Meanwhile things were beginning to heat up in Korea and then “Fate” dealt me a bad hand. I received a letter from the Air Force notifying me that I had been reactivated and to report to Langley AFB, Va. on Oct. 17, 1950 for active duty . I spent some time at Langley and eventually was reassigned to Biggs AFB, Texas. I knew that I would be assigned to a new crew for training and would be flying again as a gunner with a B-29 Squadron headed for the Far East and the Korean war. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive because of my experiences during W.W. II.

In early January I received word from home that my wife had given birth to our son and was having complications from the delivery. Then to make matters worse my parents were having serious health problems and there was no one to take care of them. It seemed that everything hit us a once. I made an appointment to see our Commanding Officer seeking help or if necessary a hardship discharge so I could go home and take care of my family. I met with our C.O., who I knew from the time we had spent together as POWs in Germany and he advised me that it would be difficult to leave the military at this time and that I shouldn’t ruffle any of my Congressman’s feathers. Nevertheless, I contacted my Congress Person and after hearing of my difficult situation it didn’t take long for my C.O. to receive orders to get me off the base immediately.

On January 12, 1951, I was Honorably Discharged from the Air Force and returned home to care for my family. We managed to work our way through our problems, but now I no longer had secure employment. I was unable to return to my job on the bakery route and now I was forced to give up almost ten years of military service which left me I a very awkward situation. I finally applied for a job with Metropolitan Insurance Company in sales and was hired. I worked for the company in a neighboring city for a few short years and was promoted to Assistant Manager and later was offered the position of managing the branch office in my home town. I accepted the position and worked for the company for twenty five years and four months and never missed a days work the entire time.

Unfortunately, my wife passed away on June 27, 1990 and I continue to live alone in the home we shared for so many years at 91 – Orange St., Port Jervis, N.Y. My two crew member buddies who bailed out of the burning aircraft over Germany have since passed away leaving me the sole survivor of Capt. Reno’s B-17 crew.