Completed Tour of Duty – Looking Back, Going Home

Our combat missions against Japan had been completed and we waited for orders that would return us to the states. Our crew had participated in many types of missions: high altitude formation drops against Japanese targets during daytime, alone in low level incendiary attacks at night, formation bombing of Kamikaze airfields, mining operations, and search and rescue operations including the first atomic strike at Hiroshima.

MY BIGGEST FEAR DURING EACH COMBAT FLIGHT WAS OF AN ENGINE FAILURE OR BATTLE DAMAGE THAT WOULD FORCE US TO ABANDON OUR AIRCRAFT

Our shortest mission was seven hours and twenty minutes to Truk and our longest mission was eighteen hours and forty-five minutes to Rashin, North Korea. Most of our missions were approximately thirteen to fifteen hours long. We had some rough missions, came close to bailing out during one flight and we were momentarily unsure of our location during two missions.  I felt that I had performed as a competent and able flight engineer during our combat missions. And we always arrived at our final destination with an adequate fuel reserve. I sweated out the takeoffs of our heavy and overloaded B-29s, and I dreaded the ever potential threat of enemy fighters and flak while flying over and around the Japanese mainland. However, my biggest fear during each combat flight was of an engine failure or battle damage that would force us to abandon our aircraft. I felt that Rocky’s crew and I had been an excellent flight crew, even though we hadn’t trained or flown together until we flew as a combat crew out of Tinian Island.

ALL CREW MEMBERS PERFORMED THEIR TASKS IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER AND WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF OUR TOUR OF DUTY

 I was fortunate in that I was assigned to his crew. Rocky was a top notch pilot and his crew members were experts in their assigned positions. I didn’t worry about getting lost as both Archie Miller and Denis lnkel demonstrated their professionalism during our combat missions to Japan and our return to the Marianas. All crew members performed their tasks in a professional manner and were instrumental in the successful completion of our tour of duty. And, except for one potentially disastrous flight when we made an emergency landing at lwo Jima, we returned to Tinian upon completion of each mission.

I LOGGED 5,115 COMBAT HOURS FLYING FROM TINIAN ISLAND

Because we were one of the last 6th Bomb Group combat crews to arrive at Tinian, we started our combat flying several weeks later than other 6th Bomb Group combat crews. Yet our crew was one of twenty combat crews assigned to the 6th and 504th Bomb Groups completing thirty-five missions, a tour of duty in the Marianas Islands, prior to the end of the war. We completed our missions in a little over five months and I logged 5,115 combat hours flying from Tinian Island. Rocky’s volunteering to fly every mission paid off as we were one of the first crews picked to return stateside.

However, without the long and tiring efforts of ground support personnel who serviced, maintained and repaired the mighty Superfortresses, we wouldn’t have been able to complete our thirty-five missions in such a short time span. The ground crews and crew chiefs performed an outstanding job in readying the airplanes in time for our missions. This was especially true during the March fire raids when the airplanes were prepared for flight almost overnight after each mission. We completed thirty-two missions without once aborting the flight. And when we aborted the next mission, after taking off, it wasn’t due to an engine malfunction. It was due to an abnormality in an oil temperature recording line!

Upon completion of our tour of duty, we loafed and enjoyed life while we waited for our return to the states. Meanwhile, B-29 combat sorties against Japan continued. On 9 August, a second atomic bomb was released over Nagasaki and hostilities against Japan officially ended on the 15th of August.  Soon afterwards we heard the good news that Lt. Boyington and his crew were okay. Their B-29 had been hit and severely damaged by flak during their combat mission over Tokyo [May 23, 1945], forcing the crew to bail out near Tokyo. They were picked up by Japanese soldiers and placed in an army prison camp until their release at the end of the war [see They Shot Down Our Blind Date Over Tokyo]

THE PILOTS WERE FLOWN HOME WHILE THE REST OF US HAD TO TRAVEL BY SHIP

I received orders on the 15th of August [1945], releasing me from the 313th Bomb Wing and reassigning me to the Rest and Recreational Center APO 953, located at Saipan, for rotation to the continental area of the United States. I packed my belongings in my B-4 Bag and foot locker. I turned in the foot locker at the 421st Bomb Squadron equipment building for shipment to my home in the Soo. When I turned in my flight and survival equipment, I was told to keep my sun glasses and several items of flight gear that had been issued to me at Kearney, Nebraska since they were overage items for the squadron. And finally, I checked out from the bomb squadron. Later that day, I joined other military personnel at the flight line with my B-4 Bag and boarded a C-47 transport airplane for the short flight to Saipan. We were trucked from the air field to the embarkation area where we waited for transport to the States via naval vessels. It was interesting, to say the least, that the pilots were flown home while the rest of us had to travel by ship. Because many military personnel had preceded me to the embarkation area, I had to wait for my turn for a ride stateside. I was assigned to a barracks room which I shared with a junior officer and we were assigned menial tasks, such as removing nails from scrapped lumber, while waiting for our return to the States. Several days after my arrival at the embarkation area, an Army Air Force inspection team showed up and demanded to see my luggage. They confiscated all the flight items given to me, including the sunglasses. When I protested this action, they said to show them a bill of sale for the items. I didn’t have a sales slip or bill of sale and so they took the items. Later, I heard that the confiscated items were either destroyed or dumped into the ocean. What a waste!

