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39th Bomb Group (VH)

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Sgt Llyod Hill
Right Gunner

From information obtained by Tom Mayfield (Crew 43) from Robert R. Martindale (*) himself a POW B-24 pilot, Sgt Hill is listed as being in Amori POW Camp as of August 1945. This indicates that he was released, along with Martindale and others, on August 29th and 30th when the U. S. fleet entered Tokyo Bay. Hill's POW number was #7199.

NOTE: (*). Martindale's crew was shot down over the Bismarck Sea off New Guinea; 1/20/43 while on a single plane recon mission. He was later transferred to Amori, Japan, arriving there in December 1943. He was assigned the unpleasant duty of Camp Work Officer, and was responsible for all of the men while he was there. Omori POW Camp was located about halfway between Tokyo and Yokohama. Since Martindale's retirement, he has been collecting material about that camp, and has the largest collection of photos, taped interviews, documents, etc., in private hands, of any Japanese POW Camp.

In a letter to Tom Mayfield (Crew 43) of our Group, Scott Downing, a POW and member of the 29th Bomb Group, gives some very graphic information on the Japanese treatment of POW's. His account also mentions two members of the 39th Group (Hill and Kiernan Crew 52) who were with him at Tokyo Kempei-Tai.
Source: "History of the 39th Bomb Group" by Robert Laird & David Smith; photo courtesy of Rick Paquette, Son AC - P-52