‘Operation Varsity’ CG-4A Glider Pilot: George Theis

            George Theis was among the young men and women eager to serve their country during the Second World War. When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, Theis was living in Salisbury, Maryland. He wanted to enter the U.S. Army Air Corps’ aviation cadet program. However, he would have to wait until he was 18 to legally join up. Most of his friends were already old enough and were enlisting everyday it seemed like while “I waited around to take the aviation cadet tests. While waiting for the birthday that would make him an adult in the eyes of the American government he played saxophone at a beach resort in Ocean City. George recalls hearing on the radio during this time about the new glider pilot program but he wasn’t interested because, “who in his right mind would want to fly an airplane without an engine.”

After turning 18 he enlisted with the Air Corps in Baltimore on 28 October 1942, in an effort to be the draft and hopefully become a pilot. During his flight physical, George was unable to pass the eye exam which required 20/20 vision. It was a devastating blow but his determination to become a pilot led to the Recruiting Sergeant telling George of a new program within the Air Corps that was just taking flight. George’s only question to the Recruiter was ‘would he be able to become a pilot’. With a yes he agreed to volunteer for the program. He was only supposed to complete the first two phases of the program, after which time he was to be called to active duty, then sent on to basic training, and finally into the glider pilot program.

He was enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps (ERC) and was assigned to the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) Program at Lynchburg College in Virginia. He would learn to fly a powered aircraft before he went through Basic Training. At this time he was not active duty and would not receive any pay until later. His first flight was on December 4, 1942 at Preston Glenn Airport just outside Lynchburg. He completed his first phase of training on January 17, 1943 and began the second phase on February 12^th of the same year. He was only supposed to go through the first two phases of the five phase program. He completed the second phase on March 31, 1943 and was sent home to await further instructions. During this time a serious glider accident occurred in St. Louis, Missouri where the Mayor and 10 City Officials were killed. This nearly brought the program to a halt.

George did not get called to active duty and decided to take the third phase of the training program for Cross Country Pilot Training. IT seemed that he was destined to become a Service Pilot flying non-combat ferrying missions. His first flight in the third phase was on July 16, 1943. The military realized that young men in the CPT program were quite unhappy at not receiving pay during all this time so they called them active duty. After George completed the third phase of training he was finally sent to Basic Training at Greensboro Army Basic Training Center in North Carolina on September 2, 1943. Finally he was receiving pay!

George was sent back into the CPT program where he began the fourth phase of the training offered, known as Instrument Pilot Training at the University of Vermont in Burlington. [Note: The name if the program was changed from Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) to War Training Service (WTS)]. After completing the fourth phase George was supposed to be commissioned and given a Service Pilot Rating to fly powered aircraft in the Ferry Command. However, before he graduated on December 6, 1943 the military decided they needed no more Service Pilots due to the formation of the WASP’s (Women Airforce Service Pilots).

            George had one other option left open to him……take the fifth and final WTS training phase, for becoming a Flight Instructor. He was sent to Danville Military Institute in Virginia. His first flight in this phase was on December 21, 1943. This was now fourteen months after he had enlisted and he still had not seen a glider! The plan was to discharge George after he completed the last training phase and give him a Civilian Pilot Rating to be a Civilian Pilot Instructor. This was due to the policy at the time that all Army primary flight instructors had to be civilians. The thought behind this was that civilian instructors would be less intimidating to cadets than officer instructors. George was fine with this as all he wanted to do was to be a pilot. Just one week before George was set to graduate, it was decided that the Army Air Corps did not need any more instructors. His last flight was on January 14, 1944. George commented on his thoughts at that time, “The war is almost over and I am still being shifted around with nowhere to go.”

After 15 months in various training programs, being shuffled around, and falling through the cracks George was finally sent to be reclassified. When George was sent back to Greensboro for his reclassification he found he wasn’t the only one. There were well over a hundred fellow students from the same program looking for a new career. He first got into the line to become a power pilot aviation cadet since, because of the flight hours under his belt; he could potentially accelerate through the program and become a commissioned power pilot. By this time they had lowered the eye sight qualifications. But then he heard that the program had a 75% wash out rate and George wasn’t looking to face another disappointment. He wanted to actually put his training to use for his country. So he entered another line which would allow him to finally become a glider pilot.

