The photo on the left is of several of those who lived in my Quonset hut. Standing, left to right, unknown, Grant Hamilton, Art Bennett, and Me. Kneeling are Joe Wollschlager and two unknowns. There were nine crews in the officers hut.

29 May 1945 T 1

Yokohama. Daylight incendiary raid.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 19,500 ft. Took off @ 0345 landed Iwo 1630. Bomb load 36 - 500 lb. clusters. We lost #4 engine shortly after landfall and we went over the target and dropped our bombs with #4 feathered and #3 backfiring. I saw a B-29 going down right ahead of us. It hit the ground and burned. Flak was intense. As we were leading an element we had to pull a lot of power, therefore using a lot of gas, so we had to land at Iwo. We stayed all night and came back in Z 53 and left T 1 at Iwo, the next day. We had some enemy fighters.

5 June 1945 T 10

Kobe, incendiary.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 14,000. Took off @ 0125 landed 1630. Bomb load 36 -500 lb. clusters. Daylight formation fire raid. Flak was moderate to intense and very accurate. We got one hole in our vertical stabilizer. We had quite a lot of enemy fighters. Saw one plane go down and nine of the men bail out and a Jap plane down there strafing them. They were out of the range of our guns. #4 engine cut out as we touched the runway back at Saipan as it was out of gas.

7 June 1945 T10

Osaka, Daylight precision mission, landed at Iwo. Fighter escort from Iwo Jima. Most welcome. It is a most pleasant sight while on a bombing run to see our fighters weaving back and forth in front of our formation. The P-51'a most fuel efficient cruise speed was about 20 MPH faster than the B-29's. The fighters had limited navigational aids, and as we were leaving the target, several " hooked on " to us for guidance to Iwo Jima. We increased our airspeed, and led them to Iwo. We also had to land due to low fuel. Saw some poor son-of-a-bitch in a Mustang attempt a victory roll over the harbor at Iwo. He lost it, and went straight in to the ocean.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 18,500 ft. Took off @ 0200 landed Iwo 1730. Bomb load seven - 2000 lb. GP's. We had P-51 escort and bombed through 10/10 coverage trying to hit the Arsenal by using Radar. We had a couple of bandits and a few bursts of Flak. Landed at Iwo for fuel and stayed the night, due to a stuck fuel control.

I did not fly the next two missions on 10 June and 15 June with the crew due to a severe sinus infection. My sinuses and ears were plugged solid. In order to Catch up on the number of missions, I flew the next mission with another crew.

17 June 1945 T

Yawata, Radar Recon Mission, all by ourselves. While other B-29's were bombing Japan, we were off by ourselves making several runs from the Initial Point to the target. The radar operator was taking photographs of the radar scope so the photo's could be used during briefing for a future group mission. At night, and very peaceful. All of the crew in the forward compartment fell asleep. (the plane was on autopilot) We were headed toward Russia when someone in the rear asked over the intercom where we were going. Felt pretty foolish! Back together again.

20 June 1945 T 7

Fukuoka, incendiary. Roger's Diary: Altitude 9,800 ft. Took off 1715, landed 0900. Bomb load 184 incendiary clusters. Moderate flak. We got caught in several search lights, but got out of them by evasive action. We were shot at plenty, but were not hit. Just after bombs away showers of sparks were coming out the cowl flaps on #4 engine and we had to feather it, but it continued to burn even afterwards. We were ready to bail out when it went out. When we came back we found a plastic hammer had been left in the nacelle and it had burned. Jackson flew with us instead of Pacelli.

22 June 1945 T 4

Kure, daylight formation Mission. Roger's Diary: Altitude 19,800 ft. Took off 0245, landed 1800. Bomb load 4 - 2000# GP's, 2- 1000# GP's, 3- 500# GP's. No fighters, but intense flak. Flak came through the nose of the plane and missed Tunnell's head and Schifferli's arm. Flak bursts were all colors and so thick it seemed almost solid.

