WWII veteran returns to headquarters

Cadet Stan Stanek flying a BC- 1 at Advanced School Brooks Field, Texas, August 1941

"The runways are gone. But the control tower still stands there, and when I looked at it I could hear the planes taking off and landing."

That's the reminiscence of Col. Stan Stanek about his recent trip to Levenham, England, to the air base that served as his headquarters during WWII.

From April of 1944 until the war ended in midsummer 1945, this member of the Greatest Generation flew B- 17, B- 34, and B- 25 bombers over Europe. Stanek had never been back, but Fate dealt an irresistible hand this year. His grandson Michael Albert, now in the U.S. Air Force, is stationed in Levenham.

In May, Stan and Michael's father Sam, a retired Delta pilot, traveled to Levenham for a poignant reunion at the town that meant so much 60 years ago.

"The people of Levenham were wonderful to us," Stanek said. "They invited us to their homes and made friends with us all. They called us 'Our Boys.'"

This veteran wonders to this day why he lived through the carnage of those years. In particular, he recalls that he and his crew flew what must have been the last sortie of the war in Europe. "The war was over," he said. "The Axis had surrendered, but official word was not yet public.

1st Lt. Stan Stanek 1941

Our schedule had us flying a bombing run over Germany. We had three groups of 12 planes, and I was in the lead of a lower group when we met some resistance. German fighter planes came straight at us, firing full blast. And to our amazement, not a single hit. No one was hurt.

"We knew the Germans had run out of trained pilots and were using young boys with only a little training. They simply did not know how to fly and shoot effectively."

Some more amazement was to follow, and part of it instilled a curiosity that to this day has not been satisfied. "When the war in Europe ended, everyone expected the war in the Pacific would take center stage. We were given sealed orders to fly to Maine, then home for a 30- day leave. Then, under a code of 'Project Honey,' we were to get further orders. I feel that surely that would have had to be to head for the Pacific for more combat.

Col. Stan Stanek 2009

"By the time our 30- day leave was up, the U.S. had dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, and the war in the Pacific ended. I have been trying ever since 1945 to find out what 'Project Honey' would have been, and to this day no one has been able to dig it out of the files."

Stan Stanek is a Wisconsin- born transplant to South Carolina, who was assigned to Owens Field when he entered the Army Air Corps, and where he met a girl named Blanche Long from Saluda. When they discovered they were born on the same day, they knew the stars were in alignment. They planned to be married on their birthday, in August, but Army orders intervened so their anniversary is two days before the birthday.

They had two children, a son who died in a plane crash two years ago who left two daughters. Their daughter LuAnn is married to Sam Albert and parent of Michael and his brother Anthony.

Col. Stanek finished his college education at Clemson after WWII, majoring in dairy science and agriculture. He was employed at Edisto Farms Dairy in Columbia until his retirement.