During this portion of his training George flew a Fairchild PT-19 powered aircraft which was a monoplane primary trainer aircraft. He graduated from Advanced Glider Pilot Training at South Planes Army Airfield in Lubbock, Texas on September 15, 1944. This was nearly two years of training that he had gone through!

George was assigned to the 98^th Troop Carrier Squadron of the 440^th Troop Carrier Group, which was one of four Groups’ in the 50^th Troop Carrier Wing in the 9^th Troop Carrier Command in the 9^th Air Force. He finally received overseas orders and was stationed in Orleans, France, arriving there in mid-January 1945. After arriving, Georges’ personnel records were checked and it was learned that he could play the saxophone. Unbeknownst to him, the Special Services Officer was looking for volunteer musicians for the 440^th Serenaders dance band. They asked George to join and he accepted. He was their lead Alto Sax player and remained with them until well after the war ended in Europe. The band made numerous trips to Paris and military bases and hospitals near Orleans, where he was stationed.

Ground Crew Loading George's Glider

George Standing Next To His Glider 'Lady Helen'

On March 24, 1945 George and his co-pilot (who was also a glider pilot) took off from airfield A-50 in Bricy in his Waco CG-4A glider (nicknamed 'Lady Helen'). Towed by a C-47 Skytrain and loaded with four Airborne Troopers from the 17^th Airborne Division and a Jeep, George’s glider was among the 1,300 (including the British gliders) that participated in Operation: Varsity, the crossing of the river Rhine. This was a joint British-American operation in which two airborne divisions were dropped behind enemy lines. The gliders were towed at a speed of approximately 120 mph. After release the glider would decrease to a speed of roughly 80 mph and approximately 40 mph to land. Each glider had a Pilot and Co-Pilot seat, each of which had a set of controls. The plane had to flown while being towed just as if it were powered by its own engine. The controls inside a glider included a control wheel (to make turns and raise or lower the nose) and rudder pedals, which had a brake pedal attached to it. George said of controlling a glider, “After cutting loose from the tow plane, pushing the nose down allowed you to keep the airspeed above stalling speed…….It was a one-way street, you could only go down as there was no soaring like in a sail plane.

His flight was to take roughly three and a quarter hours. “It was long and uneventful until we saw the smoke over the Rhine River and across our designated landing zone.” He landed his glider round noon in Landing Zone N near Wesel, Germany (East side of the River Rhine). Asked if the flimsy construction material of the gliders worried him George replied, “No. In tow position there was a lot of noise like you were inside a base drum but when you were cut loose, it became quiet and was a real pleasure to fly.”

Georges' Glider Being Towed By A C-47 Skytrain

George successfully landed his glider without crashing into any trees or the like. George’s orders included assisting with the unloading of his glider. The four Airborne Troopers got out and raised the tail, using wood props to hold it up. Doing this lowered the nose section to allow the Jeep to be driven out. George cut the tie down ropes and one of the Troopers began to drive the Jeep out. Unfortunately, the props swayed and the tail fell. The Jeep engine stalled and the nose fell onto its hood. Everyone then got out of the glider and held up the nose. Finally the men got the Jeep out.

George’s orders, after assisting with the unloading of his glider, were to proceed to a designated GP checkpoint. Once there he was to dig a foxhole and become part of the inner perimeter of defense for his first night. The situation did depend upon enemy activity. Many glider pilots had to fight alongside infantry soldiers until the territory was cleared so the glider pilots could be released to return to their home base. On the second day, glider pilots were to be used to guard and escort German POW’s back to the East side of the river Rhine where they were turned over to Military Police.

After the unloading of his glider and the small arms fire subsided, George headed along a road toward a farmhouse. He was looking for signs to lead him to his designated GP checkpoint. Along the way he met fellow glider pilot, Bill Stone who had been in George’s training class at Lubbock. Bill was a professional photographer before the war and was the one who took the photos of Betty Grable?? doing the Manual of Arms with a rifle for the cover of Life Magazine. Bill was with a Paratrooper Brigadier General who had landed outside of his drop zone. The Brig. Gen. was lost from his troops and without any maps. Bill asked George is he had any maps with him they could use but upon looking for them; George realized he had left them back in his glider amidst the confusion.

