Jim Sanders
Encyclopedia
Jim Sanders may also refer to:
Lt. Col. Jim (James) Clay "Sandy" Sanders (22 Jun 1922 - 11 Aug 2005) was a US Air Force veteran who served in World War II
, The Korean War
, the Cold War
conflict, and the Vietnam War
.
and a splintered family: Sanders was only 10 years old when his father died, and as a result he spent much of his childhood being shuffled amongst relatives' homes. As a result, he developed a strong self-sufficiency and resourcefulness that he relied upon throughout his life.
As World War II
erupted, Sanders enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and was overseas by the spring of 1944, flying as a B-17 bombardier
with the 817th Squadron of the 483rd Bomb Group.
On D-Day
, he flew a bombing mission over Germany
, landed in the Soviet Union
, rearmed and embarked on a second bombing mission to Italy
.
On July 18, 1944, Sanders was the bombardier on the lead B-17 in number three box (low squadron) sent on a "milk run" mission to destroy an airdrome near Memmingen
, Germany, while most of the 15th Air Force was going to the Munich
area, a mission for which the unit was subsequently awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
Because of bad weather, the bomber aircraft got separated from one another and were deprived of fighter
support. Several of the bombers, including Sanders', decided to continue on to the target without the cover of the fighter escorts.
The bombers destroyed their objective, however they suffered heavy losses. Jim later told of seeing many doomed bombers spiraling toward the ground with their tail gunner
s still firing at the German fighters. Sanders' bomber suffered multiple hits from enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft fire.
As Sanders aligned his bombsight
on the target, he discovered that the B-17 would not follow the commands of the autopilot
and bombsight. He turned around and discovered that no one else was still in the airplane with him. Sanders bailed out of his plane as it fell toward the earth, rolling into a ball to avoid being struck by the bomb bay doors which he knew were still open. He later said "I was not scared at the time - I was angry. I did not want to believe that this could happen to us when we were so close to flying all of our missions." While falling to the ground, he saw other crewmembers jumping from their damaged aircraft with their parachute
s on fire.
Sanders had to violently slip his parachute to avoid an Me-109, resulting in a hard landing that crushed Sanders' right leg. With the adrenalin in his system, he thought he had only turned an ankle, so he scooped up his parachute and ran for cover. He watched a small patrol hunt for him, and then leave to hunt for others. Later, he found he could not walk, and his leg swelled to enormous size. He was forced to crawl out of his hiding place and surrender to a civilian crew stacking hay on racks for drying.
For three weeks, Sanders endured a modicum of medical care in Kempten
hospital, where he met up with several other captured Americans. He and the other prisoners were then evacuated to Dulag Luft near Frankfurt
. He arrived wearing only a nightshirt, which he said resembled "an old grain sack with three holes for arms and head," as the hospital had confiscated all clothing for being government issue. He was put in a small cell with a bare lightbulb and a cot.
Sanders was soon called before a Luftwaffe
Captain for interrogation - Sanders unkempt, unshaven for three weeks, and still wearing only his nightshirt. Sanders gave only his name, rank and serial number. The Captain pulled out a large book and told Sanders his Group, Squadron and crew number, plus several other personal items of information. Sanders did not provide the Captain with any information, and had his wedding ring returned to him.
After the interrogation, he was given a Red Cross "Capture Parcel" containing clothing, tobacco, playing cards, and sundry other items. He was then moved to Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal
(Lazarette IX C) where British doctors performed an operation on his leg. After recovering from the operation, he was moved to the convalescence section in the village of Meiningen
, until November 11, 1994, when he was transferred to Stalag Luft III
, a prisoner of war camp
in Sagan, now Żagań
in Poland
.
In February 1945, as the Russians
advanced towards the POW camp, Sanders was part of a forced march from the camp, during which he surreptitiously dropped out of line, burrowed into a snow bank and waited for 14 hours as 10,000 prisoners passed by him. He was recaptured several days later while trying to get through the lines to the Russian forces. He was sent by boxcar and interned at the Flossenbürg concentration camp
in Nuremberg
. That camp was evacuated in March, whereupon Sanders escaped once more. This time Sanders and a fellow American soldier reached Paris
and freedom just a few days before the war ended. Of the desire to escape the forced POW marches, he later said, "We were afraid that Hitler and the SS would massacre prisoners, and also did not like being strafed by our own planes."
. After the war, he decided to stay in the military.
and was on board Strategic Air Command
B-52s flying out of Fort Worth Air Force Base
.
Sanders' squadron was on alert to hit Cuba
with conventional weapons should the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
escalated. Most observers agree that October 1962 was as close as the world has ever come to an exchange of nuclear weapons.
