The Air Force Veteran

This story is in honor of my grandfather, Lt. Col. USAF Edward Komyati (1921-2021).

In Oct. 2009, The Collings Foundation’s Wings of Freedom Tour visited Norwood Memorial Airport, featuring fully restored WWII planes that visitors could walk through. It was a warm, picture-perfect autumn day when I attended with my sister, parents, and grandparents. This visit to the Wings of Freedom Tour was particularly meaningful since my grandfather was a WWII veteran who served nearly 25 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force.

He was smiling ear-to-ear as he posed for photos in front of the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and TP-51 Mustang.

My parents had a surprise for my grandfather: they had purchased for him a chance to relive his youth; to ride aboard one of the planes. The air crew began preparing the B-24 for its 30-minute flight. “That’s your ride,” my dad told my grandfather. He was stunned. He insisted that my dad take the flight instead, but, knowing him, I could tell how eager my grandfather was to climb aboard.

I joined a group of spectators behind a fence as volunteers helped my grandfather into the plane. A few people were talking about how a WWII veteran and former USAF pilot was aboard the B-24 that was preparing for takeoff. “Incredible,” I heard one person say.

“Yep, that’s my grandpa,” I told them. But what they didn’t know was just how incredible his story truly was.

Edward Komyati grew up in Cleveland, Ohio where his fascination with airplanes began at an early age. At eight years old, he attended the National Air Races in Cleveland and watched Amelia Earhart fly her red plywood Lockheed plane. Komyati enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941 and entered its Aviation Cadet Program. He traveled by train to Arizona for training, leaving Ohio for the first time.

He was later sent to the Pacific theater where American forces were fighting Japan. He regularly flew to Samoa, New Caledonia, Australia, and New Guinea to transport aircraft to military bases. While serving in the Pacific theater, Komyati met Eleanor Roosevelt, who signed his short snorter. A short snorter is a chain of taped currency bills carried by WWII U.S. Army Air Forces service members as a logbook or good-luck charm.

In 1943, he was assigned to fly “The Hump” in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater, delivering fuel and supplies to Chinese Allied forces. With Japanese forces blocking the Burma Road, pilots had to cross the eastern Himalayas to China. It was considered one of the most dangerous air routes of WWII due to extreme weather and a myriad of other hazards.

On July 10, 1944, Komyati was the co-pilot of a C-87 Liberator Express that departed from India during a supply mission to Kunming, China. The other crew members were pilot Charles Heller, radio operator Donald Tomcheck, and flight engineer James Hemler. While flying over northern Burma (present-day Myanmar), the crew encountered severe weather. Ice formed on the aircraft, and the plane entered a steep spiral. Heller told the other crew members to put their parachutes on. Tomcheck and Hemler attempted to open the escape hatch, but were unable to, due to the force of the spinning plane.

“A big gust of wind hit me in the face and I must have lost consciousness. The next thing I knew I was falling through space, trying to get hold of my ripcord handle. I got hold of the parachute strap over my left shoulder and pulled it,” Komyati stated in an official Missing Air Crew report. “There is a possibility that the plane blew up or was torn apart in the air. All of us were thrown from the plane.”

He landed in ankle-deep water in a dense, swampy jungle in northern Burma (Myanmar). His parachute kit helped him survive. “I was terribly thirsty. I tried to lick the dew off the grass but it was too slow a process,” he recalled. Komyati found water in a hole in the ground, treated it with a Halazone tablet (for water purification), and drank it.

“A few planes went by. I fired my pistol to signal them – but to no avail,” said Komyati. He tore off part of his parachute to make a flag, waving it until exhausted. An L-5 aircraft spotted him and dropped a note instructing him to stay put while a search party was sent. That night, another aircraft dropped a parachute-equipped auxiliary fuel tank with supplies, which he was too weak to retrieve. “With the use of my make-shift bed and my parachute, I spent the night in the jungle,” stated Komyati.

The next morning, he retrieved the tank. It contained two canteens, a blanket, medical supplies, and flares. Komyati used the flares to direct the search party to his location. The party, consisting of American and Chinese soldiers, evacuated him by riverboat. Komyati was then transported by C-47 hospital aircraft to Tezpur, India, five days after the plane crash. “The searching party of American and Chinese soldiers performed their duty very efficiently and faithfully,” Komyati reported.

My grandfather was the sole survivor of the plane crash. First Lieutenant Heller (1917-1944) was from San Antonio, Texas. He was a highly decorated veteran with over 450 flying hours and had earned the Presidential Citation. In 1949, Lt. Heller was brought home from India and laid to rest in Fort Worth, Texas. Private First Class Tomcheck (1920-1944) was laid to rest in Helena, Montana. Staff Sergeant James Hemler (1920-1944) grew up in Michigan and had two brothers who were also in the U.S. Military. Staff Sgt. Hemler’s remains were never recovered.

After the war, Komyati was sent to Europe to support the Allied occupation. While stationed in northeastern France, he met and married the love of his life, Marie-Claude.

Komyati flew a handful of VIPS in the 1950s, including King Paul of Greece and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. In Jan. 1963, he shook hands with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at Checkpoint Charlie.

During his 23 years of active-duty service, Komyati was stationed in France, England, Germany, Greece, and Italy. After hanging up his uniform, he rejoined the Air Force as a civil servant, working at Air Force bases in Germany and the United States. Komyati retired in 1997 after nearly 55 years of combined military and civilian federal service.

In the early 2000s, Komyati had the opportunity to travel to Kunming, China, where he paid his respects at the Aviation Martyrs’ Monument. Staff Sgt. Hemler is among those honored on the monument. (SSgt. Hemler is also memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.)

My grandfather flew west in 2021, just a few months prior to his 100th birthday. He was laid to rest with my grandmother in France, not far from where they met. They were married for 71 years.

Happy Veterans Day, Papa Ed.

I hope you know just how much I miss you.

Ariane