Ed Postel’s hearing is badly damaged, a result of the constant gunfire he heard as a gunner in the bald turret of a B-24 in World War II. 

“It was a different system back then,” Postel said. “We couldn’t use earplugs because you had to be able to tell the tail gunner when to fire on the enemy.

“Boy, a lot of the guys had their ears hurt. I wish we had it like the guys do now!”

More than six decades later, Postel, 92, has a sense of humor and a wealth of stories to show for his service, which began on Flag Day, June 14, 1941, when he joined the U.S. Air Force at age 22 for training at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Ala.

Postel then went to Panama City, Fla., to gunnery school at Tyndall and Eglin Air Force Bases, where he got his wings to become a staff sergeant instructor.

It was there that Postel taught his students the basics of flight combat, including shooting while blindfolded to simulate bad conditions and compensating for the slight curve of a bullet’s trajectory as it is fired.

While at Tyndall Field, movie legend Clark Gable crossed paths with Postel.

“They made him a captain, and he was a gunner,” Postel said. “He was a good guy, a really nice gentleman. He took orders from the instructors and was a good shot and a great student.”

Soon, Postel was aching to leave his stateside post.

“I got tired of being an instructor,” Postel said. “I wanted to get overseas. I didn’t like what the Germans were doing over there. There were all kinds of atrocities, and the Holocaust, we knew about it.”

Postel asked his supervising colonel to assign him to a combat group so he could join the fight abroad.

He first went to Boise, Idaho,  and then Casper, Wyo., for training.

In Boise, Postel was assigned to a B-17 and met another famous member of the military.

“Jimmy Stewart was there at Gowen Field,” Postel said. “At that time, he was an officer, but he was a flight instructor. When we went on simulated bombing runs, we set targets and we bombed the targets for practice. He came to check out the pilots, and he went with us one time on a cross-country hop.”

Like fellow Hollywood actor Gable, Stewart earned respect among his peers and those under his command.

“He was a real nice guy, very, very congenial and accommodating,” Postel said.

“We were instructed not to ask him or Clark Gable for autographs, so the guys had to restrain themselves.”

In Casper, Postel was transferred from the B-17 Flying Fortress to the B-24 Liberator, with a heavier bomb load.

Postel and his crew pulled 50 missions overseas, and participated in the Ploiesti refinery raid over oil fields in Romania.

“The Germans got most of their oil from Ploiesti,” Postel said. “They had a lot of ack-ack guns, which had radar, and they were able to go high.”

Quick thinking helped keep the crew safe.“We had little bales of shredded aluminum, and we’d throw it down when they’d start shooting the flack at us,” Postel said. “The radar would pick up the shredded aluminum and shoot that instead of us.”

Others were not as fortunate.

“A very tough thing was seeing the guys go down,” he said. “I would look and see the parachutes and count how many opened up. Sometimes they just disintegrated the plane, and no parachutes were able to get out.”

In addition to the oil fields, Postel and his crew participated in the bombings in France, Munich and Anzio, Italy, which presented a challenge.

“The foot soldiers were getting knocked out like fish in a barrel, so we had to knock out the German gunners,” Postel said. “Our boys were getting slaughtered by the guns up in the rocks, so we dropped the 100-pounders, but it didn’t do much good and didn’t penetrate the rocks. They started installing different bomb cradles in the B-24s that housed 500-pounders, and they really did the job after a lot of devastation.”

Postel’s 98th bombardment group of the 15th Air Force was assigned to the European Theater and was based on the heel of Italy, in Lecce, as were members of Alabama’s heroic Tuskegee Airmen. Postel credits them with saving his life.

“The Tuskegee Alabama black fighters, they were great,” he said. “Their fighter planes would protect us part way. One mission in particular, we were in bad shape.”

As Postel and his group lagged, help was soon on the way.

“They came and boy, the Germans were peppering us, and here comes the Thunderbirds,” Postel said. “The Tuskegee Airmen engaged the Germans in dogfights, and they really saved us. They stood and fought for us.”

After completing his missions, during which he earned honors including five Bronze Stars, an Air Medal and a Presidential Citiation, Postel returned home to south Philadelphia, where he was reminded of the war's lasting impact.

“I went to see the parents after the war,” Postel said. “That was the tragic thing about the war, coming back to see the parents and loved ones of those who got killed.”

Postel married his wife, Adele, after meeting her in Denver at a USO dance. The had three children and the famly settled in Dallas, where Postel opened an advertising agency, Post-N-Tell, and owned a jewelry business, Add-A-Jewel, for several years.

After his wife passed away in the late 1990s, Postel retired and kept busy by creating a coloring book with an anti-drug message, which has been used in local school districts.

He hopes to write a book about his wartime experiences.

“I’d like to get around to it someday,” Postel said. “I have a lot of memories I’d like to share.”

Allison Wisk is the editor of North Dallas and Park Cities neighborsgo and can be reached at 214-977-8172 or via e-mail at awisk@neighborsgo.com. Got a story, photo or video you'd like to share? Post them directly on neighborsgo.com. Got a story idea? Send it to me directly. For more about how neighborsgo.com works with our neighborsgo print editions, please visit neighborsgo.com/help.