Published: July 04, 2009 03:52 pm      

Veteran shares memories

LaParche recounts story of war, love and espionage

DUNCAN — Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a two-part story on the experiences of World War II veteran Gladys LaParche.



At 92 years old, Gladys “Hap” LaParche skis downhill, parasails, ballroom dances and has put in 6,000 hours of volunteer work at Duncan Regional Hospital. She’s planning her funeral, but still keeps a smile on her face no matter the occasion.

While these traits are merit enough for anyone, LaParche also has the distinction of being one of the first to serve in the Women’s Army Air Corps, or Air WACs, and having worked with one of the most influential World War II divisions of the military — the “Mighty Eighth” Air Force, in its intelligence headquarters at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.

LaParche’s only sibling, her brother, Lt. Col. Norman F. Comley, became her inspiration to join the military.

“When Pearl Harbor happened, he was federalized,” said LaParche. “Before, he was in the New Jersey National Guard, 112th Field Artillery. At the time, I was working with the Red Cross, but felt I should do more to help the country.”

After enlisting at age 26, she went to Fort Oglethorpe for general military training as a clerk stenographer.

“I was then assigned to Troop Carrier Command in Grenada, Miss., where I once flew a C-47,” LaParche said.

LaParche was part of the first contingent of Air WACs ever assigned overseas. The entire 80-strong contingent was from New Jersey.

After being promoted to private first class, she went to Camp Shanks, N.Y., for her overseas training.

“The hardest thing at Shanks was our abandoning-ship training; we had to have life jacket, full uniform ... everything, and had to rappel down the side of an enormous wall; the size of the actual side of a ship.”

After she finished her training at Shanks, LaParche set sail with other WACs, GIs and nurses on the USS Argentina, and had a 150-ship escort that took them out of the port at Weehawken, N.J.

“It was the largest U.S. convoy during the war,” LeParche said. “We left at 2:30 a.m., so it was still quite dark. When the light hit at dawn, we saw all these ships, and then little by little, they all left.”

Soon afterwards, a periscope appeared in the water. The Argentina crew prepared to use its ship-evacuation training, but then the German submarines disappeared after “they realized they bit off a bit more than they could chew,” LaParche said, laughing.

After landing in North Scotland, the crew of the Argentina rode via train to the military placement center in Stone, England.

“That’s where I met James H. Doolittle, commanding officer of the Mighty Eighth,” LaParche said.

LaParche was then assigned to work with the Eighth Air Force intelligence headquarters at High Wycombe.

“(The entrance) was a door on the side of a hill; inside were two MPs (military police) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The door was covered with grass, and looked like any normal side of a hill.”

An elevator descended from the entrance into the actual headquarters. The underground headquarters was “like the Empire State Building turned upside down,” she said, “with many, many rooms.”

While working at the headquarters, LaParche dealt with the reporting of sensitive information.

“Some of our duties would be scrambling incoming phone lines and reporting the status of the war, which we relayed to Eisenhower. We took reports from air-sea rescue, photo and weather reconnaissance, the forward line and troops, the British Royal Air Force, and the 8th, 9th, 12th, and 15th Air Force divisions,” she said. “The 15th was where my brother was assigned.”

Because of her position, she became aware that her brother had gone MIA during a bombing mission over the Ploesti oil fields in Romania.

“His plane was on their 13th mission, when they were fired upon and had to bail. He was the last one to bail because he had to take an oath ... that he would risk his life to make sure he destroyed the Norden bombsight, a piece of targeting technology they were using; they did not want to get in the hands of the Germans,” she said. “He told me about how he saw embers from the plane catch on his friend’s parachute, and his friend plummeted ... and my brother was captured by a German soldier when he landed.”



***The second half will conclude with the fate of her brother, how she found love in the midst of war and how she personally delivered one of the most important reports in world history.