We finally arrived at our destination on Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands of the West Pacific. Seeing that six square mile "hell hole" was the first of many disappointments. We were assigned to the Seventh Air Force, 30th Bombardment Group, 392nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), APO #244. Our brand new plane was taken away from us and we were shown our "new" B-24. It had had the hell beat out of it over the Japanese held island of Truk and the guys on my crew wanted nothing to do with it. It had 10 bombs painted onto the left forward side of the fuselage near the cockpit indicating combat missions completed. That may not seem like very many, but to us that plane was obviously well beyond it's prime. The crew didn't even like the name the previous crew had given it, "Bombs Lullaby," but the rumor at the time was that it was "bad luck" to change the name of a plane. So we left it alone and eventually became quite fond of that "old" plane.
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Johnston Island, a typical small coral atoll some 820 miles southwest of Oahu was used by the 7th as a "training" base. There were absolutely no landmarks around Johnston. You either hit it or you didn't, and the results were very tangible. In order that air crews would get complete training, they were often sent in the daytime and would fly back at night. Ground classes were held there in a variety of updated and new topics from escape and evasion to aerial bombing and defensive maneuvers. ... It was sort of a combination of training and R&R center. We really didn't care what they taught us, just as long as we could stay.
After spending a little over three months on Kwajalein and flying our first 19 combat missions from there, we were moved to Isley Field on Saipan on August 10, where the runway consisted of packed coral. Saipan was in the Northern Mariana Islands and was a whopping 47 square miles. The end of the runway went right off a huge cliff called "Banzai Cliff" because the Japanese defenders leaped off it to their deaths rather than be captured or surrender. When taking off at 10 second intervals between aircraft, it was really disconcerting to watch the plane ahead of you "drop off" the end of the runway and out of sight until it gained enough airspeed to continue its climb and come back into view again.
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It was never easy to approach the strongly defended islands. There was not only the ever-present antiaircraft fire from the ground to contend with but they also launched fighters into the air above us. These fighters would attempt to dive down on top of us and fire cannon and machine guns at us including the dangerous flak (white phosphorous) rounds that would burn through the fuselage and vital interior components. Our gunners had to try and keep those Jap pilots away from our aircraft. It wasn't so much the bullets that we feared but the constant threat of one of their overzealous pilots actually flying right into us and destroying both aircraft.
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On November 11, 1944 our crew completed 40 missions and was credited with one enemy aircraft kill. I had served as both a pilot and as a flight commander.
I received the Distinguished Flying Cross as a result of safely returning my plane and surviving crewmembers to base on Saipan. The Air Medal was awarded earlier after I had completed 30 missions. I also received the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal. Although we were entitled to return to the states after 30 missions, we decided to get in 10 more first. I do remember that we had been offered a "special deal" to do so, but I no longer remember whether it was a "choice" assignment or another of those one-sided deals for which the military is famous.
In December 1944, I returned to Ridgewood from the Pacific on a two-week leave and met met my seven month old son, Robert, for the first time.