28 June 1945 T 7

Sasebo Naval Base, night incendiary mission. Roger's Diary: Altitude 9,800 ft.. Took off 1835, landed 0945. Bomb load 34 -500# clusters. Moderate flak. I saw something bursting into a water-fall of flame over the target. Lots of tracers noted. Clear weather.

1 July 1945 T 7

Kumamoto, night incendiary mission. Kumamoto, railway center and fourth largest city on Kyushu. Some light flak noted.

6 July 1945 T 17

Akashi, incendiary, night. ABORTED. We lost #4 engine north of Iwo. As we turned off course to abort to Iwo, engines #1 and #2 lost power and flamed. We started dropping and salvoed the bombs, but the fire went out and power returned. We proceeded on 3 engines to Iwo. After landing, I got into an argument with a ground officer who questioned our story, and knocked him on his ass. I was reminded of this many years later by Grant Hamilton. Punching out ground officers was not acceptable behavior. Fortunately for me a Colonel who was a flying officer was summoned. He listened to the story, turned to the ground officer, and told him to never call a flying officer a liar. That ended that incident. After this our navigator Grant Hamilton was grounded due to nerves. Arthur Bennett took over as Navigator. I did not realize that Grant was relieved by Jack until I read Jack's book in 1996.

Roger's Diary:

Our plane wasn't ready so we flew T 17. We lost #4 engine 30 miles north of Iwo so we turned off course to abort. Number 1 and 2 engines suddenly burst into flame and we started dropping, but the fire went out and power was restored. We landed at Iwo and stayed all night. We also nearly got hit by another plane. The next day we flew T 24 back to Saipan.

4 July 1945 T 7

Marcus Island. Just to keep us sharp.

9 July 1945 T 7

Sakai, ABORTED, Cracked up on take off.

The plane was junked after 31 missions. This was a night mission, it was raining, and we had a maximum gross weight of 143,000 lbs, which was 23,000 greater than design. We were about one-half way down the runway during take off when one of the engines swallowed a valve. We aborted the take off and were approaching the last turn off prior to the end of the runway and the ocean. We skidded in the rain and mud, which came from new drainage ditches which were being installed, but not completed. The nosewheel ran into the ditch and collapsed, leaving the tail of the airplane sticking out over the runway. We as a crew did not know that the command had designated African-American troops to line the sides of the runways, just in case of any accidents. Before I knew what was happening a very large black man reached in through the cockpit window and jerked me from the plane. No one was hurt, but the runway was out of service. There were two runways, and we alternated taking off every 30 seconds. All the planes had to take off from the remaining runway, thus screwing up the mission timing. We sweated out the next few days while they tore the engine down to confirm that we had swallowed a valve, and that the abort was legitimate.

We went swimming in coves along the shore, with netting at the entrance to protect us from the sharks, performed dinghy drills, played volleyball, did some skeet shooting, toured the island and saw some of the Japanese prisoners of war. The pre-conceived notion of the Japanese all being four feet tall with thick glasses was rapidly changed as we saw some of the captured Royal Marines, all of whom were over six feet tall.

12 July 1945

New T 7 Ichinomiya, missed it! Roger's Diary: Altitude 10,800 ft. Bomb load 184 - 100# incendiary's, Take off 1915, landed 0930. Night fire mission. When we got to the mainland, it was socked in and we went in and bombed by radar. It was so thick that I could barely see our wing-tips. We kept our lights on so other ships could see us. We came pretty close to our own planes in the soup and that is really all I was worried about. All I could see of the target was explosions and a big glow through the clouds.

16 July 1945 T 7

Oita, incendiary. Roger's Diary: Altitude 10,800 ft. Bomb load 178 - 100 # incendiaries. Take off 1807, landed 0900. Our radar went out and we went too far before turning on to our IP. We found the target by the illumination of the fires and the radar worked well enough for us to bomb the target and guide us on the bomb run. We saw 4 search lights looking for us, but we threw out some rope (Chaff) and they didn't find us. It was a good mission.

