I recently had the opportunity to visit with Senior Conservationist Everette G. Barefoot to talk with him about his World War II experiences as gunner on a B-24 bomber in Europe as well as his career with the Soil Conservation Service.

Everette grew up on a cotton and tobacco farm in Johnston County, North Carolina near Four Oaks.   He graduated from Four Oaks High School in 1942 and went to junior college for a year before volunteering for the Army Air Corps.   He was inducted into the service on December 13, 1943, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.   After Basic Training in Miami Beach, he was sent to Tyndal Field in Florida for gunnery school where he trained as a ball (or belly) gunner.   He was sent to Charleston, South Carolina.   There he learned the names of those who would be the rest of his 10-man, B-24 crew for the duration of the war.   The crew consisted of four officers:   pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier and six enlisted men – radio operator, flight engineer, tail gunner, ball/belly gunner, nose gunner and top turret gunner.
On his 20th birthday, September 9, 1944, they left Grenier Field, Manchester, New Hampshire with orders to fly via North Atlantic Route to the European Theater of Operations in England to be assigned to the 445th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force.   After several stops for refueling and delays due to bad weather, they arrived at their new base, Tibenham, England on September 26th.   The next day, which was his first full day at the base, the 8th Air Force sustained the highest group loss in its history.   Out of 37 bombers dispatched to bomb Kassel, Germany, the 445BG lost 30 planes.   Everette said, “We got up and ate breakfast with the crews that were flying that day and watched them take off.   By mid-afternoon we were watching for their return.   However, only five of the 37 planes returned.   Early in the mission, two planes had aborted due to mechanical problems.   It was a sad day for us.”

Everette participated in 20 missions from October 7, 1944 until April 10, 1945.   The primary targets for their missions were munitions plants, marshalling yards, oil refineries, airfields, railroads, bridges, and synthetic oil plants.   Enemy flack and fighter planes were a common occurrence on most missions. Everette recalled that on his first mission he was so scared he could not respond when the pilot radioed to see how he was doing; the co-pilot came to check on him.   The only member of their crew to be killed during the war was the bombardier.   After Germany’s surrender, he returned to the States, and received a thirty-day leave.   Everette took advantage of this time to marry Jean Cooper June 12, 1945.   Jean was the girl he took to his Junior-Senior prom.   After the leave, Everette and his crewmates reported to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.   From there they went to Las Vegas, Nevada, for B-29 bomber training in preparation for the South Pacific Theater.   He was at Las Vegas when Japan surrendered.   Sergeant Barefoot was discharged November 19, 1945, at Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado.

Everette was awarded the Air Medal and two Oak Leaf Clusters for meritorious service with the Army Air Force for his service in Europe.   For the past 60 years the crew has kept in touch with each other.   Beginning in 1954, they began having reunions.   At first the reunions were sporadic but later became an annual event.   Everette is the only crew member still living.

Everette began his career with SCS on August 24, 1948 as a SP 4 technician in Johnston County.   Everette says that his most enjoyable job with SCS was working with farmers and especially helping them install tile drainage, farm ponds and grassed waterways.   He retired on February 22, 1980.   Everette and Jean have two sons, Stephen and Michael, and one grandson, John.   They still live on part of the family farm where he was reared.   After retiring from SCS, Everette raised strawberries and established a country ham curing enterprise.   In 1998 he retired a second time.

By: Jim Canterberry
NC ARSCSE Representative

Our featured Senior Conservationists are a lovely married couple, Neil and Eleanor Bogner.   Both of them have reached the minimum age required to become a Senior Conservationist (83 years), and they both have worked for SCS.   As a matter of fact, that is what brought them together initially.

Neil was fairly early in his career with SCS when he met Eleanor, who was the Area Clerk in Urbana, Illinois (IL) in 1953 and 1954.   Neil had graduated from the University of IL in 1950 with a BS in Engineering and Agriculture.   He started his career with SCS as a student trainee in 1949 in Henry, IL.   He continued with engineering jobs at Bloomington, IL, Caruthersville, Missouri (MO), and Urbana, IL.   (Chronicler notes that SCS used to make employees move around more than they do today.)

Eleanor and Neil married in November 1954.   He moved that month, to another position with SCS, this time as an Area and Project Engineer, in Macomb, IL.   Neil’s career blossomed; however, SCS lost a good employee when Eleanor began moving to support Neil’s career and to raise their family.

He became the Regional Construction Engineer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WI) in 1961.   He later transferred to the Upper Darby, Pennsylvania (PA) office (1964)to be that Region’s Construction Engineer.   In 1967, he was promoted to Head, Engineering Watershed Protection Unit for the Upper Darby Region.

Neil and Eleanor finally settled down in the Washington, D.C. area in 1972.   He held 3 key positions at the National Office until he retired in 1983 -- Assistant Director of Engineering Division, Director of Engineering Division, and Associate Deputy Chief for Technology.

Neil has been honored for his many years of supporting ARSCSE; however, both Neil and Eleanor also need to be recognized for their 17 years of volunteer work at Fairfax Hospital in Virginia (VA).   Eleanor and Neil were coordinators for several years.

They continue sharing the ups and downs of life today, 55 years later.   Who said that office romances don’t last!   A big change for them recently was moving from their home in Springfield, VA to a senior community in Catonsville, Maryland.   They are closer in proximity to some of their family, and enjoying that very much.

Senior Conservationist John I. Brubacher, 83, grew up on an irrigated farm in San Luis Valley, Colorado (CO), and he resides in Ft. Collins, CO.   As you’ll learn, however, he and his wife, Leona, have moved around a bit.

His initial travels outside of CO were compliments of the U.S. Army Air Force in 1944.   He was a ball turret gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber, 8th Air Force, Polebrook, England.   He was discharged in 1946.   After returning home, John worked as a parts man in a farm implement facility for 1 year.   He then used the GI Bill to start college at Adams State in Alamosa, CO.   He transferred to Colorado A & M in Ft. Collins, CO, in the General Agriculture field (Colorado A & M is now Colorado State University).   John married Leona about 1 year before he graduated from Colorado A & M in 1952.

John’s career with SCS began in 1953 in Durango, CO, as a Soil Scientist.   He transferred to Julesburg, CO, in late 1953; and while there, he completed soil surveys of Sedgwick and Phillips counties.   Both were published.   John transferred to Steamboat Springs, CO, in 1965, as Party Leader in Routt county.   He also had Soil Scientist responsibilities in Moffat, Rio Blanco, Eagle, and Jackson counties.

An out-of-state move to Lincoln, Nebraska, came in 1973.   John worked there as the Assistant State Soil Scientist until late 1979.   Among other things, he wrote sections for York and Lancaster counties soil surveys; and he co-authored the Furnas county soil survey.   John was selected to be the State Soil Scientist in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1979.   He remained in that position until his retirement in 1986.

Since retiring, John and Leona have traveled much of the West, including Hawaii and Canada.   He is a life member of Soil and Water Conservation Society of America and a member of Poudre Golden K Kiwanis Club in Ft. Collins.   With John having excellent health, he continues to be active in gardening, woodwork, and fishing.   He and Leona have 2 sons, 2 daughters, and 10 grandchildren.   They live in Colorado, Nebraska, and Georgia.

A recent milestone for John and Leona was their 57^th wedding anniversary in June 2008.   A special career accomplishment, in this chronicler’s opinion, is that John received safe-driving awards during his entire career with SCS.   Knowing something about the wildlife and driving records of the residents of the states in which he worked, I’d say that is quite an accomplishment. Way to go, John!

Former Area Conservationist, Orville W. Love, now 92, is our featured Senior Conservationist.   Born and raised in Kansas, Mr. Love now lives just across the Missouri River in St. Charles, Missouri, near his daughter, Janet.   He enjoys spending time in Kansas City with his daughter, Sherry, and her family.   He also takes pleasure in hearing from his son, Doug, who lives in Illinois, and has three busy, young adult children.

Mr. Love lives alone since the passing of Virginia, his wife of 62 years, in 2008.   He still drives and attends church, American Legion meetings, and NARFE meetings.   He also exercises regularly, which could help to explain his active participation in life’s activities.   Mr. Love has enjoyed his volunteer activities, which are all about helping others -- Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H, church, and the public library.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Kansas State University in 1941.   After graduating with honors, but before joining USDA’s SCS, he worked one year with USDA’s Farm Security Administration, served four and one-half years in the U.S. Air Force, and then worked one year with the Veteran‘s Administration.

Mr. Love’s military service was performed during World War II.   He was a Communication’s Officer for cryptography and intelligence.   He served at a base on Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.   After receiving the American Theater medal, the Asiatic Pacific Service medal and World War II Victory medal, he separated from the military with the rank of Major.

His 30-plus year career with SCS spanned from 1947 to 1980.   His career included working as a Work Unit Conservationist in Olathe, KS, an Assistant Area Conservationist in Emporia, KS, and finally an Area Conservationist in Topeka, KS.   Mr. Love still has a farm in Johnson County, Kansas, which he has owned since 1950.   He ensures that conservation practices are still being followed.

Mr. Love states that watching the Beijing Olympics on TV last year was especially interesting since he and daughter, Janet, spent three weeks touring China in 1988.   It hardly looked like the same place they remember.

North Carolina (NC) ARSCSE Representative, Jim Canterberry, has done it again!   He wrote a wonderful story on one of the NC Senior Conservationists, J. Phillip Murray.   On the Senior’s 87th birthday, Jim had an opportunity to visit with him about his World War II service as a B-24 co-pilot as well as his career with the Soil Conservation Service.   Excerpts from Jim’s story follow.

Phillip graduated from Spring Hope High School in Nash County, North Carolina, in 1938.   He wanted to be a civil engineer so he enrolled at NC State College.   After three semesters, WW II was in full swing so he decided that he should join the Army and become a pilot.   He rode a bus to Raleigh and took the required test.   No sooner than getting home, he received a call at his brother’s house telling him that he was selected for glider pilot training.   On June 25, 1942, Phillip was officially inducted into the Army in Raleigh, NC.

While Phillip was in glider pilot training at Lockbourne, Ohio, he, along with several others, were told that they were being transferred for training to be a bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps, later known as the Air Force.   He trained to be a B-24 pilot in New Mexico and received specialized training in Nevada.   During a 10-day pass in January 1944, he made a fast train ride back home to marry Louise Leonard.

In June 1944, he was transferred to the 13th Air Force in the South Pacific.   Until April 1945, Phillip flew combat missions.   Maybe the most memorable flight for First Lieutenant Murray was the first mission to bomb a Japanese fuel depot in Balikpapan, Borneo (now part of Indonesia) where the Japanese were reported to get 90% of their gasoline.   In this mission there were 24 bombers.   This flight required 16 hours from their base to the target.   Since fighter planes could not carry enough fuel for a flight of this distance, the bombers had no fighter plane support.   Even though the bombers were carrying 3750 gallons of fuel, they did not have enough fuel for all of the return flight; therefore, they had to find a place to refuel.

On the first day of the bombing raid, he was the second plane in the formation when the lead plane was shot down; and its crew bailed out.   His plane moved up to the lead position in the formation, and the photographer on their aircraft recorded the raid.   One of the most viewed photographs of WW II was taken out of his plane on this mission.   If you have the opportunity to visit the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio you will see the photo.   A copy of the same photograph is also on display in the Smithsonian Institute.

Phillip did not participate in the bombing raid on the second day, but on the third day he spotted the crew that had been shot down the first day floating in the ocean.   Even though it was against policy, Phillip called for a submarine to pick up the crew.   Fortunately, a submarine was able to rescue the entire crew that night.   On this first mission, they lost 13 of 24 bombers.

Phillip, like all military persons in wars, sacrificed so much to keep their homeland safe.   One small example for Phillip is that he spent his first wedding anniversary flying a bombing mission while his wife was back home giving birth to their first child, Ann.

Phillip was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic efforts; and after serving a couple of years in the reserves, received his discharge.   He returned to his farm in Spring Hope, North Carolina, where he grew tobacco, corn, soybeans and wheat.   The farm has been in the Murray family even before the Civil War.   His great-grandfather, Joseph Murray, served in the Confederate Army.

On November 6, 1945, Philip began his career with the Soil Conservation Service as a Conservation Aid in Nashville, North Carolina.   He was one of the first people in the state to be promoted to a GS-5 Soil Conservation Technician.   Mr. Murray retired in 1977, spending his entire career in Nash County.   He says he really enjoyed his work with SCS.   He made a lot of friends, and one of the most enjoyable parts of the job was helping farmers install erosion control practices on cropland.   His favorite thing was staking terraces.   After retiring in 1977, he expanded his farming operation and at one time was raising 75 acres of tobacco.   He eventually turned the farm over to his sons, Phill and Keith.   They still grow tobacco, wheat, and soybeans but chickens and swine are the main enterprises on the farm today.

Phillip and Louise had five children: Ann, Johnny, Martha, Phill and Keith.   In 1986 his wife died.   Phillip later remarried, and he and Anne live on the family farm in Spring Hope in the house that he built in 1952.

North Carolina representative, Jim Canterberry, has provided yet another fantastic chronicle.   This one touches on the early history of the conservation movement and a conservation pioneer. Enjoy!

Senior Conservationist Clyde Pleasants will be 100 years old March 16, 2009.   He was born in Johnson County, North Carolina, where he was reared on a general farm.   His dad raised tobacco, cotton, corn, soybeans, beef cattle, hogs and sheep.   He remembers the family going to Bethel Baptist Church in a two-seat buggy pulled by one of the two mules they used on the farm.   In 1933, he was one of three students to graduate from NC State College (now University) with a Degree in Soils.

Mr. Pleasants began his conservation career with the Soil Erosion Service (SES) soon after graduation.   He began work in Newland, North Carolina, as a Soil Surveyor making a general soil survey of Avery County.   In 1934 he was transferred to the High Point Soil Erosion Demonstration Project, the first in North Carolina.   High Point was used as a training site for all of the new SES employees.   After a few months of training in High Point, he was transferred to Wadesboro, North Carolina, where he mapped soils in the Brown Creek Demonstration Project.   He said that he passed the Hugh Hammond Bennett’s home place almost every day on his way to map soils.   From Wadesboro he was sent to the Huntersville Demonstration Project in Mecklenburg County.   Four Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) Camps were assigned to this demonstration project.   His job was to provide a soil survey for the farms being planned.   Mr. Pleasants said, “Their motto was plan the farm and farm the plan”.

His next transfer took him to Forest City where he mapped soils in Rutherfordton County.   In 1941, he was transferred back to Wadesboro where he worked until 1945.   His last move was to the Raleigh Area office where he worked until his retirement in 1963.

Mr. Pleasants said that mapping soils in those early days was much different than today.   In 1933, he used a plane table to make a soils map.   He said, “We did not get aerial photographs until 1934 when I was working in the High Point Demonstration Project.   This really made the job easier and provided a more usable map because of the photo background.”   The soil surveyor recorded on the map a symbol for the soil type, slope, the erosion classification and the present land use.

Mr. Pleasants has been retired 45 years and lives alone in the same house that he bought in 1945 when he moved to Raleigh.   After retirement, he kept busy for several years with the two farms he owned in Johnson County.   These farms are now housing developments.   He once told me there was more money in growing houses than in growing corn.   His wife Ruby of 68 years passed away five years ago.   He is still active and has a garden in his backyard.

Recently Jim Canterberry, North Carolina ARSCSE representative, had an opportunity to visit with Senior Conservationist John M. Jones about his work experience with the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).   Mr. Jones was the first African American Soil Conservationist hired in North Carolina.   He is now 93 years old and has been retired 35 years.   I think you’ll enjoy the following excerpts from Jim’s written report of his visit with the Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones graduated from NC A&T State University in 1938 with a BS Degree in Agriculture.   He began working with the Soil Conservation Service in 1942 when the agency hired a few graduates from 1890 chartered schools to work primarily with black landowners.   Prior to working for SCS, Mr. Jones was a principal at Rocky Knoll School, a Rosenwald three-room school in Durham County, North Carolina.   He also taught 5th, 6th, and 7th grades.   Rosenwald Schools were made possible through the Julius Rosenwald Fund administered by Tuskegee Institute.   The Rosenwald rural school building program was a major effort to improve the quality of public education for African Americans in the South in the early 20th century.   About 5,000 Rosenwald Schools were built.

Mr. Jones left his principal’s job to work at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.   It was at Fort Bragg that he saw a notice on the bulletin board for a Soil Conservationist position with SCS.   He applied and remembers receiving a telegram from Washington asking that he go to the Regional Office in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for an interview.   Since he wanted to work in North Carolina, Mr. Jones sent a message to Mr. Earl Garrett, SCS State Conservationist, to see if he could get a job in North Carolina.

After an interview with Mr. Garrett, he was offered a job in Wadesboro, North Carolina, home of Hugh Hammond Bennett.   This was the Brown Creek Soil Conservation District, the first district organized in the nation.   Mr. Jones said he knew Chief Bennett and saw him several times at the Bennett home place when the Chief would be in town.   He said things were different when he started to work.   His office was not with the other field office staff.   Instead, he was housed with the black extension agent, and it was assumed that he would work only with black farmers.   His Work Unit Conservationist was Phil Robinson and the District Conservationist was Harvey Kelly.   He also worked two days a week in Richmond County.

Mr. Jones was drafted in 1943 and served in The Army Air Corps in World War II.   He attended graduate school at Michigan State University for one quarter after his military service, but he said he needed to return to work because of financial reasons.   During that quarter he earned two “A’s” and three “B’s”.

After twenty years in Wadesboro, Mr. Jones was transferred to Whiteville, NC.   In 1967 he was transferred to Fayetteville where he retired in 1973 as a Soil Conservationist.   Mr. Jones received a certificate of merit in 1970 for high quality performance.   After retiring from SCS, he worked 12 years at Perkins Library at Duke University.

Mr. Jones and his wife of 67 years, Mattie, live in Bahama, North Carolina, on the farm where his father was a tobacco farmer.   They have a son and daughter and two grandchildren who live in Atlanta.   He has the distinction of living on John Jones Road, named for his father.   He can remember distinctly cutting wood with a crosscut saw and axe for the furnaces of the flu-cured tobacco barns.

Mr. Jones’ health is good and he is still very active.   Until two years ago, when he had knee surgery, he was playing golf three times a week.   He is a member of a volunteer agricultural advisory board.   He and his wife are active members of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church where his mother took him to church as a boy in a buggy drawn by a mule named Kate.

M. J. "Whitey" Spears, joined the ranks of Senior Conservationist in March of 2007.   He resides in Little Rock, Arkansas, with his wife, Amy.   Whitey has been the Arkansas State Representative for ARSCSE since it’s inception.   He‘ll be chairing his 23rd consecutive annual meeting of SCS/NRCS retirees in Arkansas in September 2008. What dedication!

Whitey’s career with SCS involved several moves and different job positions as he worked his way up the career ladder.   Many of you have probably worked with, or been acquainted with, Whitey.   A quick summary of his SCS career follows.

1949 - 1964	Soil Scientist	Texas (several locations)
	District Conservationist
	Agronomist
	Area Conservationist
1964 - 1970	Assistant State Conservationist	South Dakota
1970 - 1973	Deputy State Conservationist	Texas
1973 - 1981	State Conservationist	Arkansas

Since retirement in December 1980, Whitey has kept busy.   He managed 3 family estates as the executor, served on the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board for 1 ˝ years, kept up with his yard work, and strengthened his relationships with family and friends.

Whitey humbly reports that he’s "doing fine." He still walks 18 holes of golf twice a week.   "If you’ve got your health, you’ve just about got everything," states Whitey; and I’m sure you all agree.