After
the various training phases at Salina in late 1944 and
early 1945, the group was sent to Batista Field, Cuba
for over-water radar and navigational training. Some of
the experiences there were oftentimes amusing as well
as exciting. One of these occurred at 0300, when Crew
10 was rushed to the flight line for 0500 takeoff. The
crew hurriedly piled out of the truck and rushed to their
assigned B-29. Suddenly A/C Tom Bell exclaimed, "Hell,
it only has three engines!" Things like this seemed to
happen periodically at Batista. Crew 10 eventually was
assigned another more airworthy plane and took off into
the blue to accomplish that day's training assignment.
When
Crew 10 arrived back at Salina most of the other crews
had been home on leave, returned and departed for the
Pacific. They soon received their B-29 at Herington, Kansas
and followed their comrades to North Field, Guam, by way
of Mather Field, CA, Hawaii, Kwajalein. It was on this
barren atoll that they first learned of the death of President
Roosevelt. It was also the crew's first introduction to
spam.
They
finally reached their destination of Guam about mid April
1945. The island with its lush greenery was stark contrast
to that they had expected. The quonset hut that was to
be their home wasn't bad either. Jones met up with an
old boyhood chum stationed at the Navy Base at Agana.
There they renewed old friendships. Furthermore, when
Elmer was looking for something better in the way of food,
he knew where to go. Sooner or later, most of the airmen
became regular customers at the Navy galleys.
The
first 12 missions of P-10 were regular bomb runs, their
first, on 24 April being a daylight raid on Hitachi Aircraft
Plant near Tokyo. They got their first look at Mount Fuji
on the way in.
Mission
13, on 22 June, was a special assignment for this crew.
They were to make a bomb run - with no bombs - on a particular
target solely to take radar photos. This they did singly
in advance of the main force. Elmer often wondered if
they had been made guinea pigs to see if the Japanese
would shoot down a single plane. About 16 of the 30 missions
that P-10 flew were this type of special radar run. These
were not considered reconnaissance flights inasmuch as
they accomplished the main force.
Another
of these special radar missions was made on 30 June (Mission
# 16) - this time to Hiroshima and Kokura at an altitude
of 28,000 feet. This was much higher than any of their
previous missions. On the way to Japan they encountered
mechanical problems and found it necessary to land at
Iwo Jima for quick repairs before proceeding on. During
this brief stop, the crew decided to look over the island.
They walked atop the concrete bunkers overlooking the
beaches below that the Japanese had built to counter the
Allied invasion. Through massive and believed indestructible,
they failed to turn back the U.S. Marines. Wrecked tanks
and other military equipment still littered the beaches.
Every B-29 airmen grew to revere these men of valor whose
blood and sacrifice gave us this oasis in the vast and
threatening waters of the Pacific. There were few, if
any, flight crews that didn't seek refuge there in an
emergency situation. By so doing, many of these crews,
and planes, were able to survive and fly another day.
While
reconnoitering this volcanic isle, they passed by a Quonset
displaying a shrunken Japanese head atop a four-foot pole.
They walked briskly past this gruesome trophy and proceeded
on and up to the top of the historic Mount Suribachi.
It was here that the most remembered picture of World
War II was taken.
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