Ok here is some more.
The mission Debrief is the same as always. Some rear area Intel weenie asking the same question 10 different ways or criticizing us when he couldn’t do it himself. I sit down next to Jason and he turns and Grins. Jason and I grew up in the same town, went to the same schools went through the aviation cadet program together, and advanced flight training. After that I got sent to Guadalcanal to fly F4Fs and he got assigned as an instructor. I smile remembering how I warned him not to do too well in all the schools. It was luck we ended up back together in 217. Jason is a good 2 inches taller and has brown hair, brown eyes and he looks like a football linemen. We could be brothers, my hair is lighter and I am not as bulky but still a big guy.
“You get any?” He asks?
I shake my head and laugh “you dumb toejam! I got the one that put the rounds into your hog! And two maybe three others” I say with a smile, leaning back into my chair.
“Oh I was wondering about that!” he says with a laugh “ well after you shot him of me I got another one, it was a perfect 30 degree deflection shot, the zero just came apart.!”
I tell him about the 3 other kills and then answer the questions from the Intel weenies.
As the briefing breaks up, the captain comes over.
“Once those kills are confirmed that puts you at 13 right?” he says “that’s only 2 behind me! Good work John. Don’t drink tonight we have an early mission tomorrow”
“Thank you sir” I say as he leaves.
Jason and I head over to the mess tent to get some chow, the mess tent is a big tent, with a pallet floor and the food really is not very good. The mess cooks do their best but we don’t get much fresh food here. I get a coke in a bottle and some brown stuff with darker brown chunks in it that I think is supposed to be Stew and some canned peaches.
Jason grabs pretty much the same and we go and sit at one of the rough wooden tables.
As we finish eating Dave and Robert sit down. Jason pulls out a deck of card and begins to shuffle.
“Poker anyone?” he says with a smile. We all nod and start pulling out money.
We play for several hours and I lose about 30 bucks. It ends up being a pretty Stiff game between Dave and Jason, both being pretty good card players.
A thought strike me, we are in the middle of the south pacific, aren’t there supposed to be feral pigs? If we catch one, we can have a real meal! I raise that exact point.
Jason looks at me for awhile, “we would have to go looking out in the jungle, there may be some japs left out there”
Dave chimes in “We could get lost to, it’s really thick”
“Jesus Christ! Are you Marines or some diddlying pansy sailors or something? Your acting like you never saw a rifle!”
Jason starts laughing Dave just looks stricken. I smile. “Let’s go dig up some Rifles and find us some pigs!”
Several hours later, I am looking at my compass and then out at the featureless jungle, Jason comes up behind me
“Are we lost?” he asks, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
“Shut the diddly up! I know where we are!” I whisper back harshly.
“Yeah, duh Vella levalla island right?” Jason says laughing quietly.
I just give him a dirty look. Off in the distance we hear several twigs snap. We all drop to our knees and wait. Out of the bushes about 75 yards away comes a wild pig. I line up my sights, and relax getting ready to fire. When the ground around the pig erupts with gouts of dirt. Dave, Jason and Rob all started firing! They all miss too! I almost blow my shot, but I fire and hit it, then fall on the ground laughing!
“You guys should turn in your gear and go join the Navy! Jeez how many rounds did you fire!”
They all give me dirty looks as I continue to laugh. Sometime later after I am able to breath again we go collect the pig and clean it, and head back toward where we thing the base is. After a minor detour around a ravine we arrive back and go get one of the cooks who are off duty to help us cook the pig.
That night the area around our tent becomes very popular, the pig get roasted in the ground and we have a meal of fresh pork and canned everything else. But it was a good night.
The next morning we get up before dawn and head down to the briefing shack. I am carrying my flight gear and I take a seat an put my shoulder holster on, I like the 1911A1
No .38 for me. The mission for the morning is shipping interdiction. We are going to make a fast raid on the troop and supply ships going to Bougainville Island. They should be going south along the coast. All our fighters are loaded with 1000 ponders. After the briefing as we walk down to the flight line I remind everyone to use the landing gear as a dive brake and use flaps on take off and remember you are lugging a bomb.