Georges' Glider (Pictured At The Left) In Landing Zone N Behind Enemy Lines Near Wesel, Germany

The Brig. Gen. asked George to go back and retrieve them. Along the way he had to dodge small arms fire. He went through a hedgerow that he was using for cover when suddenly two German soldiers came out with hands raised saying, ‘Kamerad, Kamerad.’ They wanted to surrender rather than be killed so George led them back his glider. Recalling this memory George said, “Later I was told that the Senior German Officers had told them that they would be killed rather than captured. I guess I was as young as they were and they must have thought they could trust me. They were correct because I never fired gun during the whole mission and I don’t know to this day if I could have raised my gun on another human being. Fortunately, I never had the chance to find out.”

Once back near the glider, George saw another American soldier standing near his aircraft. George asked the soldier to hold his gun on the prisoners while he took a picture of his prisoners standing near his glider. 

The Two Germans George Captured

Morning After The First Night Of Oper: Varsity - A Glider Crashed Near The Men's Campsite

George's Co-Pilot On Their First Night After Landing Behind Enemy Lines

He retrieved the maps and made his way back to the Brig. Gen. with the captured Germans in hand. Once there he turned them over to the MP’s who were collecting prisoners. The Brig. Gen. asked George to stay with him and George explained his orders were to report to the GP checkpoint. The Brig. Gen. realized that George was not an Airborne Trooper and released him. Finally George made his way to the checkpoint and reported in. Operation: Varsity was the largest single day airborne assault in Europe during the Second World War. 

During George’s second day behind German lines, he and some others were pinned down by sniper fire after moving from their foxholes near a railroad bed. Thankfully some Airborne Troopers came along and cleared them out, allowing George and the others to move forward.

Pinned Down By Snipers

Along The Evacuation Route A Bombed Out Windmill

 

(Note: Years later George read about a couple of General Officers (Dalby and Gaither), both Staff Officers and Parachute Qualified, who had requested to jump with the 17^th Airborne Division. They were not part of the chain of command and simply along for the combat experience. Unfortunately, they were both dropped outside of their drop zone, without staff or maps, and lost from their units. It is highly likely that the Brig. Gen. that George helped out was one of the two mentioned in the book he was reading, The Last Drop. George’s story is included in this book along with a photo of him.)

After George’s glider mission, he returned to entertaining the troops with the 440^th Serenaders. When the war in Europe ended, the group was at the Grand Hotel in Paris. It was the night of May 8, 1945 and what was dubbed Victory in Europe (VE) Day. George remembers that all of Paris celebrated. In November of ’45, the 440^th Troop Carrier Group was inactivated. George was one of eight Officers left behind. The whole operation in Orleans was closed down and George and the others were transferred to Germany for reassignment. He was reassigned to the 14^th Liaison Squadron near the German town of Holtzkirken.

George returned stateside in July of 1946 and was honorably discharged at Fort Meade, Maryland. He received various campaign ribbons and was awarded the Air Medal for his glider mission in Operation: Varisty. He was also entitled to wear the bronze Arrowhead Device on his ETO ribbon, which indicated that he had participated in an airborne invasion behind enemy lines.

George entered the Reserves and decided to attend Spartan School of Aeronautics to get this aircraft mechanics license, flight instructor rating, and multi-engine pilots rating. Before graduating he was set to go to work for a small civilian airline as a mechanic and spare co-pilot on their DC-3 type transports. Just before he graduated the company filed for bankruptcy and George ended up working for his father in construction.

Not long after he had had enough of construction and made the decision to re-enter the military. George couldn’t qualify as an Officer but his civilian training as an aircraft mechanic led to him enlisting as a Staff Sergeant and becoming a Flight Engineer on a B-50 bomber. Through the next years he received various assignments as Flight Engineer and in 1968 he was honorably discharged for the second time on November 30. George now serves as the National Treasurer for the National World War II Glider Pilots Association.