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The Ragged, Rugged Warriors

Page 36

by Martin Caidin


  In the first wave of fighting, we lost 33 planes and their crews—and failed to hit a single Japanese ship.

  Fifteen Devastators of Torpedo Squadron 8 from the Hornet went in low and slow. The Japanese blew every bomber out of the sky. Hits: none.

  Twenty-six more torpedo planes went in. The Japanese shot down 20 of them. Hits: none.

  But the sacrifice—in the full meaning of the term— was not in vain. The Japanese committed a grievous error. Every gun in their fleet was depressed to the maximum to lash out at the low-flying torpedo planes. Every Zero fighter had come down low to the water, tearing apart our planes and men. The sky overhead was undefended.

  The shrill scream from the sky was heard after it was too late. The Dauntless dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown came down from 17,000 feet in near-vertical dives. For three miles they plunged—and the carriers lay naked and exposed before them.

  It was all over in minutes.

  Soryu took three 1,000-pound bombs in her vitals.

  Akagi took two devastating strikes that shattered her.

  Kaga took four big bombs in her belly and vomited gigantic sheets of flame.

  Within minutes, all three carriers were wracked with explosions and swept from bow to stern by huge blazes that could not be quenched.

  By the next day, four of Japan's biggest and most powerful aircraft carriers had slid to the bottom of the Pacific. With them went 234 planes and more than 2,500 men* The greatest disaster lay in the loss of life—not in numbers, but in quality. Among those men who had died were the finest pilots and aircrews of the Japanese nation. They were never to be replaced in time.

  When the shooting ended they celebrated the victory at Midway. They had good cause to stand proud—the Navy dive bombers had broken the back of the Japanese Navy and crippled her airpower.

  On the side of the Midway airstrip, several men, swathed in bandages, went out for a long look at Old 1391. The Marauder stood at an ungainly angle, her skin punctured and blackened. She was a wreck. They say it is possible for an airplane to look tired. This one looked it,

  EPILOGUE

  The new planes soon would come. They would be fast and deadly. Men would come to know them well—the Lightnings, Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Hellcats, and Corsairs that would sweep the enemy skies before them. There would be new bombers—Helldivers and Invaders among the many. They would smash the Japanese on the ground and pursue him to the last comer of the seas. And then, finally, would come the mighty Superfortress bombers that would put the torch to the cities of Japan, that would bum out the cities and the factories and kill more people in six months than the Japanese Army had lost in eight years of war.

  The long road back began in the latter part of 1942. It is easy enough to remember the smashing victories over the enemy, and it is understandable for us to do so.

  It is less easy to remember the defeats, and this too is understandable.

  This is the way it was....

  NOTES AND SOURCES

  Chapter 1

  Saburo Sakai with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, Samurai (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1958), pp. 176-77.

  Robert S. Johnson with Martin Caidin, Thunderbolt! (New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., 1958), pp. 280-81.

  8Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi with Martin Caidin, Zero (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1956), p. 238.

  Chapter 3

  *Okumiya and Horikoshi, Zero!, pp. 22-23.

  Hbid., pp. 24-25.

  Hbid., pp. 26-27.

  Chapter 5

  *Sakai, op. cit., p. 46.

  Hbid., p. 47.

  *01ga S. Greenlaw, The Lady and the Tigers (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1943), pp. 20-21.

  4Sakai, op. cit., pp. 48-50, 51.

  “Okumiya and Horikoshi, Zero!, p. 33.

  ®Sakai, op. cit., pp. 61-62.

  'Okumiya and Horikoshi, op. cit., p. 38. hIbid.s pp. 44-45.

  Chapter 6

  Okumiya and Horikoshi, p. 70.

  2I bid., p. 70.

  Chapter 7

  Okumiya and Horikoshi, op. cit., p. 70.

  •Ibid., pp. 71-74.

  Hbid., p. 76.

  *Vem Haugland, The AAF Against Japan (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948).

  'United States Air Force, History Office, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Wesley Frank Craven [and] James Lea Cate (eds.) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948-58)* Vol. I, p. 201.

  Chapter 8

  ’Haugland, op. cit.

  *Okumiya and Horikoshi, op. cit., pp. 84-850

  ^akai, op. cit., pp. 70-71.

