WWII vet celebrates 100th birthday

“What a way to celebrate a birthday,” said Sam Daleo as he recounted spending his 19th birthday over Germany bombing a factory and being shot at. The former United States Air Force Staff Sergeant and World War II waist gunner that once served alongside the likes of famed American actor Jimmy Stewart anticipates celebrating his 100th birthday Aug. 11, albeit in a much more relaxed atmosphere.

Daleo grew up on the south end of Beaumont and was called to service following his graduation from Beaumont High.

“I can remember penny postcards and three-cent stamps,” said Daleo as he recalled the changes he’s seen in Beaumont over the last century. He’s always loved Beaumont and remains part of the community to this day.

“It was January 1943, and I don’t know where they got our names, but they sent us a letter in the mail saying to be at the courthouse at a certain time and date and bussed us all to Houston to see if we were fit for duty,” said Deleo.

Staff Sergeant Daleo served as a crucial part of a 10-man crew, steadying himself on the tail end of a B24 bomber.

“It was pretty tough over there, and the Germans had big ground guns all over the country, so you couldn’t get around them. They could fire higher than we could fly, and once you got past the ground guns that’s when the German fighters would jump you,” said Daleo. “We were in the air 8 to 10 hours at a time and under fire all day.”

Just a gaze away, Daleo describes the war with detail fitting of an event that had just occurred mere days ago: “I just had to figure every time I went down that runway it was my last day to live, ’cause you never knew how many planes were gonna go down.”

Daleo recalls World War II being the most stressful time of his life, and countless brothers being lost.

“Even the ones who made it,” he said, “many of them had nervous breakdowns. The stress was tremendous, and a lot of the guys couldn’t take it.”

“One particular mission, it was 1944, and two of us, me and a tail gunner, got shot at the same time. They got our tail end and almost shot us down, I tell you,” Staff Sergeant Deleo recollected as he ran his hands across his arm where the bullet and shrapnel were removed. “The bullet that hit me hit one of the braces on the plane and slowed us down. They removed 15 pieces of shrapnel and rivets from that arm.

“Well, we had to fly 25 missions before they would ground us, and that was my 23rd, so after a few days in the hospital they sent me back to fly them other two missions with stitches still in my arm.”

After being grounded, the airmen were bussed to Amarillo and months passed before the USAF got around to letting everyone go.

“All these forest fires broke out in Washington State so they took all of us that just came out of action and sent us up there to fight forest fires; and, man I tell you, the guys were torn up,” he said. “We thought we were done and a lot of them had nervous breakdowns over it. I didn’t have any problems with nervous breakdowns, and I just did what I was told to do. That’s what you’re supposed to do in the service, so I fought fires stationed in Spokane, Washington, for a few months.”

Unable to be mustered out, Sergeant Daleo and his brothers were paid, given a vehicle, and sent home from there.

It would be a few weeks before he made it home, opting to tour the country in his ‘41 Ford convertible.

“I was free, and I just wanted to see everything,” a younger Daleo yearned. “I went to Yellowstone National Park and all kind of different places before I made my way back home to Beaumont.”

After arriving home, Daleo settled in, married at 23, and had three children.

“After the service, I just went to work, and I retired from Sears, having worked for them off and on twice,” said Daleo.

Between his time at Sears, Daleo spent years working alongside his sister in the south end.

“My sister, Anna, had a grocery store, Oddo’s Grocery, and my brother died, leaving her by herself, so I quit Sears for a while to go help her in the store,” Daleo said, adding that he eventually made his way back to Sears where he bid and sold everything Sears installed. “They let everybody go from the store downtown, and so I retired. I was out of work and home one day messing around and went down to the craft show Larry Kinkle had on 105 at the time. I had some lumber in the yard, built a trunk and some girl bought it for $100. From there, I started making them out of cedar and walnut, and only God knows how many I made over the next 27 years.

Daleo and his second wife, Francis, traveled all over Texas for nearly three decades working trade shows where she sold her homemade clothes and he his trunks.

“We were married 46 years, and she died of cancer three years ago,” he spoke, pointing around the den of his west end home. “She made all her clothes right here when it was her sewing room.”

Daleo flipped through his annual issued to him from the War Department, proudly displaying photos of his brothers in arms and humbly detailing the awards on the wall above him.

“I was four times awarded that air medal and the distinguished flying cross is the highest honor; you have to finish your 25 missions before you get that and, of course, the Purple Heart was for being wounded.”

“They make me sound better than I am,” the veteran humbly uttered as he held a recent gift from Governor Greg Abbot, a certificate of appreciation for his service and bravery in celebration of his 100th birthday.

Daleo’s chest swelled, though, as he spoke of his two children.

“I’ve got one here in Beaumont and he takes me everywhere I need to go, and my daughter is in Houston. They come over every week and she cleans the house and he does the yard work,” he beamed with pride. “My kids have been really good to me.”

One hundred years, one hundred birthdays, and more than 100 reasons to be grateful, Daleo said living is easy these days. When asked what the secret is to a long life, he simply said with a chuckle:

“You just don’t forget to wake up.”

You can watch our full interview with Sam Daleo for more: