BY JAMES C. ROBERTS

World War II Chronicles

World War II Veterans Remember 1942:

The Year the Tide Began to Turn

A Quarterly Newsletter of the World War II Veterans Committee ISSUE XX Spring 2003

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Winston Churchill awoke on New Years Day 1942 ahappy man. Although four long years of warfare layahead, he realized that with the United States in thewar, its ultimate end would not be in doubt.

Three weeks earlier Churchill received the news thatthe Japanese had attacked U.S.forces at Pearl Harbor. As he wentto bed that night he thought to him-self, “So we have won after all.”

Now Churchill was awakening inthe White House where he was vis-iting President Franklin Roosevelton the first of several extendedstays.

Soon Churchill, FDR andEleanor set off by motorcadefor nearby Alexandria, Virginiaand a visit to historic ChristEpiscopal Church where theywould attend a special NewYear’s morning service. FDRhad requested the service because he saw great sym-bolic significance in the fact that Christ Church wasGeorge Washington’s parish church and he saw theservice as, in a way, bestowing Washington’s blessingon the British-American alliance.

Julia Randle, Christ Church’s historian, explains thatthe Rector, the Reverend E.R. Welles was advisedonly New Year’s Eve morning that the White Househad requested the service, that it was to be by invita-tion only and that furthermore those invited could

continued on page 08

not be told the nature of the event. As a result, Se-cret Service personnel were dispatched to New Year’sEve parties all over the Washington area to track downpeople on the rector’s invitation list, requesting thatthey call Dr. Welles.

When they called the Rector heasked them, “Do you trust me?”

“Yes, of course,” was the inevi-table reply, whereupon the Rec-tor told them, “Then I want youto be in Church tomorrowmorning at 9 o’clock.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you. Remember,you trust me.”

The next morning the presi-dential party was ushered intothe church under the tightestsecurity the onlookers could

ever remember. As Julia Randle says, “There weresharpshooters on all the surrounding rooftops and acompletely enclosed canopy was erected between thechurch door and the street.”

A parishoner who attended the service that day said,“I was scared to death. There were secret service be-side me, behind me and in front of me. I was afraidthat if I sneezed I would be shot.”

THE TWO GREAT LEADERS OF THEALLIES, WINSTON CHURCHILL ANDFRANKLINK ROOSEVELT AT ONE OF

THEIR MANY CONFERENCES

For those with an interest in aviation and militaryhistory, there are few magazines in publication thatare better than Ghost Wings. Slick graphics and richstories included in Ghost Wings would allow it to blendin easily with the big name magazines found at Barnesand Noble and Borders. What makes Ghost Wingsextraordinary is that it is entirely stu-dent-produced, making it the onlystudent-produced aviation magazinein the world.

Since 1994, brothers Adam andBryan Makos, with their friend JoeGohrs, have built Ghost Wings fromthe ground up. Only middle schoolstudents at the time, Adam, Bryan,and Joe (joined later by Erica Makos)had no writing, designing, or publish-ing experience, yet succeeded in mak-ing Ghost Wings a full-sized quarterlywith a loyal and growing fan base.

Recently, we had an opportunity tospeak with Adam Makos, who servesas Editor and Publisher of GhostWings…

What inspired you to create Ghost Wings? Whatis the story behind the name?

Each of our staff members has a grandfather whoserved in WWII. Of my grandfathers, one served inthe Army Air Forces, and the other in the Marines.Growing up, my brother and I took a special interestin their stories and wartime photos. In 1994, whilemiddle school students, my brother Bryan, myself,and our friend Joe Gohrs, decided to create a news-letter using my family’s first computer. We called itthe Ghost Wings Newsletter. Our mission was to tell thestories of American veterans, especially those con-

nected to aviation. We were curious to learn aboutthe lessons and memories of their service experiences.We wanted to share that history and knowledge withothers, and our newsletter was circulated amongstfamily and friends, but in limited quantity: around 20copies!

We chose the name “Ghost Wings,”after a story my grandfather, Sgt.Michael Makos (ret), told us abouthis days in the 5th Air Force’s 3rd

Emergency Rescue Squadron. In1946 during occupation duty in Ja-pan, he was slated to fly as the radiooperator in a B-17 bomber headingto an outpost in Northern Japan. Mygrandfather’s friend, Cpl. FrankDiliddo was to fly in an accompany-ing C-47 transport plane. Just beforetakeoff, Diliddo asked my grandfa-ther to switch planes so as to loghours in different aircraft. They didso. During the flight the planes en-countered heavy overcast. Beforeentering a cloudbank, my grandfa-

ther snapped an eerie photo of the B-17 carryingDiliddo (the photo now graces the pages of our website). However, only my grandfather’s plane, the C-47, emerged from the cloudbank. The B-17 carryinghis friend and five other young airmen was never seen,nor heard from, again. Following a massive search, itwas ruled that the plane had vanished like a ghost.Fifty years later, our newsletter and later magazinewas created to honor military veterans like thoseaboard the “Ghost B-17.”

How did you take your idea for Ghost Wingsand turn it into the magazine it is today?