Finally, on the 30th of August, I boarded a Liberty ship bound for San Francisco along with five other Air Force officers. Prior to arriving at Saipan, the ship had been hit by a typhoon, knocking out one of the twin engines. As a result we travelled at half speed and spent three weeks at sea on our way to the States. I enjoyed watching the antics of the “Flying Fish” as they leaped out the water and raced alongside and ahead of the ship. I had heard about the flying fish and now I was seeing them in action. Several days out of Saipan, the crew turned on the ship’s exterior lights during the night hours for the first time since the Pearl Harbor attack. It was quite a sight to see all the lights turned on! While chipping paint from ship structures with the crew, I experienced pain in my groin. Years later, I found out that I had injured my back during the paint removal process.

We arrived at San Francisco on 22 September and were transported to the Camp Beale Reception Center Number 14, located on Angel Island. Debriefing followed and we were checked for infectious diseases. Meanwhile, as I was detained at the camp for several days awaiting orders, I was issued a ration card for obtaining tobacco and I received a certificate with which to purchase one pair of shoes. I was informed that these items were in short supply in the States. When my orders finally arrived, I was granted a delay, enroute to the AAF Redistribution Station at San Antonio, Texas for final processing and separation.

On 28 September, I left the camp and travelled by train to St. Paul and by Greyhound bus to St. Cloud. When I arrived at St. Cloud, I took a cab to the home of Aunt Erma and Uncle Frank. They weren’t home, so I entered their house and immediately stripped and took a bath, my first real bath since I left the United States, as the military only furnished shower stalls for washing up. I was relaxing in the front room when Aunt Erma and Uncle Frank arrived home. They didn’t know that I was coming and it was quite a surprise for them. I stayed with them for several weeks and then I reported to an Army post at St. Paul for my separation physical as directed by the military. An Army dentist pulled my wisdom teeth even though the gum of one tooth was infected. Upon completion of my physical, I took a passenger train for the Soo where I arrived in early November. Shortly after I arrived, I went to see the local dentist to treat my infected gums and after several treatments he knocked out the infection.

Mother informed that she had purchased a small cabin on Reynolds Lake near Kalamazoo and was planning on moving there before the end of the year. I enjoyed travelling around the Soo, going to the local night spots and visiting with my family and friends while I waited for orders.

[My orders] finally arrived, directing me to report to Kelly Army Air Base located near San Antonio on 14 November, 1945. I was allotted seven dollars a day for travel expenses and I decided to drive my car since it was an opportunity to see the countryside enroute to my discharge station. I went to the local Montgomery Ward store to purchase new tires for my car. However, when I asked for the tires, the salesman wouldn’t sell them to me. I was told that they were rationed items and only certain individuals could purchase them. I asked to see the store manager and after I showed him my travel orders, he Okayed the sale.

THE HIGHWAYS WERE VIRTUALLY DESERTED DUE TO THE SHORTAGE OF TIRES FOR CIVILIAN USE

Early on the 11th of November, I departed by automobile for San Antonio. My trip was enjoyable as the highways were virtually deserted due to the shortage of tires for civilian use. I travelled all day, only stopping for gas and late each night I checked into a hotel for rest. On my last night, prior to reaching San Antonio, I checked into a hotel where I was entertained by a host of large cockroaches. I left the overhead light on to discourage them from crawling around my room and real early the next morning I checked out of that hotel!

I WAS DIRECTED TO FLY IN A C-47 AIRPLANE AND LOG OBSERVER TIME PRIOR TO MY DISCHARGE, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE MY FLIGHT PAY FOR THOSE THREE MONTHS

I arrived at San Antonio and checked into a hotel in the downtown area on 13 November. The next day I drove to nearby Kelly Field for processing. I was informed that the separation procedure would take at least a week. As I was still on flying status and hadn’t flown since I left the Marianas, I was directed to fly in a C-47 airplane and log observer time prior to my discharge, in order to receive my flight pay for those three months, which I did.

While going through the separation process, I ran into Jim Thornton, my former roommate at Yale University. Jim suggested that we drive to Denver during the weekend so that he could visit a girlfriend. We departed very early Saturday morning in my Mercury and arrived at Denver later that night. Jim’s girlfriend invited a friend to join us and we travelled around the city visiting local bars and I had a good time. It was after midnight when we headed back for San Antonio. It was a very long and tiring ride and I immediately tumbled into bed later that afternoon.

During the evenings we drove around the city to see the sights. One night I was stopped by a local policeman. He said that I had been speeding and asked to see my driver’s license. Noting that we were in uniform, he let me go with a warning ticket, stating that he didn’t want to catch me speeding again or the next time he would give me a speeding ticket. I believed him and I obeyed all local traffic rules during my stay in the San Antonio area.

I SIGNED UP FOR THE ARMY AIR CORPS RESERVE

During the separation process, I was asked if I wished to stay in the Army Air Corps or be discharged. When I asked if they would send me back to finish college, I was told that they had no intention of sending me to school. So I opted for a discharge. At my final physical, the examining doctor determined that I was in tip top shape. Shortly thereafter I was discharged from the active component of the Army Air Corps. However, before I departed, I signed up for the Army Air Corps Reserve.