D. Clarke Evans Photographer

James Veltri

Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.
1944–1965

Lt. James Veltri
Foggia, Italy, 1944

I was a navigator in a B-17 and flew 51 bombing missions. We had some flak one time that passed right between me and the bombardier. It bounced around the airplane a little bit, but it didn’t hit us.

I was born on February 22, 1922—that’s 2/22/22, and grew up in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. My dad emigrated from a small village south of Naples, Italy. He bought himself an old Model T and started selling vegetables and fruit. Then he hauled highway building products for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I graduated from high school in 1939. I wasn’t doing anything so I went back and took one year of college courses. I wanted to be a dentist at that time. I also drove a truck for my dad about two years before going into the service in 1944. I enlisted in the Army Air Corps before I got drafted, and went through navigation training. I accumulated just over 6,600 hours in the 22 years I was in the Air Force.

I was a navigator in a B-17 in the 301st Bomb Group, 419th Bomb Squadron. We were stationed in Foggia, Italy. I flew 51 bombing missions in Germany, Austria, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. A lot of them were oil refineries and industrial compounds. We also bombed bridges. We had some flak one time that passed right between me and the bombardier. It bounced around the airplane a little bit, but it didn’t hit us. I finished my missions on December 20, 1944. There was a guy in my squadron who wrote a book called In and Above the Olive Groves. We flew the same missions, but we were in two different crews. There are a lot of olive groves in Foggia. We flew over them all the time.

While I was stationed in Foggia I had the opportunity to visit Campora, Italy where my family came from. Two GIs were nice enough to give me a ride. I got there about 10pm and was immediately surrounded by a half dozen villagers who were curious as to what an American soldier was doing in Campora. I said I was the son of Gennaro Veltri and came to visit Zio Giuseppe (Uncle Joe). They woke him up and he asked questions about my father, mother, and other family members in order to confirm that I truly was a relative. I had a great, but brief visit. On my second trip to Campora we came across an American soldier hitchhiking along the road. It was Angelo, the son of Uncle John in New Kensington. Angelo and I spent several interesting days in Campora.

After the war I went to March Air Force Base in Riverside, California as a navigator for Air Rescue. I drove out there in a big Cadillac. It had the jump seats in the back. The kids sat back there and we drove from Pennsylvania to California. I got married in 1946. Anne and I were married over 70 years and had six children—four boys and two girls.

From there I went to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. I went overseas as a navigator flying transport missions from Westover to Paris and Germany in C-54s. We transported cargo and passengers. I did that for a couple of years. Overseas I was in Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich, then Frankfurt and Sembach—three different station assignments. I was an instructor at the navigation school in San Marcos, Texas and taught celestial navigation, which they don’t use anymore.

My rank when I retired in 1965 was lieutenant colonel. After the service I went to Trinity University and got a degree in economics. I was a financial advisor for about 32 years. My son joined me. We worked together about two or three years, then I turned my business over to him and he’s still doing it.

I enjoyed my military service. I had good station assignments. {05-19-2019 • San Antonio, TX}

In the photo above, Mr. Veltri is in temporary quarters as he was recovering from a stay in the hospital.