The Airborne “Mets” of WWII
If, at some future veterans’ convention, the uniformed weathermen of World War II get to swap experiences, their tales easily can hold their own with hair-raisers from any other branch of the service. The “Mets”, as they were called, can jingle plenty of medals, and, as for variety-few other outfits will be able to match the meteorologists. They traveled by snow tractor and dog team to Greenland’s frigid ice cap, and they carried their own equipment through torrid jungles of the South Pacific. They parachuted into the Balkans ahead of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. They jumped with the airborne spearheads on D-day in Normandy. They flew in one-man fighters ahead of regular bombing formations, and they rode in B-29s over Tokyo. Weather is a vitally important factor in modern warfare.