  ‘Statement appeared in The New York Times, September 28* 1946, p. 6*

  6Okumiya and Horikoshi, op. cit., pp. 87, 88-89.

  Hbid., pp. 110-12, 113-16, 118.

  'Ibid., p. 121.

  “United States Air Force, History Office, op. cit., VoL I, p® 214.

  Chapter 9

  *Diary of Lieutenant David L. Obert. Made available to th© author through the kindness of Vem Haugland.

  Chapter 10

  1A11 quotations in this chapter are from Greenlaw, The Lady and the Tigers, pp. 32, 87, 91, 94, 112, 118, and 127, unless otherwise indicated.

  "United States Air Force, History Office, op. cit., Vol. I, p„ 490.

  Hbid.

  *Ibid., Vol. I, p. 506.

  Hbid.

  Chapter 11

  ’Colonel Robert L. Scott, Jr., God Is My Co-Pilot (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1944), pp. 86-88, 102-103, 104, 112-13,

  Chapter 12

  *A11 quotations in this chapter are from Scott, God Is My Co-Pilot, pp. 124, 134-35, 137, 138, 159, 160-61, 175-76, 194, and 194-95, unless otherwise indicated.

  *Russell Whelan, The Flying Tigers (New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1942), pp. 194-196.

  Chapter 13

  'Statements in this chapter quoted from or attributed to Gregory-Richmond Board are from personal interviews with him held at length by the author at Tucson, Arizona, and Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1962.

  2New Zealanders with the Royal Air Force, Vol. Ill (Wellington, New Zealand: War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1953).

  Douglas Gillison, Royal Australian Air Force, 1939-1942 (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1962), p. 222.

  4Gillison, op. cit., p. 249.

  Hbid., pp. 257-58.

  Hbid., pp. 277-78.

  Chapter 14

  ’Claire Lee Chennault, Way of a Fighter, Robert Hotz (ed.) (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons [1949]), p. 114.

  Hbid., p. 114.

  Hbid., p. 114.

  *AAF Historical Study No. 9: The AAF in Australia to the Summer of 1942 (United States Air Force Document No. 3-2674-1C, Washington, D.C., Declassified, 1958).

  Hbid.

  Hbid.

  ’Haugland, op. cit.

  8Sakai, op. cit., pp. 85-86, 87.

  Hbid., pp. 91-93.

  Chapter 15

  ,Quotations in this chapter are from AAF Historical Study No. 9 (see above) or from personal material from the 22nd Bomb Group.

  Chapter 16

  1History of the 67th Fighter Squadron (Single Engine)— Activation to Early 1944. These records, lost for many years, were discovered in late 1956 “in a very worn out and badly decomposed condition.” Their restoration was carried out by Richard A. Long, Base Historian, 18th Air Base Group. Until recently they have not been available to the general public. Quoted matter in this chapter is mainly from these historical records.

  Chapter 17

  'Much of the material in this chapter is reprinted by permission from The Mission, by Martin Caidin and Edward Hymoff (Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1964).

  “This and all other references that pertain to General Samuel E. Anderson, USAF (Ret.), stem from conferences with General Anderson in Washington, D.C., on December 12, 13, 18, and 30, 1963, and January 10, 1964, or from extensive source materials, including personal diary and official logs and reports, studied
during these conferences.

  *Discussions, tape-recorded by the author and Edward Hymoff, with officers and men of the 22nd Bomb Group, December, 1963, and January, 1964.

  ‘Statements by Lieutenant Ford were made during interviews with the author and Edward Hymoff in December, 1963.

  '’Material in the remainder of this chapter from John Richardson, Gerald J. Crosson, Walter A< Krell, and Brigadier General John N. Ewbank, Jr., is from personal interviews by the author and Edward Hymoff in December, 1963, and January, 1964, or from diaries and group records supplied by them at the time.

  8Pat Robinson, The Fight for New Guinea (New York? Random House, 1943).

  Diary made available by Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Divine,

  JL

  Chapter 18

  'The facts related in this chapter are based upon the written records of the 22nd Bomb Group.

  Hbid.