The transition from newsletter to magazine was eyeopening. During my senior year in high school, in

GHOST WINGS: A REMARKABLE STUDENT MAGAZINEHONORING AMERICA’S VETERANS

Interview by Tim Holbert

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GHOST WINGS MAGAZINE

1999, we compiled our first issue of Ghost WingsMagazine on our computer. Following the advice ofChristine Heiny, a retired catalogue editor, we ap-proached a local printer. The first issue was fundedwith savings that I had amassed with a car in mind. Itwas a small sacrifice for a much greater cause. With7,500 copies of our first issue printed and our bankaccount drained, we attended summer air shows tosell the magazine and sold just enough to print issue2. Subsequent issues have beenfunded by sales at airshows, retailoutlets, on the internet, and throughadvertising. We’re now working onIssue 10 and will print at least 10,000copies of that edition. Our staff re-mains an unpaid, all-volunteer team.During the school year we work onweekends and most weeknights. Inthe summer we put in 7 days a week.The World War II generation hastaught us to put service before self,a code that we honor around theclock.

Where do you getyour ideas for ma-terial? Do youhave any particularinterests?We get most of ourstory ideas throughreader suggestionsand networking withveterans’ organiza-tions. We also encour-age people to submit articlesfor consideration. Ghost Wingsmay include stories from alltheaters of WWII, as well asfrom the Korean War, Viet-nam, Cold War, and modern eras. I’ve researched andwritten about WWII topics as varied as the NormandyD-Day paradrop of the 101st Airborne “Band ofBrothers,” to the sole survivors of Torpedo Squad-ron 8 at Midway, to the race to capture the GermanMe-262s at the end of WW II in Europe.

What are some of the current projects you are

working on?

Besides working on the upcoming issue, we build mili-tary-themed web sites such as ChuckYeager.com. Wealso have been working with one of America’s bestaviation artists to produce the first fine art print show-ing the men of Easy Company, the “Band of Broth-ers,” before the D-Day paradrop. The first of its kind,this print will be sold as a fundraiser for our maga-

zine.

World War II is emphasized inGhost Wings. Do you plan onexpanding your coverage ofaviation in other eras in the fu-ture?

While we do cover WW II prima-rily, as well as the Korean War andVietnam War in every issue, we in-tend to run some stories on mod-ern-day units and individuals, suchas those who have served in Af-ghanistan, the Gulf, and Iraq. There

are some amazing,yet-untold storiesfrom those conflictsthat echo the valorshown in the eras inwhich we currentlyspecialize.

Adam, now thatyou are graduatingcollege, what are

your plans, and what arethe plans for the maga-zine?

While keeping a foot in thedoor and taking some grad school classes, I intend towork on Ghost Wings full time now. Our magazinehas great room for growth. We intend to broadenour distribution, increase our advertising, and to gen-erally enlarge Ghost Wings. The bigger it is, the moregood we can accomplish. Ghost Wings has alreadyawakened many people to the value of American mili-tary history and the people who have forged it. Our

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GHOST WINGS STAFF:JOE GOHRS, ERICA MA-

KOS, ADAM MAKOS,BRYAN MAKOS

THE B-17 “GHOST WING,” MIN-UTES BEFORE DISAPPEARING

continued on page 13

Scott has shown in his interest in the USS India-napolis and the commitment of the staff at GhostWings to put forth so much effort in creating anoutstanding publication. Both Hunter and theentire staff of Ghost Wings are students, and seeingtheir examples has given me faith that this genera-tion will carry on the example set forth by thoseprevious.

Though I have been incredibly impressed by thoseI have already met, what is most impressive to meis the support that everyday members like you haveshown. Without you, the Committee could notexist…without you, many of our veterans’ storieswould fade into history. Your continued interestand support allow us to work hard to preserve andshare our veterans’ experiences. In the comingmonths I hope that, together, we will carry on themission that supporters like you have started.

Best Regards,

Tim HolbertProgram Director

The Second AnnualMilitary AppreciationWeek took place fromMay 18-25 in Washing-ton D.C. The USO andMayor Anthony Will-iams sponsored serveralevents throughout the

week to honor the military community, culminatingin a public festival held on Sunday, May 25th at Free-dom Plaza. Prescilla Roberts (pictured above alongwith baseball star Dennis “Bose” Biddle and currentMiss America Erika Harold) represented the WorldWar II Veterans Committee at this year’s festivities.

Dear Committee Members and Supporters,

I am honored to have been given the chance toserve as the new Program Director here at theWorld War II Veterans Committee. I believe thatthis is a critical time in the Committee’s history. Aswe near the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, thereremain so many stories still to be told; so manymemories that we need to preserve.

In my short time with the Committee I have seenthe dedication of so many of our supporters andcontributors. Last week I attended my first “WorldWar II Evenings” discussion, giving me the chanceto meet a number of our reluctant heroes in personfor the first time. I am amazed at the zeal Hunter

World War II Chronicles

A Quarterly Newsletter of theWorld War II Veterans

CommitteeIssue XVIII, Fall, 2002

David Eisenhower, Honorary ChairmanJames C. Roberts, President

Michael Paradiso, managing EditorTim G.W. Holbert, Editor

Peter trahan, Senior Editor

World War II Chronicles ispublished quarterly by theAmerican Studies Center

1030 15th St., NW, Suite 856Washington, D.C. 20005

202-777-7272

The World War II Veterans Committeeis a project of

The American Studies Center,a 501 (c) (3) non-profit

public education foundation.4

Letter from Program Director

MilitMilitMilitMilitMilitararararary Appry Appry Appry Appry Appreciation Weciation Weciation Weciation Weciation Weekeekeekeekeek

Once again, the United States has been at war withIraq. For over a year, we have been at war with ter-rorism. Now, more than ever, it is important to getbehind our troops, our government, and our Veter-ans, to let them know how proud we are of theirservice and sacrifice for this great nation,to let them know that they truly are he-roes.

