American Valor Quarterly Issue 13 - Fall 2015 | Page 23

the Skies of the

PACIFIC

From Marty Jackson

Witness Triumph and Devestation in the War with Japan

Army veteran Martin “ Buzz ” Jackson flew 72 combat missions during WWII , seeing most of his action in some of the most devastating battles of the Pacific Theater .
Jackson ’ s missions included leading squadrons in strafing , skip-bombing , and napalm drops over Japanese targets .
Following the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki , Jackson and his 311th Fighter Squadron flew low over city , facing exposure to radiation , to witness firsthand the incredible devastation that would signal an end to the war .
Now 92 , the memories of his WWII service are still vivid in his mind .

I

was born in Chicago , Illinois , on August 12 , 1923 . Joining myself and my parents in the house were my two sisters , one older and one younger . My mom was Catholic and my dad was Episcopalian but when he married my mother he promised to raise us in the Catholic Church . I went to a boys ’ school , Presentation Catholic , for eight years until high school . My sisters went to the Catholic girls ’ school . In total , we had over 400 boys and well over 400 girls in the two schools . When I was in fifth grade , I joined the church choir . There were only 25 of us because that ’ s how big the choir loft was , but I stayed in the choir until eighth grade . I was a boy soprano and was quite good .
After I graduated from grammar school , I moved on to a public high school . I attended Marshall High School , which had a total of 5,500 students , with about a 90 percent Jewish population . The very first semester I had taken a music class . The music teacher made everyone stand up in the classroom and sing the scale . I very eagerly got up and sang the scale as loudly as I could and everyone laughed and the teacher threw me out of class . In fact , he was so mad , he expelled me . I realized then I was going to have
National Archives
THE USS MISSOURI IN THE FOREGROUND , THE SURRENDER CEREMONIES IN TOKYO 70 YEARS AGO WERE MADE POSSIBLE ONLY THROUGH YEARS OF - TO BORROW FROM CHURCHILL - BLOOD , TOILS , TEARS , AND SWEAT .
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