Welcome to VFW Post 817 "Hero's Corner"
To visit other Post 817 Heroes click below:
Melvin A. Cryder
Lt. Colonel Darwin L. Schuett
Ray Duffee
Colonel Robert C. Forney
Sgt. Don Shoof
Norman "Gene" Mondt
James Sieler
Melvin A. Cryder
Lt. Colonel Darwin L. Schuett
Ray Duffee
Colonel Robert C. Forney
Sgt. Don Shoof
Norman "Gene" Mondt
James Sieler
Lt. Col. Mondt on graduation
from flight school.
from flight school.
Lt. Col. Mondt was piloting this plane. Photo taken
Sept., 21, 1944, dropping Polish BDE at Driel,
Holland during Operation Market Garden
Sept., 21, 1944, dropping Polish BDE at Driel,
Holland during Operation Market Garden
Special thanks to Davi Mondt, Lt. Col. Mondt's
daughter for submitting these photos.
daughter for submitting these photos.
David E. Mondt, Lt. Col. Retired, WWII C-47 Pilot
62nd. Troop Carrier Squadron 314th. Troop Carrier Group
52nd. TC Wing
62nd. Troop Carrier Squadron 314th. Troop Carrier Group
52nd. TC Wing
Col. Mondt was born and raised in Boone, Ia., the son of Earl and Texas Mondt. Upon graduating from Boone High School in
the spring of 1941, Col. Mondt enlisted in the Army Air Corp to become an aircraft mechanic. As there was a shortage of
pilots, the Army resurrected the "Flying Sergeant" program, which required an Airman to be 18 years old and a high school
graduate. Since this payed more than twice a mechanic's pay, Col. Mondt immediately applied and was accepted into flight
school. At Pope Field, Fayetteville, North Carolina, he trained with the 62nd TAS., learning how to fly in a PT-19 later moving
up to C-47. Training ran Jan. through Nov. 1942.
In Feb. 1943 the 62nd moved to Lawson Field, Ft. Benning, Georgia for more training for overseas deployment. This
entailed some pretty strenuous training, from activation to overseas readiness in a period of six months. The last week of
March through the first week of April 1943, Col. Mondt was sent to South Carolina to learn how to pull gliders.
From May 12th to the 29th, the 62nd was en route to Morocco. The 62nd stayed there until the 25th of June when they
moved to North Africa in the Kairouan area. The base was a dried up lake bed about 30 miles from the Mediterranean Sea.
Temperatures reached 136 degrees.
On the 9th of July, 1943, the war arrived for Col. Mondt. The 62nd was called to a briefing regarding operation "Husky 1"
the invasion of Sicily. The 62nd was to drop the 504th and 505th of the 82nd Airborne Division on the southeast coast of
Sicily. On the flight across the Med, the planes flew so low that the prop wash from the lead planes was so heavy the
windshield wipers were ineffective and the pilots had to reach out the side windows and wipe the windshield of with GI toilet
paper. On the return to base, the 62nd was informed of the loss of four of the groups planes, one of them being the
Commanding Officer's.
On Sunday, 11th of July, the 62nd was alerted for Operation Husky 11, another Airborne re-enforcement drop on Sicily.
Ready for take off on round-two, Col. Mondt was again co-pilot in the number two position planes order in the flight. With
engines running and the troops aboard, a Captain arrived in the cockpit and ordered Col. Mondt off the plane. When he
asked where he was to fly, he was told to go kick someone else off another plane. This in effect grounded 2nd Lt. Mondt as
there was no one of lower rank in the Squadron. This turned out to a fortunate event for Col. Mondt because the plane he
was to fly was shot down. Called the "Great Troop-Carrier Shoot Down," heavy fire from American Ground Forces and Naval
Forces shot down 23 troop carrier aircraft. Not all ground and naval forces got the word on the mission and recognition
codes were ignored, gunners fired on the aircraft for at least 30 miles. The loss rate on this foul-up was an appalling 16
percent. Thankfully, no one in Col Mondt's squadron was killed. Many were wounded, including the Captain that kicked 2nd
Lt. Mondt off the plane.