I am eighteen years old, and I have no-ticed great changes in American life andsecurity during the last two years. Moreand more schools are equipped with metaldetectors, airports are beset with militarypersonnel carrying machine guns, and gov-ernment buildings and court houses arefilled with hidden surveillance cameras. Awall has been built in front of the eastentrance to the United States Capitol, anda new cabinet position was created andappropriately named the “Department of HomelandSecurity.” On a positive note, I have noticed grow-ing support for our troops, veterans, and fellowAmericans. While we were at war I would get homefrom my daily activities and watch Operation IraqiFreedom on television. I was impressed that the at-tention of the media was not on the billions of dol-lars spent during the war, but on the lives of the sol-diers and the return of the prisoners of war. Americarejoiced every time even one POW was returned, orone life was saved. America mourned every time alife was lost. To me, this shows the pride and love ineveryone’s heart for our servicemen.

Regardless of our political opinions, the United StatesIS still at war, and the troops DO need the supportof their fellow countrymen. As Americans, it is ourresponsibility to get behind these men and womenwhose lives are in harm’s way, and let them knowhow much we appreciate their dedication to this coun-try. These men and women have taken risks with

honor to ensure our freedom. The least we can do isto observe a moment of silence each day, or say aprayer, to remember our troops and veterans and prayfor a quick end to the war with the least number ofcasualties.

I would like to offer some suggestions forsupporting our troops before our soldierscome home from Iraq. My high school isparticipating in “Operation Zip-lock”which is a troop-support program wherestudents around the nation fill zip-lockbags with toothpaste, toothbrushes, de-odorant, and toiletries to send to our sol-diers. There are numerous similar pro-grams like this one with which to be in-volved. I would also suggest organizingor attending a “Support Our Troops” rally.I am a firm believer that one of the bestways to support our troops is to write them

a letter. A simple “thank-you for serving the coun-try” letter would mean more to the recipient thananything else we could do. A letter to our troopswould give them hope and something to look for-ward to when they return home to the United States.Even a simple “thank-you” would serve as a morale-booster and provide our soldiers with a refreshedhope and desire to ensure that the United States ofAmerica remains the greatest country in the world.The opportunities for supporting our soldiers arecountless, and the need for supporting them is infi-nite. The support our troops receive tremendouslyeffects the outcome of the war and reminds ourtroops they serve for the good of all citizens of agrateful country.

I cannot stress enough the importance of support-ing our troops, but I also want to emphasize the im-portance of honoring our veterans and our service-men as they return home. One evening during a newsbroadcast covering the Iraqi war I observed some-

SPEAK OUTbbbbby y y y y HuntHuntHuntHuntHunter Scoer Scoer Scoer Scoer Scotttttttttt

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National Youth Representative, World War II Veterans Committee

HUNTER SCOTT

one handing a wounded soldier a cell phone so hecould call home and tell his family he had beenwounded, but was going to be fine. I think aboutour World War II veterans who fought a differentkind of war and the families of these men and womenwho went for great lengths of time with no commu-nication from family members in the service of theircountry. I can remember talking to Morgan Mosley(survivor of the USS Indianapolis) and him showingme the telegram sent to his mother informing herthat he was a casualty of war. She thought that casu-alty meant that Morgan had been killed in action andshe mourned over the loss of her son. Mr. Mosleycan still remember when his mother was informedsome time later that her son would be coming home.With today’s technology our soldiers face hardshipsand difficult conditions but in a very different waythan the veterans of World War II.

As the Youth Spokesman for the World War II Vet-erans Committee, I would like to urge students, par-ents, and teachers all over the country to make a con-certed attempt to document the history of a relativeor close friend who served during WWII, DesertStorm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Korea, Vietnam,or any other war, conflict, or deployment. There willbe a day when the Greatest Generation will exist onlyin the hearts and minds of those who recorded theirhistory. It is up to us, as the future of this country, topreserve the heroic legacy of all troops and veteransso that our children and grandchildren will know ofthe sacrifices that so many men and women made toensure our freedom.

Even though America thinks we now know what waris like from watching the news broadcasts, I knowfrom talking with veterans that war is not pleasant,pretty, or even desirable. War is difficult for all in-volved; people suffer and die in ways that we whohave never been in battle could imagine. Our veter-ans live with mental scars, many of which are nevervisible, but are scars nonetheless. We need to payhomage to those who put their physical and mentallives on the line in the service of this country andremember those who never return except in thememory of their families and fellow servicemen and

women. Most Americans have seen war with theireyes, but they have not felt war in the depths of theirsoul unless they have served and bore witness to thehorrors firsthand. Know that the soul of any vet-eran who served in combat has been touched and bethankful that they took the risk so most of us willnever have to experience war in the depths of oursouls.

(Hunter Scott is Youth Representative for the WorldWar II Veterans Committee and will be a Freshmanat the University of North Carolina this fall.)

WWII

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SpoSpoSpoSpoSpotlight on Committtlight on Committtlight on Committtlight on Committtlight on CommitteeeeeeeeeePrPrPrPrProgogogogogrrrrramsamsamsamsams

Eda Teague poses with two students at Paint BranchSchool in Montgomery County, Maryland. The stu-dents are shown modeling t-shirts featuring Eda ona water buffalo in the Philippines during World WarII. Eda was an Army nurse at the time and her hus-band-to-be Walter Teague was the administrator ofan Army hospital. The Teagues are the co-chairmenof the World War II Veterans Committee’s Veteransin Schools speakers program. Walter and Eda gave21 talks at schools in the Washington D.C. area thisspring.

