Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner Analysis

A Gunner and His Bomber
            “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is a poem written by Randall Jarrell in 1945. It is centered on the ball turret gunner of a heavy bomber flying over Europe during WWII. Jarrell’s poem shows the stages of the gunners life all while he is in his turret.
The air war over Europe during the 1940s was a dangerous one. Bombing was used to weaken the manufacturing capabilities of the Axis powers in an effort to prepare for the upcoming invasion of mainland Europe, in particular, Germany. Defensive positions on these heavy bombers were necessary because the long range escorts –such as the P-51 Mustang- could not follow all the way over enemy territory. Gunners were necessary to ensure that the bombers could

fly to the target and back, even if attacked by enemy fighters. Located on the “belly” (underside of the fuselage, usually after the wings and bomb bay) of the aircraft is where the ball turret is located. The ball turret gunner is encased in a ball of plexiglass with two 50 caliber machine guns. This is one of the most critical placements of a bomber’s armament because it defends the entire lower half of the aircraft. The death of a ball turret gunner left the bottom of the bomber exposed to enemy fire so they are very important for the defense of everyone on the bomber.
            “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,/ And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze” (lines 1-2).

These are the first two lines of Jarrell’s poem. “From my mother’s sleep…”(Line 1) alludes the the plane itself; it has become a mother to the gunner. Like a maternal figure, it protects its “child” against the dangers of the outside world. The bomber protects her children (crew). Many bomber crews actually saw their bomber like a mother or other protective, nurturing female. Crews named their bombers and painted these names along with an accompanying figure on the nose for good luck. A famous example of this is a B-17 named “Memphis Belle.” Bombers specifically, hold the ball turret in the belly of the aircraft much the way a mother holds an unborn child in her belly. “And I hunched in its belly until...” (line 2) also characterizes the bomber itself as his mother. The gunner is hunched in the turret much like a fetus hunched in the womb.  “…I fell into the State,” (Line 1) finishes the first line and the “state” is sleep. Crew member commonly fell asleep while flying to the target. The flights were 8 or more hours. Jarrell might also be describing another state of sleep. People sleep and dream. That is what Jarrell could be saying here; notice how he said, “state” instead of simply “sleep.” The ball turret gunner has fallen into a dream. The world around him has ceased to exist because he is disconnected, floating in his own

womb.
“Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life,/ I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters” (Lines 3-4). In these two lines, Jarrell transitions his poem from sleep to consciousness. In the third line, the dream is continued. Six miles away from earth (the cruising altitude of the plane) is far removed from Earth. From six miles, there are no visible borders, there is no war going on. All that the gunner can observe is blue, white, and green. He says that he is “...loosed from the dream of life,...” (Line 3).The ball turret gunner does not see any danger. To him, at this very moment, he is an angel soaring in the heavens above earth. His life was dull and boring. He escaped to a land of dreams to avoid all of the world’s strife around him. “I woke to black flak and nightmare fighters”(Line 4) either says that he literally woke up from sleeping or came out of his dream state. Either way, he was woken up by people trying to kill him. The phonetics of the hard “K” sound in “black flak” help the reader visualize the explosions around the bombers. “Nightmare fighters” is an appropriate description of the fighters. All of the fighters would swarm around the squadron. In comparison to the dream state the ball turret gunner was previously in, these explosions and noises would be a nightmare. 
            The final line says “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose” (Line 5).

This last line is the most powerful of the lot. This man sacrificed his life to protect his brethren and country only to be washed out with a hose. This line tells us how bad the war was. The ball turret gunner who this story centers around gave his life to defend his brethren and country and all that the ground crew could do was wash out the mess his body left behind with a hose. They were unable to pay him the honor he earned that moment because they needed to prepare that aircraft for another mission. It shows the sad side on how the ground crew probably wanted to pay their respects but they couldn’t to the extent they would deem

necessary.
            All in all, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” was written to illustrate the atrocity of war. Airmen of WWII were fighting a new type of war, one that was not possible until that point in time. Jarrell’s poem shows the mortality in life. The Gunner went from a pre-born state, to birth, then immediately to death. Ground crews at the air field showed the insignificance of his contributions when they washed his mess out of the turret.