PORT JERVIS – Port Jervis resident and Air Force veteran William “Bill” Sutton and his wife Barbara are well-known for their lives of hometown service. Yet most know little about 95-year-old Bill’s military service.
The local veteran was reluctant even now on Veterans Day to draw attention or any recognition, stating simply that it was his choice to serve and one of the best experiences of his life.
Sutton, the oldest of three children that include brother Bob and sister Brenda, was born in Port Jervis on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1927. He graduated from Port Jervis High School in 1946 and embarked on a strong desire to join America’s armed forces.
He chuckled while sharing how he was at first turned down. “I tried to enlist in the Marine Corps in Poughkeepsie in 1947, but I couldn’t do the weight requirement. They told me, “My friend, you’re too small,” Sutton recalled in a conversation with Mid-Hudson News.
He persisted and joined the United States Air Force a year later. His job was as a mechanic, aircraft sheet metal worker more specifically. He was assigned to repair aircraft damaged in war. He admits it was a job he was “pretty good at” and enjoyed being able to make each aircraft as safe and air ready as possible.
Stationed in Japan, Sutton had a boss he says did not take a liking to him. This supervisor assigned him to a base shop with a crew of four Japanese mechanics under his direction. It was a crew he quickly became grateful to have. Besides working together, he was taught Japanese by his crew, and he taught them English. They became good friends.
“They were good. They were nice guys, and we got to know each other really well. I’ve often wished over the years that I had been able to be back in touch with them,” he said.
Bill’s crew was dedicated, and they worked tirelessly. He decided one day to do something special for them. While other crews took daily coffee breaks, his crew did not drink coffee and just kept working. He requested permission for his crew to take tea breaks.
“I brought in a tea pot, and we had a wood stove to make our tea on. They were thrilled,” he recalled.
Realizing the importance of being sure all aircraft returned as safely as possible for missions, Sutton took it upon himself to also request permission to fly on missions of the aircraft his crew repaired. Rather than repairing and releasing bombers back into operation, then moving on to the next job, he asked pilots to take him along to be sure everything worked perfectly.
“I would just tell the pilots that I wanted to go up with them. I carried a gun and was with 12-13 other people on their bombers. I knew these pilots very well. I wanted to be sure their planes carried them safely,” Sutton said.
While on missions, Sutton recalls contact with Chinese pilots, Korean planes that were flown by Russian pilots, and Chinese trying to cross the Yellow River for battle.
“We were pretty high up on missions, and did our share of praying,” Sutton admitted.
Many such details remain tucked away in this veteran’s personal memories and are rarely brought forward.
Sutton returned home on leave just after Christmas of 1951 and Barbara and he married. The couple went on to raise three children, Dawn, Lori, and William, Jr.
As a civilian, Bill had worked through his high school years as a silk thrower at a local silk mill. After completing his military service, he became a fireman and then an engineer on the Erie Railroad. He later worked in a career with the Orange County Health Department.
While few details of his Cold War and Korean War service years are shared yet today, and nothing at all about his medals, his wife of 71-years pointed out the military mechanic’s sharpshooter medal.
“He was a country boy and knew how to shoot,” Barbara said. “He also damaged his hearing from the noise of rivet guns used to work on planes, but you’ll never hear him say one negative thing about his military years.”
Instead, it is pride in having been personally asked by pilots to fix their planes knowing they would be as safe for flight as possible that Sutton shares.
“I have to tell you, that job was the best I’ve ever had in my life. I would look at these big bombers sitting there, or watching them take them up, and think this skinny little guy put that thing together, and now it’s flying,” he said. “It was a job, but I felt like I was part of something terrific.”