7

possible for US troops fighting in Korea to finallytake what became known to history as “HeartbreakRidge.” He retired as a Brigadier General. The Ma-rine Corps’ Aviation museum in Miramar is namedfor him and he won every medal that Foss wore withthe exception of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Last year Jay told my son (hisgrandson) that while he en-joyed “Saving Private Ryan,”he found it impossible to sitthrough a more recent movie.Mel Gibson’s “We Were Sol-diers” detailed the horrors thattook place during the battle forVietnam’s Ia drang Valley. Al-though Jay was in Vietnamwhen the battle took place,that isn’t what got to him.“We faced exactly the samething for four days atBougainville,” he told the boy,

“and I just didn’t need to live through that again.”He knew that Hell is just that regardless of what youcall it.

It is important that we forget neither these men norwhat they did for us. A year or so ago, Joe was flyingto New York. He had his Medal of Honor in hisbriefcase because he always feared losing it if he putit in his checked baggage. The security guards whosupposedly protect us from our newest enemies triedto confiscate the medal as a potential weapon, andthe incident that received national attention. “Theyhad no idea what it was, but they weren’t about totake it away from me after what I had done to earnit,” Joe told me. And they didn’t.

These men were heroes and representative of thebest of a generation that we are losing. They werecitizen warriors who lived and fought in a dangerousworld so that their children and grandchildren might

A few years ago in the wake of the release of“Saving Private Ryan” and the publicationof Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Genera-

tion,” it became almost commonplace to note thepassing of the generation of Americans who bravedthe great depression, defeated the Nazi’s in Europeand the Japanese in Asia, and handed us all a richer,stronger, and perhaps better nation than they had in-herited.

The truth of that common-place struck me as the NewYear began with the pass-ing of two men I haveknown and admired. JoeFoss and Jay Hubbard bothdied early on New YearsDay and neither will be for-gotten by anyone who knewthem. Joe was 87 and Jaywas 80.

They were both Marines. Joe was America’s greatestace, having downed some 26 Japanese planes duringthe defense of Guadalcanal in 1942. He was awardedthe Congressional Medal of Honor by PresidentRoosevelt after having already won the Silver Star,Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and PurpleHeart. He went on to become a television personal-ity, was elected Governor of South Dakota, becameCommissioner of the American Football League andPresident of the National Rifle Association.

Tom Brokaw devoted an entire chapter to Joe’s lifein his book.

Jay spent World War II on the ground. He saw fiercefighting at Bougainville, Emirau, Guam, and Okinawaas US forces fought their way back across the Pacificfollowing Pearl Harbor. After World War II, he toobecame an aviator and managed to see two more warsas a pilot. He led the air strikes in 1951 that made it

A TRIBUTE TO TWO HEROESBY DAVID A. KEENE

continued on page 16

JAY HUBBARD (LEFT) AND JOEFOSS DURING THEIR COMBAT DAYS

The president and his party sat in Washington’s pewfor a service that all found inspirational. The onlywrinkle occurred later. As Churchill and Rooseveltleft the church the Rector introduced them to hisyoung daughter Katrina. Being good politicians theygave her a kiss. Later that dayconsternation swept thoughboth allied staffs as it tran-spired that the little girl haddeveloped chicken pox, rais-ing the specter that the presi-dent and prime ministerwould develop shingles.

Churchill’s confidence inAllied victory wasshaken by only one fear– that of the U-boatthreat. Shipping lossesfrom U-Boat sinkingswere so massive that thelack of supplies reachingBritain became so acuteas to threaten thecountry’s defeat as well as that of the Soviet Union.

American merchant marine lossess to-talled 674 ships during the war, a ma-jority of them lost in 1942. MerchantMarine personnel losses totalled 5,662,again with a majority lost in 1942. Itis a little known fact that in 1942 theMerchant Marine forces sufferedgreater losses than any other branchof the American military services.

Frank Hayden, now president of theWashington Mari-time Shipping Cor-poration was a Mer-chant Marine cadetmidshipman during the war, serving as an officer ona Liberty Ship during many Atlantic crossings.

“Conditions were pretty rough,” he says. “especiallyduring the first years of the war.”

The manpower shortage was so serious, he explains,that many of the ships were manned by volunteerswith little or no experience at sea.

“They would take an apartment building maintenaceman and make him a ship-board engineer, “ Hayden says.

Hayden says that the NorthAtlantic crossings were haz-ardous and nerve-wracking,with the constant winterstorms keeping much of thecrew incapacitated from sea

sickness and the rest onedge because of theever-present U-boats.

“I saw nine or ten cargoships sunk and a half-dozen tankers torpe-doed,” he says, adding“The tankers wereloaded with oil or gaso-

line and made spectacular fireballs when they werehit.”

Hayden says that shipping lossess be-gan to decline in 1943 as the convoysystem became increasingly effectiveagainst the U-boats.

Hayden took part in the D-Day op-eration, shuttling men and equipmentfrom England to Normandy and by amiracle survived one of the closestcalls imaginable. A Luftwaffe plane

dropped a 100-pound bomb onHayden’s shipwhich grazed the

ship’s antenna, shearing off the bomb’s detonator.The inert bomb hit right next to Hayden and wentthrough two decks before hitting the third deck. Atthis point, the bomb shattered, scattering powderthroughout the space. The powder was ignited, cre-ating a raging fire which was eventually put out.

continued from page 01

ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL MEET THERECTOR’S DAUGHTER, KATRINA AT A SER-

VICE AT HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH INALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, JANUARY 1,

THE YOUNG MARINER, FRANK HAYDEN

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Hayden was severely burned and spent a month inthe hospital. It was happily spent month he says, con-sidering what could have happened.