After the capture of Sicily in Sept. 1943, the 62nd moved to Castevetrano, on the southwest coast of Sicily. On the 2nd of
Sept. Col. Mondt went on a secret mission. The crew was instructed to pick up a one star general and fly him wherever he
wanted to go. As it turned out the one star general was no less than General Maxwell Taylor, Chief of Staff.
After spending some time in sickbay, Col. Mondt resumed flying on Oct. 8th. The balance of Oct. 1943 was spent flying
missions, playing cards, and shooting craps. At one crap game Col. Mondt won $225.00. It was sorely needed as he hadn't
been paid for two months.
Thanksgiving Dinner of 1943 was chicken in lieu of turkey. Col Mondt stated the chicken has died sometime in the early 30's
and been frozen. The remainder of the year was spent flying support missions for the Italian campaign, supplies to Italy and
wounded out. On Dec. 8th of 1943 President Roosevelt, General Eisenhower, General Patton, and few lesser generals
visited the 62nd. It was a warm day, and the 62nd put on their best uniforms and paraded "while the war waited". By the 23rd
of Dec., it was a well known secret that the 62nd was going to England. On the 24th of Dec., "With this good news in mind,
we all celebrated Christmas with liquid spirits."
The 62nd moved to England in Feb. 1944, arriving at Valley, Wales the 6th of March. For the first time during the 62nd
overseas tour they had permanent quarters, offices, mess-hall, a large hanger for maintenance, and three concrete runways.
D-Day, June 5th & 6th, 1944. 18 aircraft, 44 officers and 36 enlisted men of the 62nd participated in a parachute drop with
the 82nd Airborne, Drop Zone N., Cherbourg, France. One aircraft was lost while making a third pass over the drop zone, but
all the crew members survived.
Sept. 17th, 18th, and the 21st, 1944, 50 aircraft and crews participated in the 3-day "Market Flights" in support of mission
"Market Garden". The 62nd dropped 771 British and Polish Airborne troops plus 180 supply bundles near Arnhem, Holland.
One aircraft was lost and the fist three members of the 62nd lost their lives as a result of enemy action.
Col. Mondt was listed as pilot for operation "Market Garden" and recorded the following in his log. Quote.
"Saturday.9/16/77, briefed today for a drop in Holland, fight path on far shore all over enemy territory, large fighter coverage.
Sunday, 9/17/44, dropped British Airborne in Holland, Drop Zone-X, light flak on leaving DZ.. We did not lose any aircraft
and had very little damage. The weather perfect.
Monday 9/18/44. Dropped on Drop Zone-Y, heavy flak and machine gun fire. Our group lost 5 planes, Fred Hale and his
crew from 62nd. We think they had a good chance in getting out of the plane.
Tuesday, 9/19/44. Drank coffee and sweat, received a 24 hour postponement due to the weather.
Wednesday, 9/20/44, Received three one hour delays before being postponed again due the weather. The Polish Airborne
were getting restless.
Thursday, 9/21/44, We took off at 1400 on instruments and went over at 10,000 feet, let down over France, made drop at
Drop Zone-K, weather bad in UK landed at emergency field.
Friday, 9/22/44, left the emergency field at noon and hedgehopped back to home base. All ships are safe in our squadron,
some of the others did not fare so well". Unquote
Col. Mondt was 21 years of age at this point of time in World War ll and had been through Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day, and
Market Garden plus hundreds of hours of bad flying weather.
In March of 1945 the 62nd was operating out of Air Strip B-44, Poix, France. On March 24th, 20 aircraft with gliders in tow
departed on "Operation Varsity" delivering troops of the 17th Airborne Division, 4 miles NNW of Wesel, Germany. No aircraft
were lost but four glider pilots were killed.
On February 15, 1946, the 62nd Troop Carrier Squadron completed it's service in World War ll at Villacoublay, France, with
3 years, 2 months, and ten days of service. The 62nd earned two Distinguished (Presidential) Citations, one in Sicily, July
11, 1943, and the 2nd in France, June 6-7, 1944.
Col. Mondt returned to Boone at wars end and married Vonnie Tingwald on August 19,1945. Col. Mondt and Vonnie are the
parents of four daughters, Connie Cross of Boone, Carol Vena-Mondt of California, Davi Lowman of Minnesota, and Dede
Mondt of Boone.
Col. Mondt retired from the Iowa Air National Guard as a Lt. Col. in 1973.
Respectfully Submitted,
Pete Jones, Commander Post 817
the spring of 1941, Col. Mondt enlisted in the Army Air Corp to become an aircraft mechanic. As there was a shortage of
pilots, the Army resurrected the "Flying Sergeant" program, which required an Airman to be 18 years old and a high school
graduate. Since this payed more than twice a mechanic's pay, Col. Mondt immediately applied and was accepted into flight
school. At Pope Field, Fayetteville, North Carolina, he trained with the 62nd TAS., learning how to fly in a PT-19 later moving
up to C-47. Training ran Jan. through Nov. 1942.
In Feb. 1943 the 62nd moved to Lawson Field, Ft. Benning, Georgia for more training for overseas deployment. This
entailed some pretty strenuous training, from activation to overseas readiness in a period of six months. The last week of
March through the first week of April 1943, Col. Mondt was sent to South Carolina to learn how to pull gliders.
From May 12th to the 29th, the 62nd was en route to Morocco. The 62nd stayed there until the 25th of June when they
moved to North Africa in the Kairouan area. The base was a dried up lake bed about 30 miles from the Mediterranean Sea.
Temperatures reached 136 degrees.
On the 9th of July, 1943, the war arrived for Col. Mondt. The 62nd was called to a briefing regarding operation "Husky 1"
the invasion of Sicily. The 62nd was to drop the 504th and 505th of the 82nd Airborne Division on the southeast coast of
Sicily. On the flight across the Med, the planes flew so low that the prop wash from the lead planes was so heavy the
windshield wipers were ineffective and the pilots had to reach out the side windows and wipe the windshield of with GI toilet
paper. On the return to base, the 62nd was informed of the loss of four of the groups planes, one of them being the
Commanding Officer's.
On Sunday, 11th of July, the 62nd was alerted for Operation Husky 11, another Airborne re-enforcement drop on Sicily.
Ready for take off on round-two, Col. Mondt was again co-pilot in the number two position planes order in the flight. With
engines running and the troops aboard, a Captain arrived in the cockpit and ordered Col. Mondt off the plane. When he
asked where he was to fly, he was told to go kick someone else off another plane. This in effect grounded 2nd Lt. Mondt as
there was no one of lower rank in the Squadron. This turned out to a fortunate event for Col. Mondt because the plane he
was to fly was shot down. Called the "Great Troop-Carrier Shoot Down," heavy fire from American Ground Forces and Naval
Forces shot down 23 troop carrier aircraft. Not all ground and naval forces got the word on the mission and recognition
codes were ignored, gunners fired on the aircraft for at least 30 miles. The loss rate on this foul-up was an appalling 16
percent. Thankfully, no one in Col Mondt's squadron was killed. Many were wounded, including the Captain that kicked 2nd
Lt. Mondt off the plane.
After the capture of Sicily in Sept. 1943, the 62nd moved to Castevetrano, on the southwest coast of Sicily. On the 2nd of
Sept. Col. Mondt went on a secret mission. The crew was instructed to pick up a one star general and fly him wherever he
wanted to go. As it turned out the one star general was no less than General Maxwell Taylor, Chief of Staff.
After spending some time in sickbay, Col. Mondt resumed flying on Oct. 8th. The balance of Oct. 1943 was spent flying
missions, playing cards, and shooting craps. At one crap game Col. Mondt won $225.00. It was sorely needed as he hadn't
been paid for two months.
