AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt) Art Ponder, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
Ponder grew up in West Monroe, Louisiana, and said he joined the Army Air Corps following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. When asked why he decided that was the right time, Ponder said it was "time to defend my country."
Ponder said he was sent off to basic training at Camp Polk almost immediately after signing up to join the war effort. "I was ready for anything they had," he said about his time at Camp Polk.
After finishing basic training, Ponder said he was sent to Denver, Colorado for Armor School where he would spend the next three months learning how to outfit bombs and other weapons on aircraft before he was sent to Laredo, Texas.
"I went through Gunnery School in Laredo and as soon as I finished, they made me an instructor and that is where I was stuck for awhile because they wouldn't let us go overseas or anything like that because we were short on instructors," Ponder explained, adding he was chosen to be an instructor because he knew the material well.
Ponder said he enjoyed his time as an instructor and recalled starting off the young recruits with BB guns as they gradually moved up to 20-caliber cannons. But as much as he enjoyed his time in Laredo, Ponder said he tried countless times to get overseas where the action was. "They told me, if I come in here one more time, we are going court martial you, so we just backed off and didn't ask to go anymore."
Ponder said while he was stateside for the duration of the war, there was some solace in knowing he helped train some of the very best pilots to fly during WWII.
"It was pretty amazing to see some of those boys that came out of the north that didn't even know what a gun was but they made good gunners when it was all said and done. I had students that went over and flew their 25 missions and returned and we made instructors out of them," Ponder said about his career as an instructor, adding he wished he had his chance. "It was aggravating that we couldn't go."
To listen to GySgt Art Ponder tell his story, click the button below:
Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:
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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.