New Year’s Day 1942 found Army Air Corps Sec-ond Lieutenant Edgar Whitcomb on the Philliphioneisland of Luzon resisting the Japa-nese invasion force. Hours afterbombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanesehad hit American forces in thePhiliphine Islands, including ClarkAir Force base, where they had de-stroyed most of the Americanplanes on the runways.

For 105 days Whitcomb and a dwin-dling number of American forcesbattled the invading Japanese. Badlyoutnumbered, without supplies andunder constant bombing attack, theAmericans retreated toward thecoast of the Battan Penisula.

On April 19th, the Americans weretold by Admiral King to surrender. Whitcomb andseveral buddies decided to escape, however, and af-ter commandering a small boat, they set out for theAmerican held island of Corregidor, supposedly themost heavily fortified island in the world.Unfortunatly, most of the heavy weapons were anti-quated and placed in fixed positions pointing out tosea, and thus totally useless in defending against theJapanese who would be attacking from the mainlandbehind them.

Whitcomb and the other defenders were under heavybombardment by the Japanese for the next monthuntil the invasion began on May 7th. The Japanesequickly overwhelmed the poorly armed defenders andGeneral Wainwright formally surrendered, an act thatresulted in the imprisonment of several thousandmen.

The Japanese were brutal in their treatment of theAmerican prisoners and Whitcomb says that they allsuffered from dysentery and many died from diseaseand starvation.

Concluding that to remain on the island meant near-certain death, Whitcomb and a friend, Bill Harris,decided to escape. This they did on the night of April9, 1942 swimming for eight hours through shark-in-fested waters of Manila Bay back to the mainland.

There the two found a small sailboat and set out for Australia. Un-fortunately after days of huggingthe coast of Luzon, the two werespotted by pro-Japanese Filipinosand turned over to the Japanese au-thorities.

Whitcomb was interned in a prisoncamp of American citizens.

Realizing that if his identity as anAmerican military officer were dis-covered he would be executed,Whitcomb took on the name ofRobert Johnson, an American min-ing executive who had worked in thetown of Lusud.

In the camp Whitcomb miraculously was put in acell with another prisoner who had lived in Lusud.He whispered detailed descriptions of the town toWhitcomb which saved him during the brutal inter-rogations that followed.

Repeatedly tortured and beaten, Whitcomb at onepoint pleaded with his captors, “Please, if you’re go-ing to kill me, then shoot me, don’t beat me to death.”

Finally the beatings ended and Whitcomb was re-leased in a Japanese-American prisoner exchange.Whitcomb at length made his way back to Washing-ton D.C. where he reported in to the Army head-quarters, expecting to be quickly reassigned to com-bat.

To his chagrin, however, he was placed in secret de-tention. The reason: the Army feared that if the Japa-nese discovered an American officer had disguisedhimself as a civilian, they would discontinue theprison exchanges. After awhile, however the Armyrelented and promoted Whitcomb to his old unit

9

EDGAR WHITCOMB

where he participated in bombing missions over Ja-pan for the rest of the war. Whitcomb went on tobecome a colonel in the Air Force Reserve and electedGovernor of Indiana. He describes his war experi-ences in two very fine books:On Celestial Wings and Es-cape From Corregidor.

In the months following theJapanese attacks on Pearl Har-bor the American peopleshifted between feelings offear and an angry desire forrevenge.

On the West Coast near panicprevailed in many areas as ru-mors swept the country ofimpending Japanese attacksand of invasion landings oncities up and down thecoast.

Meanwhile Americanforces had suffered defeatafter defeat throughout thePacific area.

President FranklinRoosevelt cast about des-perately for some way tostrike back at Japan in a waythat would boost morale onthe home front and he dog-gedly pressed his seniormilitary commanders tocome up with a plan.

Unfortunately the obstaclesseemed too formidable to overcome. There were noland bases in Asia available for American forces touse in launching air raids against Japan. If aircraftcarriers were used, the limited range of Naval craftwould mean steaming close to Japan – a move thatwould have meant Japanese detection of the fleet andthe destruction of the desperately needed aircraft car-riers. Things were at an impasse until Captain Francis“Frog” Low, operations officer for Admiral Ernest

King, the Chief of Naval Operations, came up withan audacious (many said suicidal) plan.

The concept called for the use of 16 B-25 land-basedbombers launched from anavy aircraft carrier.

Retired Air Force ColonelHarry McCool explains theplan: “The idea was to ap-proach to within 500 miles ofthe main Japanese island ofHonshu and launch the air-craft. The planes would hittwelve pre-selected targetsand continue flying on toChina where the pilots wouldeither crash land or bail outover friendly territory.”

Heading this missionwould be Colonel JimmyDoolittle, a 54-year-oldArmy Air Corps Colonel.

Eighty men in the crews ofB-25s trained on airfieldsin New Jersey where theoutlines of aircraft carrierswere painted on the run-ways. On April 2, 1942 themen and airplanes de-parted from San Franciscoon the carrier Hornetsteaming far north of theshipping lanes to avoid de-tection enroute to Japan.

But on April 18th theAmerican fleet was discovered by Japanese picketboats 650 miles from Japan. Realizing that to steercloser to Japan would jeopardize the fleet, Halsey hadto decide between aborting the mission and orderingthe planes to take off immediately. Proceeding meantthat Doolittle’s planes would have barely enough fuelto reach the Chinese coast.

Even when recognizing that the raid was a probable

HARRY MCCOOL, ONE OF THEDOOLITTLE RAIDERS

U.S.S. HORNET LAUNCHES B-25 ONDOOLLITTLE RAID, APRIL, 1942.

