Second World War veteran Bob Wyzenbeek, from Watch Lake, learned to fly a plane before he was old enough to get a driver's licence, so it was only natural he would be a pilot when he joined the service.
American-born Wyzenbeek was 21 when he was drafted to the infantry. The timing would have put him in Pearl Harbor at the time of the historic bombing by the Japanese, but intervention by a friend steered him in another direction.
Wyzenbeek was a university student at the time and one of his professors helped him to enlist with the navy and move on to the Air Corps Selection Board before he was to be shipped out.
His flight training began in early January 1942 and he took to it like a duck to water.
His first assignment was piloting an SB2C dive-bomber in a squadron operating in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The plane packed a 500-pound (227-kilogram) bomb and 11 crewmembers, and their mission was to dive down on an enemy ship and slide a bomb down the smokestack.
He was shot at often and says he once returned to the base with 200 holes in his plane.
Wyzenbeek also flew a Patrol Bomber Martin 3, which was used extensively throughout the war to sink German submarines. Of 500 ensigns, the 21-year-old was chosen as one of five men to be a patrol plane commander.
The patrols went out on 18-hour missions, searching for submarines that had surfaced to charge batteries. Wyzenbeek's plane carried four depth charges and a 750-million candlepower search light that was mounted on the right wing. When the depth charge met its mark, the hull of the sub would collapse and it would go to the bottom of the sea, often with 75 men aboard.
"It stays in my subconscious and never leaves me. I still have nightmares," says the 90-year-old veteran.
During the war, everyone had their job to do and even when it went against the grain of their morals, it was their duty. It was a surreal time, where at the end of the day, no matter what had happened, they were all still simply human beings.
One of his missions resulted in leaving a German submarine disabled. The captain of the vessel was captured and brought to the Guantanamo Base and because he was an officer, was allowed to dine with the Americans in the Officer's Club. Wyzenbeek found himself sitting down to dinner with the captain one night.
"It was interesting. One month before, I had been trying to kill him and here we were, having a conversation over dinner."
Wyzenbeek was discharged from the navy in 1945 with the rank of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and was later inducted into the Hall of Honor in the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