19 July 1945 T 7

Hitachi, incendiary, dawn.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 12,800 ft. Bomb load 87-100lb and 20 - 500lb incendiaries. We bombed by radar, and through a 10/10 overcast. It looked like we did a very good job by the looks of the fires. No Flak or fighters noted. We were the first plane back to Saipan from our squadron.

24 July 1945 T 7

Kuwana, high explosive.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 21,000 ft. Bomb load 7 - 2000 lb GP's. Take off 0400, landed 1825. Heavy flak over Osaka, but there was one cloud over the arsenal so we went on to our secondary, which was our primary radar target, the city of Nagoya, located on Nagoya Bay. We here hit on our right wing and nose by flak. While landing at Saipan there were so many planes coming in, we nearly went in the drink as we had to go around three times and were nearly out of gas. Carried a Radar Counter Measures specialist and his equipment. 26

July 1945 T 7

Matsuyama, night incendiary mission.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 11,800 ft. Bomb load 87 - 100 lb. incendiaries, 20 - 500 lb. incendiaries, 1 -100 lb. photoflash. Takeoff 1747, landed 0745. Atlas was taken off the crew and Kasper put on as Radar operator. No clouds, no enemy fighters, light flak and approximately 15 searchlights. Over the target we went through a 16,000 ft. thermal smoke cloud and were tossed around quite a bit. We took off 32 minutes after takeoff time as the prop governor on # 3 engine ran away and had to be changed. Carried a Radar Counter Measures specialist and his equipment.

28 July 1945 T 7

Ichinomiya, hit it this time.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 15,000 ft. Bomb load 87 - 100 lb. incendiaries, 20 - 500 lb. incendiaries, 1 -100 lb. photoflash. Takeoff 1706, landed 0652. Night fire bomb mission. Encountered approximately 15 searchlights and meager flak of heavy caliber. 3/10 cloud coverage. We were the third plane to bomb. Target was announced to the Japs before the mission. Carried a Radar Counter Measures specialist and his equipment.

2 August 1945 T 7

Toyama, incendiary, night, 99.5 % Destroyed.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 12,800 ft. Bomb load 36 - 500 lb. incendiaries. Take off 1930, landed 1014. We flew all the way across Honshu and up the coast of the sea of Japan to bomb Toyama, and then came back across Honshu. In the dim moonlight I could see Mt. Fuji off to our left. It was the largest plane raid (820 B-29's) and the largest weight of bombs ever to be dropped. (6,600 Tons). The raid was made on Air Forces Day, in the states (Aug 1). Carried a Radar Counter Measures specialist and his equipment. We saw a lot of searchlights and intense flak. No bandits.

7 August 1945 T 7

Toyokawa, daylight, High Explosive.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 15,000 ft. Bomb load 29 - 500 lb. GP's. Take off 0410, landed 1755. Daylight formation raid. We bombed shortly after 1100. We were one of four crews out of our squadron to go on this mission. We were hit in our right wing by flak, and when we got back the wing tip had to be replaced. The target was 99.6% destroyed. This was the same day that the first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Our squadron led the 20th Air Force on this mission. 44 planes were sent from Saipan. P-51 fighters escorted over the target.

14 August 1945 T 7

Osaka Arsenal. Daylight, High Explosive. This mission was postponed several times over several days due to the peace negotiations. We would be briefed, go to the aircraft and await the start engines signal and then be notified that the mission was canceled. Back to the medical alcohol and grapefruit juice. When we finally did take off we were advised to monitor the radio for a possible recall. No recall was given and we bombed.

Roger's Diary:

Altitude 22,000 ft. Bomb load 7 - 2000 lb. GP's. Take off 0610, landed 2050. Daylight formation raid with P-51 fighter escort. Weather was CAVU, and our bombing was excellent. Flak was intense, but we were not hit. Some of our planes were. We got back a few hours before the official news came that the Japs had accepted our peace terms. 15

15 August 1945 War Ends.

As part of the articles of surrender the Japanese were required to notify the allies of the location of all the Prisoner of War camps under their control. They were also required to mark the camps so they could be identified from the air. This took time, and we were all very antsy while waiting. We were informed that we would be flying special missions to drop supplies to the prisoners of war. Both of the bomb bays were loaded with packs attached to parachutes. These packs contained food, clothing and medicines. These missions would be flown at a low altitude of 500 feet, which gave us an opportunity to see much of the destruction we caused. We flew over Hiroshima and observed the destruction. It wasn't much different than sections of Tokyo. But note that the streets in both cities were cleared.