  INDEX

  Abramson, AI, xii Admiralty Islands, 18 Advance Expeditionary Force (Japanese), 117 Airacobra (P-400), 299-311 Air Force, China, 35-40, 41-57, 58-60, 68-69, 89, 97-101 Air Force, Dutch, 277-80 Air Force, Russian, 87-94 Akagi (Japanese carrier), 352 Akebono Maru (Japanese tanker), 336 Alison, John A., 235-36, 242 Allison, Jim, 61

  American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers), x, 15, 61, 77, 193216, 276 Anderson, Marshall J., 188 Anderson, Samuel E., 313, 315 Arizona, USS, 106 Armstrong, John, 199 Army, Japanese, 55-57, 92, 9394

  Army Air Force, United States, x, 13, 30, 35-40, 48, 59, 61, 96,

  107, 110, 112-97, 280-81, 284

  288, 299, 306, 315, 334 AAF Against Japan, The (Haugland), 141 AAF m Australia, Army Air Forces Historical Studies, No.

  9, The, 280 Army Air Forces in World War II (Air Force Historical Office), x, 142, 213 Army Number One Alert, 111—

  112

  Asanov, General, 87 Ashley, Private, 345-46 Atkinson, Pete, 199-200 A-20 (Douglas), 24, 277

  A-24 (Douglas), xiii, 277-80, 295

  Augusta, USS, 43

  Avenger (TBF), 336-37, 351 '

  Baggett, Lieutenant, 189 Baguio, 149 Bali, 285, 287 “Bamboo Fleet,” 190 Bargh, Sergeant, 272-73 Barr, Julius, 59

  Bataan, 150, 187-89, 191-92, 295 Bataan Field Flying Detachment,

  188, 192 Baumler, Robert J., 235-36, 242 Bayse, William E., 231 Beaufort (aircraft), 23, 24, 277 Beechcraft (aircraft), 79 B-18 (Douglas), 286 Bell (aircraft), 299-311; P-39, 299, 300, 305; P-400 (Airacobra), 299-311 Bellanca (aircraft), 77; Model 28-90B (Flash), 77 Bellows Field, 113, 140 Benson, Lieutenant, 188 Bishop, Samuel W., 141 Bismarck Archipelago, 281, 282 Bismarck Sea, Battle of, 23-24 Bissell, Clayton L., 229 Blenheim (aircraft), 206, 252, 275, 277

  Board, Gregory-Richmond, 251

  252, 254, 256-58, 261-67, 273274

  Boeing (aircraft), 50; B-17 (Flying Fortress), 146, 150, 153, 157, 168, 294, 295, 296, 297298, 320, 332; B-17C (Flying Fortress), 146; B-17D (Flying Fortress), 146, 166; B-17E (Flying Fortress), 277, 281,

  Boeing (cont.)

  285, 286, 290; B-25 (Mitchell), xii, 230, 231, 232, 234, 250,

  295, 296, 297-98, 320, 332; B-29, 84; P-12, 78; P-26, 48, 146,160; XP-925A, 78 Bolos (B-18), 286 Bonner, Sergeant, 225 Borneo, 277, 280 Bostons (DB-7), 277 Bostrom, Frank P., 142, 192 Bougainville, 18 Boyington, Gregory (Pappy)*

  210

  Bradford, William, 192 Brandon, Harry N., 141-42 Brannon, Dale D., 304 Brereton, L. H., 157-58, 221 Brett, General, 328 Brewster (aircraft), 251; F2A (Buffalo), 276, 277, 336; Model 399 (Buffalo), 251-52,

  253, 258-61, 266r 268, 269, 273, 277, 289, 336 Bright, Gil, 199, 235, 242 Broome, 289 Brown (pilot), 269 Brown, Harry M., 136 B-17 (Boeing), 146, 150, 153, 157, 168, 294, 295, 296, 297

  298, 320, 332 B-17C (Boeing), 146 B-17D (Boeing), 146, 166 B-17E (Boeing), 277, 281, 285, 286, 290 B-10 (Martin), 59, 78, 253, 277 BT-32 (Curtiss), 78 B-25 (Boeing), xii, 230, 231, 232, 234, 250, 295, 296, 297-98, 320, 334 B-29 (Boeing) t 84 B-26 (Martin), 312-33, 334-52 Buffalo, 277; F2A, 276, 277, 336; Model 399, 251-52, 253, 258261, 266, 268, 269, 273, 277,

