 1929, as a result of the Wall Street crash. It quickly spread to other countries, leading to widespread world economic hardship. The United States soon faced bank failures, rapid economic decline, and home foreclosures, all of which led to massive unemployment and homelessness.

 

 

Many in the United States began to believe that the depression was the result of the free market system, commonly referred to as capitalism. The Roaring Twenties brought wealth inequality as a result of little to no interferance of the Federal Government in the regulation of commerce. Many Americans began moving to urban areas, and the nation saw a shift towards new industires and modern ways of living.

 

 

Norman Jack "Dusty" Kleiss's Naval Career

 

 

On May 8, 1941, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) set sail for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and upon its arrival,Kleiss and his fellow pilots began training for war. The exercises consisted of practicing navigation, gunnery, and dive-bombing in the waters around Hawaii. In June, Kleiss was promoted to Lieutenant junior grade. 

 

 

On May 27, 1941, Kleiss earned his nickname when he made an unauthorized landing at Marine Air Corps Station Ewa, on the souht shore of Oahu. Jack had been towing a fabric, wind-sock-style target towed behind his aircraft to help  train aerial gunners and anti-aircraft artillery crews. Kleiss landed in front of the control tower, but his plane's prop blast churned up a cloud of red dust, preventing two squadrons of Marine Corps fighter planes from landing at the field. 

 

 

The control tower operator called over the radio, "Unknown dust cloud, who the hell are you?" Kleiss did not respond to the tower, but rather just took off and headed for Naval Air Station Ford Island, all the time hoping no one had identified his aircraft. Upon landing, one of his fellow squadron pilots, Ensign Cleo Dobson, told Kleiss that he had seen the whole incident, and jokingly told Kleiss "Welcome aboard, Dusty!" From that point on throughout the rest of his career in the Navy, Kleiss went by that nickname.

 

 

On December 7, 1941, Kleiss's squadron Scouting Six, became engaged with Japanese fighters during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, losing six pilots and gunners. Kleiss did not encounter any enemy aircraft that day, but he did fly several patrols around his carrier task force.

 

 

On February 1, 1942, Kleiss participated in an air raid on the Japanese base on Kwajalein Atoll. During the battle, Kleiss dropped his wing-bombs on a parked plane at Roi Airfield, and later on he dropped his 500-pound undercarriage bomb on the light cruiser Katori. On February 24, 1942, Kleiss participated in the air raid against Wake Island. On March 4, 1942, Kleiss once again participated in an air raid on Marcus Island.

 

After USS Enterprise returned from a patrol in the South Pacific, Kleiss received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Admiral Chester Nimitz. He received the medal alongside several other Enterprise pilots and Messman Doris Miller in an elaborate ceremony on the flight deck of USS Enterprise, May 27, 1942.

 

 

Second from the right in the line of officers, Kleiss is wearing his Distinguished Flying Cross.

 

 

The Battle For Midway

 

 

On June 4, 1942, Squadron Six from the USS Enterprise found and attacked the Japanese carrier Kaga. Dusty Kleiss was the second pilot to score a hit, putting his 500-pound bomb and his two wing-mounted bombs into the forward section of Kaga's flight deck, right near the Rising Sun insignia.

 

 

On June 4th, Squadron Six once again located the Japanese fleet and attacked the aircraft carrier Hiryu, Kleiss scored a direct hit on the bow, one of only four or five pilots to do so. Then on June 6, Kleiss accompanied Enterprise's dive bombers in a mission that helped sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma. Kleiss's bombs struck near Mikuma’s smokestack. Kleiss was the only pilot to score three direct hits with a dive bomber plane during the Battle of Midway. For his participation in the battle, Kleiss received the Navy Cross in November 1942.

 

 

After the Battle of Midway, Kleiss was transferred to shore duty in the United States. After marrying his girlfriend, Eunice Marie "Jean" Mochon, at a wedding chapel in Las Vegas, Kleiss became an instructor assigned to an Advanced Carrier Training Group (ACTG) squadron stationed at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. In the autumn of 1942, he transferred to the ACTG squadron assigned to NAAS Cecil Field, Florida. In October 1943, he resigned his position as instructor to accept a position at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he spent the next two years preparing for a career in aircraft design.

 

 

Postscript

 

 

On April 1, 1962, Captain Jack "Dusty" Kleiss retired from the U.S. Navy. After retiring from the Navy, Kleiss worked as Senior Staff Engineer at Allegany Ballistics Laboratoryin Rocket Center, West Virginia. He left that job in 1965 and became a part-time surveyor. For ten years, he taught mathematics, physics, and chemistry at Berkeley Springs High School. In 1997, he and his wife moved to the Air Force Village, a retirement community located near Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Kleiss lived there for the rest of his life.

 

 

For four years, Kleiss worked on a memoir, "Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers the Battle of Midway", which was edited and finally published posthumously by co-authors Timothy and Laura Orr on May 23, 2017, by William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins. The memoir focuses on Kleiss's experiences during World War II.

 

 

And with the modesty his generation is known for, Kleiss makes one request, “Dear reader, please be generous to me, but never call me a hero. During the Pacific War, I did my job and that’s it. On April 22, 2016, Jack Kleiss passed away in San Antonio, Texas.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this trip through some of the history of aviation. If you enjoyed this trip, and if you are new to this blog, sign up to receive your own weekly blog post here: Subscribe here!

 

Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!