10

suicide mission, the 80 raiders were unanimous intheir desire to press ahead.

Harry McCool recalls, “When the Hornet turned intothe wind and the B-25’s revved up, we didn’t know ifwe would survive takeoff, much less our bombingmission over Tokyo.”

But they did survive. Led byCol. Doolittle’s plane, the 16B-25s took off one by one,gained altitude, and headed to-ward Japan.

Unfortunately the skies wereovercast, therefore McCooland the other navigatorscouldn’t use celestial naviga-tion and were reduced to us-ing dead reckoning.

When the skies cleared 200miles from the target, McCooldiscovered that his plane was80 miles off course.

Most of the planes found theirassigned targets, however, and despite intense anti-aircraft fire all made their get-away from Japan.

Most of the planes ran out of fuel and the crews hadto bail out or crash- land over Japanese-occupied east-ern China.

Harry McCool bailed out and landed on amountaintop in East China, damaging a vertebra inhis back.

“The next day was my twenty-fourth birthday,” herecalls, “and I had toffee candy and rainwater to cel-ebrate.” This was McCool’s fare for three days as hepainfully picked his way down the mountain, finallyending up at a Chinese woodcutter’s hut.

The local Chinese smuggled McCool and most ofthe survivors (scattered all over Eastern China) tothe Nationalist capital of Chunking from where theyeventually made it back to the U.S.

However, eight of the survivors were taken prisonerby the Japanese. Three of them were executed andone was starved to death while the other four sur-vived until the end of the war, returning as little morethan skeletons.

The Doolittle raid inflicted very little physical dam-age on Japan, but it nonetheless had enormous con-

sequences. On the home frontthe raid gave a huge boost toAmerican morale and madethe raiders the first nationalheroes of the war. JimmyDoolittle was awarded theCongressional Medal ofHonor by PresidentRoosevelt.

In Japan, meanwhile, the re-action was one of shock andoutrage. The realization thatthe Americans could strike theJapanese home islandsprompted a reassessment ofJapanese war strategy. Oneconclusion was that theAmerican base on Midway Is-

land (named “Midway” because of its location mid-way between Hawaii and Japan.) had to be neutral-ized and the island occupied. Also targeted was theAmerican carrier fleet. The most powerful armadain Japanese history was assembled under the com-mand of Admiral Yamamoto, commander in chiefof Japan’s combined fleet. It consisted of more than100 warships and a host of support ships. Yamamotowas the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack and theMidway fleet’s eight aircraft carriers included all fourcarriers that were utilized in the attack on Pearl Har-bor.

Unbeknownst to Yamamoto, the Americans had suc-ceeded in breaking the Japanese code, and they knewan attack on Midway was imminent. Pacific com-mander Admiral Chester Nimitz dispatched two taskforces under the command of Admirals Fletcher andSpruance to meet the Japanese.

Unlike previous Naval battles (with the exception of11

DOOLITLLE IS DECORATED WITH THECONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

above the deck and I could see allthree crewmen very plainly. The gun-ner in the rear was shaking his fist andwaving his hand. I had heard aboutthe Japanese code of chivalry and Ithought maybe he was saluting us orsomething.”

Having survived all this, the badly damaged Yorktownwas heading back to the U.S. with the aid of a de-stroyer when it was hit by a torpedo fired by a Japa-nese submarine.

Surgi suffered a broken arm and severe burns in theexplosion and floated in the water until rescued by adestroyer.

Fifty-one years later at a reunion of Japanese andAmerican veterans of Midway he told of seeing theJapanese torpedo plane buzz the flight deck and theplane’s gunner salute him.

A murmur went through the crowd and the inter-preter introduced Surgi to an elderly Japanese manwho said it was he that waved to him that day.

“He said that his gun had been disabled and he hadbeen hit in the hand and the foot,” Surgi said. “Theplane was on its way back to the carrier and the mansaid that he was expressing his happiness to be alive.”

For Japan it was a crippling blow from which it neverrecovered. After Midway, for the remainder of thewar, the Japanese were on the defensive. The landbattle that saw the Americans take the offensive wasGuadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

On August 7, 1942 the Marines went ashore onGuadalcanal in what would become the first of manyD-Day landings during the war. The landings wereessentially unopposed, but the surprised Japanese laterfought tenaciously in what became a five month longbattle for the island.

Fighting raged almost continuously as both sidesstruggled to maintain control of the airfield (namedHenderson Field by the Americans in honor of Ma-rine Major Lofton Henderson, one of the heroes of

the Battle of the Coral Sea) the opposing fleets werenever within sight of each other. The fighting wasdone entirely by carrier aircraft or land-based aircraftfrom Midway.

The planes from the Japanese carriers bombed Mid-way heavily and then prepared to seek out and attackthe American ships. The order to load torpedoes wasreplaced at the last minute, however, by an order toload more bombs for another strike on Midway.

At this moment-with bombs, torpedoes and fuel linesall over the decks-American dive bombers and tor-pedo planes swooped down on the fleet, sinking fourJapanese carriers, one heavy cruiser, and destroyingmore than 300 planes while damaging many otherships. American losses were one carrier-theYorktown-and one destroyer.

Bill Surgi was an aviator machinist’s mate 3rd class onthe Yorktown during the battle.

“The ship had been hit by a bomb during the Battleof the Coral Sea,” he says, “and the bomb had piercedfour decks before it exploded, creating an auditorium-sized hole. I thought we’d head back to the U.S. forrepairs, but Admiral Nimitz said, ‘the flight deck isstill operational and I need you.’”

