Coming Back Better
By Jack Emery and Sophie Gordon
Clarence Couch
September 15, 1920-April 12, 2018
Headstone of Clarence H. Couch
Although many come back from war changed, Clarence Couch came back changed for the better. Despite serving in stressful and harrowing times, after he was discharged, Clarence went on to live a happy and fulfilled life with his family. Clarence Hans Couch was born on September 15, 1920 in Sidney, Nebraska. Clarence lived with his father Asa, his mother Anna, and his two brothers LaVerne and Lester.1 Asa Couch was a train engineer – Clarence recalled that his father “would come up every once in awhile real close and shoot steam on us. [It was] a little frightening for me.”[2] In 1939, Clarence graduated from Sidney High School and started working as the assistant manager of the JC Penny in Sidney. Clarence’s life changed however, like many young American men, on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese Navy attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Weeks after the attack, Clarence received a letter warning that he was to be drafted. Rather than be a draftee, Clarence took a train up to Spearfish, South Dakota where he enlisted in the Army Air Corps.[3]
Clarence spent months training and traveling all around the American southwest. Initially, Clarence was trained to be a glider pilot, even getting his wings for completing glider school. However, he was transferred out to complete training as a powered aircraft pilot. During this second part of training, Clarence went to both mechanic school and meteorology school before going to Douglas, Arizona to complete twin engine school. After getting his second pair of wings, Clarence shipped out for Hickam Airfield in Hawaii where he was stationed with the 320th Bomb Squadron of the 90th Bomb Group. While training in Hawaii, Clarence was promoted from Co-Pilot to First Pilot, and became the primary pilot and commander of the ten-man crew of his B-24 Liberator heavy bomber.
Following training on Hawaii, Clarence and the rest of the 90th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Jolly Rogers, moved to Australia to begin conducting bombing operations against Japanese installations in the Dutch East Indies.[4] In early 1943, Clarence and his fellow bombers took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, as well as raids on Japanese airfields on the small South Pacific island of Wewak.[5] Japanese fighters and flak were heavy on many of the missions Clarence flew, and he would often land to find shell holes just inches away from his seat.[6] Despite the fact that the Japanese were their enemies, Clarence and his fellow pilots could not help but respect them, “They were good pilots,” Clarence remembered, but “they were aggravating.”[7] Japanese pilots would fly into the formations of B-24 bombers, so close that the American guns could not even hit the nimble fighters. These daring Japanese adversaries, coupled with walls of unavoidable flak, made wounds to the crew and damage to bombers commonplace. “I doubt I flew the same plane twice,” Clarence recalled.[8] However, despite all the carnage, Clarence flew through the war unscathed, an outcome he thanked God for.
In 1944, the 90th Bomb Group moved to Nadzab, New Guinea, which would remain the base of operations for the remainder of the war.[9] Life on the airbase was many times just as dangerous as life in the air for Clarence and his crew. Japanese planes would bomb the American airfields at night, so the pilots and crews would wake up and immediately run for cover in foxholes. On other nights, when the bombers were on standby to support Allied ground troops in the region, Clarence and his co-pilot would sleep upright in their seats while their gunners slept on the floor of the plane.[10]
Despite the hardships, Clarence and the rest of the 90th Bomb Group made due on Nadzab. When not flying missions, the men played baseball and volleyball and wrote letters home. Clarence also sang in the choir on base and was active in church services. Due to his time at mechanics school before deploying overseas, Clarence was good friends with the mechanics on base and spent time with them as well as his fellow pilots and crew.[11]
Clarence Hans Couch (Legacy.com)
Clarence was, by all accounts, a good pilot; he was known for flying in such a tight formation with his fellow bombers that it made some of his crew nervous. On one mission, while Clarence was on his way to the drop zone, he was flying so close to the bombers next to him that his radio operator came into the cockpit and asked him to put a little more distance between the B-24s.[12]tnotes After each mission, Clarence and his crew were given a shot of whiskey as a reward for a job well done and a celebration of their survival; Clarence, however, would not drink his. Instead, he would save all of his shots up and use them to trade for good bread and pies. Besides the fact that Clarence did not drink to begin with, the food he bartered for was a huge upgrade from the usual chow on base.[13] When Clarence was up for re-enlistment in the summer of 1945, he failed his physical for being underweight. The jungle climate and poor food caused Clarence to lose almost twenty pounds during his time in the Pacific, so he was sent home in August of 1945. Despite his 49 dangerous missions, Clarence reflected, “I think it [the war] was good for me. I was very lucky, I had all my missions in. I never got hurt or anything.” Even though he was sent home, Clarence stayed in the Air Corps as an instructor after the war in Bakersfield, California where he trained cadets to fly B-25 medium bombers.
After his enlistment was up, Clarence transferred to the Air Force Reserves and went back to his pre-war job at JC Penny in Sidney.[14] In 1947, Clarence met his wife, Shirley, and the two were married. Clarence was a cattle and horse farmer outside of Sidney until 1964, when he and Shirley moved into the town in order to raise their family.[15] The couple had three children: Bruce, Renee and Cory. Clarence and Shirley owned two motels in Sidney and spent much of their time running them until the couple retired to Westminster, Colorado.[16] After his time serving with the 90th Bomb Group, Clarence remained an active member of the veteran community, attending many reunions and keeping in touch with his fellow pilots and crewmates.[17] Clarence passed away on April 12, 2018 at the age of 97. [18]
Footnotes ↓
[1] “Clarence Hans ‘Sid’ Couch (1920-2018) – Find A Grave,” Find a Grave, April, 18, 2018, accessed May 20,2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188960658/clarence-hans-couch.
[2] Clarence Hans Couch, “Interview with Clarence Hans Couch, World War II” (2015), Oral Histories, accessed May 20, 2021, https://epublications.regis.edu/cswe_oralhistories/19/.
[3] Ibid.
[4] J Rickard, “History of the 90th Bomb Group,” 90th Bombardment Group, March 27, 2013, accessed May 22, 2021, http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/USAAF/90th_Bombardment_Group.html.
[5 ] Ibid.
[6] Clarence Hans Couch, “Interview with Clarence Hans Couch, World War II” (2015), Oral Histories, accessed May 20, 2021, https://epublications.regis.edu/cswe_oralhistories/19/ .
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] J Rickard, “History of the 90th Bomb Group,” 90th Bombardment Group, March 27, 2013, accessed May 22, 2021,http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/USAAF/90th_Bombardment_Group.html.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Clarence Hans Couch, “Interview with Clarence Hans Couch, World War II” (2015), Oral Histories, accessedMay 20, 2021, https://epublications.regis.edu/cswe_oralhistories/19/ .
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Clarence Hans ‘Sid’ Couch (1920-2018) – Find A Grave,” Find a Grave, April, 18, 2018, accessed May 20,2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188960658/clarence-hans-couch.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Clarence Hans Couch, “Interview with Clarence Hans Couch, World War II” (2015), Oral Histories, accessed May 20, 2021, https://epublications.regis.edu/cswe_oralhistories/19/.
[18] Clarence Hans ‘Sid’ Couch (1920-2018) – Find A Grave,” Find a Grave, April, 18, 2018, accessed May 20,2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188960658/clarence-hans-couch.
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