This time I end up flying number 28. Staff Sergeant Chester Willits is its crew chief.. Chester is small and mousy, qiuet. I check the bomb making sure it’s on good and finish the preflight. Everything looks fine. I start her up and as soon as she is warm head for the line. We take again off in pairs and form up over the field. Once we are out at sea we charge and test the guns.
We fly north and the turn west crusing along at 10,000 watching the water below. We spot the convoy. Moving along the coast. 7 ships, looks like a DD, DE, 4 transports and a tanker ship of some kind.
The captain comes over the radio. “Ok John, my Division will attack first then climb and cover yours if you spot enemy planes punch off your bombs and get them.”
“Aye, Aye sir”
“Everyone keep your eyes open for fighters” I say and then start looking.
The captain Dives right for the destroyer, and drops his bomb,then rolling and heading out to the north. Tracers and black flack puffs chasing him. His bomb hits the stern of the destroyer blowing it off. The ship begins to sink, but the guns keep firing. The second plane to dives misses. The bomb going off to the DEs right and as he is pulling out his plane shudders from a near flack burst, but it keeps flying.
The 3rd guy to dive down puts one right down the stack of the tanker and it goes up in a huge ball of flame! The 4th plane dives and as he goes in he takes a direct hit from what must have been 5 inch flack his plane just explodes and is gone. toejam…
“Ok guys I’m going for the DE, you three go after the transports. Make your bombs count! We will strafe the last one.
I roll my Corsair onto its back put the gear lever into the diving brake position and throttle back. Pulling the nose down into a dive I head strait for the DE. The DE(destroyer escort) is firing at me but I hit the rudder a bit to throw them off. At 2000 feet I drop the bomb and pull away. Heading right down onto the deck tracers from the DD splash around me but I get away with only a few hit! My bomb hit the DE dead center, and there is nothing but burning fuel and debris on the surface where it was.
I watch as every member of my flight hits their target! That leaves one undamaged transport.
“Form up everyone lets strafe the crap out of it.” I say and make as slow circle while everyone joins up.
We dive on the last transport in pairs, the tracers from our 6 .50 machines guns raking the ship. It begins to burn and as Rob passes it on our second run it explodes into a fireball!
We climb out, our elation at sinking the ships is dampened. We lost someone. Again.
We form up with the captian, and I look over his plane. It’s badly shot up, he shouldn’t have stayed.The area around his cockpit is scared with jagged holes from a shrapnel burst. Another of his flight is bad too. One of his landing gear is hanging part out of the bay.
We reach our base and the captain lands first, his plane holds together and then the rest of us go in, the last person to land will be Mark silver. He is flying plane 17 and it looks like its gear isn’t going to come down. He will attempt to belly land. I am the second to the last down and I taxi and park the plane cutting the engine I jump out of the cockpit to watch Mark Bring in the damaged plane.
Mark lines 17 up and comes in slightly fast since the flaps are not working either, slows a few feet above the runway and the big Corsair settles.The prop digs in and wraps around the cowl and the planes slides, making a huge dust cloud and comes to a stop. Mark climbs out and waves. The plane looks like a total loss but at least Mark made it.
The captain took some flak fragments in the legs and is going to be in the hospital tent a few days.
Jason walks up, his face ashen, “It was Kelly Michaels that bought it today.”
“Shit, Kelly was a good man, and his wife just had their first daughter.” I say with a shake of my head. Kelly was a good pilot, a Guadalcanal veteran, and a 7 kill Ace. He got married when he went back to the states after the canal. Everybody liked Kelly, he was the life of the party.
The debrief is downbeat. Everyone knows we lost a good man, and the chances of him being alive are 0. That coupled with the Captain being wounded, leaves Morale pretty low.
A PFC comes in with a bag “Mail call!! Mail call” and all the men crowd around. The PFC calls out my name and I go grab it. Jason looks at me, I can tell he is curious. The letter is from my younger brother.
I cut it open with my K-Bar and read it. The little bastard joined the Army air corp. He has finished advance flight and has been sent to Port Moresby, New Guinea! He says he is flying the hottest fighter in the world…