Surgi was on the flight deck the morning of June 4th

when Japanese dive-bombers appeared and began at-tacking the Yorktown.

“A bomb landed aft on the flight deck,” he recalls,“and killed a lot of people who were in that vicinity.”

“A second bomb went down an elevator shaft”, herecalls, “and a third hit near the place the bomb hit inthe Coral Sea battle knocking out the boilers.

“We went dead in the water,” Surgi says, “and thenthey managed to get one boiler going and we wereable to get underway, but very slow.”

Then torpedo planes attacked the ship. As Surgi re-calls:

“One of the them flew just a few feet

12

magazine has brought unsung heroes to the forefront.It has celebrated the living and recognized the oftenforgotten dead.

Thank you very much for taking the time to speakwith us. Is there anything you would like to say toour readers?

Ghost Wings has survived and thrived because peopleranging from middle school students to WWII veter-ans have believed in our mission. When we startedour work in the mid 90s, supporting the military waspolitically incorrect. Some libraries refused to carryour magazine because of its subject. Until recently,Ghost Wings was counter-culture. Still, our readers havestood with us from the start. They have subscribed,which, in our eyes, is a pledge of support. They haverecommended retail outlets we should stock withGhost Wings. They have suggested potential advertis-ers. Some readers have encouraged their companiesto advertise with us. I ask the members of the WWIIVeterans Committee to lend us a hand today, in thesame respects. With your support, our magazine willcontinue to honor the poignant veteran’s request in-scribed in 1944 on a memorialin Burma. It states:

“When you go home,tell them of us, and say-For your tomorrow,We gave our today.”

To contact, order, or learn more about Ghost Wings,write to:

Ghost Wings Magazine1004 Yeagle RoadMontoursville, PA 17754

Visit: www.GhostWings.comCall: 570-435-4523.E-mail: staff@ghostwings.comIssue 9, their latest issue costs $5.00.A one-year subscription is $18.00.A collector’s set of the first eight issues is $32.

Midway).

On the night of October 25th, 1942 a platoon of Ma-rines led by Mitchell Paige fought an all-night battleagainst a force of 1,000 Japanese infantry troops. Bymorning most of Paige’s men were either dead orwounded.

Unhooking a machine gun from its tripod, Paigecradled the red-hot, 80-pound gun in his arms andled the handful of survivors on a charge down thehill raking the terrain with machine gun fire.

As Paige recounts it, “The men followed me acrossthe draw and through the jungle where the Japanesehad started the attacks many hours before. But nowwe found nothing to shoot at. The battle was over.”

Two years later, Mitch Paige was summoned to Wash-ington where he was presented with the Congres-sional Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt.

In recent years “Mitch” Paige has achieved renewedrenown as the prototype for Hasbro’s Marine CorpsGI Joe action figure. Though beset by heart disease,he continues to devote time to Marine Corps activi-ties, Republican and conservative causes, and lay min-istry work.

He is rightfully treated as a hero, having played a cru-cial role in the Marines’ successful attempt to holdGuadalcanal, a victory that helped turn the tide inthe Pacific.

In the European theater the first signs of a turnaroundwere visible in 1942 also. In October American troopslanded in North Africa as part of Operation Torch.The campaign eventually drove the Germans out ofAfrica and provided valuable training for the greenAmerican troops and officers – Dwight Eisenhoweramong them – who a year and a half later wouldlaunch the greatest military operation of all time atNormandy.

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Ghost Wingscontinued from page 03

In January the Commit-tee began a new monthlyseries, “World War IIEvenings,” in associationwith the Army and NavyClub in Washington D.C.The Evenings are held onthe last Tuesday of the

month and feature lectures or panels on World WarII topics. The series was inaugurated on January 20by Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On February 3rd the Committeejoined with the Army ChaplainCorps and the Young Marines to co-sponsor a service honoring “TheFour Immortal Chaplains” on the60th anniversary of their death. TheFour Chaplains were on board thetroop transport USAT Dorchester

on February 3, 1943 when the ship was torpedoed inthe North Atlantic near Greenland.

The chaplains helped to guide the panicked men tothe railings, and distributed lifejackets. When they ranout they gave up their own and went down with theship, arms linked, in a joint prayer service.

World War II Veterans Committee President JamesRoberts presided at the service which was held at theFt. Meyer Chapel in Arlington, Virginia.

Theresa Goode-Kaplan (center),widow of Army Chaplain AlexanderGoode-one of “The Immortal FourChaplains”-poses with Army Chap-lains (front row) and film pro-ducer Ken Wales, World War II Vet-erans Committee President Jim Rob-erts and Young Marines InspectorGeneral Joe Bless (back).

World War II VeteransCommittee Special Events

The FThe FThe FThe FThe FourourourourourImmorImmorImmorImmorImmortttttal Chaplainsal Chaplainsal Chaplainsal Chaplainsal Chaplains

WWWWWorororororld Wld Wld Wld Wld War IIar IIar IIar IIar IIEvEvEvEvEveningseningseningseningsenings

The February event featured a trib-ute to the officers and men of theUSS Henry Bacon, a Liberty Shipthat rescued a number of Norwegiancivilians from the Nazis. The trib-ute was co-sponsored by the Norwe-gian embassy.

Admiral Moorer (top picture), whorecounted his experiences in thePacific theater during World WarII, drew a capacity crowd.