  289, 336 Burgard, George, 215 Burma, 217, 220, 272, 275-76 Burma Road, 237-38 Burns, Lieutenant, 191 Burnside (pilot), 326

  Cabanatuan, 149 California, USS, xii, 106 Carleton, Tex, 240

  Carmichael, Richard H., 142-43 Cebu, 297, 298 Celebes, 280, 285 Chaffin, Harold N., 142-43 Chapman (pilot), 259 Chengtu, 93, 100, 101 Chennault, Claire L.s xii, 13-14, 25, 30, 31, 36-37, 38-39, 43, 196-99, 201, 207, 211-13, 216* 234, 247, 275-76, 277 Chikuma (Japanese cruiser), 110118

  China Air Task Force (CATF)P 216, 229-50 Christiansen, Hans C., 141 Chungking, 62, 83, 84, 93, 94* 97-99

  Church, lieutenant, 185 Chusan, 52

  Clark Field, 146, 150-53, 157 Clinger, Dallas 244-45 Clow, Sergeant, 271 Cole, Lieutenant, 187 Coleman (pilot), 326 Collins* James F.s Jr., 337, 341 Communists, 34-35, 84-86 Condor, USS, 118, 120 Consolidated (aircraft), 277;

  LB-30 (Liberators), 277, 286 Cooper, Colonel, 225 Corregidor, 295 Crelles Lieutenant, 190 Crosson, Gerald J., 313, 314* 320-21, 330-33 Cumberland, HMS, 43 Currie, Lauchlin, 194 Curtiss (aircraft), 42, 50, 51, 61* 71, 73-74, 80-81; BT-32, 781 CW-21 (Demons), 78, 277, 288; Hawk II, 48, 69, 78; Hawk m, 48, 69, 70, 78; P-36 (Mohawk)t 80, 138, 140, 277, 292-93; P-40, xiii, 19; P-40E (Tomahawk), 77, 136, 138* 141, 146, 151, 160, 197-204* 212, 230, 232, 234, 236-37f 277, 287-88, 292; P-40E (Kittyhawk), 146, 149-50, 153, 159s 167, 230, 232, 234, 236237; P-40K (Warhawk), 247P 250; Model 75M, 62, 79-80 Curtiss (seaplane tender), 106 CW-21 (Curtiss), 78, 277, 288

  Dains, John L., 138-39

  Dauntless (SBD), 211, 352 Davao, 297, 298 Davao Airfield, 192 Davies, John H., 295 DB-7 (Douglas), 279 DC-3 (Douglas), 79 Del Monte airfield, 296, 297-98 De Maus, Sergeant, 272 Demons (CW-21), 78, 279, 288 Department of War, United States, 13, 97 Devastators (aircraft), 352 Dickinson, Derek D., 8-10 Divine, Dwight, 326 Donaldson, Lieutenant, 191 Donalson, Jack, 150 Doolittle, James, 218 Douglas (aircraft), 79; A-20 (Havoc), 24, 277; A-24, xiii, 277-80, 295; B-18 (Bolos), 286; DB-7 (Bostons), 277; DC-3, 79; SBD (Dauntless), 277, 352 ,

  Dufranes, J. L., 285 Dyess, Edward, 187, 190

  East Indies, 18 Egusa, Takashige, 131 18th Hying Squadron (USAAF), 326, 337

  8th Fighter Group (USAAF), 305

  80th Depot Repair Group (USAAF), xiii 88th Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Bomb Group (USAAF), 141

  11th Bomb Squadron (USAAF), xii

  11th Indian Division, 261 11th Medium Bombardment Squadron (CATF), 216, 229250

  Elliot, George, 123, 126 Ellis (pilot), 326 Elsmore, Major, 188 Elstrom, George, 189 Engleman, John, 332 Enterprise, USS, 106, 122, 125, 335 352 Ewbank, John, 321-22, 329-30 Executive (Spartan), 77-78

  Far East Air Force, 146-53

  Fent, William, xiii F4F (Grumman), 300, 307, 309

  310, 336-37 Fiat (aircraft), 5, 10, 38, 40, 50;

  Romeo, 7, 8 Fifth Air Force (USAAF), 23, 328

  Fifth Pursuit Group (USAAF), 69, 72

  51st Division (Japanese), 23 54th Materiel Squadron (USAAF), xiii 56th Fighter Group (USAAF),