Thanksgiving Dinner of 1943 was chicken in lieu of turkey. Col Mondt stated the chicken has died sometime in the early 30's
and been frozen. The remainder of the year was spent flying support missions for the Italian campaign, supplies to Italy and
wounded out. On Dec. 8th of 1943 President Roosevelt, General Eisenhower, General Patton, and few lesser generals
visited the 62nd. It was a warm day, and the 62nd put on their best uniforms and paraded "while the war waited". By the 23rd
of Dec., it was a well known secret that the 62nd was going to England. On the 24th of Dec., "With this good news in mind,
we all celebrated Christmas with liquid spirits."
The 62nd moved to England in Feb. 1944, arriving at Valley, Wales the 6th of March. For the first time during the 62nd
overseas tour they had permanent quarters, offices, mess-hall, a large hanger for maintenance, and three concrete runways.
D-Day, June 5th & 6th, 1944. 18 aircraft, 44 officers and 36 enlisted men of the 62nd participated in a parachute drop with
the 82nd Airborne, Drop Zone N., Cherbourg, France. One aircraft was lost while making a third pass over the drop zone, but
all the crew members survived.
Sept. 17th, 18th, and the 21st, 1944, 50 aircraft and crews participated in the 3-day "Market Flights" in support of mission
"Market Garden". The 62nd dropped 771 British and Polish Airborne troops plus 180 supply bundles near Arnhem, Holland.
One aircraft was lost and the fist three members of the 62nd lost their lives as a result of enemy action.
Col. Mondt was listed as pilot for operation "Market Garden" and recorded the following in his log. Quote.
"Saturday.9/16/77, briefed today for a drop in Holland, fight path on far shore all over enemy territory, large fighter coverage.
Sunday, 9/17/44, dropped British Airborne in Holland, Drop Zone-X, light flak on leaving DZ.. We did not lose any aircraft
and had very little damage. The weather perfect.
Monday 9/18/44. Dropped on Drop Zone-Y, heavy flak and machine gun fire. Our group lost 5 planes, Fred Hale and his
crew from 62nd. We think they had a good chance in getting out of the plane.
Tuesday, 9/19/44. Drank coffee and sweat, received a 24 hour postponement due to the weather.
Wednesday, 9/20/44, Received three one hour delays before being postponed again due the weather. The Polish Airborne
were getting restless.
Thursday, 9/21/44, We took off at 1400 on instruments and went over at 10,000 feet, let down over France, made drop at
Drop Zone-K, weather bad in UK landed at emergency field.
Friday, 9/22/44, left the emergency field at noon and hedgehopped back to home base. All ships are safe in our squadron,
some of the others did not fare so well". Unquote
Col. Mondt was 21 years of age at this point of time in World War ll and had been through Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day, and
Market Garden plus hundreds of hours of bad flying weather.
In March of 1945 the 62nd was operating out of Air Strip B-44, Poix, France. On March 24th, 20 aircraft with gliders in tow
departed on "Operation Varsity" delivering troops of the 17th Airborne Division, 4 miles NNW of Wesel, Germany. No aircraft
were lost but four glider pilots were killed.
On February 15, 1946, the 62nd Troop Carrier Squadron completed it's service in World War ll at Villacoublay, France, with
3 years, 2 months, and ten days of service. The 62nd earned two Distinguished (Presidential) Citations, one in Sicily, July
11, 1943, and the 2nd in France, June 6-7, 1944.
Col. Mondt returned to Boone at wars end and married Vonnie Tingwald on August 19,1945. Col. Mondt and Vonnie are the
parents of four daughters, Connie Cross of Boone, Carol Vena-Mondt of California, Davi Lowman of Minnesota, and Dede
Mondt of Boone.
Col. Mondt retired from the Iowa Air National Guard as a Lt. Col. in 1973.
Respectfully Submitted,
Pete Jones, Commander Post 817
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