August 28, 1945 T-11

POW supply mission, Osaka.

 

PRISONER-OF-WAR-MISSIONS 28 AUGUST 1945 TO 14 SEPTEMBER 1945 AIRCRAFT AIRBORNE 873rd 49 874th 53 875th 38 TOTAL 140
DATE	MISSION #	TARGET	TONS DROPPED
28Aug45	2	Osaka Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Hq, Hyogo, Fukuoka City, Fukushima, Hiroshima Nos. 2, 3, 4,5 and branch No. 6.	165.00
29Aug45	3	OsakaNo.3	?
31Aug45	4	Itiokawa and Funatu, Kawasaki, Tokyo No. 280, Tokyo, Yokohama No. 10, Hiroshima No. 5, Nagasaki, Ohashi, Iwake, Higashi-Misome, Niigata	10.00
2Sep45	5	Osaka branch No. I, Osaka No. 11	147.50
4Sep45	6	Sandai No. 1, Moji. Hospital Fukuoka No. 2, No. 4, Atsugi airfield	40.00
5Sep45	7	Zikawai, Lincoln Ave	35.00
5Sep45	8	Atsugi Airfield	10.00
6Sep45	11	Kobe and Unid, Kobe	10.00
7Sep45	12	Sub-Camp No. 6, Omini and Yawata,Himeji Camp, No. 295, No. 294.	55.00
8Sep45	13	Zentsuji	15.00
9Sep45	14	Hibi	?
11Sep45	17	Omuta	15.00
12Sep45	18	Hakodate No. 2, Sendai No. 6.	15.00
14Sep45	20	Atsugi Airfield, Omuta, Chofu Airfield	15.00
.		Total Tons of Supplies dropped	552.50

August 31, 1945 T-7

POW supply mission, Niigata.

September 6, 1945:

Target : Atsugi Airfield, Tokyo. Occupation forces were beginning to move in. Those at the airfield were to repair the runways for landings and I suppose they got there ahead of their rations. We dropped them a load of 10 in 1 to keep them going for a while.

The runway at John Rogers field in Hawaii faced directly toward the Dole Pineapple water tower, which looked like a pineapple. We lost an engine while taking off from Hawaii and played games avoiding the tower.

Normally, we would have enjoyed a week in Hawaii but we were eager to get home. We didn't spend much time in the bars. We spent a great deal of time in the ice cream parlors eating ice cream and drinking milk. Those were not available on Saipan.

It took a week to change the engine. Our Saipan ground crew could have done it in 8 hours. Finally took off for Mather Field in San Francisco where it had all started. This time the long flight over water didn't seem so daunting. When we landed we spent several days checking in all the equipment. Wish now I had kept more of it, but they had the checklists of what we were issued and we had to surrender all except clothing. Even the flashlights.

Thus my last flight in an Army Air Force plane was on 22 Sept. 1945.

We were driven by truck to Camp Stoneman CA. The officer in the jeep who was leading the 5 truck convoy got lost. We traveled for hours and finally a colonel who was in one of the trucks stopped the convoy, made the Lieutenant in the jeep go to the nearby restaurant and get directions as to how to get to the camp. We at least got some food at the restaurant.

We were pretty much on our own. Slept in a typical barracks, and were requested to check a bulletin board each day to check for shipping orders.

Finally my orders came through and I was to be sent to Camp Atterbury, Indiana by train. Another slow, boring trip. We were all military, and we gave the train crew fits. Whenever we stopped at a town, bunches of us got off the train and go shopping for food, beer and booze. All against regulations, but what could they do. Courts Martial all of us?

I had enlisted on 14 Dec.
1942 Called to Active Duty 29 Mar 1943
I was discharged on 5 Nov. 1945.
I was on active duty some 20 Months.

