Veterans' Memorial Project

William Rhinehart Schick M.D.

Chicago, IL

World War II

Lt. Schick served with the Army Air Force 38th Reconnaissance Squadron. He died on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was the first Illini and first medical officer killed in World War II. His B-17C (Flying Fortress) was shot by Japanese Zeros as the plane was landing at Hickam Field, Honolulu, Hawaii. There are hospitals and clinics around the U.S. named for Lt. Schick, including the William R. Schick Clinic at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Lt. Schick had joined the Army Air Force at age 30, leaving a promising surgical residency.
The following is detailed information about Mr. Schick’s life and service in the military, including circumstances of his death at Pearl Harbor
Bill dropped out of high school after his sophomore year. After working in a factory for three years he returned to high school and finished third in his class at Lindbloom High School in Chicago. He then went to University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and graduated in 1935. He went to medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and graduated on 1 July 1940. He did his internship at Evangelical Hospital in Chicago where he met his wife to be, Lois Richmann. He started a surgery residency at Leila Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. They were married in June 1941. Two weeks later, with war just on the horizon, Bill felt his services could best be used in the military, so he joined the Army. Dr. Schick was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant and he was assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group at Albuquerque, New Mexico. They moved to New Mexico and greatly enjoyed the area. Lois was a nurse and they both volunteered their time doing medical work with the local Pueblo tribe. On 1 October 1941 he was sent to the eleven-week long Aviation Medical Examiner Course (flight surgeon�s course) at Randolph Field, TX. He was to graduate from flight surgeons school on Dec. 20. War appeared imminent, and his unit was being deployed, so he was released from class four weeks early, with full credit. Captain Sidney Seid, another doctor from Albuquerque Army Air Field Hospital had already deployed with other support units of the 19th to the Philippines. (Dr. Seid survived the Bataan Death March and three years in a Japanese POW camp). Dr. Schick made a quick visit home to Clinton, Iowa. Schick and his wife drove back to Albuquerque on Nov. 30, 1941 and he was assigned to the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron. The 38th was being transferred to Clark Field in the Philippines. On the night of the 3rd of December while eating dinner with Dr. George Mitchell and his wife, Lt. Schick received a phone call telling him to be ready to leave the next morning. The next morning his wife said a long good- bye on the porch of their home and gave him a new camera. Dr. Mitchell drove Lt. Schick to the flightline the next morning. They had a weather delay so they went to the base hospital. All the doctors, including the hospital commander, kept Bill company drinking coffee in the mess hall. Soon the weather delay was over and they all went to see him off. He must have looked the typical flight surgeon of the day ready for deployment wearing a leather flying jacket, camera over the shoulder and climbing into a B-17 Flying Fortress. The crew was a fairly experienced one for 1941. Captain R.T. Swenson was the pilot. He and the navigator 2 nd Lt. H.R. Taylor had already flown to Hawaii in the spring. Lt. Ernest L. Reid was a new copilot. Aviation Cadet G.C. Beale was the bombardier. MSgt L.B. Pouncy was the flight engineer, Sgt Earl T. Williams the assistant engineer and gunner, Cpl M.C. Lucas the radio operator and Pvt Bert Lee the final gunner. The airplane was a C model B-17, not the latest version, but a capable bomber. The first leg of the journey was to Hamilton Field, California just above San Francisco. The next two days were spent there. The squadron commander, Major Truman Landon, was fighting the red tape to get guns for his squadron�s planes, before they deployed overseas to a potential combat zone. The problem was solved, new guns were packed onboard, minus ammunition, and the twelve B-17s left Hamilton for Hickam Field, Hawaii on the night of 6 Dec 1941. They could pick up ammunition in Hawaii. The first plane off was at 2100 hours with 15 minute spacing. Lt. Schick�s B-17 was the second to take off at 2115 hours. Rather than take off and form up, they flew single ship towards Hawaii to save fuel. The radar site on Oahu was warned to be on the lookout for a large squadron of B-17s to be showing up on the screen on the morning of the 7th. They saw multiple radar targets that morning that were unfortunately mistaken for the flight of B-17s. The targets were of course the initial strike aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The 14 hours plus flight was uneventful until the last fifteen minutes. The crew saw land with the first recognizable feature being Diamond Head. Approaching Oahu, Lt. Schick took out his camera and took some photos. Passing Diamond Head at 0800 hours they noticed some