Throughout the 1960s, Sanders flew more than 100 "dome missions," which were regular 24 hour flights over the Polar Ice Cap
or the Eastern Mediterranean
toward the Soviet Union
fully armed with nuclear weapons.
on bombing runs into Vietnam
.
The next year he unhappily retired from the Air Force, after being told that colonels should have college degrees.
in Clarksville, Tennessee
, where he earned a bachelor's degree
in History and a teaching certificate.
Sanders taught in Dickson County schools, teaching History and Shop. Several years later, he was employed as an instructor at the Nashville training and manufacturing facility for the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, where he was well-known as being a real, live Col. Sanders working for KFC.
Later in life Sanders earned his multi-engine commercial pilot's rating, although he never used it as a career tool.
that he operated for many years. Claiming that "continuous learning keeps your mind from deteriorating" with age, he stayed current with computer technology, and continued learning computers and programming until shortly before his death in 2005.
- Jimmy (James) Sanders, an English footballer
- Jim Sanders (rugby league)Jim Sanders (rugby league)James "Jim" Sanders was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented his country.-Playing career:Sanders started his career in third grade with Addington in 1915. He spent his entire career with Addington apart from a few games for Hornby when Addington had no senior team...
, New Zealand international
Lt. Col. Jim (James) Clay "Sandy" Sanders (22 Jun 1922 - 11 Aug 2005) was a US Air Force veteran who served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, The Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
conflict, and the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Early life
Jim Sanders grew up hard, as a result of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and a splintered family: Sanders was only 10 years old when his father died, and as a result he spent much of his childhood being shuffled amongst relatives' homes. As a result, he developed a strong self-sufficiency and resourcefulness that he relied upon throughout his life.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
erupted, Sanders enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and was overseas by the spring of 1944, flying as a B-17 bombardier
Bombardier (air force)
A bombardier , in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force, or a bomb aimer, in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, was the crewman of a bomber responsible for assisting the navigator in guiding the plane to a bombing target and releasing the aircraft's bomb...
with the 817th Squadron of the 483rd Bomb Group.
On D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, he flew a bombing mission over Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, landed in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, rearmed and embarked on a second bombing mission to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
On July 18, 1944, Sanders was the bombardier on the lead B-17 in number three box (low squadron) sent on a "milk run" mission to destroy an airdrome near Memmingen
Memmingen
Memmingen is a town in the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia in Germany. It is the central economic, educational and administrative centre in the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-Württemberg border...
, Germany, while most of the 15th Air Force was going to the Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
area, a mission for which the unit was subsequently awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
Because of bad weather, the bomber aircraft got separated from one another and were deprived of fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
support. Several of the bombers, including Sanders', decided to continue on to the target without the cover of the fighter escorts.
The bombers destroyed their objective, however they suffered heavy losses. Jim later told of seeing many doomed bombers spiraling toward the ground with their tail gunner
Tail gunner
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun emplacement on either the top or tail end of the aircraft with a generally...
s still firing at the German fighters. Sanders' bomber suffered multiple hits from enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft fire.
As Sanders aligned his bombsight
Norden bombsight
The Norden bombsight was a tachometric bombsight used by the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars to aid the crew of bomber aircraft in dropping bombs accurately...
on the target, he discovered that the B-17 would not follow the commands of the autopilot
Autopilot
An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. An autopilot can refer specifically to aircraft, self-steering gear for boats, or auto guidance of space craft and missiles...
and bombsight. He turned around and discovered that no one else was still in the airplane with him. Sanders bailed out of his plane as it fell toward the earth, rolling into a ball to avoid being struck by the bomb bay doors which he knew were still open. He later said "I was not scared at the time - I was angry. I did not want to believe that this could happen to us when we were so close to flying all of our missions." While falling to the ground, he saw other crewmembers jumping from their damaged aircraft with their parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
s on fire.
Sanders had to violently slip his parachute to avoid an Me-109, resulting in a hard landing that crushed Sanders' right leg. With the adrenalin in his system, he thought he had only turned an ankle, so he scooped up his parachute and ran for cover. He watched a small patrol hunt for him, and then leave to hunt for others. Later, he found he could not walk, and his leg swelled to enormous size. He was forced to crawl out of his hiding place and surrender to a civilian crew stacking hay on racks for drying.
For three weeks, Sanders endured a modicum of medical care in Kempten
Kempten
Kempten can refer to:* Kempten im Allgäu, a town in Bavaria, Germany* Kempten ZH, a district of the town of Wetzikon in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland* Kempton Park, Gauteng, a city in South Africa which was named after Kempten in Bavaria...
hospital, where he met up with several other captured Americans. He and the other prisoners were then evacuated to Dulag Luft near Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. He arrived wearing only a nightshirt, which he said resembled "an old grain sack with three holes for arms and head," as the hospital had confiscated all clothing for being government issue. He was put in a small cell with a bare lightbulb and a cot.
Sanders was soon called before a Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Captain for interrogation - Sanders unkempt, unshaven for three weeks, and still wearing only his nightshirt. Sanders gave only his name, rank and serial number. The Captain pulled out a large book and told Sanders his Group, Squadron and crew number, plus several other personal items of information. Sanders did not provide the Captain with any information, and had his wedding ring returned to him.
After the interrogation, he was given a Red Cross "Capture Parcel" containing clothing, tobacco, playing cards, and sundry other items. He was then moved to Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal
Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal
Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal is a municipality in the district Schmalkalden-Meiningen, in Thuringia, Germany.-Martin Luther criticism of pilgrimages to Grimmenthal:...
(Lazarette IX C) where British doctors performed an operation on his leg. After recovering from the operation, he was moved to the convalescence section in the village of Meiningen
Meiningen
Meiningen is a town in Germany - located in the southern part of the state of Thuringia and is the district seat of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. It is situated on the river Werra....
, until November 11, 1994, when he was transferred to Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
, a prisoner of war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
in Sagan, now Żagań
Zagan
Zagan may refer to:*Zagan - a demon in the Ars Goetia*Żagań - a town in west Poland...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
In February 1945, as the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
advanced towards the POW camp, Sanders was part of a forced march from the camp, during which he surreptitiously dropped out of line, burrowed into a snow bank and waited for 14 hours as 10,000 prisoners passed by him. He was recaptured several days later while trying to get through the lines to the Russian forces. He was sent by boxcar and interned at the Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. That camp was evacuated in March, whereupon Sanders escaped once more. This time Sanders and a fellow American soldier reached Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and freedom just a few days before the war ended. Of the desire to escape the forced POW marches, he later said, "We were afraid that Hitler and the SS would massacre prisoners, and also did not like being strafed by our own planes."
Korean War
After the war he took a job as an ironworker, but was recalled to the Air Force in 1950 as the Korean War heated up. While he served in the Air Force for the duration of the action, he was not deployed to KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. After the war, he decided to stay in the military.
Cold War
By 1958 he was trained as a navigatorNavigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
and was on board Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
B-52s flying out of Fort Worth Air Force Base
Carswell Air Force Base
Carswell Air Force Base, was a United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located about northwest central of Fort Worth, Texas, United States; the air force base is mostly within the Fort Worth city limits and has portions within Westworth and White Settlement...
.
Sanders' squadron was on alert to hit Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with conventional weapons should the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
escalated. Most observers agree that October 1962 was as close as the world has ever come to an exchange of nuclear weapons.
Throughout the 1960s, Sanders flew more than 100 "dome missions," which were regular 24 hour flights over the Polar Ice Cap
Polar ice cap
A polar ice cap is a high latitude region of a planet or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor any geological requirement for it to be over land; only that it must be a body of...
or the Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean
The Eastern Mediterranean is a term that denotes the countries geographically to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. This region is also known as Greater Syria or the Levant....
toward the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
fully armed with nuclear weapons.
Vietnam
By 1965, Sanders was flying out of GuamGuam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
on bombing runs into Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
The next year he unhappily retired from the Air Force, after being told that colonels should have college degrees.
Post Military Career
After retirement, Sanders enrolled in Austin Peay State UniversityAustin Peay State University
Austin Peay State University is a four-year public university located in Clarksville, Tennessee, and operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools .-History:...
in Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
, where he earned a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in History and a teaching certificate.
Sanders taught in Dickson County schools, teaching History and Shop. Several years later, he was employed as an instructor at the Nashville training and manufacturing facility for the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, where he was well-known as being a real, live Col. Sanders working for KFC.
Later in life Sanders earned his multi-engine commercial pilot's rating, although he never used it as a career tool.
Retirement
Sanders retired in the early 1980s. Never wanting to stop learning, he bought a computer and set up a local Bulletin Board SystemBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
that he operated for many years. Claiming that "continuous learning keeps your mind from deteriorating" with age, he stayed current with computer technology, and continued learning computers and programming until shortly before his death in 2005.
Military Awards and Decorations
Below lies an incomplete list of Jim Sanders' awards and decorations:
Silver StarSilver StarThe Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
Purple HeartPurple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
(twice)
Distinguished Unit Citation
World War II Victory MedalWorld War II Victory MedalThe World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of...
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign MedalEuropean-African-Middle Eastern Campaign MedalThe European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
Vietnam Service MedalVietnam Service MedalThe Vietnam Service Medal is a military award which was created in 1965 by order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The distinctive design was the creation of sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones, a former employee of the Army Institute of Heraldry. The medal is issued to recognize military service during...