That B-24 Liberator did turn out to be a bad luck plane, however.

Biege, 104, recalled that once they were in the air, he looked out a window and saw oil streaming from one of the bomber’s four engines. He informed the pilot and the plane landed safely using the remaining three engines.

That story was one of many collected Friday when aides to U.S. senators Joni Ernst and Charles Grassley conducted interviews with six World War II veterans in Fort Dodge. The interviews were recorded and a copy of each will be placed in the Library of Congress.

The interviews were part of the Library’s Veterans History Project.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
John Biege, of Fort Dodge, fills out some paperwork Friday morning before his interview with Sarah Albee, left, an aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley. Allbee talked to Biege, who is 104, about his experiences during World War II. A recording of the interview will be placed in the Library of Congress.

Webster County Veterans Affairs Director Dan Lewandowski said there are 25 World War II veterans living in the county.

He sent them all letters, inviting them to be interviewed for the project. He said six of them agreed to take part.

In addition to Biege, they were Albert Habhab, 95, a former Fort Dodge mayor and chief judge of the Iowa Court of Appeals; Bennett Johnson, 94; William Dean Polking, 95; Robert McCarville, 96; and Jake Erling.

Two aides to Grassley and two members of Ernst’s staff came to Fort Dodge to interview the veterans in their homes.

Sarah Albee, a constituent services specialist, and Dave Allen, a veterans fellow, interviewed Biege in his apartment at Friendship Haven. Albee and Allen work for Grassley, a Republican.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
John Biege, left, talks about his family while Sarah Albee, an aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, holds a Biege family photo. Albee conducted an on-camera interview Friday during which she asked Biege about his experiences in the Army Air Force during World War II. A copy of the interview will be placed in the Library of Congress.

The veteran told them that he is a native of Baraboo, Wisconsin, who was living in Minnesota when he entered the service. He said he was part of a group of 90 men who reported for induction into the military at Fort Snelling in Minnesota.

There, he was asked to volunteer for pilot training. When he declined, an officer told him ”I’ll sit here until you say you do want to be a pilot.”

Biege agreed and was sent to Amarillo, Texas, for pilot cadet basic training. However, no one in his class went on to become a pilot.

”They washed us all out and made gunners out of us,” he said.

He recalled that he was sent to Denver, Colorado, for gunnery and armament school. Then he went to another base where he maintained and loaded .50 caliber machine guns on P-51 Mustang fighter planes.

Later assignments sent him to Las Vegas, Nevada; Lincoln, Nebraska; New Mexico; and Texas.

He flew on three types of bombers: the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator and the B-29 Superfortress.

Near the end of the war, he went overseas for about two weeks in a B-29 unit.

He returned home in December 1945 after 30 months in the military.