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TEN THOUSTEN THOUSTEN THOUSTEN THOUSTEN THOUSAND EYESAND EYESAND EYESAND EYESAND EYES:THE AMAZING STORY OFTHE SPY NETWORK THATCRACKED HITLER’SATLANTIC WALL BEFORED-DAYBy Richard Collier; The LyonsPress; 320 pages, $16.95(Paperback)

Sailors, painters, farmers, housewives-even children-joined along with Ameri-

can, British, and Free French intelligence outfits to risk theirlives in order to provide the Allied forces with information onthe German coastal defenses in Richard Collier’s Ten ThousandEyes. In the early stages of planning the invasion, long beforeD-Day, the Allied command realized that success would de-pend upon accurate information on the strength and locationof the German army’s defense in Normandy. What would re-sult was an immense clandestine spy network of ordinary peoplecommitted to driving Hitler from France.

When the telegrams started trickling intothe town of Bedford in the weeks fol-lowing D-Day, the residents knew thatsomething horrible had happened totheir boys. Alex Kersahw’s The BedfordBoys follows the lives and deaths of themen of Company A, 116th infantry, agreat many of whom were from thesleepy little Virginia town of Bedford.Kershaw tells two stories; the first is ofthe men of Company A themselves, theirtraining, their trek to Britain, and theirselection to be some of the first men to

make the assault at Omaha Beach. Because of unfavorableconditions and sheer bad luck, 22-well over half-of the youngmen from Bedford would be killed in the Normandy campaign.The second story is of the town of Bedford itself, the pride itfelt in its boys, the support it offered the troops, and the devas-tation it felt…and still feels…following the loss of so many ofits own. Using extensive interviews with the survivors, family,,and friends, along with letters and diaries, Kershaw lets us feelthe town’s pride and pain that lingers so many years after D-Day.

OUR FINESOUR FINESOUR FINESOUR FINESOUR FINEST DAT DAT DAT DAT DAYYYYY:D-DAY, JUNE 6, 1944By Mark Bowden, StephenAmbrose; Chronicle Books, 32pages, $24.95 (Hardcover)

Produced in cooperation with the D-DayMuseum in New Orleans, Our Finest Dayis a coffee table book full of pictures,

history, and recounts of Operation Overlord. Bowden andAmbrose, both very accomplished writers, include not only thebackground of events leading up to the invasion of Normandy,they also examine the potential disasters that could have hap-pened had things not gone to plan. Our Finest Day is unique inthat it includes reproductions of items associated with the inva-sion, such as “A Pocket Guide to France,” which was given tothe soldiers; and the front page from The New York Times.

PARAPARAPARAPARAPARACCCCCHUTE INFHUTE INFHUTE INFHUTE INFHUTE INFANTRANTRANTRANTRANTRYYYYY: AN AMERICANPARATROOPER’S MEMOIR OF D-DAY

AND THE FALL OF THE THIRD REICHby David Kenyon WebsterDelta; 372 pages $29.95 (Hardcover), $12.95 (Paperback)

The World War II Book ClubFeaturing Newly published books about WWII

THE BEDFTHE BEDFTHE BEDFTHE BEDFTHE BEDFORD BOORD BOORD BOORD BOORD BOYYYYYSSSSS: ONE AMERICAN

TOWN’S ULTIMATE D-DAY SACRIFICE

by Alex KershawDaCapo Press; 240 pages, $25.00 (Hardcover

David Kenyon Webster of Easy Com-pany, a member of Stephen Ambrose’s“Band of Brothers,” died in 1961, at age39. Following his service in World WarII, Webster had written Parachute Infantry,but was unable to get it published, as thecountry sought to move forward andthere was little interest in the stories ofregular soldiers. For years prior to, andfollowing his death, the memoir remainedunpublished, and Webster forgotten.Not until Stephen Ambrose discovered

the manuscript while researching for Band of Brothers didWebster’s memoir begin to be appreciated. Published originallyto coincide with the 50th anniversary of D-Day with a new, ex-panded edition having been released in late 2002, Parachute In-fantry vividly recounts the 101st Airborne Division’s combatjumps on June 6, 1944. For any fan of Band of Brothers or itsaccompanying mini-series, Webster’s memoir serves as a valu-able tool to see, first-hand, the extraordinary experiences ofthe 101st.

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live peacefully in one that would be a little safer fortheir efforts.

But they both knew that there will be new battles tofight and that others would have to do what they haddone if we are to survive as a free people. Jay saidonce that his grandfather, who was born in 1833,served as an officer in the Union Army. “He heldme in his arms when I was an infant…as…he hadbeen held by his grandfather who was a young sol-dier in our Revolutionary War. That somehow stirsme.” His sons, like Jay himself, were Marines and itwas fitting that a few months ago when his grand-daughter enlisted in the army she flew to Californiato let him know.

Joe and Jay both clung to life as valiantly as they foughtfor our freedoms and both of them made it into theNew Year. Jay had told his family that making it to2003, which marked both his 60th wedding anniver-

World War II Veterans CommitteeA Project of The American Studies Center1030 15th St., NW, Suite 856Washington, D.C. 20005

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDWaldorf, MD

PERMIT NO. 30

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continued from page 07

sary and the centennial of manned flight, was his fi-nal goal. Jay’s son might have been speaking for bothhim and Joe Foss when he said, “He may have crashlanded into 2003 with his landing gear up and engineafire, but, by God, he made it.”

But, then, heroes always do.

(David A. Keene is Chairman of the American Con-servative Union and a Managing Associate with theCarmen Group, a DC governmental affairs firm)

To learn more about Joe Foss, contact the Joe FossInstitute at 7745 East Redfield Rd., Suite 400,Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Telephone 480-348-0316 orvisit http://hstrial-streaster.homestead.com/index.html

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