Stories tagged "Pacific Front": 22
Stories
End of the War
“Once the bombs were dropped, we were completely out of the loop. Probably, the folks back home were the first ones to hear about it. People asked how I felt, but there wasn't any big celebration among us. Maybe it's because we'd been through a…
Beginning of the End
“Yeah, well on the way to the flight line, we always went by truck. Usually, the gunners would go first to check the amount of ammunition, and then I would leave about an hour and a half later with the officers. On the way to the flight line was a…
Encountering Prisoners of War
"On one of our POW missions, our military was also in Shanghai. There was a POW camp there, and our mission was to drop food and medical supplies, just before our stop in Okinawa, which was on the flight route. We blew an engine flying there.…
Iwo Jima
“Our very first mission was the worst one. We flew Nippon Nemesis, which was the first plane. After we completed our mission, our plane was badly damaged. There were 72 holes in the plane and the bomb bay doors wouldn't close. Our pilots said that…
Life on Tinian
“When we weren't flying, well, we'd still go up in the air. Actually, in between missions, we would take off and cruise around the islands, mostly for bombardier training. Between Tinian and Guam is an island called Rota, where we'd head for our…
Pacific Island Hopping
“Prior to that, I figured it was just an excursion. You know, a piece of cake, more or less. But Kwajalein was scorching hot and smelled awful. We spent quite a while there, and I kept thinking, what kind of cards am I being dealt? We still didn't…
Early Life
“If you know a little about Indonesia, actually the Europeans exploited the Indonesians because they had rubber, oil, sugar, and generally they became a colony of some European nation and it was Holland at the time, the Netherlands. And so, the…
Siblings' Service
"In WWII, my father’s two brothers, Henry and John B, also served in the Army. My mother’s three brothers served in the Army, Navy, and the Marines. They were Perry Hugh, Elmer, and Emmet Joe who was in Iwo Jima."
Wartime Correspondence
"While researching my Mother’s biography, I read her letters from WWII, and the name Frase or Goldman kept appearing in the signatures. I realized it was one man, Goldman Frase. He wrote Christmas Cards to her for ten years…
The Battle of Bataan
“Beginning Christmas Day, 1941, we were put on a boat and taken across the bay to Bataan. We advanced as far up the peninsula as possible, marching until we met the Japanese, 75 or 80 miles up the Bataan Peninsula. That is where we drew a line…