  22

  Flash (28-90B), 77 Flying boats (Catalina), 157,

  252, 282, 336 Flying Fortress, 146; B-17, 146, 150, 153, 157, 168, 294, 295,

  296, 297-98, 320, 332; B-17C, 146; B-17D, 146, 166; B-17E, 277, 281, 285, 286, 290 Flying Tigers; see American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) Focke-Wulf (aircraft), 22 Ford, Louis W., 316 Foreign Legion of the Air, 13 Formosa, 148

  44th Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group (USAAF), 140 47th Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group (USAAF), 136-^0 43rd Bomb Group (USAAF), 317

  488th Squadron (RAF), 271 453rd Squadron (RAF), 251, 258, 261, 263, 269 14th Pursuit Squadron (USAAF), 168 Foye, Robert, 303 F2A (Brewster), 276, 277, 336 Fuchida, Mitsuo, 128, 130 Fujita, Iyozo, 134 Fukien Province, 36 Fuqua, Charles, 314

  Gaylor, Walt, 315-16 Gehrig, Raymond, 191 Genda, Commander, 48, 55 George, Harold H., 149, 188,

  189, 191, 192 Gilbert, Hank, 203 Gloster Gladiators (aircraft), 50, 69, 79

  Gogo), Sergeant, 342-45, 350 Gonzalez, Manuel, 122 Greenhalgh (pilot), 271 Greenlaw, Harvey, 3
5, 197, 208 Greenlaw, Olga S., 87-88, 197198, 201, 202-3, 208, 211 Greer, Walter H., 320, 329 Grumman (aircraft), 78, 300; F4F (Wildcat), 300, 307, 308

  311, 336; SF-2, 78; TBF (Avenger), 337-52 Guadalcanal, 23P 299-305 Guam, 18, 145

  Hainan Island, 57 Hall, Lieutenant, 189 Hamer, Max, 199 Hangchow, 38, 46 Hankow, 54* 57, 69, 82, 88, 91,

  92, 232 Hankow airfield, 69 Hartfield (mechanic), 304 Haugland, Vera* 141, 153, 285 Havoc (A-20), 24, 277 Hawaiian Islands, 15, 18, 105127, 128-42, 148 Hawk H (Curtiss), 48, 69, 78 Hawk m (Curtiss), 69-70, 71, 78

  Hawker “Hurribomber* (aircraft), 264 Hawker Hurricane (aircraft), 264-65, 272-73, 277, 289 Haynes, Caleb V„ 222, 225, 226, 227, 229, 231, 234, 236 Heath, Robert E., xiii Heckling Hare (aircraft), 329 Hedman, Duke, 205 Hegdahl, Arvid B., 285 Heinkel (aircraft), 5; He-112,

  11

  Helena, USS, 106 Hengyang, 235, 242-44 Hengyang airfield, 81, 87, 232 He-112 (Heinkel), 11 Hermest USS, 222 Hesketh (pilot), 271-72 Hickam Air Field, 107, 113, 129 Hill, David (Tex), 216, 235, 242, 243-44 Hispano-Suiza (engine), 7 Hoiler Air Base, 107 Holbrook, Roy, 30, 35 Homalin, 241

  Hong Kong, 145, 247-50 Honolulu, USS, 106 J

  Hooper, J. B., 258 Hoover, Edward F., 24 Hornets USS, 218, 335, 352 Hudson bombers (Lockheed), 252,275, 283 Hughes, Lieutenant, 191 Hutcheson, Lieutenant, 271 Hymoff, Edward, x

  Iba Field, 146, 149-50, 151 Ibc!d, Lieutenant, 188 Idzumo (Japanese cruiser), 4243

  Eda, Fusata, 134 Imperial Japanese Navy, 48-51, 55, 83, 92-94, 154; Imperial Fleet, 334-52; Third Fleet, 166, 173 International Settlement, 43,145 International Squadron, 60-77 Itaya, Shigeru, 130 Iwai, Commander, 46

  Java, 275-97 Jemstedt, Ken, 215 •

  Johnson* H., 349 Johnson, Lyndon B., 329 Johnson, Moe, 326 Johnson, Robert S., 22-23 Johnston (gunner), 331 Jones* Private, 303 Joplin, Major, 225-26 Jouett, John H., 35-38

 

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