June
5, 1945
KOBE
– All of the missions at this time were rough
and this one was no exception. After passing through
moderate flak at the target area, we were attacked by
enemy fighter planes. There were approximately fifty
of them and eleven concentrated their attacks on our
plane. The first plane, a twin engine “Nick”,
attacked from 10’ o’clock high. The Bombardier/nose
gunner and top gunner were able to dispose of him. As
the “Nick” came by me, he was on fire and
lost a wing. At this time, there were 3 single engine
“Tojos” attacking my position from seven
o’clock high. The first one came in range and
I fired, hoping to scare him off when he saw my tracer
bullets. This was one flier that would not be intimidated.
My guns were working perfect. The closer he got, the
longer the bursts were that I fired. About two hundred
yards out he burst into flames, shot up in the air abruptly
and went into a tail-spin. As he passed by me, I could
see him slumped over in his cockpit. The second plane
then started to press his attack. As he came into range,
I fired some shots at him. When he saw my tracer bullets,
he decided not to continue his attack and broke away.
After getting rid of him, I glanced down and saw the
“Tojo” I shot at still on fire in his tail-spin.
All of the enemy airplanes were painted a camouflage
olive-drap with “Rising Suns” painted on
their wings and sides. While I was busy, the right gunner
was shooting at another “Nick”. His plane
flew directly at us. All of the gunners that saw him
fired. As he came by me, he was in several pieces. All
totaled we had 11 pressed attacks and received credit
for 4 “kills”. Our only damage was some
flak damage in the bomb bay area.
June
7, 1945
OSAKA
– I don’t know if I can express the feeling
I had during WWII during this raid, but I will try.
We received moderate flak at the target area and encountered
several enemy air craft similar to the previous mission.
One of the planes along side of us was damaged by flak
and was having difficulty keeping up with the rest of
our formation. Some fighters started to attack it so
our Commander decided to leave the formation and provide
some protection for them. The tail guns on the other
plane were out so it left me to deter any attacks from
the tail position. The enemy planes were hovering in
the sky, just out of range, waiting for a chance to
finish the bomber off that we were protecting. One of
them decided to give it a try. Soon he was in range
of my guns and I pressed the trigger. You can imagine
how I felt when I found out they were not working. I
checked my circuit breakers with a quick glance and
they were all O.K. I then looked to see if my gun turret
was working – it was. My last thought was that
one of my toggle switches at my left arm was sticking.
By this time the “Tojo” was getting much
closer and I could see his tracer bullets coming at
me. An attack from the tail position takes only about
a minute, so you imagine how little time I had. Either
God or luck was with me, for when I ran my fingers down
the row of toggle switches my guns fired. This “Tojo”
wasn’t ready to commit “Hari-Kari”
for as soon as he saw my tracer bullets, he broke away
and flew into the clouds. I believe that in those few
seconds I spent several years of my life. I hope that
I am never placed in that position again.
June
10, 1945
CHIBA – This was one of the better missions. It
was what was called a “Milk Run”. We experienced
light flak with no fighter opposition.
June
15, 1945
I was able to locate my best friend and neighbor at
home from Bulter, PA. Norman (Dutch) Rettig. He and
I went through 12 years of school together. He enlisted
in the Navy and was stationed at the other end of Guam.
It happened that I had a free day between missions,
so I decided to locate him. The only vehicle I could
get from the “Motor Pool” was a tractor
from a Semi Tractor/Trailer. The coral road going from
North Field to the Naval Station was named “Marine
Drive” to honor the Marines that had fought and
died there. While driving, I stopped along the road
by a group of soldiers. They informed me that 3 Marines
had been killed by the Japanese. I looked to my left
and I could see the Marines lying in the field about
50 feet from the road. They had been be-headed. The
purpose to stop me was to warn me that the Japanese
were in the area and to be alert. I was glad I had my
“45” pistol with me. I never went anywhere
without it. I finally arrived at the Naval Base and
located my best friend, Norm Rettig. He was in his bunk
fast asleep. This was unusual to be sleeping during
the day. He explained that he had been on “Guard
Duty” all night. I ate “Mess” with
him and it was the first good meal that I had since
I arrived on Guam. The Air Corps diet consisted of spam
and lima beans on the good days, otherwise we could
make a peanut putter and jelly sandwich or “K-Rations”
in a can. The meal that the Navy treated me to consisted
of pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and dessert.