antiaircraft fire off in the distance. They thought somebody was just practicing. Then they saw six pursuit aircraft with antiaircraft fire bursting around them and thought somebody was getting carried away on the ground. They had stumbled into the first wave of attack aircraft on Pearl Harbor, but still did not realize it. They started a long base leg following a canal into Hickam Field. Captain Swenson ordered the landing gear lowered and the copilot complied. They noticed a great deal of black smoke rising from the Pearl Harbor area. The pilot thought at first it was sugar-cane being burned off. Then they turned and got their first clear look at what was happening. Fire was passing through the fuselage. Lt. Schick was standing, saying they are shooting at us from the ground. Four bullets were later found to have also hit Japanese Zero fighters were making passes at the B-17. The copilot hit the landing gear retraction switch to go around and hide in some clouds. Instantly smoke began to fill the cockpit. Some bullets had hit the magnesium flares and they were burning fiercely. The pilots realized they must land and put the landing gear back in the first place. A few seconds later they landed hard and bounced high due to the reduced visibility from the smoke in the cockpit. The pilots recovered for a good touchdown and while still rolling out the fuselage broke in two where the aircraft was burned through. The pilot killed the engines and the copilot set the parking brake and everyone egressed the aircraft. The crew found themselves in the middle of the field, hundreds of yards from shelter. Just as they were escaping the aircraft, another Japanese Zero fighter was making a firing pass down the runway. The crew split up. One group ran for the hanger line with burning aircraft and buildings. The other group including Dr. Schick sprinted for the Honolulu side of the field, where the crew of the first B-17 to have arrived was hugging the ground. Lt. Schick was hit again in the head with a bullet from the fighter as he ran across the runway. He was picked up by an ambulance and taken to the hospital but died later that day. Some reports say he was killed instantly. Other members of Lt. Schick�s crew suffered lesser injuries. Aviation Cadet Beale was hit in the leg, Lt. Taylor had a small shrapnel cut and Lt. Reid had some singed hair from the aircraft fire. Lt. Schick�s B-17 had been the only one destroyed of the twelve from Hamilton Field. Photographs of it are commonly seen and can be recognized as the B-17 with a forward fuselage and wing and nothing aft of the wing�s trailing edge. Others were hit but landed safely either at Hickam or Wheeler Field. One belly-landed safely on a golf course. Two other military physicians died that day at Pearl Harbor. Commander Samuel E. Johnson, MD on the USS Arizona and LT. j.g. Richard R. Rall, MD on the USS Pennsylvania. Lois Schick moved to Chicago from Albuquerque. On August 17, 1942, what would have been Bill�s 32nd birthday, Lois gave birth to their son, William Richmann Schick. The baby was baptized in a christening gown made of silk from his father�s parachute. The death of Lt. William R Schick was certainly not forgotten. The flight Surgeon Class of 20 Dec 1941 started the bronze plaque at the school of Aerospace Medicine. Ceremonies honoring Dr. Schick were held by Native American friends in Albuquerque. Bill�s parents donated their son�s microscope in his honor to the University of Illinois College of Medicine for use by needy students. On plaques in the Student Union at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Schick�s name joins that of 838 of his fellow alumni killed in World War II. In Clinton, Iowa the Army named its new 2,500 bed hospital Schick General Hospital. Thousands of wounded soldiers were cared for there during World War II, until it was closed in 1946. Dr. Schick�s body was returned to the family 21 Jan 1949 and he was laid to rest in a country cemetery in Lowden, Iowa. Lois Schick never remarried and died of cancer in 1971. She was buried next to husband Bill. Their son is alive and is a publishing executive in Chicago. References: 1. Memorial Plaques, Outside Main Auditorium, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks 2. Shot Down at Pearl Harbor, Ernest L. Reid. Air Force Magazine, December 1991. 3. The Last Flight of William Schick, MD. Donald T. McSherry, American Medical News, December 9, 1991. 4. The Last Flight of William Schick, M.D. a postscript. Donald T. McSherry, American Medical News, April 6, 1992. 5. The Last Flight of William Schick, M.D. Donald T. McSherry, Illinois Quarterly, University of Illinois Alumni Association Magazine, November/December 1992. 6. Day of Infamy, Walter Lord, Bantam Books January 1958. 7. Flying Forts, Martin Caidin, Ballantine Books 1969. 8. Letter to Miss Jean Evans, Historian USAF Aerospace Medical Center, Brooks AFB from University of Illinois Library of Medical Sciences and Registrar�s Office 25 Jan 1960 (Held in Hanger 9 Collection, Brooks AFB, TX). 9. Fifty Years of Aerospace Medicine, Green Peyton, Air Force Systems Command Historical Publications Series No. 67-180, 1968.

– submitted by Mr. Howard Mumm; information also taken from University records