My World War II Experiences In The Pacific

Here is a map of part of the Pacific Ocean.

The distance from Oahu (of the Hawaiian Islands) to Saipan is in excess of 2000 miles.

I was assigned to a crew (pictured at right):

The officers, standing, are (left to right): Col. Julian Hodges, John B. Paine, James C. Rimmer, and Donald L. Thomas

The enlisted men, in front, are: William H. Marsh, Vader Pennington, Bob Parmigiani, Bob LaFara, James B. Moss, and Joe Shemitz

I was the tail gunner, shown here inside a tail turret.

Here is an outside view of a tail turret (no, I didn’t ride on the outside.)

We were sent to Saipan and assigned to the 819th Bombardment Squadron of the 30th Air Group.

We lived in a Quonset hut.

Our squadron had a mess hall and an outdoor movie theater.

We flew from an airfield called Kobler Field. Here is a picture of the control tower.

The planes in our squadron were B-24’s, the stripe on the tail identified our squadron.

Here is part of our squadron flying in formation.

The plane that I flew the most missions in was, Jeeter Bug.

Most of our missions were flown to bomb Iwo Jima.

At the far left, the Southernmost tip of the island, is Mount Suribachi. Note the runways for fighter planes.

After the American invasion of Iwo Jima, we flew the plane Evasive Action.

to Kwajalein Atoll to conduct a sea search. Before the American landing on Kwajalein Island, the island had a significant stand of palm trees. Due to heavy bombardment, very few trees were left as shown in this picture.

Later, myself, and other crew members, were awarded the Air Medal for our combat missions.