Awards were:
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air medal with 2 oak leaf clusters
Presidential Unit Citation
Asiatic Pacific Campaign with 3 battle stars
American Campaign
Good Conduct Medal (Earned when an enlisted man)
World War II Victory Medal

I can sum up my feelings concerning the war years best by quoting Robert Rasmus from the chapter "A Chance Encounter" in Studs Terkel's book The Good War.
" In a short period of time, I had the most tremendous experiences of all of life; of fear, of jubilance, of misery, of hope, of comradeship, and of the endless excitement, the theatrics of it. I honestly feel grateful for having been a witness to an event as monumental as anything in history and, in a very small way, a participant".

Thus ended a most memorable and exciting part of my life. I was once again a civilian, and enjoying the freedom to celebrate having lived through the war. And celebrate we did. Wine, women and song !

And, this was my reward for going through all of that…..

Miss Donna Jean Harrison, she who wouldn't give me the time of day during the war consented to be my bride. We were married on April 6, 1946. AND…. We're still married with three children and six grandchildren.

 

 

My friend Shawn reminded me that I had told him several other stories and suggested that they should be included.

The Japanese were still hiding out on Saipan in small groups after the island was in our hands. There were stories of some of the Japanese sitting in our movie theaters enjoying the show. Other stories were that the Japanese was sitting there wiring hand grenades together. Remember, the Movie Theater was outdoors, and the seats were 55-gallon drums placed on their sides making rows. The islands in the Pacific "enjoy" rain almost every day, and normally at the same time. It was mandatory to take a rain poncho to the movie, as it was sure to rain.

A Japanese who could speak English surrendered himself to our troops. The Group Intelligence section arranged for him to be taken to each of the squadron offices, and we were invited to see him. His story was simple. He always had faith that Japan would win the war, even after the Marines secured the Island. He was sure the Japanese would return. Then the B-29's started to arrive, and kept coming. He said that once he saw these huge machines in large quantities on both Tinian and Saipan he knew that Japan would loose the war. He was an educated man and preferred to live.

Liquor as noted in the story was hard to get unless you made the right connections. I had forgotten that we gained access to a supply from the Navy Officers Club. Another of those "Slow Engine Flights" where we took others for a 4 hour spin. One of those who we gave a ride to was the Officer who ran the Navy officers club. He sold us liquor at the Navy cost which was around a Dollar a bottle.

You could buy anything IF you had liquor to trade. We had a Jeep parked outside our Quonset hut. Illegal of course. The motor pool mechanics would gather broken up Jeeps and use the parts to make a running Jeep. Ours cost 4 bottles of Booze. Island Command was always "Cracking Down" on Illegal motor vehicles. They would issue secret, special orders that every motor vehicle had to have, for example, three white dashes and three dots on the left front fender. To be installed exactly on the morning of xx. Of course ALL the vehicles had the markings. It would have been very simple to find the illegal vehicles. Control the gasoline! But they didn't. You just pulled up to the gas pumps and filled the tank.

Booze was the factor which allowed me to bring home my only souvenir of the war. A wind-up Japanese flashlight. I was sitting at my homemade desk with my back to the door. My little nest was next to the rear door of the Quonset hut. Suddenly I had the feeling that I was being watched. I turned, and standing in the doorway was a Marine, dirty, bearded, a well-worn uniform and carrying a rifle. I hadn't heard him. He grunted, "Got any Booze"? If ever a guy needed a drink, this guy did. I had a bottle of rum which was about one quarter full, and offered him a drink. Shouldn't have, he was enlisted and some of those dumb rules applied. He looked at the bottle, and reached in a musette bag and pulled out the flashlight. "Trade"? he said. I handed him the bottle, he handed me the flashlight and he disappeared.

American ingenuity manifested itself in many ways. Our Crew Chief took the gasoline engine from one of the auxiliary driven generators which were in the rear of all the planes, and built himself a motor scooter. That way he didn't have to wait for transportation if he need a small part for repairs. He just jumped on and was on his way.