Since the Navy brought supplies in, I assume that was
the reason they ate so good. The Air Corps was able
to supply us with all the beer and whisky we wanted,
so when Norm visited me, I was able to supply him with
all the spam, lima beans and beer he desired.
June
19, 1945
SHIZUOKA
– We arrived at the target area and everything
was fine until – first I will describe the scene.
We were flying at 15,000 feet and our target area had
huge fires burning from previous bombings and the smoke
was 25,000 feet high or 10,000 feet above the altitude
we were flying. Our Commander planned to drop the bomb
load before we entered his “Heat Thermal”.
This plan did not work! The Bombardier called “Bombs
Away”, but they didn’t drop for some reason.
It took a few seconds before he could “Salvo”
the bombs and by that time we were in the middle of
this “Heat Thermal”. All havoc broke loose,
the floor boards in the Central Gunner’s area
and Radar compartment flew up, lunches and thermos bottles
were flying. The connection to my headset became unplugged.
I was in the tail gunner’s position and was certain
that we had been struck by flak and we were falling.
In one minute we were tossed several thousand feet.
We rolled, tuned tossed and pitched! I thought for certain
that the tail section that I was in had broken off and
that I was on my own. I tried to reach for the lever
that would release my escape window, but that was as
far as I got. The gravitational pull was so great that
I could not move a muscle. I didn’t realize that
we were gaining altitude, but thought we were dropping.
After a minute or so, that seemed like a lifetime, we
finally came out of it. I ended up with a bruised knee
and a cut lip, but no one was seriously injured.
June
22, 1945
TAMASHIMA
– This was another night raid. We experienced
light flak. Prior to this mission, I had an ear ache.
After the mission ended, I tried to sleep in the hope
that the pain would go away. It didn’t so I went
to see the Flight Surgeon, Capt Hall. As he lanced my
right ear he could not get out of the way and the infection
mass struck him on the cheek. He then operated on my
left ear, but this time he got out of the way. He said
that was the worst fungus ear infection that he had
ever seen. I was grounded until the infection healed
up. I couldn’t hear much of anything for three
days.
This
was the last combat mission that our Commander flew.
Airplane Commander, Thomas Wren suffered “Battle
Fatigue” and was removed from flying status. He
was a great Commander and treated us well. He was my
idol at this time.
July 4, 1945
TOKUSHIMA
– This was a night mission. The sky was lit up
from the fires in the target area. I was placed on flying
status as my ears had almost healed. This was the first
time that I flew with our new Airplane Commander, Lt
Richard Previdi. He proved to be an able replacement
for Capt Wren. We did not experience any enemy opposition.
July
6, 1945
KOFU
– A night mission with enemy fighter planes dropping
incendiary phosphorus bombs on us. We were not struck
by any of it, but they did follow us until we left the
coast.
July
13, 1945
UWAJIMA
– Another mission on Friday, the thirteenth. We
experienced much thunder and lightening. The lightening
would jump from the wing tips to my tail position. There
was light flak over the target area.
July 17, 1945
HIRATSUKA
– This was a night mission that I flew with Capt
Wagner’s crew (Crew 18) as a right gunner. We
had light flak and two fighters follow us 50 miles off
the Japanese coastline.
July
20, 1945
OKAZAKI
– We were the fourth plane over the target on
this night raid. We again experienced lightening jumping
to different parts of our plane. 139 B-29s participated
in the raid.
July
24, 1945
I
was asked to report to our Commanding Officer, Col.
Sturdivent. He presented me with the “AIR MEDAL”.
