Marty Jackson arrived later . All the brass concluded that the air units had saved the landing area .
Of the 30 planes , eight were recovered and all but five of the pilots were able to survive . Many of the planes that survived the battle were lost as they tried to reach Leyte and had gone down . The group leader was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and both squadron leaders were awarded Silver Stars , with the rest of the pilots earning Distinguished Flying Crosses . The group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and each member of was entitled to wear the same . Although I was a member of the unit I was never awarded the citation as none of us joining the unit had not been officially assigned until January 1 , 1945 , when written orders were issued assigning us to the 58th . I never complained since I was nowhere near the action . However , several of our men actually joined the group before December 26th and I assume they must have received the citation . In retrospect , I know this was the most outstanding operation for our group during the entire war .
Our pilots were able to find the ships because of the phosphorescent wake in the water . Our Navy was able to learn later in the battle at Okinawa that if the speed of the ship was eight knots or less the wake could not have been visible . Ironically , the Japanese had trained extensively in night operations and tactics and whenever there was contact between the
two navies at night the Japanese always bested us because of their superior training . It seems that they should have known about the wake being detectable at over eight knots .
When we were briefed at Nadzab
THE YOUNG AVIATOR , MARTY JACKSON , IN WORLD WAR II .
about the coming invasion of the Philippines we were advised that U . S . forces would probably never land at Mindoro Island since it was overrun with wharf rats and king cobras and wild . Sure enough , to surprise the enemy we did invade Mindoro and we quickly discovered the briefers were right .
We had shots for Rocky Mountain typhus but this was a different strain and when the ticks infested our troops there was a very high mortality rate and in desperation the medics made everyone soak socks , pants , and shirts in G . I . soap solution , as well as tuck the cuffs of our pants into the top of our socks . This made our feet feel squishy and if the clothes got wet or sweaty , scratching the area made the cloth foam up . In spite of all the snakes , I don ’ t think anyone was bitten . We could never figure out how there were so many rats with so many snakes around .
Our main missions were in close support of the ground troops and protecting convoys from Japanese aircraft . We did a lot of dive bombing for the 25th Infantry Division who took Balete Pass , which was a switchback road 5,000 feet up the mountainside and upon which the Japanese forces had all the high ground . The air controller was called “ Zombie ” and he would have the targets marked with white phosphorous shells and we would dive bomb from over 10,000 feet . We were very accurate and he would rave about it and called us the best in the whole world and say we were so good because we made the steepest dives and warned us not to make them any steeper . After the campaign , the division awarded us a citation for our outstanding performance .
We also did support missions for the
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