by Bob Drury
Papuans, 69, 101, 122–23, 236, 245
parafrag bombing, 146
Patch, Alexander, 167
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 36, 41, 48, 57, 68, 93, 105, 137, 166, 174, 226, 240, 305
as supposedly impregnable naval base, 49–50
Japanese attack on, 48–49, 50, 57, 59, 60, 66, 91, 92, 93, 95, 100, 159, 167, 188, 190, 192, 226, 228, 235
Pease, Harl, 74n
Pennsylvania, 56
Pensacola, Fla., 137, 244
Pentagon, 297
Peppard, Harold, 22, 23
Pershing, John J. “Black Jack,” 27
Petrarch, 220
Philippines, 3, 41, 50, 59–61, 65, 66, 67, 85, 137–38, 169, 172, 190, 199, 222, 293
Piper Cub, 20
Pisgah, Mount, 15
PM, 104
Poland, 20, 46
Polifka, Karl “Pop,” 153, 188, 191, 210
political cartoons, 104–5
Port Darwin, 60
Port Moresby, 68, 75, 80, 82, 92, 94, 96, 98, 111, 117, 121, 122–33, 143, 146, 148, 153, 158, 162, 163–64, 177, 178, 180, 188, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197, 201, 203, 205, 206, 217, 220, 235, 240, 243, 245, 246, 249, 255–56, 268, 280, 286, 290, 291, 301, 306
beauty of, 123–24
diseases at, 118, 126, 204
importance of, 131, 133
isolation of, 131
Japanese advance on, 139
Japanese air raids on, 128, 129–30, 132, 164, 176, 223
Japan’s first planned assault on, 92–95, 100
Japan’s second planned assault on, 100–102
lack of organization at, 118
lack of radar installations in, 132
maintenance personnel at, 212, 221
Operations Hut at, 107, 149, 224, 230, 241
primary airstrips of, 127
replacements sent to, 221
scrap heap at, 210
wretched living conditions at, 117–19, 126, 128, 130, 204
Post Office, U.S., 140
Prados, John, 292, 293
Pratt & Whitney, 300
precision-bombing tactics, 147
press, publicity, 35–36, 40, 57, 102, 104–5, 115, 134, 136, 199
“pucker factor,” 253
Puerto Rico, 10
Pugh, Herbert “Pudge,” 192–93, 194, 203, 213, 231, 246, 251, 256, 258, 262, 265, 275, 276, 282, 283–84, 290, 291, 301, 303–4
Puller, Lewis “Chesty,” 163
Punch, 105
Punchbowl, 305, 306
Putnam, David, 26
Pyle, Ernie, 43
Queen Mary, 181
Queensland, Australia, 162, 182
Quezon, Manuel, 59–60, 190
Quiet Man, The (film), 297
Rabaul, 3, 68–74, 81, 93, 95, 101, 109, 131, 142, 168, 169, 179, 185, 196, 199, 232, 236, 239, 248, 261
Australian POWs at, 129
Australian raids on, 80, 119
empty beer bottles dropped on, 173–74
Japanese defense of, 82–83, 84, 85–86, 155–56, 162
Japanese occupation of, 68–74, 129, 139, 152, 159, 165–66, 205–7
neutralization of, 292
reconnaissance of, 152, 154–55, 210, 211
skip bombing over, 147–48
U.S. invasion plan for, 172, 293
U.S. raids on, 75, 79, 80–82, 83–84, 85–86, 92, 106–7, 118, 119, 121, 147–48, 161–63, 164, 173–74, 178, 204, 205–7, 219, 222, 231, 296
Raft, George, 180
Ramey, Roger, 242, 254, 256
Randwick Racecourse, 181
“Rape of Nanking,” 42
Raytheon, 300
reconnaisance aircraft, 153
reconnaissance missions, 2, 3, 52, 57–58, 61, 153–58, 185–89, 196, 202, 210, 211, 225, 237, 248–50
over Bougainville Island, 237, 240–47, 248, 250–53, 257, 262, 264–65, 269–79, 287, 290
over Buka Island, 252–53, 254, 255–62, 257, 263–64, 287
hot-air balloons and, 186–87
Japanese, 236
Reid River, 103
Richmond Army Air Force, 301
Rickenbacker, Eddie, 26–27, 186, 286, 297
Rising Sun, 3, 48, 56, 92, 95, 105, 210, 212, 228
Roberts, John, 211, 241–42
Roosevelt, Franklin, 40, 51, 103, 109n, 128, 135, 159, 163, 168
administration of, 49, 93
Roosevelt, Theodore, 307
Royal Air Force, British (RAF), 35, 142
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), 74, 76, 79, 80, 82n, 120, 128, 130–31, 238
Royal Australian Army, 69n, 101
Royal Australian Navy, 95, 97
Royal Pacific Hotel, 205–6, 207
Sacramento Air Depot, 53
Salamaua, 68, 69, 103, 129, 167, 196
Samoa, 70, 98, 100, 153
San Antonio Rose, 162, 163
San Francisco, Calif., 53
San Francisco Bay, 56
Sarnoski, Francis, 32
Sarnoski, Jennie, 181
Sarnoski, Joe, 4, 28–34, 40, 47, 48, 194, 200, 202, 203, 222, 229, 243, 245, 258, 262, 287, 297, 298, 299–300, 303–4, 307
on Argentina, 61–62
burial of, 291, 306
crew of, see Eager Beavers
death of, 283–84, 303
education of, 30
interests and talents of, 30–32
laissez-faire attitude of, 206–7
Medal of Honor awarded to, 301
musical talent of, 31
in Rabaul raids, 205–7
reconnaissance crew recruited by, 189–94
as roving bombing instructor, 181–82, 193
in transfer back to the states, 246
in Wewak raid, 201, 202–3
wounding of, 266, 267, 270, 274, 279
Zeamer and, 33, 180–81, 182, 185, 200, 205–6, 246–47
Sarnoski, John, 29–30, 32, 291, 299, 300, 303
Sarnoski, Josephine, 29, 30, 32, 291, 299–300, 301, 303
Sarnoski, Marie, 33, 180, 301
Sarnoski, Matilda, 31, 32–33, 34, 287
Sarnoski Rembisz, Agnes, 247, 303–4
Sarnoski, Victoria, 29, 207
Sarnoski, Walter, 30
Saturday Evening Post, 99
Schmidt, Eric, 140
scrofula infantum, 21
2nd Bomb Group, 28, 32
Seffern, Joe, 107–8, 110
Sepik River, 296
Seven Mile airdrome, 92, 118, 127, 128
see also Jackson Field
Shokaku, 95
Signal Corps, U.S., 114
Simpson Harbour, 72–73, 74, 81, 82, 93, 120, 142, 147, 152, 153, 154, 156, 161, 162, 163n, 165, 173, 195, 196, 229, 244, 248, 293–94
Sinatra, Frank, 140
Singapore, 59, 190
6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, 296
8th Squadron of, see 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron
“skeleton crew,” see Eager Beavers
skip-bombing, 139–40, 142, 143–44, 146, 147–48, 150–51, 161, 179, 220, 229, 233, 243, 249
slaves, 73
Slot, The, 142, 150, 152, 166, 185
snap-roll attacks, 265
Solomon Islands, 58, 70, 92, 98, 100, 121, 139, 141, 150, 159, 166, 168, 172, 173, 226, 236, 237, 238, 292
Solomon Sea, 82, 83, 107, 232, 241
Soryu, 100
South, U.S., 187
Southampton, England, 61n
Soviet Union, 40, 168, 235
Spanish-American War, 59
Spanish Civil War, 120
Spence, USS, 292n
Spitfire, 153
Squirrel Island, 14
Stalin, Joseph, 168
Steelton, Pa., 193
Stimson, Henry, 36, 66
Stone, Charles “Rocky,” 180, 182, 189, 203
Sudan, 235
Sudetenland, 20
Sun Tzu, 186
Sydney, Australia, 136, 137, 181
Taina
n Wing, 109
Tanambogo, 165
Tavurvur, Mount, 73, 154, 155, 173
Temple University, 140
Tennessee, University of, 292
Texas, University of, 304
Thatcher, USS, 292n
“There is Only One Mistake: To Do Nothing” (article), 99
3rd Bomb Group, 138–39
3rd Marine Division, 292
13th Air Force, 251
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, (Doolittle), 297
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (film), 193, 297
Thompson, Russell, 14
Thues, Emile “Bud,” 242
Time, 65, 139, 199
Toda, Sergeant, 174
Tojo, Hideki, 40
Tokyo, Japan, 87, 113
Tokyo Rose, 66n, 87
Tonolei Harbour, 165, 239
Torokina Point, 292
Townsville, Australia, 75, 77, 108, 123, 131, 182, 204, 240
Tracy, Spencer, 297
Treasury Islands, 236
trimetrogon cameras, 210, 214, 225, 230, 241, 246, 252, 260, 291
Trobriands, 82n
Truk, 73
tuberculosis, 21
Tugboat Annie, 244–45
Tulagi, 97, 165
Twain, Mark, 144
22nd Bomb Group (Red Raiders), 37, 39, 47, 48, 50–51, 52–53, 57, 76, 77, 78, 87, 99–100, 105, 107, 108–10, 111, 123, 128, 230, 247, 258, 278
Australia posting of, 64, 65, 68, 75
in Hawaii, 57–59, 60
loss of planes in, 178
Rabaul raids by, 69, 79, 80–82, 83–84, 85–86, 103, 106–7, 109, 118
reconnaissance flights by, 57–58
251st Imperial Air Squadron, 263
Union Army, Balloon Corps of, 186–87
Vaughan, William “Willy,” 189–91, 192, 204, 214, 218, 231, 250, 274–75, 281, 282, 283–84, 287, 289, 291, 301–2, 304
Vella Lavella, 239
Vietnam War, 302
Villa, Pancho, 234
Visalia, Calif., 303
Vitiaz Strait, 197
V-J Day, 296, 305
von Clausewitz, Carl, 179
Vunakanau airdrome, 73, 86, 93
Waianae Mountains (Wai’anae, Waianaes), 48, 50
Waikiki Beach, 58
Wake Island, 91–92
Walker, Douglas, 163n
Walker, Kenneth Newton, 144, 145–47, 158, 160–64, 173n, 174, 195, 218, 233n, 278
Walter Reed Medical Center, 297, 298, 299
War College, 115
War Department, U.S., 59, 65, 67, 68, 102, 111, 135, 163, 290
War Shipping Administration, 62
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (Dower), 42n
Washington, D.C., 297, 301
Washington, George, 187n
“Way of the Warrior,” 43
Welles, Orson, 50
Wellesley University, 290
Western Union, 290
“We Swoop at Dawn” (poem), 247, 303
Wewak, 159, 178, 196, 201–2, 235–36
Willys-Overland motor company, 18
Winchell, Walter, 87
World War I, 10–11, 13, 22, 26–27, 36, 47, 56, 70, 114, 121, 137, 186, 187, 191, 213, 235, 286, 297
World War II, 20, 23, 33, 36, 40, 43, 46, 61, 76, 86
aircraft of, 84; see also specific aircraft
American planes lost during, 215–16
films made during, 193
Japanese-American internment camps in, 105n
nicknames given to planes during, 211–12
Rabaul air raids as longest battle of, 296
reconnaissance work in, 185–86, 188, see also reconnaissance
Roosevelt’s declaration of war and, 51
skip-bombing tactic used in, 139–40, 142, 143–44, 146, 147–48, 150–51, 161, 179, 220, 229, 233, 243, 249
U.S. Airmen killed during, 291
U.S. Army’s field manual in, 226
see also specific battles
Wright Airfield, 36–37
Wright brothers, 36
Wright Cyclones, 212
Yamamoto, Isoroku, 41, 49, 70–72, 98, 100, 160, 199, 238, 241
death of, 226–28, 231
Yamamoto, Suehiro, 277
Yamasaki, Commander, 174
Yorktown, USS, 94, 95
Youngstown, Ohio, 190, 302
Yunnan Province, 235
Zeamer, Anne, 12, 290
Zeamer, Barbara Ferner, 300, 307
Zeamer, Isabel, 12, 290
Zeamer, Jacquie, 300
Zeamer, Jay, Jr., 2–5, 11, 31, 33–40, 76, 77, 78, 80, 82–83, 84, 85–87, 99, 104, 114, 122, 123, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 148, 149, 152, 174, 176, 179, 212, 229, 246, 285–88, 303
adventurous nature of, 9, 12–13
aeronautical engineering degrees of, 300
in Army Air Corps, 23–24
army training of, 24–25
attempted grocery run of, 204–5
Australia posting of, 64–66, 68, 75
B-17s admired by, 46–48, 111, 151, 180
battle fatigue of, 253
bomber assignment of, 27–28
Bougainville reconnaissance and, 241–47, 248, 250–53, 269–79
in Boy Scouts, 14–15, 24, 33, 108, 158, 299
Buka Island reconnaissance and, 252–53, 254, 255–62, 297–98
childhood of, 9–16
Cooper on, 297
as copilot, 36–37, 38–39, 50–51, 53, 79, 83, 107, 150, 151, 161, 230
crew of, see Eager Beavers
at Culver, 17–19
disobedience of, 202–3
education of, 15–16, 17–18, 300
enlistment of, 20–21
exterminator role of, 43
and failure to stick landings, 38–39
first reconnaissance flights led by, 248–50
in flight to Dobodura, 280–86
flying expertise of, 38, 39
funeral service of, 306–7
in Hawaii, 57–59, 60, 61, 83, 305–6
laissez-faire attitude of, 105–6, 178, 202–3, 204–5
love of water of, 12–14
McCullar and, 177–78, 220–21
marksmanship of, 17–18
mechanical bent of, 11–13, 47, 204, 211
Medal of Honor citation of, 282n, 297–98, 299, 301
in off-the-book raids on Rabaul, 178
Old 666 salvaged by, 210–13
Pearl Harbor attack and, 49
physical appearance of, 223–24
poor eyesight of, 21–22, 107
promotions of, 58, 296–97
in Rabaul raid, 69, 79, 82, 83–84, 85–86, 103, 178, 204, 205–7
Rabaul reconnaissance flight of, 154–58
reconnaissance crew recruited by, 189–94
reputation of, as B-17 combat pilot, 179–80, 201
in return to New Guinea, 277–78
Sarnoski and, 33, 180–81, 182, 185, 200, 205–6, 246–47
Silver Stars awarded to, 158, 203
skin cancer of, 300
in skip bombing missions, 150–51, 179
slacker reputation of, 106, 107–8
as substitute pilot, 179, 200
as transferred to 43rd, 110–11
unorthodox flying method of, 179
on USS Grant, 56, 57
in Wewak raid, 201, 202–3
wounds of, 269–71, 276, 282, 286, 289–90, 291, 298
Zero downed by, 268, 269, 282
Zeamer, Jay, Sr., 9, 10, 11, 13, 21, 298
Zeamer, Jayne, 300
Zeamer, Jere, 12, 21, 50, 290
Zeamer, Jeremiah, 10, 56
Zeamer, John, 10
Zeamer, Marcia, 300
Zeamer, Marjorie, 9, 11, 13, 269, 290, 298
Zeamer, Sandra, 300
Zeamer, Susan, 300
Zeros, 82–83, 84, 85–87, 99, 109, 129, 151, 155–58, 162, 179, 196, 197, 213, 216, 217–18, 222, 224, 227, 229, 230�
�31, 251, 265, 296
Zyklon-B, 40
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Copyright © 2016 by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui
Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward
Jacket Design by Jonathan Bush
Jacket Images: Plane: Haveblue/Getty Images; Clouds: Silver30/Shutterstock, Chiccododifc/Shutterstock
Author Photos © Anne Drager
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Drury, Bob, author. | Clavin, Thomas, author.
Title: Lucky 666 : the impossible mission / by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.
Description: New York : Simon & Schuster, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017924| ISBN 9781476774855 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781476774862 (trade pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Zeamer, Jay, Jr., 1918–2007. | United States. Army Air Forces. Bombardment Group, 22nd—Biography. | Bomber pilots—United States—Biography. | B-17 bomber. | World War, 1939–1945—Aerial operations, American. | World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Pacific Area. | World War, 1939–1945—Regimental histories—United States.
Classification: LCC D790.253 22nd .D78 2016 | DDC 940.54/4973092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017924
ISBN 978-1-4767-7485-5
ISBN 978-1-4767-7487-9 (ebook)
