troops taking Manila and bombing targets on Corregidor in preparation for the parachute drop . Probably one of the most interesting assignments was supporting the troops taking the Ipo Dam area . Again , the Japanese forces had the higher ground and the area was heavily forested . We could not see any enemy troops but knew their lines as designated by our troops with smoke pots . We delivered napalm on them by having each flight of four fly lines abreast about 30 yards apart and drop all tanks in unison . This caused a wall of flame from eight tanks and a flight of four would follow and drop their tanks where our flames stopped . This tactic would cause a solid bed of fire for about a quarter of a mile and there would be no survivors . The enemy troops were so fearful of this that the controllers told us that when the Japanese spotted us with bombs there was no commotion but when they saw our wing tanks they would start to panic .
In April , we were operating from Porac Air Field . The nearby town had a small population and the young teenage girls were hired to do our laundry . We soon suffered from culture shock as the people were so used to living in small quarters that they were not modest about exposing their bodies . The girls would visit us daily to pick up or deliver laundry and just socialize with us . The pilots would return from combat missions and would shower and change clothes . The girls would nonchalantly watch us undress and dress in front of them . After our initial shock we got accustomed to this . In July , we were ordered to transfer the group to
Okinawa . We regretted having to leave our dear friends but were anxious to get closer to Japan . When we left , the town came out to see us off and the young girls were crying as they knew they would never see us again .
At the same time , Captain Foster and I were assigned to the 5th Fighter Command and could not join our group until two weeks later . The date our time was up was the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima . The next day we got a ride on a B-24 from Clark Field to Okinawa and the entire conversation of all the passengers was , “ what the hell is an a-bomb ? Do they have b-bombs , c-bombs , etc .?” We weren ’ t too far off because as it turned out , they did end up with an h-bomb .
The next day , Foster and I were on a mission from Okinawa for a fighter sweep of the island of Kyushu and we flew over the city of Nagasaki about ten feet off the rooftops . There was no damage at all in this large industrial town and I was very upset with the bombers . I did not know that this city and about eight others had been put off limits because these were probable targets of an a-bomb and they did not want any prior damage so they could have a good assessment of the full effects of the bomb . My personal assessment was that the buildings were not maintained very well . I could see a lot of rust on the corrugated steel siding and roofs .
The following day , the plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , and the next morning I led a squadron mission to conduct a fighter sweep of the island . I headed straight to the city and approached at about 5,000 feet as I was not concerned about enemy fire . When I saw the city , I could hardly believe my eyes . All the pilots expressed the same awe . The bomb went off in the air and the force of the explosion went straight down and flattened everything . We slowly descended to about 1,000 feet and could see that there was no debris at all on the streets and sidewalks , but the only things standing were steel poles and chimneys . Anything combustible was gone . As we left the ground zero area we could see that some debris was scattered about like conventional bombing . We remained there about 20 minutes before fuel concerns forced me to leave . I later thought they could cancel any work orders to paint the buildings . At the time , we were not informed about radiation . I reflected back on this mission and wondered how much radiation we were exposed to . If I had guessed then , I would have thought we had absorbed enough that it was a wonder we did not glow that night .
About this time , the big concern was that the Japanese would not surrender and the Allies would be forced to mount an invasion that would result in a dreadful amount of casualties . Due to the a-bombs , I believe the majority of the rulers and the emperor realized that the continuation of the bombing would wipe out the Japanese people , so they had a good reason to surrender . A truce was agreed upon and we continued to fly missions until September 2 when the formal surrender was made .
AVQ
30 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY